"YETI" race "YETI" race
Classification: Terrestrial "Hidden race"
Location/Base of Operations: A camp on the Himalayan mountains, which also contained their temple
Known Members: Unidentified but aged Yeti, others unidentified
Affiliations: Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), Elaine Simpson, Hiram Swenson;
mammoth god/demon
Enemies: Roger Grafton and his associates
Aliases: Abominable Snowmen, Snowmen
First Appearance: (Referenced only) Man-Thing II#2 (January, 1980);
Man-Thing II#3 (March, 1980)
Powers/Abilities: Covered in thick white hair, the Yeti/Snowmen were more tolerant of the frigid cold of the Himalayan mountains
The Yeti spoke, although not in any language known to modern man, but they also hissed and grunted.
Traits: They fought using clubs and they wore some sort of loincloth-type clothing. The aged Yeti wore some sort of cloak over his shoulders/torso (it was open in the front).
They also ate with bowls and used primitive tents (cloth suspended by sticks) for shelter.
They could make fire and carve sculptures into solid rock.
They had some type of religion centered around the worship of a mammoth god/demon.
The only Yeti/Snowmen seen had a masculine appearance (see comments).
Type: Bilaterally symmetric semi-humanoid bipeds
Eyes: Two (on head; apparently yellow color described)
Fingers: Four (plus opposing thumb)
Toes: Five
Skin color: Light brown
Average height: Approximately 5'6"?
History:
(Man-Thing
II#3 (fb) - BTS) - This specific group of beings described as both Snowmen and Yeti were apparently descended from a
group of Cro-Magnon men who migrated to a secluded valley in the
Himalayas approximately 30,000 years ago.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Worshiping a mammoth (see comments) god/demon, they made a temple within a cavern deep withing a mountain; they carved a large mammoth head into the rock.
They believed that eventually their mammoth god/demon would appear before them and sound a gong, which would signal the death knell of their people.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb)) <Approximately 20 years before the main story> - The Yeti found anthropologist Hiram Swenson, who had been brutally beaten and left for dead by "treacherous" Sherpa guides.
The Yeti brought Swenson back to their camp and slowly, patiently nursed him back to health.
The Yeti saved Swenson during an encounter with a large bear.
Swenson determined that the Snowmen were surviving descendants of Cro-Magnon man whose ancestors had likely migrated to the Himalayas.
Disgusted with modern society, Swenson elected to remain with the Snowmen, learning their language and their history.
(Man-Thing
II#2 - BTS) - Sherpas working with Russell Simpson -- along with his
wife, Elaine, and associate, Roger Grafton -- refused to take them any
farther up the Himalayas, warning them of Yeti and then fleeing.
Russell, Elaine, and Roger continued their search nonetheless.
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - The Snowmen approached as the Man-Thing -- who had been transported there by a device of Dr. Schechtman -- and Elaine Simpson emerged from a snowdrift that had collapsed on top of them.
(Man-Thing II#3) - The Snowmen confronted Man-Thing and Elaine, and when one of them grabbed her arms, the Man-Thing -- who perhaps was still residually affected by Dr. Oheimer's cerebral regenerative serum -- reacted to the strongly emotional Snowmen, smashing it and then lifting it into the air, leading a number of the Snowmen to attack him with their clubs while hissing and grunting. When one of the Snowmen rushed the fallen Elaine and threatened to club her; when the other Snowmen paused, waiting to see what the Man-Thing would do, and the lack of violence led the Man-Thing to pause as well.
Assuming the Man-Thing had surrendered, the Snowmen led him/it and Elaine for hours across the snowy wastes, and the Man-Thing willingly accompanied them. They eventually arrived at their camp, where the Snowmen brought their apparent captives to Hiram Swenson. After sharing his and the Snowmen's history with Elaine, Swenson ordered the Snowmen to take her and the Man-Thing to the ice pits, noting that they would die at midnight.
Pained by Swenson's madness, anger, etc., Man-Thing prepared to strike him, but was calmed by the aura of the "ancient one," an elderly Snowman. The Snowmen led the Man-Thing and Elaine down into the ice pit via a ladder, which they subsequently withdrew.
Hours after dusk, the "ancient one" approached the ice pit and lowered the ladder, leading the Man-Thing to scale the ladder and follow him a distance to a cleft in the rock, from which they entered a dark tunnel before arriving in an illuminated cavern, the temple of the "Yeti people."
Pointing to a sculpture of a mammoth head, the "ancient
one" dropped to his knees, showing reverence to the Man-Thing before
timidly reaching out to touch the Man-Thing's central root/snout,
apparently considering it to be like a trunk, and considering the
Man-Thing to be their ancient mammoth god.
After showing the Man-Thing their gong and motioning toward it repeatedly (and futilely, as the Man-Thing had no idea what he was trying to tell him), the ancient one took him back to the ice pit and bowed to him again before taking the ladder and departing.
At midnight, Swenson had the Snowmen lead the Man-Thing and Elaine back from the ice pit and then bind them to twin rocky projections (I'd call them stalagmites, but they didn't seem to be within a cave and/or formed from water/mineral dripping down from above) in preparation to execute them.
The aged Snowman interrupted Swenson's tirade, telling him that the Man-Thing was their mammoth god/demon and that his return signified the death knell of their culture.
Advising the aged Snowman that he was out of his mind, Swenson claimed that the Man-Thing was a creature of flesh and blood, a freak of nature brought there by Elaine to help bring about the capture of the Snowmen, and that they must destroy it.
The aged Snowman continued to argue, but Swenson struck him and told him to get out of his way, as Swenson believed what he was doing involved the salvation of the Yeti/Snowmen people.
Swenson then set fire to the ground at Elaine's feet and then the Man-Thing's, but he was immediately thereafter shot in the upper back (or neck) and apparently killed by Grafton and his men, who saw the Man-Thing as a yeti and wished to capture it in order to gain great wealth.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb) - BTS) - The aged Snowman dragged his gong from the cave to the vicinity of the conflict.
(Man-Thing
II#3) - Believing
the actual Yeti to be men wearing fur, Grafton told his men to
get rid of the "ugly geeks in the fur outfits" but not to hurt the
monster, which he wanted alive. 
The prevalent fear amongst the Snowmen
and Grafton's men agnonized the Man-Thing, causing it to ooze through
its bonds; he also freed Elaine, who calmed her fear by recalling how
the Man-Thing had seemingly saved her before. 
After Grafton and his men mowed down the Snowmen with their automatic weapons, the attackers' fear led the Man-Thing to go after them, and as the Man-Thing set the terrified Grafton aflame, the aged Snowman struck the gong with the last vestige of his strength.
Recognizing the sound and its significance, the surviving Snowmen held their heads and shouted out (apparently both in pain from the sound and lament at their end).
Meanwhile, the sound vibrations caused the frozen snow above to shatter and begin to fall down on them.
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - Some of Grafton's men took off in the previously readied airplane, and the Man-Thing grabbed and Elaine and the plane's landing gear and departed as well.
Comments: Created by Michael Fleischer, Jim Mooney, & Bob Wiacek
Snowmen is a much better name than Yeti, IMO. There are a lot of Yeti, Abominable Snowmen, etc. (see clarifications), and this group is just a small fragment.
Only masculine Yeti/Snowmen were seen. Presumably there were female Yeti, but:
There was so much unexplained about this story...I don't think Dr. Schechtman and his space warp / teleport device were ever followed up on. We met the Snowmen for barely an issue before they got wiped out. Swenson was shot and left for dead, and we never learned why those "treacherous sherpa" beat him and left him for dead. Chris Claremont took over as writer in #4, and so maybe Fleischer had more planned, but never got a chance to cover it? Who knows?
Regardless, there's no reason to think every single member of the Snowmen perished in that minor avalanche.
Cro-Magnon Man is believed to have been around 35,000 to 10,000 years ago, so the precursors of this "Yeti" group might have migrated to the Himalayas significantly less than 30,000 years ago.
Mammoths vs. Mastodons: The terms were used interchangeable in this
story. The narrative specifically notes a "wooly mammoth" and the
sculpture shown looks more like a mammoth to me. Swenson refers to
their god as "Mastadon demon" <sic>; he was an anthropologist,
but was also crazy, so I'd consider his reference to be in error.
The most obvious difference to me is that Mammoths have heads shaped
much like a modern elephant, while Mastodons have that large bump on
the top of their head. You can google Mammoths vs. Mastodons for a
discussion of the differences.
The whole deal with Roger Grafton and Russell and Elaine Simpson -- with Roger seeking a relationship with Elaine and then killing Russell -- reminded me of the story of Harold Meachum and Wendell and Heather Rand (from Iron Fist's origin). I'll leave profiles on Grafton and the Simpsons for later, and/or for someone else.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Yeti should be distinguished from:
aged yeti
(aka the "ancient one," "ancient yeti," "old yeti," "old man")
His name unrevealed, he was presumably the shaman and/or historian for the group. He may have been their leader, before his authority was apparently usurped by Hiram Swenson.
