Jaguar (Archie Comics): Difference between revisions

{{notability|date=March 2022}}

{{Infobox comics character| <!--This box is part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics. See that article for details-->

image= Adventures_of_the_Jaguar_8,_September_1962,_by_John_Rosenberger,_Published_by_Archie_Comics.jpg

|caption=''Adventures of the Jaguar'' #8,<br>September 1962, by [[John Rosenberger]],<br> Published by [[Archie Comics]]

|character_name=The Jaguar

|real_name=Ralph Hardy

|publisher=[[Archie Comics]]<br/>[[Red Circle Comics]]

|debut=''Adventures of the Jaguar'' #1, September 1961

|creators=[[Robert Bernstein (comics)|Robert Bernstein]]<br/>[[John Rosenberger]]

|alliances=[[Terrific Three]]<br/>[[Mighty Crusaders]]

|powers=enhanced strength, animal powers, telepathic control over animals, flight

}}

'''The Jaguar''' is a [[superhero]] first published in 1961 by [[Archie Comics]]. He was created by writer [[Robert Bernstein (comics)|Robert Bernstein]] and artist [[John Rosenberger]] as part of Archie's "[[Red Circle Comics#Archie Adventure Series|Archie Adventure Series]]".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Markstein |first1=Don |website=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |access-date=2 April 2020 |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/jaguar.htm |title=The Jaguar}}</ref> This happened prior to that comics line being [[camp (style)|camped up]] as part of their [[Mighty Comics]] imprint.

The Jaguar is [[zoologist]] Ralph Hardy. While on a dig in [[Peru]], (Hardy, like most [[Silver Age (comics)|Silver Age]] heroes, is a man of many interests and talents, including [[archeology]]), a giant serpent burst forth from the ground and began terrorizing the area. While the others fled, Hardy followed a rare white [[jaguar]] into a ruined temple and found a series of cave drawings depicting the ancient [[Incas]] battling the same monster, as well as a mystical "nucleon energy belt". The round golden buckle of the belt had the engraved image of a winged Jaguar on the front and on the back an inscription which read: "He who loves the animal kingdom may wear this belt and be transformed into a human Jaguar". Hardy put on the belt and was instantly transformed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=John |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64 |date=2015 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490458 |pages=69–70}}</ref>

As The Jaguar, he possesses, in addition to the expected feline abilities, all the powers of the animal kingdom, only a thousand times more powerful. The oft-quoted "magnified toughness of a [[rhinoceros]]' hide", for example, gives him near [[Superman]]-level invulnerability. He also has the [[Aquaman]]-style [[telepathic]] ability to mentally communicate with and command all animals, including those from alien worlds.

The Jaguar wears a simple, skintight scarlet bodysuit with a flared black collar and the stylized suggestion of a feline face (just the eyes, whiskers, and open mouth) on the chest and jaguar pelt-patterned boots and nucleon belt. The latter has two small rocket packs on either side which gives him the power of [[supersonic]] flight. He wears no mask and looks exactly like Ralph Hardy, except that Hardy has a [[mustache]], while The Jaguar does not. (Post-[[Silver Age of Comics|Silver Age]] comics artists tend to give the latter pointed ears and a more cat-like hairstyle, making him vaguely resemble a cross between the [[Sub-Mariner]] and the [[X-Men (film series)|movie version]] of [[Wolverine (character)|Wolverine]].)

In many ways The Jaguar is a copy of earlier Archie Comics hero [[The Fly (Archie Comics)|The Fly]]: magic belt instead of magic ring, powers of the animal kingdom rather than the insect kingdom, etc. The Jaguar first appeared two years after The Fly was introduced.

Unlike The Fly, however, The Jaguar is handsome and has many recurring romantic entanglements. These include the immortal feline sorceress Cat Girl, who had command over the cat kingdom, just as he ruled over the whole animal kingdom. (She was also known as The Sphinx and had originally battled The Fly, but it was quickly decided that she would be a more appropriate foe for The Jaguar.) There is also the green-skinned and white-haired undersea [[Siren (mythology)|siren]] Kree-Nal, and Hardy's secretary Jill Ross. Like [[Pete Ross]], she secretly knows that Hardy is her beloved hero The Jaguar and uses that knowledge to help him without him knowing it. Nor were these relationships static; in later stories, Jill left to study nursing so that she could better assist in Hardy's veterinary work.

Cat Girl lost her magic powers due to exposure to highly toxic [[strontium-90]] from atomic testing, retaining only her telepathic mastery over cats. She took on the new mortal identity of [[jet-set]] [[socialite]] Lydia Fellin, whose "family fortune" was actually a vast treasure trove that she had accumulated over the centuries.

