main image

TIGER MAN

Real Name: Morton Haverstraw

Identity/Class: Human ghost (1920s to 1940s era)

Occupation: Big game hunter

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Jim Cotton

Enemies: Guru, tigers

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: (French) Indochina;
   formerly mobile internationally

First Appearance: Suspense I#10/5 (September, 1951)

Powers/Abilities: Morton Haverstraw gained notoriety as a big game hunter, his bravery borne more out of arrogance and a sense of violent racial superiority. He is an excellent shot with a rifle and carried a handgun too. Later as a ghost, he denied his new status and kept calling to be heard and seen.

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 165 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History:

(Suspense I#10/5 (fb) - BTS) - In the 1920s, the wealthy but arrogant Morton Haverstraw traveled remote areas around the world, hunting big game and had scant regard for the local and indigenous peoples where he hunted, instead expecting them to put up with his violent ways. He gained notoriety and in 1931, he voyaged to Indochina to hunt tigers with Jim Cotton as his guide. The locals who lived in the jungle areas came to call Haverstraw the Tiger Man for the number of his kills.

(Suspense I#10/5 (fb)) - Haverstraw continued his hunting. With his latest tiger kill, Haverstraw attacked the locals for not treating the tiger carcass with sufficient care and that its hide may be damaged (for later display). Cotton tried to stop him, emphasizing their shared humanity, but Haverstraw ignored him. Nearby, the tribe's medicine man the Guru hated Haverstraw for his behavior and that night called down a curse secretly witnessed by Cotton. The guide quickly informed Haverstraw, that the curse entailed he would kill no more animals for three days, but on the third day the first animal he encountered would kill him. Haverstraw dismissed the notion and continued his hunt alone. However, the curse was true and his hunt was fruitless until the third day when he encountered a "king" tiger. His gun jammed as the tiger leapt at him and for an instant, Haverstraw saw the ghostly image of the Guru. Haverstraw was killed by the tiger, but the curse took over and he became a ghost, believing he had shot and killed the tiger instead, and he slung the beast over his shoulder. Now truly the ghostly Tiger Man, he made his way back to the village where news of his death had spread. He realized his invisibility and intangibility, but no one heard him.

(Suspense I#10/5) - Twenty years later, the Tiger Man was still sometimes seen fleetingly with the tiger slung over his shoulder wandering that jungle area.

 

 

Comments: Created by uncredited writer & Norman Steinberg.

On average, an adult male tiger can weigh 500+ lbs, far in excess of what a man can carry over his shoulder, and the one that killed Haverstraw was a "gigantic king tiger", yet he was able to sling it over his shoulder. I put this down to a delusion that's locked with his Tiger Man ghost form. The final fate of the king tiger is unrevealed, only that it killed Haverstraw.

Indochina (usually referred to as French Indochina) was primarily comprised of five modern-day countries (or parts of them): Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (and even the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan until 1945), and existed from 1997 to 1954. The French colonial administration was at times brutal and in the 1920s focused on revenue collection for monopolized goods, such as opium, salt and alcohol, and possibly big game hunting in this case.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Tiger Man has no known connections to:

Jim Cotton

Jim Cotton was the loyal guide of wealthy big game hunter Morton Haverstraw and joined him on his trip to (French) Indochina to hunt tigers. Haverstraw stayed with a local tribe while hunting tigers and killed many beasts, so much so that they dubbed him Tiger Man. Cotton disapproved of Haverstraw's mistreatment of the indigenous people and warned him of potential repercussions. Cotton witnessed the tribe's medicine man the Guru bring down a curse on Haverstraw and alerted the hunter, who instead dismissed the notion. Haverstraw continued the hunt alone and was eventually killed by a king tiger and turned into a ghost. Cotton was informed by the Guru that Haverstraw was dead. Presumably Cotton returned home and/or became a guide for another wealthy traveler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Suspense I#10/5

The Guru

The Guru was the medicine man of the local tribe abused by white big game hunter Morton Haverstraw, who treated the indigenous people with violent contempt during his tiger hunting expeditions, killing so many beasts that he became known as the Tiger Man. Haverstraw was warned by his guide Jim Cotton to stop these misdeeds, which were witnessed by the Guru. Seeing this violence, the Guru hatefully brought down a curse on Haverstraw wherein the hunter's trips would be fruitless until the third day, at which point he would be killed by the first animal he saw. Haverstraw was killed by a large king tiger and became a ghost locked to that area. The Guru informed Cotton that Haverstraw had been killed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Suspense I#10/5

images: (without ads)
Suspense I#10/5, p2, pan1 (main image)
   p3, pan2 (headshot)
   p5, pan6 (as ghost)
   p2, pan1 (Cotton, full body)
   p5, pan5 (Cotton, headshot)
   p1, pan1 (Guru, full body)
   p2, pan4 (Guru, headshot)

Appearances:
Suspense I#10/5 (September, 1951) - uncredited writer, Norman Steinberg (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 10/31/2024
Last updated: 10/31/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com.

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix!

Back to Characters