(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - A million years ago Kariooq and his fellow Great Beasts rose "on a planet in a universe outside our own". They pillaged and corrupted the land, taking it as their own even as they fought amongst themselves. Over time, the Great Beasts would set aside their hatred and join forces to conquer other realms.
(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - Discovering Earth was the nearest realm in the mystic continuum, the Great Beasts staged three unsuccessful invasion attempts. During the final confrontation, they were opposed by the Ancient Gods of the North who beat them back and sealed the beasts behind a mystical barrier.
(Alpha Flight I#1 & 24 (fb) - BTS) - Kariooq's fellow Great Beasts Tundra and Kolomaq had planned for this eventuality. They created a magical vortex that spun the energies of the barrier back on its creators. As a result, Nelvana, Hodiak and the other gods of the north were imprisoned in a realm beyond human ken as well.
(Alpha Flight I#24) - After discovering their teammate Sasquatch was actually the Great Beast known as Tanaraq, Alpha Flight traveled to the Shattered Lands to rescue the soul of Walter Langkowksi. There, they faced the Great Beasts's leader Somon the Artificer who greeted the heroes by sending the mind controlled Kariooq, Tundra and Tolamaq to fight them. Shaman fought Kariooq, holding the Great Beast at bay by casting a spell that sent giant ice shards him. Deathly afraid of "the great preserver" Kariooq briefly backed off until the firebeast Tolomaq had melted the shards. Alpha Flight was losing until Snowbird, in her bear form, tore into Somon who lost control over his fellow Beasts. Back in his right mind, Tundra immediately focused his attention on his old enemy Kariooq, leaving the Alphans to resume their mission and ultimately leave the Shattered Lands with Langkowski's soul (see comments).
(Alpha Flight I#38) - The spirits of Kariooq and the other Great Beasts were briefly summoned to Earth by Pestilence (F.R. Crozier) to battle Alpha Flight on his behalf. Kariooq was seen engaging the lightning quick twins Aurora and Northstar who dodged his blows before Michael Twoyoungmen donned his daughter's mystical talisman and forced the Beasts' spirit forms back to their native realm.
(Alpha Flight I#55) - Hoping to convince the new Sasquatch (Wanda
Langkowski) to join their cause, Somon the Artificer subconsciously
influenced Langkowski to sculpt an occult formation in the Canadian
wilderness the Great Beasts could use as a nexus to return to Earth.
Appearing near Alpha Flight, they began to directly influence Wanda.
When she rejected them outright, Somon ordered Kariooq and the
others to attack and kill Wanda and Alpha Flight. In the fight,
Kariooq grew to giant size and started striking at his enemies. He
was stopped by Vindicator who generated a heat funnel that melted a
sufficiently large chunk of nearby ice to trap and immobilize
Kariooq. Soon, only Tundra was the last Beast standing. Desperate,
Madison Jeffries used his technopathy to increase the size of the
Box armor so he rivaled Tundra in size. Joining Jeffries inside Box
were Heather and Goblyn. Together, they came up with a way to defeat
Tundra: absorb all the nearby metal, convert it to energy and have
Box unleash it as a massive heat blast that would melt the villain
away. Even though this move brought great risk for Box, Alpha Flight
and Canada itself, the heroes pushed through. When the smoke
cleared, only a smouldering crater remained (Tundra and the
others were seemingly destroyed while Alpha Flight survived inside
the Box armor that had launched itself into space).(Alpha Flight I#64) - Kariooq and the other Great Beasts once again used their mystical connection to Sasquatch to gain a foothold on Earth. This time, they manifested through Wanda Langkowski just as she was in an Ottawa probate court trying to get the Langkowski family fortune back from Walter's wife Ronnie. During the fight, the Beasts tried to sway Sasquatch to rejoin the Great Beasts so they could conquer Earth. In the end, Langkowski firmly chose to back Snowbird, Alpha Flight and the ancient gods of the north. To prove his point, he singlehandedly shoved Kariooq and the others back into the dimensional gate, even as the stunned judge returned to a demolished courtroom to deliver the verdict.
(Alpha Flight I#71 (fb) - BTS) - On the eve of the return of the immensely powerful sorceror Llan, Heather Hudson had a talk with Alpha Flight's resident mystic Talisman. She was concerned about the team's recent string of encounters with mystical and otherworldly menaces like the Great Beasts, Pestilence, and the Dream Queen. Talisman concluded that these events were a warning of a greater threat: the world was about to enter a phase of darkness during which evil gains the upper hand.
(Wolverine I#172) - When the Arctic Gods banished the malevolent Mauvais to the Shattered Lands, Kariooq joined Somon, Tolomaq and Tundra in welcoming the stunned villain.
(Chaos War: Alpha Flight I#1) - Fearing the rise of the Chaos King (Amatsu-Mikaboshi) the Great Beasts summoned Sasquatch to their realm to request his aid in combating this threat. They even used their powers to resurrect his slain teammates from Alpha Flight (Guardian, Marrina, Shaman & Vindicator). The Beasts and Alpha returned to Earth to fight the Chaos King and his demon armies, but ultimately the Beasts were killed by the deity slayer.
(Amazing X-Men II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Tanaraq grew increasingly more
powerful after an incident in Canada led to the creation of hordes
of Wendigo (a murderer had ditched the corpse of his victim in a
meat processing plant, causing thousands of consumers to commit
cannibalism, triggering the Wendigo curse). Tanaraq used this
power to conquer the Spirit Realm, openly warring against Kariooq
and the other Great Beasts. (Amazing X-Men II#12) - Members of the X-Men and Alpha Flight traveled to the Spirit Realm in an attempt to reverse the effects of the curse. They learned of Tanaraq's conquest of the realm and tried to aid the Great Beasts after Snowbird convinced the heroes the world would be better off with all seven Beasts warring against one another. The mortal heroes were unable to hold their own against Tanaraq and his forces. They wound up chained next to the Great Beasts, but were soon freed by the arriving Iceman. The Great Beasts begged the mutants to free them as well so they could deal with Tanaraq. Storm refused, instead striking a deal that led to the Great Beasts empowering Storm, Iceman, Firestar and Rockslide. They fought off Tanaraq's Wendigo while a furious Guardian wound up killing Tanaraq. Without his power holding them back, Kariooq and the remaining Great Beasts were freed.
Comments: Created by John Byrne (writer, pencils) Bob Wiacek (inks)
Kariooq's mortal enemy is ice. You'd think that would make Kolomaq his mortal enemy, after all he's the beast of the snows. But no, Kariooq is most afraid of the land beast Tundra. Because, I suppose, tundra is permafrost too. Then again, Kolomaq's mortal enemy isn't the firebeast Tolomaq so logic only goes so far.
Kariooq appeared as part of the Great Beasts entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#3