The Jaguar appeared in 15 issues of ''The Adventures of the Jaguar'', as well as a backup feature in other Archie titles: ''Jughead Jones Comic Digest'' 7; ''Laugh Comics'' 127, 130, 131, 133, 135, 140–142, 144; ''Laugh Comics Digest'' 25, 27; ''[[Pep Comics]]'' 150, 152, 157, 159, and 168. The Jaguar also appears in ''The Adventures of the Fly'' #23. When the "Archie Adventure Series" line was canceled and reborn as Archie's "camped up" [[Mighty Comics]] line, The Jaguar only made brief appearances in ''[[Mighty Crusaders]]'' #4 and 5. In #5 The Jaguar would team up with Mr. Justice and Steel Sterling as the "[[Terrific Three]]".

The Jaguar would again appear as part of Archie's [[Red Circle Comics]] revamp in the 1980s, as a founding member of the new ''[[Mighty Crusaders]]''. He was also a backup series in ''The Fly'' issues 4–9. In this incarnation it was revealed that the source of The Jaguar's powers was the [[cherubim]]-like pre-human god Varigon, Lord of the Animals, a towering golden-winged being with three heads: a [[bird]], a [[lion]], and a [[bull]]. Varigon had created the magic belt as a weapon to be worn by his mortal champion in the eternal battle against the scaly green lizard-headed S'ithh, Lord of the Reptiles, who wanted the dinosaurs to rule the Earth once again. The first person to have worn the belt in ancient times was an Incan woman.

It is later revealed that Ralph is the brother of Rose Raymond, the wife of fellow superhero [[Web (comics)|The Web]].<ref>{{cite comic| writer= [[Stan Timmons|Timmons, Stan]]|penciller=[[Lou Manna|Manna, Lou]]|inker=[[Rex Lindsley|Linsdley, Rex]], [[Chic Stone|Stone, Chic]]|story= The Killing Hour|title= Blue Ribbon Comics|issue= 14|date= December 1984}}</ref>

The most recent appearances of the Ralph Hardy Jaguar have been cameos in ''[[Archie's Weird Mysteries]]'' #3 and 14 and a cover story crossover appearance in ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' #30.

A teenage female version of The Jaguar, written by [[William Messner-Loebs]], was used in [[DC Comics]]' ''[[Impact Comics|Impact]]'' revamp of the Archie superheroes. She is naive and good-hearted Maria DeGuzman, who came to North America from [[Rio de Janeiro]] to study at Elm Harbor University. To her surprise, she inherited from her late aunt the [[werewolf]]-like ability to transform into a large, muscular, barefoot and green-eyed Jaguar. Despite wearing a similar, somewhat skimpier skintight red outfit, unlike her male namesake, this ferocious feline's powers are limited to superhuman strength and agility combined with cat-like claws and senses. She eventually marries Impact's version of [[The Fly (Impact Comics)|The Fly]] at the end of the ''Crucible'' miniseries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Maria_de_Guzman_(Impact)|title=Maria de Guzman (Impact)|website=DC Database}}</ref>

In the aftermath of the continuity-altering [[Final Crisis]], DC comics once again licensed the Red Circle heroes, this time choosing to bring them directly into the [[DC Universe]]. In March 2010 a new Jaguar was set to appear in ''[[Shield (Archie Comics)|The Shield]]'' #5, a Brazilian man who could transform into a red [[tattoo]]-covered "werejaguar".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/12/18/editor-rachel-gluckstern-on-the-next-wave-of-red-circle-characters/ |title=DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » Editor Rachel Gluckstern on the next wave of Red Circle characters |publisher=Dcu.blog.dccomics.com |date=2009-12-18 |access-date=2010-12-27}}</ref>

In ''[[New Crusaders]]'' the role of The Jaguar in the short-lived [[Red Circle Comics#Digital imprint Red Circle|Red Circle]] digital comics universe was passed to Ralph Hardy's young apprentice Ivette "Ivy" Velez when the shy, Spanish-speaking orphan was given the cat-like golden helmet of [[Ai Apaec]] to become the savage new Jaguar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://darkcirclecomics.com/whos-who/jaguar/|title=Jaguar|date=9 February 2012}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[[Rik Offenberger|Offenberger, Rik]], ed. [http://www.mightycrusaders.net/handbook/jaguar.htm Jaguar] at MightyCrusaders.net

*[http://toonopedia.com/jaguar.htm Jaguar] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://www.webcitation.org/66vyKcfkm?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/jaguar.htm Archived] from the original on April 15, 2012.

{{Archie Comics characters}}

{{Archie Comics titles}}

[[Category:Archie Comics superheroes]]

[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1961]]

[[Category:DC Comics superheroes]]

[[Category:Comics characters with superhuman strength]]

[[Category:Fictional biologists]]

[[Category:Fictional telepaths]]

[[Category:Jungle superheroes]]

[[Category:Jungle men]]

[[Category:Characters created by John Rosenberger]]

[[Category:Characters created by Robert Bernstein]]

[[Category:Male characters in comics]]