GARAZ

Real Name: Garaz

Identity/Class: "Underworld demi-god" (Distant Past to 1940s era) (see comments)

Occupation: Scout

Group Membership: "Underworld demi-gods"

Affiliations: Bazor and "underworld demi-gods"

Enemies: Chong-Soh, Evans (first name unrevealed)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Monster" (in story title, and as called by Chong-Soh and Evans)

Base of Operations: His tomb

First Appearance: Adventures into Terror#43/1 (November, 1950) (actually #1/1, see comments)

Powers/Abilities: As one of the "underworld demi-gods," the gigantic Garaz was seemingly immortal. He had incredible physical strength and durability; however, he seemed to be a bit dimwitted.

Garaz had spent untold centuries in a state of magically-induced suspended animation -- although his body was immobile, his mind seemed to be active, for he was aware of events that transpired on the surface-world while he slept (see comments).

Height: 120' (by approximation)
Weight: 100 tons (by approximation)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

History:
(Adventures into Terror#43/1 (fb) ) - The origin and past of Garaz and the "underworld demi-gods" is unrevealed, but "thousands of centuries ago" (per Garaz, see comments), he received an assignment from his king, Bazor. Garaz was tasked to travel out of the bowels of the Earth to the surface, where the mortals who ruled the surface-world lived, and he was to find out how strong the mortals were -- if he found that they were weak, he was to return and inform Bazor, then his people would take the surface for themselves.

   Garaz's journey upwards took him to an immense cavern in ancient China; he walked out of the cavern and found the surface-dwellers to be puny and helpless -- the cruel Garaz destroyed whomever he pleased, and he had a wonderful time.

   After having amused himself with his rampage of death and destruction, Garaz was about to return to his people to report that the world was theirs for the taking. But when he returned to the cavern to begin his descent downward, Garaz came upon a survivor of his holocaust -- Chong-Soh, a mighty magician of his time, who faced the giant without fear. Garaz noticed a gigantic door within the cavern, and Chong-Soh told him that behind it was a chamber which would be Garaz's tomb, where the giant would sleep until the end of time. Chong-Soh spoke magical words which caused Garaz to become sleepy, and the magician directed the spellbound giant to enter the vault beyond the door; within the vault, Garaz laid upon the floor and began his seemingly-eternal slumber.

   The people of China worked furiously night and day to build a great wall around Garaz's tomb. As the centuries crawled by, the people forgot about their sleeping prisoner, and the wall itself crumbled, its purpose forgotten -- later, the wall would be rebuilt (albeit much smaller) as the Great Wall of China, and it would be used to repel the forces of Genghis Khan.

   For countless ages, Garaz slept, unable to move due to the effects of Chong-Soh's spell -- only if the vault door was opened again would Garaz awaken. In the deepest part of Earth, Garaz's comrades waited and could only wonder what had befallen him.

(Adventures into Terror#43/1 (fb) ) - During the early days of World War II, American fighter pilot Evans was shot down during an air-battle over China, and he crashed his plane into a mountainside near the Great Wall. Seeking shelter, Evans dug into the the mountain and found himself in an immense cavern; in the murky darkness he saw a great door. Thinking the giant door might be an exit, Evans turned the lever mechanism to unlock it, and he thereby unwittingly released the awakened Garaz upon the world.

   But Garaz was grateful to Evans for reviving him and considered the man to be his savior; the giant grabbed the fleeing Evans and placed him upon his shoulder, then smashed through the cavern wall to get to the outside world. The air-battle was still being fought, so Garaz swatted the planes of both sides from the sky. Still carrying Evans upon his shoulder, Garaz continued walking onward, shoving mountains out of his way. The giant came to a Chinese village, and he mercilessly trampled the helpless inhabitants as if they were ants, despite Evans' pleas for Garaz to stop his pitiless massacre.

   With his blood-lust sated, Garaz returned to the cavern and told Evans his story of how Bazor had sent him on his mission, and of how he had later been imprisoned by Chong-Soh.

   After he finished his incredible story, Garaz took Evans with him as he descended back into the subterranean regions to make his report to his people. But when Garaz returned to the court of Bazor, the giant was horrified to find only the skeletal remains of his long-dead people. Realizing that he was the last of the "demi-gods," Garaz vowed to his dead comrades that he would destroy the surface-dwellers.

