TEMUJAI
Real Name: Temujai the Conqueror
Identity/Class: Robot
Occupation: To serve the Yellow Claw
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Yellow Claw, Kharion Krowe
Enemies: Rocky Davis, Jimmy Woo
Known Relatives: Inapplicable
Aliases: The Golden Goliath, the One-Kilometer tall Man
Base of Operations: Malaysia, Asia
First Appearance: Yellow Claw#2/5 (Dec, 1956);
reprinted in Giant-Size Master of Kung-Fu#4 (Jun, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: Temujai had enormous
strength; it could easily hold a helicopter in his hand. It was 1000 meters
tall, thus it probably could walk covering a half kilometer at step. It inspired
fear in his enemies and admiration and stupor in his worshippers.
Temujai was composed of an internal structure of metal and an external synthetic
skin, as realistic as to seem like human skin, made of Flexus. Flexus was an
unstable material which degrades with the passing of time.
History:
(Yellow Claw#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Yellow Claw
had the idea to create a robot which was to be Temujai the Conqueror.
The Yellow Claw had his slaves build the structure of a giant robot, 1000 meters
tall. Then he kidnapped professor Lindstrom and had
the scientist create the skin for the robot.
(Yellow Claw#2) - Once ready, the robot Temujai was tested in the jungles of Malaysia. Pilot Rocky Davis saw the giant while he was flying above the jungle. The news arrived to the US Secret Service and to the FBI agent Jimmy Woo.
Woo and Davis flew again above the hills where Temujai had been previously seen. Temujai, driven by Kharion Krowe, captured the helicopter, then dropped the two men to the ground where they were captured by the Yellow Claw.
The Claw gathered several leaders of Asian counties, to let them see the might of Temujai and to convince them to join the cause of the conquest of the world, under Temujai's lead.
(Yellow Claw#2 - BTS) - Suwan freed Woo, Davis and Lindstrom. Woo captured Krowe, then lent his voice to Temujai during the demonstration to the Asian leaders.
(Yellow Claw#2) - The golden leviathan astonished and
impressed the men, but Woo had Temujai claim that he would have not
remained in a world at war, and that the Yellow Claw was a liar. The Asian
leaders left the Yellow Claw. Woo and the others escaped.
The skin of Temujai consumed itself, leaving only the metallic structure of the
giant robot, unusable for other tricks.
Comments: Created by Jack Kirby (story and pencils), Paul Reinman (inks).
The Temujai of the myth was a legend, a sort of god, like Ares or Shiva, millions of people believed in him and would have been ready to follow his will.
I don't know why, but on the Italian issue, Temujai was referred to as "the Golden Gorilla".--Spidermay
From
http://jackkirbycomics.blogspot.com/2005/01/giant-size-master-of-kung-fu-4-yellow.html
"Temujai the Golden Goliath" has a couple of naming
connections. "Temujai" is an oddly similar name to "Tegujai", the conqueror of
Kirby's unfinished novel
THE HORDE (presumably both based on Temujin). And even odder, Jimmy Woo's
pilot is named "Rocky Davis", published just before the Challengers debut.
Professor Knute Lindstrom's Flexus (the unstable synthetic skin he created for Temujai) reminds me of the unstable synthetic skin that Doctor Corbin (Sub-Mariner Comics#4 (12/41) Sub-Mariner 2nd story) created for his synthetic man the Horror (Dacio)
--Gammatotem
The golden age had LOTS of villains who wore uncannily realistic masks of false faces over their actual faces, or even over their MASKS. Peter David even acknowledged it in the Marvels Comics: Captain America one-shot, where Heinrich Zemo wore such a mask over his comparatively bulky full-head mask.
Presumably the Axis villains got their masks from Arnim Zola and company. As for the straightforward criminal villains, well, the Golden Age had plenty of USA-born mad scientists, too; maybe one of them became a sort of proto-Tinkerer. Or maybe one of them -- perhaps Dr. Corbin himself -- simply discarded a supply of synthetic skin where just any in the underworld could grab some and lots of criminals DID.
--Ronald Byrd
Thank you to Phil Parodayco of the Monsterblog for the color scans!
Profile by Spidermay.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Temujai the Conqueror has no known connections to
Professor Lindstrom has no known connections to
Rocky Davis has no known connections to
Kharion Krowe has no known connections to
Professor Lindstrom was a normal human, a very skilled chemist.
Lindstrom had invented a synthetic material called "Flexus", identical in appearance to the human skin, but instable. The Yellow Claw had Lindstrom kidnapped, and imprisoned in Malaysia, in one of his laboratories to produce a great quantity of Flexus.
After months, the Flexus produced was used to cover the metallic structure of the robot Temujai. Lindstrom was still held captive in Malaysia.
When Jimmy Woo and Rocky Davis were captured, they were placed
in the same cell of Lindstrom, who explained to them what Temujai actually was.
Thanks to Suwan, the three escaped from the prison. Lindstrom led them to the
secret room of the robot's controls, where Jimmy Woo spoke to the leaders
through Temujai's form.
Then, Woo, Davis and Lindstrom fled in the Jungle. Lindstrom assured Jimmy Woo
that Temujai could have not been used again, because the skin of Flexus was
deteriorating. In fact only the metallic skeleton of the robot remained.
--Yellow Claw#2
Rocky Davis was a normal human. He was a pilot of helicopters.
Davis was flying above a hilly zone of Malaysia covered of jungle when he saw the enormous shape of a golden giant 1000 meters tall.
He recognized the giant as Temujai of the legend and reported the news to the Secret Service.
Jimmy Woo was informed by Colonel Carver, then Rocky Davis and he went back in the zone to investigate.
Once there, they were surprised by the giant. It captured the
helicopter then dropped them on the ground. But the Yellow Claw and his men
captured Davis and Woo.
They were placed in the same cell of professor Lindstrom, who told them the
secret of the giant.
Suwan freed them. They captured Kharion Krowe, the driver of Temujai. Once in
the secret room, where the controls of Temujai were, Davis "piloted"
the giant and Woo gave him his voice, ruining Yellow Claw's plans.
Then, they fled in the Jungle.
--Yellow Claw#2
Kharion Krowe was a normal human. He was a servant of the Yellow Claw with a good knowledge of the Yellow Claws' devices.
Krowe learnt to operate Temujai through the controls in a
secret room.
During one of the tests, Temujai was seen by Rocky Davis, who was flying above
the jungle where the robot was hidden.
Krowe and the Yellow Claw, via looking in the "spy sphere," knew that the Secret Service and Jimmy Woo had learnt about Temujai existence. But the Claw ordered to keep on the plan. Krowe took a subterranean transport to go to the part of the base where the robot controls' room was. Meanwhile Woo and Davis were captured by the Claw and were freed by Suwan.
Krowe was surprised by Woo and Davis and was imprisoned in the
cell where Woo was before.
The Yellow Claw freed him, and Krowe confessed that the traitor was Suwan.
--Yellow Claw#2
Images:
Yellow Claw#2, p1, pan1 (Temujai)
Yellow Claw#2, p5, pan7 (Temujai's
head shot and the helicopter)
Yellow Claw#2, p4, pan3 (Lindstrom)
Yellow Claw#2, p3, pan4 (Davis)
Yellow Claw#2, p2, pan3 (Krowe)
Other Appearances: None
First Posted: 12/12/2006
Last updated: 05/20/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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