JANN (imposter)
Real Name: Unrevealed (see comments)
Identity/Class: Normal human (1950s Era)
Occupation: Spy
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Davis (first name unrevealed)
Enemies: Jann of the Jungle (Jane Hastings)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Jann, "Superior one" (as mockingly called by Jann (Jane Hastings))
Base of Operations: Mobile in jungles of the Congo, Africa
First Appearance: Jann of the Jungle#14/1 (December, 1956)
Powers/Abilities: An exceptional athlete and acrobat, she had a passing physical resemblance to Jann; normally a blonde, she used a water-soluble herbal dye to change her hair color to black.
History:
(Jann of the Jungle#14/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of the Jann imposter is unknown (see comments), but a foreign power sent her and Davis to Africa to establish a hidden camp in a jungle cave. Their mission: To incite violent unrest among the native tribes of the Congo.
(Jann of the Jungle#14/1) - The Jann imposter swung through the trees of the jungle to visit the villages of the Azuzi and Bongi tribes, where she spread rumors of an impending war between the peoples. She returned to her camp and reported to Davis that the natives believed her deception. Davis then radioed their superiors to let them know that the jungle would soon be a battlefield and that this show of discontent would be a major propaganda victory. But "Jann" was more interested in meeting the jungle girl whom she was impersonating--she thought she would be a match for her at anything. Nearby at Pat Mahoney's camp, Pat picked up Davis' transmission on his radio; he relayed the message about the coming tribal hostilities to his friend, the real Jann, and she went to investigate. As she swung through the treetops, Jann saw some Bongi warriors below, and they asked her to confirm the information she told them earlier about the threatened attack by the Azuzi. Jann was understandably confused, for she had made no such claim, and she told the tribesmen to return to their homes.
Sensing a sinister plot at work, Jann next went to the Azuzi village, where the warriors were preparing for battle. Jann told them to ignore the warning "she" had given them earlier and to stay in their village. At that point, Jann realized that there must be someone impersonating her who was trying to stir up trouble among the natives. As she swung away from the village, Jann espied her double and Davis hiding in the area where the two tribes would have met if they had gone to war, and she leaped down at them in a surprise attack. Davis brought up his rifle, but the imposter insisted he not shoot--she wanted to take on Jann herself so she could prove she was the jungle girl's better--and she brutally kicked Davis in the head to ensure he did not interfere ("This is just between us girls!"). The two women swung towards each other on vines and the real Jann kicked her double off, but the imposter managed to grab hold of a tree branch before she fell; a python was coiled on that branch, and it slithered toward the false Jann, who was paralyzed with fear. While the real Jann's time was occupied with pulling the serpent away from her rival, the imposter called out to the Azuzi and Bongi tribesmen, telling them that warriors of Kulai were about to attack them. The groups of tribesmen came running, and they were shocked to see two Janns. The imposter stood on the tree branch and told the gathered warriors that they had to fight each other so that other tribes would respect them. The real Jann had heard enough, so she lassoed her double with her rope and pulled her off the branch, causing her to fall into a lake. Jann had earlier noticed the blonde roots in her double's hair, and when the imposter hit the water, the dye was washed out to reveal her true hair color. After realizing they had been tricked by the false Jann, all the natives walked away peacefully. The waterlogged imposter conceded defeat and told Jann to take her to the authorities so she could confess her crimes--she knew she could never return to her homeland because her punishment for failure would be far worse than any prison Jann could put her in.
Comments: Created by Don Rico (writer) and Jay Scott Pike (artist).
Since this story was published during the Cold War, it's likely that the Jann imposter was an agent for Russia; considering her athletic prowess, maybe she had been a recruit for the USSR's Black Widow Program.
The imposter's real name was never revealed, but if she was Russian, then I suggest that her first name be "Nadja" because that name reminds me of "Jann" spelled backwards.
This story--"Double Danger!"--was reprinted in Jungle Action II#1 (October, 1972), which is where these scans came from; since it's a reprint, there might be a coloring error, which would account for why the clothes worn by Jann and the imposter were colored red (Jann usually wore a dark-blue/black outfit, so maybe she just changed clothes--I don't know what the coloring was like in the original story).
And a BIG Thank You to the Comic Book Catacombs for the scans!
Profile by John Kaminski.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
The Jann imposter has no known connections to:
Davis has no known connections to:
A man of unknown nationality, he was employed as an agent for an unidentified foreign power. He was partnered with a double of the jungle girl Jann on a mission to instigate a war between neighboring African tribes. Davis was armed with a rifle, and he operated a radio set to transmit Morse code messages to his superiors. He was based in a cave in the jungles of the Congo. When his partner wanted to pit her skills against the real Jann, she delivered a kick to Davis' head and apparently rendered him unconscious so he would not interfere in her fight with the jungle girl. Davis was presumably taken into custody after Jann defeated her double.
--Jann of the Jungle#14/1
images:
(without ads)
Jann of the Jungle#14/1, p1, pan1 (main image)
p1, pan2 (headshot)
p5, pan6 (dye washed out)
p3, pan6 (Davis )
Appearances:
Jann of the Jungle#14 (December, 1956) - Don Rico (writer), Jay Scott Pike (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Last updated: 05/23/11
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™
and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com