   With Evans still on his shoulder, Garaz climbed back up to the massive cavern. Realizing that the human race would be destroyed if the giant returned to the world, Evans came up with an idea: He asked Garaz to recite the magic chant that Chong-Soh had used to put him to sleep. Since Garaz considered Evans to be his savior, and therefore implicitly trusted the man, he recited the words of the spell, and the monstrous giant immediately felt sleepy; Evans directed the entranced Garaz back into the tomb, then he activated the locking mechanism to close the door on the sleeping giant. Evans ran outside the cavern and used TNT to seal the cavern entrance.

(Adventures into Terror#43/1) - Years later, Evans was still plagued by nightmares of Garaz, and he feared that if the sleeping giant was ever freed in the future, he would not be tricked so easily again.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Russ Heath (artist).

In regards to the issue number: This series actually began under the title Joker Comics, which ran from issue #s 1-42 (April, 1942-August, 1950) and featured humorous stories. With issue #43, the title and format changed to horror stories, and continued with issue #44; then with the third issue, the numbering was corrected to #3, and the series continued until #31 (May, 1954), at which point it was canceled (...likely due to the recently enacted Comics Code, which (among other things) forbade any comic books from using the word "terror" in the series' title).

Garaz slept for untold centuries, yet he could speak English, and he knew of Genghis Khan -- perhaps while he slumbered, his mind could mentally sense the changes in the surface-world.

If we are to believe that Garaz first came to the world's surface "thousands of centuries ago" (i.e. in excess of one-hundred thousand years), then Garaz and Chong-Soh originally lived far before the dawn of recorded history.

The origin of Garaz and his people was never revealed, but they considered themselves to be "demi-gods," which implies a godly heritage -- since they would seem to predate most of Marvel's known godly pantheons, perhaps they were spawned by some unidentified deity of Thongor's era.

   At this point we know Earth's pantheons to be far older than we thought. For example Odin existed 1 million years ago on Marvel's Prime Earth. Let us also not forget the race of Elder Gods Gaea, Chthon, Set and Oshtur belonged to. Garaz's people could've easily been sired by one of their kind.
--Markus Raymond

The final fate of Garaz is unrevealed -- presumably, he's still sleeping in his tomb (zzzzzz...)

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Garaz has no known connections to:

Chong-Soh has no known connections to:

Evans has no known connections to:

Bazor and the "underworld demi-gods" have no known connections to:

Bazor and "underworld demi-gods"

Their origins unrevealed (see comments), they were a race of giants who dwelt within the subterranean depths of the Earth; they were ruled by Bazor.

"Thousands of centuries ago," Bazor sent Garaz on a mission to climb to the surface-world and find out how strong the surface-dwellers were -- if Garaz found them to be weak, then Bazor and his people would take the surface for themselves.

But unknown to Bazor and his people, Garaz had been put into an eternal sleep by a spell from the magician Chong-Soh -- while Garaz slept in his tomb, his comrades could only wonder what had befallen him.

But over time, while Garaz slept, his fellow "demi-gods" died from unspecified circumstances.

In the early-1940s, Garaz had been unwittingly awakened by Evans. Garaz eventually took Evans with him when he returned to the court of Bazor; but the giant found only the skeletal remains of his people. Garaz vowed to his deceased comrades that he would destroy mankind.

(The exact number of the "underworld demi-gods" was never mentioned -- I count (perhaps) 12 among the dead.)

--Adventures into Terror#43/1

Garaz's tomb

Hewn within an immense cavern of a mountain near the Great Wall of China, the tomb was situated behind a giant wooden door secured with a crossbar -- a human-sized operator could lock or unlock the door by means of a lever connected to a counter-weighted mechanism.

In the distant past, the magician Chong-Soh placed the "underworld demi-god" Garaz under a spell and imprisoned him inside the tomb. Because of the magician's spell, Garaz would sleep within the tomb for countless centuries, until the sleeping giant was unwittingly awakened by Evans in the early-1940s.

But Evans eventually tricked Garaz into reciting the words of the spell that Chong-Soh had used to make the giant sleep, then Evans directed Garaz back into the tomb and locked the giant door.

