Truly Gone & Forgotten : Koroo the Black Lion

Koroo the Black Lion
Creator unknown
Appears in Cyclone Comics #1-5 (1940)

He stalks the unknowable jungles, king of the savage land beyond civilization. Superstitious man fears him as a terrible predator, but among the beasts of the dense and endless forest, he is “monarch of all he surveys!” He is KOROO, THE BLACK LION, and he’s in danger -- of becoming a backup character in his own strip.

The Wreck of the Medusa, with Lion (1819)

Appearing in five subsequent issues of Cyclone Comics in 1940, Koroo was an oddity among an increasingly superhero-laden shelf. 

Featuring a protagonist who couldn’t -- and needn’t --  speak put Koroo in company with a very small coterie of similar animal acts (Fiction House’s “Simba” was a longer-lived variation on the theme, although he didn’t boast Koroo’s cool paintjob). 

While other animal acts in comics were largely of the explicitly anthropomorphic variety, Koroo hewed a little closer to the adventures suitable for Tarzan. A terse and brutal introduction featured little more than the black lion hunting prey and killing a rival predator. 

King of the Wabizi jungles, Koroo was the hero in a world where nature was the law and men were the villain -- white men, in particular, and invariably hunters or trappers.

What a cliffhanger!

When Koroo eventually encounters a trio of hunters encamped in his domain, it actually goes poorly -- until the arrival of Tira, a character I think we can best understand as being a genuinely weird chick. 

Described as “The strange white goddess of the Wabizi,” Tira aids Koroo in his war against poachers and subsequently exhibits some nearly-supernatural influence over him. 

Tira also boasts influence over an entire menagerie of other jungle beasts, all of whom have signed up with her army: Her ape general Gobo, Moku the baboon, Heeta the panther, the snake Sith, a monkey named Kiko, an ostrich named Roger, Bauble the octopus, Snitchy the chameleon, the Polar Bear Twins, Slimy the Vomiting Capybara and a sort-of centaur where the horse part is a zebra and the man part is a penguin and it's called Pebra. 

I started making those up about halfway through the list. For fun, see if you can figure out where the fictional animals began! Hint: It was Roger.

Living up to her promise to appoint a diverse Cabinet.

Quickly, Tira’s problems become the focus of the strip and Koroo is relegated to lieutenant status in his own feature. 

Nonetheless he signs on to Tira’s war against The White Man, which I totally ‘get,’ I really do. 

Tira’s backstory becomes increasingly important to the strip as well. Stepdaughter of a vicious monkey-trapper named Black Burton, Tira flees his vile boat full of caged monkeys, taking many monkeys with her. 

From there, she works her ass off, really putting in the hours. Then, after a few positive performance reviews, and a little time in a management training mentorship program, she finally graduates from Friend of Monkeys to Queen of the Whole Jungle!

Koroo had to take a leak and missed some plot points.

The ultimate battle wraps up as Black Burton reappears, killing the ape general Gobo, while two of the white hunters have thrown his lot in with Tira and her animal army. Koroo earns back his masthead, last seen leaping from a precarious branch and descending on the river vessel which carries Black Burton and his men. I assume Koroo gives them a good talking-to.

* * * 

Thanks to the Digital Comics Museum for scanning, uploading and making available these comics. Please visit and support Digital Comics Museum.