Zago, Jungle Prince
Entry updated 26 January 2026. Tagged: Character, Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1948-1949). Fox Publications, Inc. 4 issues. Artists include Matt Baker, Jack Kamen and Bob Webb. Script writers include Myron Fass. 36 pages, with 3-4 long strips and a short text story, plus short pieces as filler.
Zago is one of the many Tarzan clones that populated this era's comics; he even has his Jane, here called Wana. #1 opens with Morris and Ellen, "a Scientist and his ambitious wife [at] work on a fantastic experiment", the latter exclaiming, "We'll win the world with this! By our own wits too!" "This" is a Robot, whose effectiveness is tested by having it murder a local tribesman. Proof gained, Ellen kills Morris: "You know you're a little too old to rule the world." Wana has been watching and tells Zago, who – after initial difficulties – defeats Ellen's robots when he realizes metal spears disorientate them (presumably a result of Magnetism). Ellen somehow fits inside one of the robots, arguably making it a Mecha. #2 has three Zago stories: in one an "insane maiden" brews a solution that sets lions aflame but does not harm them, another features sadistic mermaids, and the third has a tribe build a fake sea Monster to acquire another's hunting grounds. In #4 a Scientist decides to test his rain-making invention (see Weather Control) by having a local woman pretend to be the rain-making Red Witch; in another story a tribe of female warriors briefly appears; the third (like the two Zago stories in #3) has no major genre elements.
#1 includes a Blue Beetle (see Blue Beetle) story and a reprinted Toni Luck tale from Atomic Comics #4 (1946), the latter involving a Japanese plan to launch city-destroying rockets at the USA (including New York) from the "island of Nicobar", suggesting advanced Technology as that island chain is in the Indian Ocean. "The Girl Who Bribed Death" (#4) has a rich, entitled American couple, worried by the threat of nuclear war (see Cold War), depart for the African interior to build and reside in a bomb shelter; lessons are learned about their duty to others and their country, but they die.
Fox Publications featured several Tarzan-like characters, the male Jo-Jo and Zago and the female Rulah (see Rulah, Jungle Goddess) and Zegra (see Zegra, Jungle Empress). Unusually, the African villages in all these series are populated by black males and white females, with romantic and parental connections stated (see Race in SF), and are too consistently applied to be colouring errors. Possibly this is linked to the prominently featuring of women throughout, with – as they are usually young and in bikinis – Fan Service rather than Feminism being clearly the intent. [SP]
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