Bear-Men

BEAR-MEN

Class: Parallel Earth (Earth-AD) animal mutant

Known Representatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Washington, Earth-AD

First Appearance: Kamandi #8 (August, 1973)

Powers: The Bear-Men were intelligent, evolved bears who possessed great strength, fangs and claws. They were armed with fire-bombs.

History: (Kamandi #8) - In the aftermath of the nuclear Great Disaster most of humanity perished, and the majority of survivors devolved into feral savages, while animals evolved intelligence. The Bear-Men lived in the wilderness outside Washington Zuu, city of the Lion-People, and made their living as looters. They found the human boy Kamandi asleep in a crashed train, and tried to abduct him, but they were chased off by his friends Ben Boxer and Renzi.

(Kamandi #13, 14) - Tiger-Men, Lion-Men, Gorilla-Men, Wolf-Men, Bear-Men and Rat-Men all attended Sacker's Sweeps, a race pitting humans against each other where failure to win meant death. Kamandi was forced by Sacker to race Kliklak, a giant insect, who was wounded during the race. Kamandi tried to tend to his wounds, crying out for a doctor. The crowd taunted him, demanding action, and Kamandi cursed them for their cruelty. Kamandi's rival Bull Bantam, mounted on a gigantic buffalo, lassoed Kamandi. Prince Tuftan was in attendance, and shot the lasso, freeing Kamandi to the boos of the crowd. Kamandi beat Bull to a pulp, winning the race, and was presented with prizes by a group of women, and he realized he was being treated like a thoroughbred. Spirit embraced Kamandi saying she was his, but Kamandi was furious, telling her humans were neither animals nor prizes, and the Leopard-Men silenced him with a rifle butt to the head, and he was dragged away.

(Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12 (BTS)) - Earth-AD was erased from existence by the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby