Number 2099: The Jaguar and the Sea Circe

The Jaguar, part of the Archie Adventure Series, seems very tame. Ralph Hardy is a zoologist, and as the Jaguar is ruler of all beasts. Any thrills from that must have been seriously muted by the Comics Code, which kept any real dangerous stuff out of most comic book stories. For instance, in “The Sea Circe from Space!” sex is part of the plot, yet so mild it barely registers. The Sea Circe is in a one-piece swimsuit-styled costume, and has definite sex appeal, but her animal magnetism does not seem to work on the ruler of all animals, Ralph the Jaguar. He chooses not to go off with the Sea Circe and rule the universe.

They are on an island, far from his home. Did he think he might at least invite her to his room? Apparently not. Oh, noble Ralph.

The story was written by Jaguar creator Robert Bernstein, and the artwork is by comic book journeyman, John Rosenberger.

From Adventures of the Jaguar #3 (1961):

Number 1893: The Jaguar and the Fourth-Dimensional Force

The Jaguar was a character who, as Toonopedia says, was basically cut from the same cloth as the Fly. They were both published by Archie in another attempt to introduce some superheroes into their line.* I didn’t buy The Fly after Simon and Kirby left (and especially when the Fly became — ugh! — Flyman). I bought a couple of issues of Adventures of the Jaguar, but probably because they had pretty girls on the covers.

John Rosenberger, who drew the feature, was not an artist I associated with superheroes. Robert Bernstein, who created and wrote the Jaguar stories, was a journeyman scripter who wrote a lot for DC. And in reading this story from Adventures of the Jaguar #3 (1961), it has some of the same genial goofiness I expect in DC Comics of that period.

*I haven’t forgottten that when Archie Comics were born as MLJ Comics, their early line was made up of superheroes, including the Shield, the Wizard, Black Hood, Hangman, and several others. When they revived those characters as the Mighty Heroes in the mid-sixties I believe they failed because of the art, and presenting the characters as “camp.”