(Kamandi #14, 15, 17) - Prince Tuftan, Doctor Canus and a retinue of Tiger-Men guards attended Sacker's Sweeps, a race pitting humans against each other to the death. Kamandi and his rival Bull Bantam were the final two contestants, and Bull lassoed his foe, dragging him along the racetrack. Tuftan couldn't bear to see his friend hurt and shot the lasso, snapping it. The crowd booed him, and he and his entourage were forced to leave the stadium. Kamandi won the race, but Sacker had enough of Kamandi's antics, and had him locked up in a gas chamber. Tuftan used all his influence to barter with Sacker for Kamandi's freedom. Sacker made final arrangements with Doctor Canus, and Kamandi asked about the trade and where Sacker was sending them, but the snake refused to dignify him with conversation. Kamandi told him snakes used to live beneath humans, but Sacker thought him mad. Tuftan and his men set off with Kamandi, bound for Washington, DC to find the pre-Disaster relics the Watergate Tapes, which Sacker wanted in his possession. Carolina and Virginia were barren wastelands, and Washington appeared the same as they stopped at the ruins of the capitol. Gorilla-Men lived beneath the capitol, having developed a cult around the Watergate Tapes, and they kidnapped Tuftan and Canus. In their underground lair they prepared to execute the duo, accusing them of trying to take the voices of the spirits in the tapes away from them. Kamandi and the Tiger-Men soldiers fought their way to the lair, and the battle left the capitol in flames. The cultists were using the tapes, amplified through a machine to blast Tuftan and Canus with sonics, but Kamandi shot the machine, disabling it. The remaining apes fled, and Kamandi found that most of the tapes were broken, making them useless. Kamandi was lost in the fog of war as the Gorilla-Men army began overwhelming the Tiger-Men, and Tuftan, after consulting with Dr. Canus, decided Kamandi was beyond his help. He couldn't risk more of his soldier's lives, so he called them off and fled.

(Kamandi #31) - Prince Tuftan, his Tiger-Men soldiers and Dr. Canus were out exploring the ocean when Canus spotted a small sandy island. They departed Great Caesar’s flagship on a motorboat and made ground where Canus was the first to run into Kamandi and the giant Ben Boxer. Canus was pleasantly surprised that Kamandi still lived. Ben picked up Canus, only releasing him when Kamandi pleaded with him. Ben soon grew restless and released an energy bolt from his eyes. Kamandi and Canus dodged the blast, which turned the sand around them into glass, and watched the mutate Ben, who didn’t seem to be in control of himself any longer, wander off. Kamandi explained how they’d been abducted in a UFO piloted by “Me,” an alien enrgy being whose strange energy had mutated Ben. He led the eager Dr. Canus to the UFO, and Canus immediately set about exploring the wonder from space when Tuftan and his men encountered Ben, tossing explosives at him before being forced to flee. Tuftan grabbed Kamandi, claiming he was rescuing him, and the sped back to the flagship. Tuftan commanded his mean to ready their arms and bombard the island, but Kamandi didn’t want to see his friend hurt, and warned him that Caesar would be displeased if Canus died due to Tuftan’s hotheadedness. Canus met “Me” in the UFO, and the being showed that it could exist as a single entity or multiple ones, and Canus realized “Me” had fused part of itself to Ben, controlling him. Ben continued to grow larger and walked along the ocean floor until he reached Caesar’s flagship, at which point Tuftan ordered his men to fire. Kamandi thought Tuftan was acting big for his boots for a teenage prince, but Tuftan assured him he’d left childish ways behind, and was no longer a hip teen but his father’s very son. Ben nearly capsized the boat before emanating glowing energy, returning to the island and shrinking to normal size as “Me” left his body. Dr. Canus had convinced “Me” to cease hostilities, and said it had nothing to fear from them.