He apparently maintained the Temple of the Yeti people, and he likely worshipped before the sculpture of their mammoth-god.
Whether he had any more advanced level of intelligence or abilities than the average "Yeti" is unrevealed, but he is the only one who did not blindly follow the orders of Hiram Swenson.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb)) <Approximately 20 years before the main story> - The Yeti, apparently including the aged yeti, found anthropologist Hiram Swenson, who had been brutally beaten and left for dead by "treacherous" Sherpa guides.
The Yeti brought Swenson back to their camp and slowly, patiently nursed him back to health.
(Man-Thing II#3) - When a group of "Yeti" brought the Man-Thing (and Elaine Simpson) to their camp, the aged yeti was instantly struck by the Man-Thing's face's central root, which reminded him of the trunk of their mammoth god.
Pained by Swenson's madness, anger, etc., Man-Thing prepared to strike Swenson, but was calmed by the aura of the "old yeti," leaning on his gnarled staff and watching through eyes "as translucent as yellow ice."
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - The Snowmen led the Man-Thing and Elaine down into the ice pit via a ladder, which they subsequently withdrew.
(Man-Thing II#3) - Hours after dusk, the "ancient one" approached the ice pit and lowered the ladder, leading the Man-Thing to scale the ladder and follow the "ancient yeti" a distance to a cleft in the rock, from which they entered a dark tunnel before arriving in an illuminated cavern, the "Temple of the Yeti People."
After pointing to a sculpture of a mammoth head, the "old man" dropped to his knees, showing reverence to the Man-Thing before timidly reaching out to touch the Man-Thing's central root/snout, apparently considering it to be like a trunk, and considering the Man-Thing to be their ancient mammoth god.
After showing the Man-Thing their gong and motioning toward it repeatedly (and futilely, as the Man-Thing had no idea what he was trying to tell him), the aged yeti took the Man-Thing back to the ice pit and bowed to him again before taking the ladder and departing. 
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - At midnight, Swenson had the Man-Thing and Elaine led back from the ice pit and then bound them to twin rocky projections in preparation to execute them.
(Man-Thing II#3) - The aged Snowman interrupted Swenson's tirade, telling him that the Man-Thing was their mammoth god/demon and that his return signified the death knell of their culture.
Advising the aged Snowman that he was out of his mind, Swenson claimed that the Man-Thing was a freak of nature brought there by Elaine to help bring about the capture of the Snowmen, and that they must destroy it. The aged Snowman continued to argue, but Swenson struck him and told him to get out of his way, as Swenson believed what he was doing involved the salvation of the Yeti/Snowmen people.
Swenson was subsequently apparently killed by Grafton and his men, who saw the Man-Thing as the only actual yeti and had his men mow down the Yeti/Snowmen.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb) - BTS) - The aged Snowman dragged his gong from the temple to the vicinity of the conflict.
(Man-Thing II#3) - As the Man-Thing slew Grafton, the aged Snowman struck the gong with the last vestige of his strength.
Recognizing the sound and its signifiance, the surviving Snowmen held their heads and shouted out (apparently both in pain from the sound and lament at their end). Meanwhile, the sound vibrations caused the frozen snow above to shatter and begin to fall down on them.
--Man-Thing II#3
The Yeti People dwelled in tents on wooden poles, perhaps indicating they were somewhat nomadic...
...although they did have their Temple, so perhaps they stayed within or at least returned to a limited distance from their temple.
--Man-Thing II#3
The ancestors of the Yeti/Snowmen apparently worshipped (or at least believed in legends of) some sort of mammoth god/demon.
They believed that eventually their mammoth god/demon would appear before them and sound a gong, which would signal the death knell of their people.
The Yeti/Snowmen carved the likeness of their god's head into a stone sculpture they kept in their Temple.
When the Man-Thing was brought to the Yeti camp, the aged Yeti saw him as an avatar of their god and brought him to their temple and showed him their gong. The Man-Thing failed to understand what was being shown.
Ultimately, when Roger Grafton
--Man-Thing II#3
Benat (with an accent over the "e," as seen in the word balloon in the bottom left of the image) is apparently the word for this god, or for mammoth....
