CAXON OIL COMPANYCAXON OIL COMPANY
Membership: Mr. Caxon (owner), Devon Caxon (and possibly her bodyguard), Gerald Mills, two unidentified men sent to murder Linda Lee Black, unidentified house doctor, Mills and Miss Caxon's driver
Purpose: Profit, at least
Aliases: Caxon Oil Co.
Affiliations: Unidentified third world country;
formerly Captain Barkan and his pier guard
Enemies: Captain Barkan, Linda Lee Black and her sister, Blackbyrd (Nathaniel Alexander Byrd), Abraham "Abe" Brown
Base of Operations: Presumably various, including an office in Albuquerque, New Mexico
First Appearance: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (May, 1975)History:
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Caxon apparently transported the
radioactive material it was bringing into the country to a warehouse on
Manhattan's Lower East's docks/wharf. Caxon also allegedly made a deal with "some tiny third world country" to receive a load of
illegal plutonium in exchange for helping plan a revolution in that
country. 
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Miss Caxon posed as the companion/secretary of Gerald Mills, director of operations at a Caxon Oil Company office in New Mexico.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Traveling to the Lower East Side's docks at midnight, Blackbyrd explained that Linda Lee's notes identified the warehouse they were investigating as the site to which Caxon Oil Company was dumping a lot of the radioactive material it was bringing into the country. He further noted that Caxon's deal with "some tiny third world country" to receive a load of illegal plutonium in exchange for helping plan a revolution in that country.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Mills and Caxon arrived at the docks, and Blackbyrd got closer to hear/see what was going on.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - After Mills and "Miss Devon" had been escorted inside, Blackbyrd unthinkingly coughed and drew a pair of guards' attention, but Abe swiftly drop kicked the two men, and Abe and Blackbyrd finished the pair off, without anyone inside noticing.
They then listened inside as...
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Captain Barkan told Mills that this operation had cost him quite a bit of grief, and while he acknowledged that he had been well payed for it, he further noted that he had considered that some folk would pay an awful lot to hear of the smuggling and other operations they were conducting.
After the sweating and desperate Mills turned to his "secretary," asked what they could do and noted they would have to give them more money, Devon drew a gun on Captain Barkan, telling him he had made a foolish move and should have accepted the agreed-upon arrangement. She then shot Barkan in the head, presumably fatally.
Devon then instructed the shocked mills that the plutonium was aboard the tanker and that their men were ready to cast off. She then ordered him to make sure that no trace of this place was left for anyone who might come looking.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Sending Abe after Devon, Blackbyrd went after Mills, who turned and fired on him.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Climbing a ladder down the end of the pier, Devon entered and then took off in a motorboat. When Abe leapt off the pier and onto Devon's boat, she sent her bodyguard to kill him, but Abe easily outmaneuvered the man, knocking him overboard.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2
(fb) - BTS) - Taking a nasty wound in his right arm from Mills,
Blackbyrd's shot apparently subdued Mills non-fatally and prevented him
from setting fire to the warehouse.
Blackbyrd contacted the Harbor Patrol / US Coast
Guard (see comments), who came to the warehouse. Mills agreed to reveal what he knew
if the Harbor Patrol kept Blackbyrd from coming after him again.
Blackbyrd boarded the Coast Guard ship as it went after Devon's boat.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Devon fired her gun at Abe, but a roll of the boat had thrown off her aim enough that she had only shot him in the arm. Before she could fire again, she was blinded by a light from a Harbor Patrol ship (see comments), and the authorities on board told her to lay down her weapon, as she was under arrest.
Refusing to accept this, she began firing futilely at the Harbor Patrol ship, and before Abe could act on his desire to stop her, a wave tossed the boat enough to knock her overboard. Abe yelled to her to swim to safety, but she noted that she had broken her leg, and then she screamed in vain as the Harbor Patrol ship apparently ran right into her.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Coast Guard (see comments) apparently got the plutonium-loaded tanker.
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - After Abe had boarded the Coast Guard ship, he noted how the case
had been wrapped up, but Blackbyrd had his doubts as he feared there
was still deep-seated government corruption, although he hoped otherwise.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, George Perez, & Rico Rival.
She was first referred to as "Miss Devon," and then later revealed to be "Miss Caxon." So, we know that her last name was Caxon and that she wasn't married, but we don't know for sure that her first name was Devon...for the purpose of this profile, I've ASSumed that it was, but we all know what it means to assume, and that first name is not official until it sees print...
There is no confirmation that her corpse was recovered, so it is very possible that Miss Caxon survived.
While Roxxon had already appeared in 1974, it wasn't the main oil/corrupt corporation of the Marvel Universe at that time...and so, this story had Caxon...all plays on Exxon and/or other oil companies...
The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#12 story was supposed to take place on April Fool's Day (it also said 1975, but the year is certainly topical).
The story repeatedly refers to the power plants' process as nuclear FUSION (combing smaller atoms into larger ones). I'm no nuclear physicist, but my understanding is that nuclear power plants use nuclear fission (splitting larger atoms into smaller ones)...especially in the 1970s.
While the person on the ship calling out to Miss Caxon identified his or her group to be the Harbor Patrol, the ship that Blackbyrd and Abe subsequently boarded was labeled "US Coast Guard." I know they are different, the first a branch of the police department and the second a branch of the US military, but I'm just reporting what was stated in-story. Perhaps both were involved.
