ZZUTAK

Real Name: Zzutak

Identity/Class: Painting brought to life through magic

Occupation: Servant of the Aztecs

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Ally of Yucoya-Tzin and his Aztecs

Enemies: Frank Johnson, the Fantastic Four, and Johnson's monster

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Thing That Shouldn't Exist

Base of Operations: The Sierra Madre Mountains, Mexico (You might say that to the Aztecs, he's a veritable "treasure")

First Appearance: Strange Tales I#88/1 (September, 1961)

 

Powers: Zzutak is of superhuman size, and bears superhuman strength, but has no mind of its own, and must obey whatever Yucoya-Tzin commands it to do

History: (Strange Tales I#88) - In his plan for world conquest, Yuoya-Tzin, elder priest of the last of the Aztecs, garbed himself in normal clothing and approached Frank Johnson, a comic book illustrator whom he knew was descended from the Aztecs. He presented Frank with magical paints, which would bring to life whatever he painted, simply by concentrating upon them. As he painted with them more and more, Frank felt himself summoned to Mexico, to paint the picture of his life.

Deep within a remote valley in the Sierra Madre mountains, Frank found an ancient Aztec temple with a canvas already set out for him. He began to paint, creating a fearsome creature, Zzutak, which sprang to life from the canvas!

 

Now revealing himself as an Aztec, Yucoya-Tzin informed Frank of his intention to conquer the world with thousands of Zzutaks, all painted by him. As Zzutak set about sealing the valley with boulders, Frank was sent to paint another monster -- but this one obeyed his orders, not Yucoya-Tzin's! The two monsters' clash was so fierce that the temple collapsed about them, burying them beneath the earth. Yucoya-Tzin was struck amnesiac by debris, and the Aztecs scattered, while Frank destroyed the paint.

Upon returning to America, Frank sold his story to his employers, Marvel Comics, though his boss commented it was "too ridiculous".

(Fantastic Four Unlimited#7 (fb)(bts)) - In the years that followed, Yucoya-Tzin regained his memory, and Frank somehow attained more of the magical paint. He also got married, although his wife divorced him, and moved to Oregon with their son, Cal.

(Fantastic Four Unlimited#7) - At an exhibit in New York, where he was displaying the bodies of deceased monsters (Grottu, Fizzle the Blip, Rorgg, and the Two-Headed Thing), Frank was captured by Yucoya-Tzin's Aztecs, who had his son Cal as a hostage. Yucoya-Tzin brought the monsters back to life to hold off the Fantastic Four, and brought Frank and Cal back to Mexico, to revive Zzutak.

Frank did indeed revive Zzutak, but also revived the second creature, and placed it under the control of the Fantastic Four. By concentrating upon it, the Fantastic Four were able to direct the creature in defeating Zzutak, and the two were once more buried. In the aftermath, Yucoya-Tzin and his Aztecs were arrested.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "The King" Kirby, and Steve "Didn't have a nickname" Ditko. Talk about a royal lineage!

In Conspiracy #1, it was hinted that the organization CONTROL had cleaned up after Zzutak so that the public at large remained unaware of the incident -- not that many people outside of Johnson and the Aztecs ever saw it anyway.

When this story was reprinted in Monster Menace#3, Ditko drew a new cover, that proclaimed, "My Fevered Brain Created Zzutak!" which would lead one to believe that the monster on the cover is Zzutak in the flesh. But it isn't. It's some sort of ghostly-green thing, not at all like our fat orange monstery friend.

I've got to say, the Aztecs don't work so well in an urban setting, such as they find themselves in in Fantastic Four Unlimited#7. The whole time, I kept having flashbacks to The Tick. "Over there, Itlan! I have him, Itlan! Zzutak shall rise again, Itlan!"

In Warlock and the Infinity Watch#7, Zzutak appears along with Van Doom's Monster (TTA#17), Gigantus (JIM#63), X (TTA#20), Kraa (TOS#18), the Monster from "Fear in the Night" (JIM#65), the Brute That Walks (also JIM#65), the Glop (JIM#72), a Martian (ST#78), the Creature from Krogarr (TTA#25), and Googam (TOS#17) as one of the Mole Man's monsters on Monster Island. Now, it would be wonderful if all of these monsters who (aside from Zzutak, Gigantus, and X) are not part of the Marvel Universe as of yet were brought into the fold through these cameos, but sadly, such is not the case.

See, Tom Raney didn't choose these monsters with the intent of making them "canon" -- he was just homaging the Marvel Monsterworks trade paperback, which is where he got all of the images. There are all sort of incongruities in these appearances -- Kraa, Googam and the Creatures From Krogarr are way too tall, Kraa is dead, the Brute That Walks is human again, the "Fear in the Night" monster is from another world, Van Doom's Monster was rendered inert, etc. They don't fit the mould of a Mole Man monster, which are typically Deviant Mutates. Zzutak in particular, was buried in Mexico at the time of this story, so that's not him -- that's some mutate that's his splitting image.

Omar Karindu had high hopes that Zzutak would be the last name in an OHOTMU, but I'm afraid Zzzax will beat him every time. He might be the last one in Snood's Appendix though! Woo-hoo!

Doctor Worm says: "In the 1999 JLA Annual#3, there are some very familiar names being screamed. Here's the breakdown: the 1999 annuals from DC were a very nice homage to the Silver Age, utilizing two mainstays of that olden time: gorillas and weird transformations. There is a scene in the U.N. where the delegates are all turned into gorillas and start tearing the place up. What got me was the things they were yelling. They were all yelling the names of classic Kirby monsters! The monsters references include Groot, Mombu, Zzutak, Klaggu, Moomba, Goom and Krobaa."

I wonder if those Aztecs' magic paints have some connection to The Painter of 1000 Perils.
--John Kaminski

by Prime Eternal

Clarifications: Zzutak has no known connections to:

Frank Johnson has no known connection to:

 

Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 145 lbs.

 

Yucoya-Tzin ("The Lord Who Creates") was the elder priest of the Aztecs, and had high hopes that Zzutak would lead them in their conquest of the world. -Strange Tales I#88, Fantastic Four Unlimited#7

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Johnson was a comic book illustrator descended from the Aztecs, and forced to aid Yucoya-Tzin in creating Zzutak. He also created Zzutak's foe, however, which defeated him. Frank was later married and had a son, Cal, but divorced, and his wife lives in Oregon with Cal. Frank can still bring his paintings to life using the magic paints of the Aztecs. -Strange Tales I#88, Fantastic Four Unlimited#7

(Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters#1) - Johnson began corresponding with Elsa Bloodstone, helping her create a database of giant monsters and other creatures.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Cal Johnson is Frank Johnson's son, who lives in Oregon with his mother. Cal was used as a hostage to force Frank to revive Zzutak. -Fantastic Four Unlimited#7

 

 

 


 

 

Zzutak's Enemy was created by Frank Johnson to serve him, and its first command was to defeat Zzutak, burying both of them alive. When Zzutak returned, so did the second creature, now with the minds of the Fantastic Four directing it to victory once more. -Strange Tales I#88, Fantastic Four Unlimited#7

 

 

 



images: (without ads)

Other appearances:
Fantastic Four Unlimited#7 (September, 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Carmen Infantino (insk), Mike Rockwitz (editor)

Last updated: 08/29/05

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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