(Kamandi #32-34) - Canus introduced “Me” and the entity said it wished to return home, turning aggressive and firing bolts of energy and demanding Tuftan and Kamandi find its’ home until Canus calmed it down. Tuftan disliked being disrespected by an lien, but after sharing a laugh with Kamandi he broke his seriousness for a moment to say he missed his former carefree life. He was loyal to his father, the king, but the responsibilities of war and conquest were quite grim to him. A fleet of Gorilla-Men commandos, led by Ramjam, attacked Great Caesar’s flagship. Ramjam and some of his commandos used the distraction to storm the island and fire a concussion grenade that left Tuftan and company unconscious. Ramjam wanted Tuftan taken hostage and told his men to look for Dr. Canus, who’d returned to the UFO. Kamandi revived and began running to warn Canus. One of the commandos tried to catch him, but Ramjam ordered him to back off, saying they weren’t on the island to hunt animals. Kamandi found Canus tinkering with one of the UFO’s machines and Canus used the UFO’s scanner to show Kamandi the galaxy “Me” came from. Canus knew “Me” would help them defeat the gorilla commandos because they’d struck a bargain. Canus had promised to manufacture a physical body for “Me.” Ramjam and his men discovered the UFO and demanded admittance, but Canus was not intimidated. “Me” fused its’ energy with beach sand to create a temporary body. The sand being blasted the gorillas with sand and lightning until Ramjam surrendered. Tuftan and Ben had recovered and made mincemeat of their guards. They took Ramjam and his men prisoner and went to assist the flagship in fighting off the remaining commandos while Kamandi and Canus staid behind to help “Me.” Tuftan, his soldiers and Ben Boxer fought fiercely against the Gorilla Men, driving them off after a bloody battle. Tuftan’s Tiger-Men dragged Ramjam from the prisoner’s hold and the gorilla promised his men would return, rescue him and massacre them. Tuftan tied Ramjam to a post, put dynamite around his neck, and said that if the Gorilla-Men attacked him again he’d light the explosives and push Ramjam overboard. Ben was horrified with Tuftan’s grisly idea, but Tuftan said he’d do whatever it took to keep more of his men from dying. Dr. Canus explained the process he was going to use to create a body for “Me.” A conversion chamber would transform “Me’s” energy into mass, and because “Me” had taken a liking to Kamandi, he had been chosen as a template from which “Me” would create its’ body. The process worked, and “Me” began to emerge from the chamber. “Me” admired her new form, that of a red-skinned, blonde-haired female. Kamandi wondered why a superior species would want an Earthly body, and Canus said he had no answer for Kamandi’s question, which worried him, as did the fact that she wouldn’t reveal why she was on Earth in the first place. She struggled to control her new body and tripped. Kamandi remarked to Canus that she was helpless in a corporal body, enraging her. She blasted them with flames which they barely dodged, and Canus named her Pyra for pyromaniac. Pyra demanded they stay put while she went away by herself to master her new body. Kamandi and Canus kept an eye of Caesar’s flagship, wondering if another attack was imminent. Ben Boxer continued to try and talk Tuftan out of his bloody plan, but the prince would not be gainsaid. The gorilla fleet returned with an armored rammer, and threatened to cut the flagship in two and kill every man aboard if Tuftan didn’t surrender. Tuftan presented Ramjam, threatening to blow him sky high. Watching from the shore Kamandi decided to take action. Canus and Kamandi commandeered Pyra’s UFO which they piloted mentally. Pyra saw them flying off, yelling that it was too dangerous for them to fly her spacecraft without her. They buzzed the Gorilla-Men, drawing their fire, and this distraction allowed Ben Boxer to untie Ramjam, who immediately dove overboard, swimming away as Tuftan tried to shoot him. Tuftan was enraged, but Ben stood by his actions. Pyra arrived, melting the armored rammer and raining fire down on the Gorilla-Men, who fled. Pyra took back mental control of her UFO, and after a surge of energy Pyra, the UFO and it’s former pilots vanished into thin air.

(Kamandi #35) - Pyra explored space in her UFO, and Canus started to panic. He was as scientifically curious as ever, but being in space at Pyra’s mercy gave him anxiety, and when Kamandi started bad-mouthing Pyra Canus begged him to be quiet. Pyra spotted Soyuz X, a Soviet Union spacecraft that Kamandi knew must have been launched before the Great Disaster. They boarded the vessel and found it a wreck, having been hit with shockwaves and radiation during the Great Disaster. There was a living cosmonaut who’d survived the shockwaves by using his knowledge of yoga to put himself in a catatonic state. Pyra revived him, and the cosmonaut Leonid Vassilov revealed himself as a mutated amorphous creature. His last orders had been to launch an orbital bomb at Earth if he believed the US was at war with the USSR and he was determined to carry out his mission. He attacked Canus and Kamandi, but a burst of flame from Pyra forced him to retreat. Pyra found the craft’s recording of Vassilov witnessing the Great Disaster from space, and when Vassilov tried to attack them again Pyra burned a whole in the hull of the craft and exited with Kamandi and Canus, returning them to her UFO. Vassilov found the doomsday device wrecked, but nonetheless fumbled with it, intent on trying to repair it. Even though it was likely impossible to get the weapon operation Vassilov was determined to work uselessly at it forever.

