N'LONGA
Real Name: N'Longa
Identity/Class: Human magic-user;
16th century; possibly earlier and/or later
Occupation: King, Ju-Ju Man / witch doctor;
presumptive former tribal ruler
Group Membership: People of Basti;
fomerly an unidentified African tribe
Affiliations: Solomon Kane (blood-brother), Khabasti tribe, Kran (former host), Masutos tribe, Zunna; unidentified ju-ju men of southern and eastern Africa;
worshipped the Black God/Gorilla God (see comments)
formerly Songa
Enemies: Gulka the Gorilla-Slayer, Jeremy Hawk, le Loup, Songa, vampire-creatures of Engazi;
former slave-owners
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Jeremy Hawk/Hawk of Basti (whose body he usurped)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
last seen in Basti, Africa;
formerly his unspecified tribe's location in Africa
First Appearance: (Historical) Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard (first
published in Weird Tales, August, 1928);
(Marvel Universe)
Kull and the Barbarians#2/2 (July, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: N'Longa formerly wielded the Staff of Solomon, a powerful mystic totem.
N'Longa can transfer his spirit,
occupying and reanimating the form of an at least recently deceased
person. Such reanimated corpses were unaffected by otherwise fatal
penetrating or blunt wounds, etc. Presumably assaults that limited them
mobility, such as severing limbs, or pinning under heavy rocks would be
effective assaults.
N'Longa can also occupy the form a
living being, at least with the aid of the Staff of Solomon. He could
temporarily displace a host's spirit to the "shadowland" (possibly a name for the astral plane or some other realm);
he could also send at least one other person's spirit to the shadow
realm at the same time, in some cases to act as a companion to the
displaced spirit. N'Longa cou
N'Longa's spirit could travel
across unspecified distances, presumably at least hundreds of miles, at
least with the aid the Staff of Solomon.
Also aided by the Staff of Solomon, N'Longa could perform a spell to summon a vast venue/kettle of vultures.
Using the Staff of Solomon, N'Longa could project his mind into the dreams of others.
N'Longa also used the Staff to summon apparitions.
What abilities N'Longa had and to
what level he could perform them without the Staff of Solomon are
unrevealed, although the fact that he gave it up so readily would seem
to indicate his abilities were substantial even without the Staff.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'7"); (as Hawk) same as Solomon Kane (estimated to be 6')
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 140 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown (hard and snaky); his host's eyes sometimes glowed red; (as Hawk) gray
Hair: None (bald or shaved; at least formerly black); (as Hawk) blond
History:
(The Hills of the Dead (fb) - BTS / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 (fb) - BTS) -
N'Longa was a man of African descent born decades, perhaps centuries, before
the late sixteenth century.
All his life he worked powerful magic, first learning
from powerful ju-ju men from both the south and the east of the African
continent.
He was for a time the slave of white men and during this time
learned even more magic, as well as how to speak English.
(The Hills of the Dead (fb) - BTS) - N'Longa
came to possess the legendary Staff of Solomon, which he regarded as a powerful
voodoo staff.
(Red Shadows - BTS, The Hills of the
Dead - BTS) - N'Longa became the priest of the Black God, also known as the
Gorilla God, worshipped by the tribe of Chief Songa, near the Slave Coast of
Africa.
(Marvel Premiere#34 (fb) - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 (fb) - BTS, Red Shadows (fb) - BTS) <Around 1553 AD> - N'Longa saw the white man le Loup come to his village and form an alliance with Chief Songa; the two became blood brothers.
(Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 (fb) - BTS) - Le Loup supplanted N'Longa's position of power within the tribe.
(Marvel Premiere#34 - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 - BTS, Red Shadows - BTS) -
Arriving on the
Slave Coast of Africa aboard a Spanish vessel, in search of le Loup,
Solomon Kane was ambushed and struck from behind by Gulka the
Gorilla-Slayer, an agent of Chief Songa
(Marvel Premiere#34 (fb) - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 (fb) - BTS, Red Shadows (fb) - BTS) - After Kane's unconconscious and bound form was placed in a hut, N'Longa went to see him.
(Marvel Premiere#34, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1, Red Shadows)
- As Kane revived, N'Longa greeted the white man and introduced
himself. After Kane confirmed N'Longa's suspicion that he had come
there hunting and seeking to kill another white man, N'Longa told him
of Le Loup's alliance with Chief Songa.
Instructing Kane to remain
silent, N'Longa offered to help Kane accomplish his goal, as getting
rid of Le Loup would allow N'Longa to be more powerful than Songa.
N'Longa then departed the hut. 
(Marvel Premiere#34 (fb) - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 (fb) - BTS, Red Shadows (fb) - BTS)
- Hiding outside the hut, le Loup heard Kane and N'Longa's
conversation, and he subsequently informed Songa, convincing him to
have the two burned alive.
(Marvel Premiere#34, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1, Red Shadows)
- Later,
after Gulka had slain a tribesman to try to intimidate the bound Kane (after
having to turn away from Kane's steely glance) , N'Longa rushed out and waved Gulka
back.
Initially slinking back, as if to avoid N'Longa's gaze, Gulka
suddently turned and struck N'Longa, knocking him to the ground.
N'Longa was then bound alongside Kane. 
After le Loup revealed he had overheard their plot
and had convinced Songa to burn them both alive, N'Longa assured Kane
he needn't worry as he was powerful ju-ju man. Calling out to
Songa, N'Longa's voice rose to a powerful screen that drowned out the
clamoring drums; as torches were applied to the wood about their feet,
N'Longa's head suddenly drooped.
(Marvel Premiere#34 - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 - BTS, Red Shadows - BTS) - N'Longa sent his spirit into the corpse.
(Marvel Premiere#34, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1, Red Shadows)
- Le
Loup mocked his seeming death, but all drumming suddenly stopped and
silence spread across the crowd as the corpse of the man slain by Gulka
and placed on the altar began to move.
The corpse rose to its feet and moved jerkingly
toward Songa. Screaming in terror, Songa futilely hurled his spear into
the corpse's chest, after which N'Longa had the corpse stare into
Songa's eyes and then grab him.
Screaming, Songa crumpled and fell to
the ground, and the corpse reeled and stiffly fell on Songa's already
lifeless form (see comments).
After the other tribesmen untied Kane, he examined
N'Longa, finding him apparently dead, with his flesh already cold.
(Marvel Premiere#34 - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 - BTS, Red Shadows - BTS) - N'Longa's spirit returned to his form.
(Marvel Premiere#34, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1, Red Shadows)
- Kane
was shocked as N'Longa abruptly sat up, telling Kane what he had done
and that now he could see what a great ju-ju man he was. Meanwhile, the
tribesmen chanted N'Longa's name repeatedly in an ecstatic refrain of
terror and worship. N'Longa then stood before the Gorilla God, his arms
outstretched.
(Marvel Premiere#34 - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 - BTS, Red Shadows - BTS) - Kane slew le Loup in a duel, and Gulka was killed by a male
gorilla whose wife Gulka had slain.
(Marvel Premiere#34 - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1 - BTS, Red Shadows - BTS; Hills of the Dead (fb) - BTS, Kull and the Barbarians#2/2 (fb) - BTS, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5 (fb) - BTS) - N'Longa and Solomon Kane became blood-brothers.
(Kull and the Barbarians#2/2, (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5 (fb)) - As Solomon Kane
prepared to depart, N'Longa gifted him an ancient voodoo staff (the legendary Staff of Solomon).
((Sword
of) Solomon Kane#4 - BTS) <Around 1591 AD> - Haunted by his "voodoo staff" and seeking to
learn its the nature, Kane traveled to the North-African coast.
((Sword of) Solomon Kane#5 (fb) - BTS) - Kane located N'Longa
(Kull
and the Barbarians#2/2) - N'Longa was pleased to see Kane, noting how
long it had been a long time since they'd seen each other and become
blood brothers. After Kane stated he had felt had been drawn back to
Africa, N'Longa noted that the jungle sometimes seemed to call to him
also, "She coil like a serpent about my hut and whisper strange things
to me...even to me, N'Longa, mighty worker of magic." When N'Longa asked
if Kane believed in his fetish work, Kane replied that though he didn't
understand it, he had seen it work.
(Savage Sword of Conan #20/2 (fb)) -
At a fire, N'Longa held the Staff of Solomon while summoning apparitions to
demonstrate his magic to Solomon Kane.
(Kull and the Barbarians#2/2 (fb) / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5)) - N'Longa then returned the voodoo staff (the Staff of Solomon) to Kane, assuring him it was still his and telling him when his gun failed him, the staff
would save him.
N'Longa further advised Kane that if Kane wanted him,
he should lay the staff on his chest, fold his hands, and then sleep,
after which N'Longa would come to him in his sleep.