I'm not sure who this mammoth god/demon would be. Ganesha is an elephant god, of course.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb) - BTS) <Approximately 20 years before the main story> - Anthropologist Hiram Swenson was on a trip to the Himalayan mountain when, for reasons unrevealed, he was allegedly brutally beaten and left for dead by "treacherous" Sherpa guides.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb)) - A group of "Yeti/Snowmen" found Swenson.
The Yeti/Snowmen brought Swenson back to their camp and slowly, patiently nursed him back to health.
(Man-Thing II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Disgusted with modern society's "wars, crime, and its frantic cultivation with horrors in the name of progress," Swenson elected to remain with the Snowmen. He learned to understand (and perhaps speak) their language, and he learned something of their history.
Swenson determined that the Snowmen were surviving descendants of Cro-Magnon man whose ancestors had likely migrated to that secluded valley in the Himalayas 30,000 years ago.
(Man-Thing II#3) - The Snowmen encountered the Man-Thing, who had been transported there by a device of Dr. Schechtman; and Elaine Simpson, who had come there as part of an expedition seeking to find the Yeti.
Leading these two to
their camp, the Snowmen
brought their apparent captives to Hiram Swenson. After sharing his and
the Snowmen's history with Elaine, Swenson ordered the Snowmen to take
her and the Man-Thing to the ice pits, noting that they would die at
midnight.
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - Pained by Swenson's madness, anger, etc., Man-Thing prepared to strike him, but was calmed by the aura of the elderly Snowman. The Snowmen led the Man-Thing and Elaine down into the ice pit via a ladder.
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - At midnight, Swenson had the Snowmen lead the Man-Thing and Elaine back from the ice pit and then bind them to twin rocky projections in preparation to execute them. The aged Snowman interrupted Swenson's tirade, telling him that the Man-Thing was their mammoth god/demon and that his return signified the death knell of their culture.
Advising the aged Snowman that he was out of his mind, Swenson claimed that the Man-Thing was a creature of flesh and blood, a freak of nature brought there by Elaine to help bring about the capture of the Snowmen, and that they must destroy it. The aged Snowman continued to argue, but Swenson struck him and told him to get out of his way, as Swenson believed what he was doing involved the salvation of the Yeti/Snowmen people.
Swenson then set fire to the ground at Elaine's feet and then the Man-Thing's, but he was immediately thereafter shot in the upper back (or neck) and apparently killed by Roger Grafton and his men, who saw the Man-Thing as a yeti and wished to capture it in order to gain great wealth.
(Man-Thing II#3 - BTS) - After Grafton and his men mowed down the Yeti/Snowmen with their automatic weapons, the aged Yeti sounded the gong, the sound vibrations of which caused the frozen snow above to shatter and begin to fall down on them.
--Man-Thing II#3
Note: Swenson was crazy.
We don't know why he was beaten and left for dead by the Sherpa.
By executing the Man-Thing and Elaine Simpson, he intended to prove to these outsiders that...something...he was interrupted by the aged yeti...
The Yeti people had a temple accessed via cleft in the mountain wall and then down through a small tunnel.
Numerous flaming bowls/braziers lit the temple, which contained drawing of some sort of hoofstock (perhaps their primary food source), as well as a stone-carved sculpture of the head of their mammoth god/demon, and the gong that they believed their god would eventually return to and strike to signify the death knell of their people.
--Man-Thing II#3
images: (without ads)
Man-Thing II#3, pg. 5, panel 1 (Snowman with club raised over Elaine);
pg. 6, panel 2 (camp);
panel 4 (Snowmen find fallen Swenson);
panel 5 (Swenson without hat/hood);
pg. 7, panel 1 (vs. bear?);
pg. 8, panel 1 (aged Snowman; face);
pg. 9, panel 5 (entering cleft);
pg. 11, panel 1 (temple of Yeti people);
panel 2 (mammoth god sculpture);
panel 5 (gong);
pg. 13, panel 1 (Swenson, calves up);
panel 5 (Swenson, showing boots, striking aged Snowman);
pg. 14, panel 3 (Swenson shot);
pg. 15, panel 5 (Snowmen shot);
pg. 17, panel 3 (aged Snowman sounding gong);
panel 4 (Snowmen in agony/lament);
pg. 18, panel 1 ("avalanche")
Appearances:
Man-Thing
II#2 (January, 1980) - Michael Fleischer (script), Jim Mooney
(penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief)
Man-Thing II#3 (March, 1980) - Michael Fleischer (script), Jim Mooney (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
First posted: 07/25/2018
Last updated: 07/25/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Hiram 
