MALGATO
MALGATO
Real Name: Unrevealed, possibly Malgato
Identity/Class: Unrevealed, technology-user
Occupation: Would-be ruler of the Savage Land
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Maa-Gor;
formerly the Fall People
Enemies: Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil, Zabu
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Red Wizard
Base of Operations: Formerly the castle of Iranda in the Savage Land, near the land of the Fall People
First Appearance: Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1 (January, 1974)
Powers/Abilities: Unrevealed. Malgato used advanced technology to mimic magic. He could mentally influence others, enhance others' strength, generate puffs of smoke or walls of fire, and open trap doors. He used robot pteranodons and triceratops that were under his control, sending the former all the wall to Africa and back.
History:
Malgato's origins are unrevealed.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1 (fb) - BTS / Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2 (fb) - BTS) - When a reincarnation of Garokk walked the Savage Land, heralding disaster, Malgato -- who sought to gain and keep power by rallying people behind him -- claimed to be the latest Red Wizard. He exploited the legend of the need for human sacrifice to maintain the spell that protected the Savage Land from the cold.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1 (fb) - BTS) - Malgato "magically" enlisted the Man-Ape Maa-Gor as his servant.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2 (fb) - BTS) - Malgato recreated the sorcerous castle of Iranda.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1 (fb) - BTS / Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2 (fb) - BTS) - Malgato sent a pair of pteranodons to abduct Shanna from Africa and to bring her to his castle in the Savage Land.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1) - From his castle with
Maa-Gor at his side, Malgato watched the return of Ka-Zar and Zabu to the Savage
Land. He then dispatched a pair of pteranodons that confronted Ka-Zar and Zabu;
when one of them captured Zabu, Ka-Zar allowed the other to carry him to
Malgato's castle. Malgato referenced the legend of the spell that kept the cold
from the Savage Land and stated that Ka-Zar was the man needed for the
sacrifice. Ka-Zar refused and rushed them, but Malgato released a net (seemingly
out of thin air) that captured Ka-Zar and Zabu, then instructed Maa-Gor to beat
them into submission. Ka-Zar broke flee and fled with Zabu, and Malgato sent a
magically strengthened Maa-Gor to recapture them. Maa-Gor overpowered Ka-Zar,
and Malgato had to stop him from slaying the jungle lord.
Maa-Gor brought Ka-Zar back to the castle, and Ka-Zar was
bound to a stake. Malgato awakened Ka-Zar with a splash of water to the face,
and then introduced him to his sacrificial companion, Shanna.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2) - Zabu leapt into the
room and helped Ka-Zar out of his bonds, and Ka-Zar attacked Maa-Gor, but
Malgato voiced a spell that stopped the fight and forced Ka-Zar to listen to
him. Malgato then told him of the previous Red Wizard and the last sacrifice,
instructing Ka-Zar that he must follow that pattern to keep their climate
intact. Ka-Zar refused to believe him and freed Shanna, and then, in a puff of
smoke, Malgato caused them to fall into a pit and into the lake below.
Ka-Zar and Shanna made their way to the land of the Fall
People, where Ka-Zar's friend/spirit-brother Tongah revealed that he had heard
Ka-Zar was to be the sacred sacrifice and wondered why he was with them. Just
then an immense triceratops rushed into the village, leveled it, and devoured a
young boy's pet despite Ka-Zar's efforts, and the Fall People believed that it
had been sent via the wrath of the sun god (possibly driven inland from the
approaching cold), caused by Ka-Zar's refusal to be the sacrifice. The Fall
People attacked Ka-Zar, but Shanna -- realizing that the triceratops was a robot
or something since real triceratops were vegetarians -- knocked him out with a
blow to the back of the head, rushed him out of there, and then convinced him to
return to Malgato's castle. There Ka-Zar overpowered Maa-Gor before they
confronted Malgato, who generated a wall of flame to hold them back, but Shanna
told him that they had seen the error of their ways and would be the sacrifice.
