Zoot Comics #9

(October 1947)

Fangs of Black Fury (Table of Contents: 1)

Rulah / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Matt Baker ?

Inks

Matt Baker ?

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Rulah, former American playgirl and present jungle goddess, battles the two most...

Genre

jungle

Characters

Rulah; Nimbo; Umar; Taho; Koor

Synopsis

Taho wants gold buried in the river near Rulah's village, so she has her mate Umar import an octopus to scare the villagers away. Rulah exposes the plan and Umar is killed by his own monster. Taho vanishes and returns with a horde of black panthers. With the advice of old Koor and the help of young Nimbo, Rulah defeats Taho and her killer cats.

Indexer Notes

Rulah and her "tribe" (including boy Nimbo) are white, while other "natives" are black. Umar is black but his evil "mate" Taho is a white member of Rulah's tribe: this interracial relationship is very rare in popular culture of the era.
Story begins on inside front cover.

African Treasure-Hunt (Table of Contents: 2)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Bob Manning

Letters

typeset

Private Lives of Jungle Folk (Table of Contents: 3)

comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

non-fiction

Synopsis

Three illustrated factoids about people and animals who live in the jungle.

The Slave Girls of the Monstrous Bwana Stark! (Table of Contents: 4)

Rulah / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Matt Baker ?

Inks

Matt Baker ?

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Someone should have warned the scheming bwana that Rulah was...

Genre

adventure; jungle

Characters

Rulah; Bwana Stark; Abini; Chief

Synopsis

Rulah and various women are captured by Stark and become slaves on his coffee plantation. Stark and his men are killed in an elephant stampede but the Chief of the tribe thinks Rulah helped enslave his people. Rulah proves her innocence and identifies Abini as the inside man of the scheme. She kills Abini with a spear.

Indexer Notes

Rulah and all of the enslaved women are white, yet the rest of the tribe, including one boy, are black, and the men even refer to the prisoners as "our women folk." No mention of this is made in the story and yet it is extremely rare in the pop culture of this era to openly suggest miscegenation. This is not a colouring error, since the women are all drawn with Caucasian features and the men are drawn with African features.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

Dick Transom / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

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First Line of Dialogue or Text

This private dick business is the bunk!

Genre

humor; detective-mystery

Characters

Dick Transom; Kittie; Finnegan; Mrs. Upsweep; Big Mike [Michael Purdy]

Synopsis

Private detective Dick teams with Finnegan to discover who stole Mrs. Finnegan's jewels. Dick identifies the juvenile star of the "Brainy Brats" radio quiz show as midget crook Big Mike, and arrests the whole gang.

Indexer Notes

"Brainy Brats" is a spoof of the actual radio show "Quiz Kids."