ZEALZODO

Real Name: Zealzodo

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (unrevealed race; "Outer Space People");
    active circa 1956

Occupation: Advance scout

Group Membership: Unrevealed

Affiliations: Poker

Enemies: He disliked the way Harry Benns treated Poker, but they were not enemies

Known Relatives: Unidentified father

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    briefly

First Appearance: Astonishing#52/5 (August, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: None known.

    Zealzodo was either human in appearance or perhaps was a metamorph or used technology (such either a costume or an illusion-caster) to appear as human.

    Similarly, he could exist in Earth's atmosphere, gravity, etc. without obvious external support. Either he could breathe Earth's atmosphere or perhaps he took some sort of chemical.

    Zealzodo was compassionate and did like to see another person belittled.

History:
(Astonishing#52/5 (fb) - BTS) - As his father was going to head the first mission of his people to Earth, Zealzodo was sent to scout out the territory on Earth, to see what they would be up against when they landed the first visiting ship there.

    Zealzodo was chosen for this mission because of his youth, because of the necessity of convincing the Earth youth of their benevolent motives, as young people had more open minds about this sort of thing.

(Astonishing#52/5) - Having visited the Chronicle building, presumably to view the "Bike-of-the-Future" that was the prize for Rocket-Jet Bicycle Company-sponsored cartoon contest , Zealzodo listened as Harry Benns mocked the boy known as Poker for having no chance to win the contest as he had little imagination and could only report factual information.

    Zealzodo subsequently approached Poker and shared that he did not like what Harry had said to him. Not recognizing the boy but -- as he spent so much time working -- not knowing all of the kids in town, Poker listened as the boy said the other kids were being mean and needed to be taught a lesson; Zealzodo further noted himself to be a stranger and that he would hate it if when his people came there that they were treated badly for doing things differently than others.

    Zealzodo than introduced himself and told him of his people's mission, noting that this was a secret but that he felt that Poker was the kind of kid who could pave the way for good relations between their worlds. He further shared that Poker was a realist who would not exaggerate or falsify things and that, if he told the story of the Outer Space people in the comic strip contest that he would give Zealzodo's people a fair representation; and that people would believe what he wrote because they knew of his nature and because he would put his heart and soul into it and be sincere.

    Zealzodo continued that when the Outer Space people sent down their mission, people's minds would be open as to what to expect, as Poker would have described them in advance.

    Zealzodo then gave Poker a detailed description of the way his people dressed, of the spaceship landing they would make on Earth and of the friendship they wanted to establish. Poker wrote down all of the facts Zealzodo gave him, although he was sorry that the young boy from Outer Space could not stay to see the results of the contest. Zealzodo explained that he had to transport himself back to Outer Space as they had at least another year of preparation before his people presented themselves on Earth.

(Astonishing#52/5 - BTS) - Having submitted a cartoon based on the information provided by Zealzodo, Poker won the contest, received the bike, and was idolized by Harry Benns and the others who had laughed at him before.

    Poker considered that perhaps the time was not too far away when they would realize that the world relations between Outer Space and Earth were a reality. In his heart, Poker thanked Zealzodo for the acceptance he had won among his friends, an acceptance that he believed that Earth would not repay to the Outer Space people, when they landed.

Comments: Created by...unrevealed.

    So, it is entirely possible that Zealzodo was not an extraterrestrial at all, but rather a kid from out of town who took sympathy on Poker and helped him out. But it's more fun to believe that he was being honest, so let's go with that.
    But, it is odd that he just referred to his people as Outer Space people...maybe it would have just been distracting to identify them as a name that may have been hard to pronounce...

    I wonder if when Zealzodo's people approached if they were driven off by the Man on the Wall?
    Or perhaps something changed their plans, whether it was some sort of massive plague or just a decision not to travel to Earth (and to go elsewhere or nowhere).

    I don't know how old these kids were meant to be...I was thinking elementary school or perhaps even middle school/junior high and I would think to be a paperboy, you'd have to be at least 10-12, so I was thinking the kids were likely 10-14-years-old.

    What kind of name is Poker, anyway?

    This is a text story, and the only image showed an observatory, the moon, and the stars in the night sky.

    Thanks to Loki for providing me with these text pages. I wish Marvel would make it a point to make digital versions of all of their older stories available. I have pretty much everything from Fantastic Four I#1 forward, but there's a lot of stuff from the 30's-50's (and even early 60's) that I don't have.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Zealzodo should be distinguished from:

• ZEALOT (Thomas Moreau) - Genoshan mutate, brother of Phillip, son of former Genegineer of Genosha, led rebellion against rule of Magneto, banished into space by him. Manipulate rock + earth, constantly re-energized by contact with native Genoshan soil--Magneto Rex#1
• other "Zeal" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places...

Appearances:
Astonishing#52/5 "Ride to the Future" (August, 1956) - unidentified creators

First posted: 12/03/2023
Last updated: 12/03/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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