HERU
Real Name: Heru
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Mars,
Hither
People)
(circa 1 billion
years ago)
Occupation: Adventurer;
formerly princess
Group Membership: None;
formerly royal house of the Hither People
Affiliations: Chak, Chea,
Gullivar
Jones, Hath,
Lu-Pov,
Noltoi
outcast
Enemies: Lizardmen (Ar-Hap, Jen-In, others), Technics
Guild and
their hybrids (Firstborn,
others), Wing-Men (Gret, others)
Known Relatives: Hath (distant cousin), father
(king, name unrevealed, likely deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: mobile on Mars (circa
1 billion years ago)
First Appearance: Creatures on the Loose
I#16/1 (March, 1972)
Powers/Abilities: Heru was a full-blood royal
member of the golden-hued Hither People of ancient Mars, and knew the
conditions and customs of her era. Initially passive before becoming an
outcast to her people, she gained
self-confidence with Gullivar Jones and learned to ably fight with a
sword.
Height: 5'6"
(by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Green
Hair: Dark Green
History:
(Creatures on the Loose I#16/1 (fb) - BTS) - About a
billion years ago on planet Mars, Heru was
born into the royal family of the passive Hither People based outside
the abandoned city of Seth. Her father was king and she was betrothed
to her distant cousin Prince Hath to ensure continuation of the
full-blood golden-hued Hither People. She maintained the female Hither
People's custom of scanty clothing. Heru was friends with the wizard
Lu-Pov, who left to find a champion to help them.
(Creatures on the Loose I#16/1) - Heru stood beside
the throned Hath as the Hither People's treaty payments to the
Lizardmen were reconciled. The Lizardmen's ruler, Ar-Hap, had
unexpectedly selected
Heru as his annual tribute wife. She protested as she was dragged away,
but Hath gave no resistance. Just then, the Earthman Gullivar Jones
appeared, having been selected by Lu-Pov and cast far back in time to
Mars. Judging quickly on appearances, he jumped in to stop the
Lizardmen and was surprised at his augmented strength in Martian
gravity. A remaining Lizardman carried Heru away on his reptilian
steed, but hurled her at the pursuing Jones so that he could escape.
Recognizing Lu-Pov's amulet on Jones, she let Jones carry her back to
Seth. Heru and Jones were quickly attracted to each other and they
spent several days together, with Heru explaining her people's customs
and conditions. However, one romantic evening, the two were attacked by
flying Wing-Men minions of Ar-Hap. Heru was kidnapped and carried away
while Jones was left lost in the Martian wilderness.
(Creatures on the Loose I#17/1) - Jones dreamt of his
journey and arrival on Mars, including the rescue, romance and
kidnapping of Heru. He encountered Giant
Slugs
that telepathically disguised themselves as a desired object of their
prey; Jones was almost fooled by a facade of Heru's image.
(Creatures on the Loose I#19/1 (fb)) - Heru was
kidnapped by Wing-Men. Shouting protests along the way, she was
delivered
to the Lizardmen led by Ar-Hap.
(Creatures on the Loose I#18/1) - Unconscious
underwater, Jones again dreamt of his time on Mars, including rescuing
Heru.
(Creatures on the Loose I#19/1) - In the Lizardmen's
camp, Heru was violently disciplined by Ar-Hap's minister Jen-In. As
per custom, she was imprisoned with the
previous year's wife of Ar-Hap, Chea (also of the Hither People) with a
ceremonial dagger; the new wife was expected to kill the former wife or
be killed herself. Although Heru wanted them both to escape, Chea,
hating the role of Ar-Hap's wife, took the knife while Heru slept.
Meanwhile, hiding in an polar ice cave,
Jones wistfully thought on Heru. He was later distracted in a fight
with Ra-Kar
by a telepathic vision generated by the amulet showing Heru in trouble.
(Creatures on the Loose I#20/1) - The next morning,
Heru found Chea had suicided and wept for her. Thinking Jones had died
during her kidnapping, she felt alone and endured rationed food across
days as a further test. Finally she was forcefully taken and whipped by
the spiteful Jen-In before taken to Ar-Hap. The Lizardmen's ruler tried
showing kindness, but she remained defiant. He ordered Heru taken away
and the wedding propelled while he rested. Elsewhere, Jones had been
captured and taken to the Lizardmen's camp. During wedding festivities,
Jones saw Heru when he was brought out to fight a Bloodbeast.
Initiating an internal coup, Jen-In took the captive Heru to bait Jones
to Ar-Hap's tent.
(Creatures on the Loose I#21/1) - Jones, now joined
with fighting mate, the mutant Wing-Man Chak, chased Jen-In, who hoped
to start a new tribe of warriors mothered by Heru. But Chak and Jones
caught up with them in the desert and killed the Lizardman upstart.
Planning their next move, Heru declared her love for Jones and that he
had given her courage. Seeing the vengeful Ar-Hap's legion marching at
them, Jones, Chak and Heru took up arms and fought for their lives.
