"POISON POOL MONSTER"
Real Name: Inapplicable
Identity/Class: Unrevealed (see comments)
Occupation: Predator
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Jann of the Jungle (Jane Hastings), Pat Mahoney
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: "Poison Pool", somewhere in the jungles of the Congo, Africa
First Appearance: Jann of the Jungle#10/1 (March, 1956)
Powers/Abilities: About 12 feet long and amphibious, this dragon-like creature seemed to be a genetic chimera, combining traits of various reptiles. It had a scaly orange body like a serpent, a barbed tail, a head like a crocodile, and purple pterodactyl wings which allowed it to fly. It could excrete a highly poisonous venom from one of its fangs.
History:
Jann of the Jungle#10/1 (fb) - BTS) - The origins of this creature are unknown (see comments), but it lived in a pool of water, somewhere in the jungle. The creature's venom made the waters toxic, and the body of water became known to the locals as "Poison Pool". A pack of jackals learned to lure other jungle animals to the pool to disturb the monster's solitude and induce it to attack the animals; the the jackals would then finish off what was left.
(Jann of the Jungle#10/1) - Jann was helping her photographer friend Pat take some pictures in the jungle when she heard a pack of jackals running toward a common destination. The jungle girl followed the scavengers by swinging through the trees, and saw them all gathered around "Poison Pool". Suddenly, the winged monster that lived there rose up from the water and flew toward Jann with its jaws wide open. Jann jumped out of the way, causing the monster to miss her and bite into a tree, which immediately withered and died. The creature dived back into the water, and the jackals ran off in search of another victim. Pat finally made his way to the pool, with the jackal pack behind him; Jann tried to warn him away, but Pat wanted to snap a picture of whatever it was she found. The monster emerged from the water again, and Jann lassoed its snout with a rope, trapping it and holding its jaws open. Meanwhile, the jackals ran off to lure in more prey.
The tricky jackals returned, followed by an infuriated stampede of jungle animals--a lion, a rhinoceros, a giraffe and an elephant; these victims were led to the pool, where they all fell in. Determined to save the animals, Jann took her knife and cut out the fang of the monster which held the poison, then cut the rope and freed the creature from the snare. The enraged monster flew and attacked the jackals, the prey it was actually waiting for. After the trapped jungle beasts crawled out of the pool to safety, the monster returned to its home. Despite Pat's protest, Jann insisted on letting the monster get away, since she had removed the poison fang that caused all the trouble ("He has as much right to life as any other creature in the jungle!"). As Jann and Pat left the pool, a flock of vultures finished off what was left of the treacherous jackals.
Comments: Created by Don Rico and Jay Scott Pike.
Since it seemed to be the only one of its kind, possibly this monster was a Deviant mutate, or maybe it was one of Arnim Zola's creations (...like the Man-Fish).
It's unknown if this creature was fully grown--I'd hate to think of how big this critter might get if what we saw here was only a hatchling!
This thing was never given a name in the story--Jann and Pat only referred to it as a "creature" or "it"--so for the purposes of this profile, I chose the generic "Poison Pool Monster". However, if I were to give it a name, I figure it's poisonous/toxic, so how about ... "Toxilla--Terror of the Congo!".
And a BIG Thank You to Pappy's Golden Age for the scans!
Profile by John Kaminski.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
The "Poison Pool Monster" has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Jann of the Jungle#10/1, p3, pan5 (main image)
Other Appearances: None
Last updated: 12/08/09
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