The states that border New Mexico are Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado.
Most white people in the Sons of the Tiger series, especially authority figures like police, were racist. Not a stretch given the realities of how life was in the mid-1970s in the USA, but it just seems to be overdone. Maybe I was too young to appreciate it, as I was only born in 1970...
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Caxon Oil Company has no known connections to:
| Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Caxon Oil Company and its owner allegedly owned most of America's wealth. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Caxon's owner told his daughter, Devon (see comments), that directors were a dime a dozen. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Presumably under Mr. Caxon's direction, Caxon Oil Company apparently transported the radioactive material it was bringing into the country to a warehouse on Manhattan's Lower East's docks/wharf. Caxon also allegedly made a deal with "some tiny third world country" to receive a load of illegal plutonium in exchange for helping plan a revolution in that country. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - As Devon joined Mills in traveling to Manhattan's Lower East side docks to secure a deal with Captain Barkan for a shipment of plutonium, Mr. Caxon told her that there were to be no witnesses of any criminal activities in which she was involved. --Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2Note: I'm not sure he was referred to as Mr. Caxon in the story, but as he was the head of Caxon Oil Company and his daughter was Miss Caxon, it follows... There's no evidence that Mr. Caxon was brought to justice for his crimes. We haven't seen him on panel, nor has he even received a first name. But he was powerful, influential, corrupt, and criminal.... Perhaps it is an untold story of Blackbyrd and/or Abe Brown that they brought down Caxon's CEO...maybe that's why we never heard from him again... |
 (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Working out a Caxon Oil Company-owned New Mexico factory that
processed highly radioactive
materials for use in other nuclear power plants, the house doctor examined Linda Lee Black after she collapsed.He informed her that she was contaminated, which she correctly interpreted as meaning she was dying. As he offered his sympathies, she yelled "Bull!" and ran out of the room. --Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 |
 | (Deadly
Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2
(fb) - BTS) - Mills and/or Devon Caxon apparently learned of Linda
Lee's survival and intent, and they sent a pair of Caxon Oil co. agents
to kill her. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - As Linda Lee took a bus to New York, her sister called and hired Blackbyrd to keep an eye on her as she traveled to the United Nations (UN) building to give them a folder containing her notes on the unsafe radiation practices of a plant owned by Caxon Oil Company. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#12/2) <April 1 (see comments)> - Pursued by Caxon's killers and rushing through Manhattan's Time Square, Linda Lee passed by both Blackbyrd, who was following her, and the otherwise unaware Sons of the Tiger member Abe Brown. Before either of them could appreciate what was happening, Linda Lee was shot twice in the chest on 42nd Street by a pair of agents of Caxon Oil. |  |
 | (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#12/2) - Abe
Brown subdued one of the shooters, but backed off when the other man held
him at gunpoint. However, when the gunman tried to run off, Blackbyrd
shot him down, apparently fatally. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#12/2 - BTS) - Before dying, Linda Lee gave her folder to Blackbyrd. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#12/2) - The arriving police officer decided he had a prime suspect in the man Abe had stunned, knocking the other Caxon agent out with his nightstick. --Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 Note: The guy with the gun warned Abe that if he didn't back off, he'd have more holes in him than Albert Hall, "if you know the tune." In case you don't get it, that's a reference to the Beatles "A Day in the Life." You can look it up if you want more details. |  |
 (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Gerald Mills and Devon Caxon's driver drove them to the docks in a dark car that arrived silently as Blackbyrd watched from a close distance. As Mills and Miss Caxon approached the ship, a man greeted them, noting that the skipper had been waiting over an hour and was plenty raw about it. Mills replied that the money they had paid their skipper should
have been enough to soothe his nerves, and he instructed the sailor to
show them in. When the sailor was concerned about "the lady," Mills instructed him that "Miss Devon" was to come with him, as she was "my -- eh -- secretary. You understand, sailor?" "Miss Devon" smiled as the sailor's eyes roved freely over her, and the two men exchanged a wink of understanding... (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - After Mills and "Miss Devon" had been escorted inside, Blackbyrd unthinkingly coughed and drew a pair of guards' attention. However, Abe swiftly drop kicked the two men, and Abe and Blackbyrd finished the pair off, without anyone inside noticing. --Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2Note: The Pier guard was not an employee of Caxon, but as his best images are in the same panels as the driver, and because neither one of them is identified by name., I just included them in one sub-profile. |
images: (without ads)
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2, pg. 1, panel 7 (shooting Linda Lee Black):
pg. 2, panel 1 (Abe tackling killers);
panel 3 (Abe kicking brown-haired killer);
panel 8 (other killer holding Abe at gunpoint);
panel 10 (other killer shot by Blackbyrd);
pg. 4, panel 7 (cop clubbing first killer);
pg. 5, panel 1 (Albuquerque, New Mexico factory, exterior);
panel 2 (Albuquerque security);
panel 5 (house doctor);
pg. 7, panel 2 (billboard);
pg. 8, panel 7 (pier guard and Mills' driver as Mills and Miss Caxon arrive);
pg. 9, panel 4 (pier guard and Mills' driver reacting to Blackbyrd)
Appearances:
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (May, 1975) - Bill
Mantlo (writer), George Perez (penciler), Rico Rival (inker), John
Warner (assistant editor), David Kraft (associate editor), Archie
Goodwin (editor)
First posted: 12/13/2021
Last updated: 12/13/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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