Real Name: Dragoom

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Vulcan); pre-modern era and modern era

Occupation: Fugitive, would-be conqueror

Group Membership: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Howling Commandos unit (Abominable Snowman, Bradley Beemer, Brother Voodoo, Clone of Frankenstein, Glob/Joe Timms, Gorilla Man/Ken Hale, Groot, Hellstorm, It the Living Colossus, Lilith, Living Mummy, Clay Quartermain, Sasquatch/Walter Langkowski, Vampire by Night, Warwolf/Vince Marcus, Zombie"John Doe", many others)

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Victor Cartwright, "Merlin"

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Flaming Invader" (in story title); "the new overlord of Earth" (as called by himself)

Base of Operations: Area 13, Pine Barrens, New Jersey;
     formerly Vulcan, Fifth Galaxy

First Appearance: Strange Tales I#76/1 (August, 1960)

Powers/Abilities: Dragoom is a large being seemingly comprised of a living fire-like element. Supposedly immortal, he can travel through space unaided; he can also alter his size and shape to emit heat that can spread great distances, apparently across an entire planet.

Height: Unrevealed (30'; by approximation); variable
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: None

History:
(Strange Tales I#76/1 (fb) - BTS) - On his homeworld of Vulcan, Dragoom was incarcerated for an unspecified crime. He eventually escaped imprisonment and spent months searching through space for another world he could rule.

(Strange Tales I#76/1) - After discovering Earth, the fiery fugitive arrived on the planet near a film location in Mexico, where he encountered movie-maker Vincent Cartwright and his film crew. Dragoom told the men how he planned to conquer the planet.

   Dragoom flew north, and his intense heat melted any weapons used against him -- fighter jets, missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, all proved useless to stop the flaming invader. Then the fire-creature went to Washington, D.C. and announced his intention to surround the entire planet with a blanket of flame. Dragoom flew skyward and expanded his being to encircle Earth with a ring of fire, vowing only to stop when all nations surrendered to him. When the heat from Dragoom's own brand of "global warming" became unbearable, mankind collectively surrendered, and Dragoom proclaimed himself ruler of Earth.

   Meanwhile in Mexico, Cartwright had a plan -- realizing that the fugitive Dragoom had fled from the law-enforcers of his homeworld, the movie-maker had his crew construct giant mock-ups of other beings that resembled Dragoom.

   Dragoom was told that others like him had arrived on the planet, so he flew to Mexico to investigate; when he saw the mock-ups, Dragoom believed them to be the police of his world in pursuit of him, so he fled Earth in search of another safe haven.

(Nick Fury's Howling Commandos#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point in time, Dragoom was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed in their supernatural Howling Commandos unit.

(Nick Fury's Howling Commandos#6) - Dragoom was among the Commandos who launched an assault on Merlin's forces.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.

Dragoom could be from the same race as Starbolt and Primo. See, I would reveal that some (not all) of those giant aliens from Marvel's monster comics days had their size increased by an unknown (and hopefully Jack Kirby created -- think "Darkseid"-like) alien from the late 1950s to early 1960s.
--Gammatotem

I see a possibility that the other Victor Cartwright was the same guy as the one in this profile.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Madison Carter. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dragoom has no known connections to:

Dragoom's homeworld of Vulcan has no known connections to:

Victor Cartwright has no known connection to:


Victor Cartwright

Cartwright was a producer of science fiction and horror movies (such as The Monster's Son); although his films made money, he wasn't respected or taken seriously by others in the movie industry.

One night, while shooting on location in Mexico, Cartwright and his film crew saw what they believed to be a meteor crash nearby. They went to investigate, and discovered that the "meteor" was actually the fiery fugitive Dragoom; the flaming invader announced his plan to conquer Earth.

But when Dragoom's intense heat threatened the planet and all seemed lost, Cartwright came up with an idea -- he had his film crew assemble mock-ups that resembled Dragoom's race. When Dragoom saw Cartwright's mock-ups, he believed them to be pursuing law-enforcers from his homeworld, so he fled from Earth, vowing never to return.

As his men disassembled the mock-ups, Cartwright was pleased because he had finally proven that his career as a maker of monster movies had some value.

--Strange Tales I#76/1


Victor Cartwright's mock-ups

Constructed by movie-maker Cartwright and his film crew, these were five giant dummies that resembled the fiery Dragoom's Vulcanian race.

When Dragoom saw the dummies, the flaming fugitive believed them to be the pursuing police from his homeworld, so he fled from Earth, vowing never to return.

--Strange Tales I#76/1


images: (without ads)
Strange Tales I#76/1, p4, pan4 (Main Image - Dragoom)
Strange Tales I#76/1, p4, pan2 (Headshot - Dragoom)
Strange Tales I#76/1, p1, pan1 (Dragoom flying over city)
Nick Fury's Howling Commandos I#6, p10, pan2 (Dragoom among other Howling Commandos monsters)
Strange Tales I#76/1, p2, pan2 (Victor Cartwright; unidentified man and woman deriding him (background))
Strange Tales I#76/1, p7, pan7 (Victor Cartwright (foreground) gets congratulated by his film crew for defeating Dragoom)
Strange Tales I#76/1, p7, pan5 (Dragoom (foreground) sees the five mock-ups)
Strange Tales I#76/1, p7, pan8 (Victor Cartwright has his film crew disassemble mock-ups)


Appearances:
Strange Tales I#76/1 (August, 1960) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Jack Kirby (pencil), Dick Ayers (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters)
Nick Fury's Howling Commandos#6 (May, 2006) - Keith Giffen (writer), Mike Norton (pencils), Derec Aucoin & Norman Lee (inks), Mark Panaccia (editor)


First posted: 02/28/2006
Last updated: 01/02/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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