Jo-Jo, Congo King is a fictional character that appeared in

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

published by

Fox Feature Syndicate Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics, Fox Publications, and Bruns Publications, Inc.) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. ...

. Jo-Jo first appeared in ''Jo-Jo, Congo King'' #7 (July 1947). Jo-Jo's name came from the original title of the comic series, ''Jo-Jo Comics''. The publishers decided to change the format of the title, but kept the name for their new adventure hero. Jo-Jo was another in Fox Feature Syndicate's long line of

Tarzanesque Tarzanesque (in French: ''Tarzanide'') is a term created by Frenchman Francis Lacassin used to describe characters in comic books inspired by Tarzan. A tarzanesque character resembles Tarzan in his physical resourcefulness, within a line of acti ...

characters. Like Tarzan, Jo-Jo wore a loin-cloth, lived in the jungle, and spoke a form of broken English (similar to

Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller ( ; born Johann Peter Weißmüller, ; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was a Hungarian-born German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive-swimming records o ...

's version of Tarzan). Some of the episodes were given credit of Stan Ford (a pseudonym). Jo-Jo's love interest in the first issue was Gwenna; she was replaced (never to be mentioned again) by Tanee. Both Gwenna and Tanee shared two things in common: they were scantily clad, and they spent a much of their time tied up. Because of the risque images found in the issues of ''Jo-Jo'', many of them provided by

Jack Kamen Jack Kamen (; May 29, 1920 – August 5, 2008) was an American illustrator for books, magazines, comic books and advertising, known for his work illustrating crime, horror, humour, suspense and science fiction stories for EC Comics, for his work i ...

and

Matt Baker Matthew James Baker (born 23 December 1977) is a British television presenter. He co-presented the children's television show ''Blue Peter'' from 1999 until 2006, BBC One's '' Countryfile'' since 2009 and ''The One Show'' from 2011 to 2020, wi ...

, Dr.

Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German–American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafa ...

mentioned issue #15 in his book ''

Seduction of the Innocent ''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-born American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a harmful form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was tak ...

''. According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "Jo-Jo fights wild beasts, wicked white men and natives, the Flaming Fiend, the Mistress of the Apes, the Doctor of Doom, and the Tarantula Men". The last issue of ''Jo-Jo, Congo King'' was #29 (July 1949); the title was then changed to ''My Desire'' (a romance comic). Jo-Jo reappeared in 1950, now renamed Jungle Jo. This version ran for four issues. Fox Feature Syndicate declared bankruptcy in 1950, selling off many of its creative assets. Versions of Jo-Jo appeared in comics produced by various publishers. Star Comics reprinted several Jo-Jo stories under the name "Bombo", and Ajax Comics reprinted one story in 1954 with the character renamed "Kaza".

References

External links

Jo-Jo, Congo King
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on October 21, 2016.
Jo-Jo, Congo King
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

.
Jo-Jo, Congo King
at Oddball Comics. Archived fro
the original
on March 21, 2003. Fox Feature Syndicate adventure heroes Golden Age adventure heroes Jungle men Public domain comics {{comics-char-stub