Suspicious, Kane
nonetheless considered the lightweight but strong staff to be at least
a good weapon.
(Kull and the Barbarians#2/2 - BTS / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5 - BTS) - Weeks
later, Kane met the young Zunna in the jungle veldt, and he encountered
and slew a pair of the vampire-creatures of Engazi (see comments)
(Kull and the Barbarians#3/4 / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5)
- Seeking guidance against the hundreds of such vampiric creatures,
Kane placed the staff on his chest, folded his hands, and went to
sleep.
Appearing to Kane in a dream, N'Longa told Kane to have Zunna
bring her lover to the cave and have him lie down as if to sleep
holding the voodoo stave.
After Zunna returned with her lover, Kran, he lied down and
held the staff; as N'Longa's consciousness took over Kran's body, Zunna
fainted.
Both Kran and Zunna's spirits were sent to the "Shadowland"
temporarily.
(Kull and the Barbarians#3/4 / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5)
- As Kane called to Kran to care for Zunna, N'Longa (in Kran's form)
greeted Kane, noting his identity.
Kane denounced him as Satan in
Kran's body, but N'Longa -- explaining that bodies were like clothes,
and he took them off and put 'em back on -- clarified that his body
slept in his Juju hut while his ghost had traveled out and displaced
Kran's ghost; N'Longa further revealed that Kran was not dead and that
he had sent his ghost to Shadowland, and Zunna's ghost kept him
company, but both would come back by and by.
N'Longa and Kane then discussed plans to face "a nation of vampires."
At dawn's light, N'Longa and Kane departed their cave (see comments),
and N'Longa noted that the land had plenty of caves full of dead men.
N'Longa further warned Kane to wear his hat to protect his brains from
the hot African sun.
As they spied from above the creature's former home,
the crumbling city of "Engazi," N'Longa speculated that they had left
to avoid being crushed by falling stones, and he noted that he thought
they might fear other things, too.
After telling Kane that the creatures were silent
because they were dead, N'Longa conceived a plan, and he asked Kane to
be silent, after which he drew a strange pattern in the clay with a
dagger point, squatted,
and then seemed to fall into a trance (as he prepared a spell). One of
the creatures attempted to attack the apparently helpless N'Longa, but
Kane attacked it, ultimately knocking it off the cliff to fall and be
shattered on the rocky plateau below.
Reviving, N'Longa advised Kane of the advancing horde of vampire-creatures.
(Kull and the Barbarians#3/4 / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5) - As Kane battled the creatures, N'Longa gathered a bundle of dried leaves (or arranged what he had brought with him, although you don't see anything with him prior to this).
(Kull and the Barbarians#3/4 / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5) - As
the vampiric horde threatened to overwhelm Kane, N'Longa uttered a long, piercing wail, and the creatures were
assaulted vultures, who fed on their dead flesh.
When the creatures fled back to
their city, N'Longa used a flint and steel to generate sparks to light
his bundle of dried leaves, which he then flung onto the dried grasses
below.
The fire swiftly spread into the city and consumed the vampire-creatures.
N'Longa proclaimed he and Kane to be mighty men,
explaining at Kane's request that the Puritan was a fine warrior but
that he was like a little lost child when it came to magic. When Kane
worried that he had become a pawn of the devil, N'Longa explained that
magic was both good and bad, and he earned Kane's confidence that it
could be good by returning to his own form and allowing Kran and Zunna
to reclaim their forms.
((Sword of) Solomon Kane#5)
- N'Longa told Kane to keep the voodoo staff, the powers of which would
prove useful against all sorcerers, serpents, and evil things.
(Kull and the Barbarians#3/4 / (Sword of) Solomon Kane#5 - BTS) - N'Longa's spirit was sent back to his own body, and Kran and Zunna both awakened.
(Hawk of Basti - BTS) - During his journey
through Africa, Solomon Kane encountered fellow Englishman Jeremy Hawk, with
whom he had once served as a privateer under Sir Richard Grenville. Hawk had
later become a pirate before using his knowledge of gunpowder to usurp the
kingship of the lost city of Basti in Africa, located on the Isles of Ra upon
Lake Nyayna. The city had originally been ruled by the brown skinned Khabasti
with the black skinned Masutos as their slaves. For his own nefarious reasons,
Hawk had granted the Masutos their freedom, but was opposed by the Khabasti
cult ruled by high priest Agara.