Wing-Men joined the fray to settle their simmering feud with the
Lizardmen; Jones sent Heru away in the care of Chak. With the
Wing-Men victorious, Jones joined Heru and Chak nearby.
(Monsters
Unleashed I#4/5) - Jones led the trio on a journey back to Seth. They
were secretly followed by an outcast of the spidery Noltoi
race, which Jones had violently encountered earlier. But this Noltoi
sought them for companionship, apparently drawn to Heru's singing.
Using its unique telepathic ability, it entranced Heru as the most
peaceable of the three. Spinning a sticky web around her, the outcast
telepathically told Heru of its struggle and escape from its people.
However, Jones and Chak, thinking the outcast malicious, killed it.
Held fast by webbing, Heru could not stop the murder and wept at its
death. They buried the outcast while Jones, realizing his error,
berated his impulsiveness.
(Monsters Unleashed I#8/5) - Jones, Chak and Heru
arrived at Seth and stopped a hybrid Bloodbeast attacking the locals.
Heru was angry at the thanklessness of her apathetic people, but they
only
recognized her as an outcast. Heru remained defiant. She recognized the
slain hybrid belonged to the Technics Guild, a small secret order that
had long kept science secret and held Seth city, forcing the passive
Hither People to live in tents outside for generations. The trio
stormed the gates, fighting Guild-created flying hybrid guards. Jones
thought that
Heru was keen to be an example to her people and shake them from fear
and complacency. The hybrid creatures retreated and Guild members
quickly incapacitated the invaders with sleeping gas. The trio were
chained up and awoke to hear the death penalty being passed on them
with the monstrous Firstborn cyborg unleashed on them. Jones' augmented
strength freed them and they quickly killed the beast. Jones chided the
Technics Guild for wasting opportunities to rebuild Mars and help the
natives. Heru tried to offer Jones hope by suggesting that books held
real knowledge, but Jones led the trio away.
Comments:
Created by Edwin L. Arnold (writer). Adapted by Roy Thomas (writer),
Gil Kane (pencils), Bill Everett (inks).
Heru first appeared in Edwin L. Arnold's 1905 novel
"Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation", which was adapted and modernized
by Marvel when it was seeking more sci-fi/fantasy properties. Note that
Gullivar Jones predates a similar character,John Carter
(created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and published around 1912), also an
Earthman stranded on Mars.
Heru appears on the cover of Creatures on the Loose
I#17 with Jones against the Noltoi,
but this is inaccurate.
The Monsters Unleashed stories were printed in black
and white.
Profile
by Grendel
Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Heru has no known connections to:
- any other "Heru" characters
Chea
Chea was of the Sethian Hither People and recognized
Heru as her princess, yet was paler in skin color. As per a treaty, she
had been the year-long
tribute wife to Lizardman warlord Ar-Hap. However, Heru was the
following year's tribute, with the custom being only one would survive
to serve Ar-Hap that year. Although Heru offered another choice of
escape together, Chea instead chose to use the ceremonial knife to
commit suicide while Heru slept, rather than face the prospect of
another year with
the brutal Ar-Hap.
--Creatures on the Loose I#19/1 (20/1
Hath
Concerned more with honor, Prince Hath was Heru's
distant cousin and betrothed to marry her as the last two full-blood
Sethian Hither People. However, when the Lizardman warlord Ar-Hap
demanded Heru as his year-long tribute wife as per a treaty, he readily
surrendered her. This sundered their commitment to marry.
--Creatures on the Loose I#16/1
images:
(without ads)
Creatures on the Loose I#21, cover (main image)
Creatures on the Loose I#21, p7, pan4 (headshot)
Monsters Unleashed I#8, p48, pan3 (falling, B&W)
Creatures on the Loose I#20, p4, pan6 (Chea)
Creatures on the Loose I#16, p4, pan3 (Hath)
Appearances:
Creatures on the Loose I#16/1 (March, 1972) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gil
Kane (pencils), Bill Everett (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#17/1 (May, 1972) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gil
Kane (pencils),
Sam Grainger (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#18/1 (July, 1972) - George Alec Effinger &
Gerry Conway (writers), Ross Andru (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Stan
Lee (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#19/1 (September, 1972) - George Alec Effinger
(writer), Wayne Boring & Gil Kane (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Roy
Thomas (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#20/1 (November, 1972) - George Alec Effinger
(writer), Gray Morrow (pencils/inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Creatures on the Loose I#21/1 (January, 1973) - George Alec Effinger
(writer), Gray Morrow (pencils/inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Monsters Unleashed I#4/5 (February, 1974) - Tony Isabella (writer),
Dave Cockrum (pencils/inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Monsters Unleashed I#8/5 (October 1974) - Tony Isabella & Doug
Moench (writers), George Perez (pencils), Duffy Vohland & Rich
Buckler (inks), Tony Isabella (editor)
First posted: 05/01/2018
Last updated: 05/01/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let
me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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