(Kamandi #36) - Pyra landed back on Earth and explored ruins covered in vegetation in Acapulco. They discovered a mostly intact pre-Disaster hotel, and Pyra said she sensed the presence of a great many beings. Kamandi said it could wait, he was looking forward to unwinding for a bit and went swimming in the pool’s hotel. He was grabbed by Crocodile Men, who dragged him underwater and beneath the pool to some cavernous corridors. Satrap, the leader of the Crocodiles was furious that a human was fouling their water, believeing humans to all be disease carriers. Kamandi started a fight with the Crocodiles, but it was broken up by the Director, a Jaguar Man who ran the hotel. He brought Kamandi back safely to Pyra and Canus, saying the customer was always right. The hotel, which he called Resort was a shelter, and he served the guests, but the guests only kept their rooms as long as they could fend off attacks by other groups trying to displace them. They witnessed a group of Wolf Men evict the humans that were staying on the second floor, brutally attacking them. The Director said he served all guests and it was his duty to stay neutral and stay out of fights. Kamandi asked him about the rights of the weak, and the Director replied that he wasn’t a philosopher. Kamandi attack the director, and after tussling for a bit Kamandi demanded possession of the second floor for himself. Canus said he wasn’t getting involved because humans, as a rule, weren’t worth helping since they were responsible for the Great Disaster. The director led him to a room full of weapons and warned him that killing anyone on property grounds was strictly forbidden. Kamandi mixed some chemicals and put them in a tank with an attached hose, and the Director alerted the Wolf Men that someone was seeking to evict them. Kamandi was outnumbered, and the wolf Men fought dirty, with one of their number tring to kill him with a knife, but Kamandi’s sticky spray left them covered in a foul-smelling mess. They jumped in the pool to clean themselves, and were immediately beset by the Crocodiles, who dragged them underwater. The Director said the floor belonged to Kamandi, who chose to hand back possession of it to the evicted humans.

(Kamandi #37, 38) - Kamandi, Canus and Pyra witnessed a large group of humans being herded by the sound of music in a crater-filled wasteland. They found the music was coming from speakers embedded in the rocks of the wasteland, and Kamandi wanted to investigate, fearing the humans were in danger, so he blended in with the herd with Canus and Pyra providing air support from Pyra’s UFO. The humans were beset by the Red Riders, men riding ATV bikes armed with prods, and they captured any human they deemed a promising specimen. Kamandi got one of the Red Riders to chase him and leapt aside as he tried to drive him down, crashing into a crater. Kamandi jumped aboard the bike, grabbed a gun, and tried to save a girl one of the Riders captured. He was subdued, and the Riders were excited at the prospect of finding a talking human, deciding to bring Kamandi before the council of the Crater People. Pyra and Canus tried to fly to his rescue, but an anti-aircraft gun emerged from a crater and shot them down. Kamandi was introduced to the council, who explained that Crater People were an intelligent race of humans that rapidly developed intelligence once they were born, but died at the age of five. They hoped to extend their lifespan by having ordinary humans marry into their tribe and breed with them, and they thought Kamandi was an excellent candidate. Kamandi was alarmed, and they introduced him to Arna, the woman they wanted to pair him with. Pyra and Canus survived the crash but Canus was badly shaken. Pyra had noted that Canus seemed at his calmest when his scientific curiosity was aroused, so she told him the story of how she left her home planet Ziranda to seek out new sources of energy that would keep her planet habitable. Kamandi went into a rage and attacked the Crater People, who worried that he was too wild to be part of their society. Arna had two of her servants subdue him, and took him to the Stalls, a maternity ward for the Crater People that was once part of a government Experimental Population Center that aimed to solve the problem of overpopulation. The tests performed there resulted in the short-lived humans that would become the Crater People. She had Kamandi stick his hand in a genetic reader and informed him that the machine would combine his genetic profile with her’s to produce a child. Kamandi was distraught at the idea she’d tricked him into becoming a father and fled the Stalls, hiding in the Crater People’s underground complex. Crater Person Bruno found Kamandi had escaped and informed the council, who sentenced Arna to death for allowing their hope for their people’s future to slip away. They drew their guns and Arna fled, running into Kamandi who’d discovered an old anchorage and a working motor boat. Against his better judgment Kamandi let her escape with him, not wanting to see her executed. Bruno vowed to kill Kamandi if he ever returned. Arna tried to calm Kamandi down by lying and claiming the genetic sampler actually siphoned a bit of his life energy to sustain her people and would not result in the birth of a child. A giant lobster attacked the motorboat, crushing it and dragging Kamandi and Arna underwater.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby.

Bizarro-Superman wrote and illustrated  The Last Band on Earth!  comic book featuring Dr. Canus in Bizarro Comics #1.

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