BONZO
Real Name: Bonzo
Identity/Class: Human caveman; pre-Cataclysmic era (circa 50,000 BC)
Occupation: Tyrant
Group Membership: His band of men
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Cave People, Tanir, Tuk
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Ogre, the Brute
Base of Operations: Prehistoric wilds of 50,000 BC
First Appearance: Captain America Comics#4/5 (June, 1941)
Powers/Abilities: Bonzo possessed no superhuman powers and also seemed to be somewhat dimwitted. He compensated for his lack of smarts by being an aggressive and highly violent leader.
Height: 6'1" (by approximation)
Weight: 240 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Brown
History:
(Captain America Comics#4/5 (fb) - BTS) - Bonzo and his band of men were on their way to the tribe of the Cave People to murder and plunder, but were unaware the Cave People had been warned of their coming.
(Captain America Comics#4/5) - Upon Bonzo's arrival at the Cave People's settlement, he ordered his men to take everything they could find and spare no lives. However only one of the Cave People had remained to safeguard his wife and baby. He was clubbed to death by Bonzo's men, with his wife and child soon to follow if Tanir the Cro-Magnon hadn't interfered by shooting an arrow. Tanir, along with Tuk the Caveboy, had happened to stumble into the Cave People settlement and decided to intervene. Bonzo and his men had never seen a bow and arrow, causing Bonzo to exclaim the weapon was "MAGIC!" He ordered his men to catch Tanir. While the Cro-Magnon was captured, Tuk managed to rescue the woman and her baby. Bonzo wanted the secret of the bow and threatened to kill Tanir if he wouldn't join his warriors. Tanir agreed to join up, though secretly deciding to wait around until he could find a way to dispose of Bonzo. To prove his loyalty, Tanir was ordered to kill his partner, Tuk. Forced to shoot one of his "magic sticks", Tanir purposefully caused the arrow to miss, allowing Tuk to get away. Later, he tracked down his friend, unaware Bonzo had sent one of his men to spy on him. Tanir and Tuk had a secret meeting in which they discussed how they could dispose of Bonzo in the best way, when noticing Bonzo's spy, Tanir killed the man by throwing him off a cliff and then returned to Bonzo's side, acting as if nothing had happened.
(Captain America Comics#5/6) - Bonzo, Tanir and the others under his command were attacked by a saber tooth tiger who was sicked on them as part of Tuk and Tanir's plan. When the animal attacked Bonzo, he was saved by Tanir in order to gain even more of his trust. After the tiger's death, Tuk showed himself, and Tanir was once again ordered to kill his best friend. Lighting one of his arrows on fire, Tanir once more missed, hitting the highly flammable, dry woods Tuk was hiding in. The fire instantly grew into a massive blaze, which caused a stampede of giant mammoths to come crashing out of the flaming jungle for safety. Tuk, riding one of the massive beasts, saved Tanir from getting trampled. Tanir then used his own bow and arrow to kill Bonzo, thereby ridding the prehistoric time of its tyrant.
Comments: Created by Jim Mooney (pencils), Chu Hing (inks).
Bonzo was called "The Ogre" on the contents page of Captain America Comics#4.
Here's how the Golden Age Captain America Omnibus HC credits the Tuk stories in Cap Comics#1-5 (information courtesy of Jeph York):
#1 - by Jack Kirby
#2 - art by Al Gabriele* & unknown
#3 - art by Mac Raboy*
#4 - art by unknown with Al Gabriele*
#5 - title page pencils by Jack Kirby, title page inks by Joe Simon, pencils by Al Avison*, inks by Al Gabriele** It was not industry standard in the Golden Age of comics to provide detailed credits for each strip. The artists worked with an ever-changing studio of assistants and secondary artists, while writers often did not sign their name to their work. The stories in this volume were produced by the Simon & Kirby studio and may have included varying levels of work by the creators cited as well as others:
Al Avison, Fred Bell, Martin Burstein, Reed Crandall, Howard Ferguson, Harry Fisk, Al Gabriele, Fred Guardineer, Ernie Hart, Chu Hing, William Clayton King, Bernard Klein, Mort Meskin, George Roussos, Gustav Schrotter, Syd Shores & C.A. Winter
Further, it seems quite likely that Jack Kirby wrote and drew#1 and was also the writer on the other issues...but pretty much we just don't know for sure...
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Bonzo has no known connections to
Bonzo's band of men were a group of not too intelligent cavemen who followed their leader's every order. His men were vital in killing and plundering several villages before encountering Tanir and Tuk who were more advanced than they were. One of the men tried to spy on Tanir while he tried to conceive a plan to defeat Bonzo with Tuk. The spy was killed by Tanir who threw him off a nearby cliff. The other men were probably killed when Tanir caused a forest fire that led to a giant mammoth stampede.
--Captain America Comics#4/6, Captain America Comics#5/6
When the Cave People noticed a signal fire from another tribe, they knew Bonzo the Brute was on his way and quickly abandoned their homes to save their lives. Only one of the Cave People remained to safeguard his wife and their small baby, who were both too weak to travel. He was clubbed to death by Bonzo's bruiser brigade. Tuk the Caveboy rescued both the woman and their child. It's not been revealed if the two ever reconnected with the other members of the Cave People tribe.
--Captain America Comics#4/6
Note:The Cave People were called the Cave-Dwellers on the contents page of Captain America Comics#4.
images: (without ads)
Captain America Comics#5, p53, pan2 (main image)
Captain America Comics#4, p53, pan8 (closeup)
Captain America Comics#4, p51, pan3 (Bonzo's Men)
Captain America Comics#4, p50, pan1 (Cave People)
Appearances:
Captain America Comics#4/5 (June, 1941) - Jim Mooney (pencils), Chu Hing (inks)
Captain America Comics#5/6 (August, 1941) - creative team remains unknown, this was clearly a different creative team than issue 4.
Last updated: 06/02/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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