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OLDOW

Real Name: Mango Oldow (see comments)

Identity/Class: Human mutate (early 1940s)

Occupation: Carnival performer

Group Membership: Unnamed carnival

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Defender (Don Stevens), Rusty, Major Anders, others unnamed

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Monster Who Couldn't Be Stopped"

Base of Operations: Mobile across the USA

First Appearance: U.S.A. Comics#3/4 (January, 1942)

Powers/Abilities: Oldow was a tall and musclebound man, described as weighing 250 lbs and being able to break an iron bar, and was happy enough to engage in fraudulent behavior to act in a mindless manner for a paying audience. When struck by full moonlight, Oldow would transform into a ravening, twin-fanged, bestial man consumed by blood lust, yet still with the same level of intelligence.

History:

(U.S.A. Comics#3/4 (fb) - BTS) - Oldow was a powerful and very strong man acting in a carnival. At some point, he became affected by direct moonlight during nights of a full moon and would transform into a large, fanged creature with a thirst for human blood.

(U.S.A. Comics#3/4) - Don Stevens and his pal Rusty visited a nearby carnival and saw Oldow's act of mindlessly obeying a fellow performer and breaking an iron bar. Later that night and backstage, Oldow was pleased with the day's takings. However, a full moon rose up with the moonlight streaming in through a window. This caused Oldow to mutate into a larger and more powerful but also vicious creature with giant fangs. He killed his fellow performer and wandered into the night searching for more people to kill, but instead encountered Stevens, now garbed as the Defender, and Rusty, who attacked him to stop any further bloodshed. Oldow shrugged off the blows and escaped into the night.

   The next day, the carnival set up camp outside Stevens' marine base. That night, Oldow again transformed and attacked Major Anders, but Rusty and Stevens, once more changed into his Defender guise, tackled the monster. Oldow was able to capture Rusty and threatened to throw the youth off a nearby cliff but was stopped by the Defender. A fight ensued until the Defender was finally able to punch Oldow back where he fell down the cliff and died.

Comments: Created by George Klein (writer (?) and art).

The promoter outside the carnival called him Mango, the Human Muscle, but Oldow's stage assistant called him Oldow, both on stage and backstage, so identifying the first name and surname is difficult.

Oldow seemed to combine werewolf traits with a Jekyll-and-Hyde split personality.

"Mango Oldow" -- such a weird name for a character, I figured it must be an anagram for something, so I scrambled the letters and got "wood log man"... OK, doesn't make much sense, so I scrambled them again and got "owl goodman"... Now Timely Comics was founded by Martin Goodman -- could this be some hidden reference to him?
--John Kaminski

Other possibilities for the origins of his unusual name:
Oldowan/Olduwan - Belonging to an African culture of the early Pleistocene period,characterize d by primitive stone tools.Form of the name of the Oldoway (or Olduvai) Gorge,Tanzania (Oxford English Dictionary 2004), while MANGO could be based on the fruit of the same name or the Latin word MANGO( a salesman,slave dealer ) or MANGO( a name given to the linen districts of Ireland ) or since the Master List says he is African, it could be the Swahili word MANGO( meaning grindstone, stone or solid ).
Oldow should be brought back and turned into a TIMELY COMICS version of the RED HULK. Either surviving and mutating on his own( until he reaches HULK level strength and mass ) or with the help of a Golden Age villain like FUTURE MAN.

---John Holstein.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Oldow has no known connections to:


images: (without ads)
U.S.A. Comics#3/4, p1, pan1 (main image)

p2, pan7 (head shot)


Other Appearances: None


Last updated: 11/23/09

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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