They approached the pit but then dove to the side of the sacred flame bowl and
knocked it over, setting fire to the room. Shanna then found a set of wires and
tore them from the wall, causing the pteranodons, which proved to be robots, to
fall crashing to the ground. Malgato then leapt into the chute and vanished into
the lake, vowing to return but leaving behind his robes and the mask that
appeared to be his face.
Comments: Created by Mike Friedrich, Paul Reinman, and Mike Royer.
Malgato, as noted by Friedrich, is loosely translated as "evil cat." According to Bablefish, it literally means "badly cat."
The letter page of Ka-Zar#4 noted, "We
confess that the confusion that may have occurred due to the sudden
magic-to-science switch in the Red Wizard's operating procedure was
caused by our own temporary uncertainty as to which direction we wanted
Ka-Zar to go. There was a tendency at first to head into the same type
of world as Conan, where sorcery is accepted as drinking water, but
then we realized this attitude would not be completely consistent with
the modern world that Ka-Zar is so much a part of. So we decided to
move back quickly before we got into too much trouble and so we firmly
established the scientific basis for everything that the Red Wizard had
"magicked" to date.
We've gotten our heads together now we feel -- as the current storyline
reflects. We aren't denying the existence of magic and sorcery in the
Savage Land (that would also be inconsistent with Kz-Zar's past stories
in the early Astonishing Tales), but they will not be in the
foreground. We hope this is to your satisfaction."
Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle is actually only Ka-Zar in the indicia, and it's the second series, so it's Ka-Zar II, but I think Lord of the Hidden Jungle has such a nice ring to it.
Malgato called them pteradactyls...I used to make the same mistake...you can google the differences - pteranodons are much bigger, lack tails and teeth, and had a long crest at the back of their heads. They also lived at least 50 million years later (during the Cretaceous period) than pterodactyls, who lived during the Jurassic period.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Hardcover#7: MAGIC) - Akoos the Red Wizard, summoned by Agamotto, attended the Assemblage of Avatars in Atlantis around 19,000 BC to find a solution for the current conflicts between the Elder Gods. Only little was accomplished during the meeting and Agamotto became frustated with humanity's limitations.
Red
Wizard of 18, 000 BC
During the Great Cataclysm of 18,000 BC, three quarters of the inhabitants of Pangea (who had originally come from Atlantis and Valusia) died, and the remainder sank into barbarism. In a matter of days, only 10% remained, and only the strong survived. As ice crept across the land (the climate engines apparently damaged), some if the hardiest crossed the then-short channel to and populated South America, but the majority fled in panic to their high priest. Noting that they only returned to their gods in desperation, the priest nonetheless invoked Garokk the sun god, and warmth returned to the land. The people then turned their energies to long-term survival, forming into clans such as the modern Fall People.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2 (fb) - BTS) - Every millennium there arose among the people a Red Wizard, each of ancestor of the next.
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1 (fb) - BTS) - The high priest's spell had to be renewed -- via the willing blood sacrifice of a man and a woman of heroic stature to appease the the sun god -- every thousand years to keep the cold from the Savage Land.
--Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1
Red
Wizard of 1000 AD
(Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2 (fb)) <1000 AD> - The Red Wizard chose Razorak the Bold and Khar-Tan the Beauteous to be the sacrifice to keep the cold out of the land. They jumped into the consuming flames with hymns on their lips and the people's celebration in their ears.
--Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1
images: (without ads)
Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1, p6, panel 6 (Malgato body)
p8, panel 5 (Red Wizard of 18,000 BC)
p13, panel 4 (Malgato face)
#2, p5, panel 3 (Red Wizard of 1000 AD)
Appearances:
Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#1 (January, 1974) - Mike Friedrich (writer),
Paul Reinman (art breakdowns), Mike Royer (finished art), Roy Thomas (editor).
Ka-Zar: Lord of the Hidden Jungle#2 (March, 1974) - Mike Friedrich (writer), Don
Heck (penciler), Jack Abel (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Hardcover#7: MAGIC (2009)
- David Sexton (writer), Jeff Younquist & Jennifer Gruenwald
(editors)
Last updated: 10/15/07
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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