Evans later used TNT to seal the entrance to the immense cavern.

(It was never explained how the tomb, giant door, and locking mechanism were constructed so quickly -- maybe Chong-Soh conjured it all with his magic.)

--Adventures into Terror#43/1

Chong-Soh

A great magician of the distant past (see comments), Chong-Soh lived somewhere in a region that would one day be China.

Chong-Soh's village had been destroyed when the the monstrous "underworld demi-god" Garaz first emerged from a cavern and began his rampage.

When Garaz returned to the cavern to begin his journey back to his subterranean home, Chong-Soh had prepared a tomb for the giant (Possibly Chong-Soh used his magic to construct the vault).

Chong-Soh fearlessly confronted Garaz and spoke magic words which made Garaz feel sleepy; Chong-Soh then commanded the entranced giant into the tomb, where Garaz would slumber through countless centuries.

The final fate of Chong-Soh is unrevealed, but his spell was broken in the early-1940s when Evans unwittingly released Garaz.

--Adventures into Terror#43/1

Evans

In the early days of World War II, Evans was a fighter-pilot with Chennault's Flying Tigers.

During an air-battle with Japanese forces over China, Evans' plane was shot down and he crashed by a mountainside near the Great Wall. Seeking shelter, Evans dug into the mountain and found himself inside an immense cavern with a gigantic door. Thinking the door might be an exit, Evans operated the locking mechanism to open the portal, and he thereby unwittingly released the sleeping giant Garaz from his tomb.

But because Evans had freed him, Garaz considered him to be his trusted savior, so he placed Evans upon his shoulder and carried him along as the giant went on a rampage of death and destruction; Evans futilely begged Garaz to stop his pitiless massacre.

Garaz returned to the cavern and told Evans how "thousands of centuries" earlier, he had been sent on a scouting mission to the surface of the world, but he had been trapped when the magician Chong-Soh put a spell on Garaz that caused him to sleep.

Garaz later carried Evans with him when he returned to his subterranean home; when Garaz discovered his fellow "underworld demi-gods" were dead, the giant vowed he would destroy all surface-dwellers, but Garaz assured Evans that he would spare his life, for the giant considered him to be his friend.

Since the giant trusted him, Evans tricked Garaz into reciting the magic words Chong-Soh had used to put him to sleep; Garaz repeated the spell and felt sleepy, then Evans commanded the entranced Garaz to return to the tomb. Evans then closed the door and sealed the cavern entrance with TNT.

Evans eventually made his way back to his military unit, but he told no one about his awful experience because he thought they would think he was a victim of "war-nerves".

Evans kept his torturous memories to himself, but years later, he would still be plagued by nightmares of the monstrous Garaz.

(Considering the above image where Evans speaks directly to the reader, he seems to have the ability to see past the "fourth wall" -- perhaps this was due to the residual effects of Chong-Soh's magic while he was in Garaz's tomb.)

--Adventures into Terror#43/1

images: (without ads)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p3, pan3 (Main Image - Garaz emerges from his tomb after being released by Evans)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p3, pan5 (Headshot - Garaz with Evans on his shoulder)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p3, pan7 (during World War II, Garaz swats fighter planes from sky)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p7, pan7 (Garaz tricked into reciting chant, Evans directs him to return to tomb)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p4, pan7 (Garaz kneeling before Bazor in Bazor's court)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p7, pan1 (Garaz finds his people dead)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p7, pan2 (Garaz swears vengence for his dead comrades)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p2, pan7 (giant door to Garaz's tomb, Evans in foreground)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p8, pan2 (Evans pushes lever to lock tomb door)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p8, pan4 (Garaz sleeping in tomb)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p5, pan2 (Garaz encounters Chong-Soh)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p5, pan3 (Chong-Soh faces Garaz)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p2, pan3 (Evans by his crashed plane during World War II)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p2, pan4 (Evans crawls into immense cavern)
Adventures into Terror#43/1, p8, pan6 (Evans speaks to reader)

Appearances:
Adventures into Terror#43/1 (November, 1950) - unidentified writer, Russ Heath (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 06/15/2018
Last updated: 06/15/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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