(Hawk of Basti) - While having a dream, Kane was visited by
N'Longa who advised him to give the Staff of Solomon to Hawk. During a
subsequent banquet, Jeremy Hawk used the staff to overpower Agara, who was then
dispatched with a pistol fired by Kane. However due to his contact with the
staff, Hawk found his soul banished to "the shadow-land" by N'Longa,
whose own soul possessed Hawk's body. N'Longa told Kane that the people of
Basti needed a king to rule justly and allowed them to believe he was Hawk of
Basti.
Kane later departed the city, and N'Longa, still in the body of Hawk and
aiding his followers in the fields, nodded at him as he walked by.
Comments: Created by Robert E. Howard.
The City of the "Vampires" did not receive an official name in the original story or the Marvel
Adaptations. The name Engazi comes from the Savage Worlds of Solomon
Kane by Pinnacle Games.
The dates of "1555" (Solomon Kane#5) for
Hills of the Dead and "1559" (Solomon Kane#6) for Wings in the Night
were in error, as they occurred after the Battle of Flores in 1591.
--Wolfram Bane
N'Longo described his early life to
Solomon Kane in The Hills of the Dead: "I am so old that you would call me
a liar if I told you my age. All my life I have worked magic, sitting first at
the feet of mighty ju-ju men of the south and the east; then I was a slave to
the Buckra and learned more." The term buckra or bakra is an
African-American slang term to describe a white man, often a slave master.
Hawk of Basti was originally an
incomplete story fragment written by Robert E. Howard, which did not
include
mention of N'Longa. Ramsey Campbell later completed the fragment, with
the
N'Longa character added, which was published in the compilation Solomon
Kane:
The Hills of the Dead (1979). Hawk of Basti was never adapted to
Marvel, but was confirmed as canon in The Trail of Solomon Kane and
Kane... the Avenger by
Fred Blosser.
I had initially thought the N'Longa-animated
corpse strangled Songa, but Songa seemed to die of fear or something
else on contact with the corpse. You can't scream when you can't
breathe. In (Sword of) Solomon Kane#1, the corpse breaks Songa's neck.
Although Kull and the Barbarians#2/2 showed
Kane being given the staff by N'Longa shortly before rescuing Zunna
from the vampires, Solomon Kane#5 retconned this, depicting him
receiving the staff decades earlier, at their first encountering,
shortly after killing Le Loup.
As the dates and histories are
sometimes contradictory, it is difficult to be 100% certain of the
placement of all the stories.
In Kull and the Barbarians#3, N'Longa and Kane
left the Staff of Solomon in the cave to protect Zunna and Kran.
In Solomon Kane#5,
N'Longa used the staff to draw a fetish sign to protect them, while --
once the creatures threatened to overwhelm him -- Kane wielded the
staff against the creatures as N'Longa cast his spell.
Also in Solomon Kane#5, N'Longa was in the midst
of drawing a ju ju symbol in the dirt when the vampire-creature
attempted to ambush him; N'Longa had not yet entered his trance. Kane
beat it back off the edge of a cliff in this version, as well.
In Marvel Premiere#34, N'Longa had black hair, but in his other appearances/adaptations, he was bald.
While Jeremy Hawk was not pictured, Wolfram Bane provided thei supplemental information:
According to
Hawk of Basti, "Jeremy Hawk was as tall as Solomon Kane and like him was
rangy and powerful – steel springs and whalebone. But where Solomon was dark,
Jeremy Hawk was blond. Now he was burned to light bronze by the sun, and his
tangled yellow locks fell over his high narrow forehead. His jaw, masked by a
yellow stubble, was lean and aggressive, and his thin gash of a mouth was
cruel. His grey eyes were gleaming and restless, full of wild glitterings and
shifting lights.
After N'Longa
possessed the body of Hawk, there is no indication of what happened to his
original form, but he undoubtably arranged precautions for this. He has been
depicted to briefly leave his body in the past in Red Shadows and The Hills of
the Dead. In Red Shadows, his original form appeared to be dead: "He bent,
laid a hand on the ju-ju man's shoulder. No doubt of it: he was dead, the flesh
was already cold... Kane started to rise, then halted. Was he dreaming, or did
he really feel a sudden warmth in the dead flesh he touched? Mind reeling, he
again bent over the wizard's body, and slowly he felt warmness steal over the
limbs and the blood begin to flow sluggishly through the veins again."
In The Hills of the Dead,
he stated simply that his form is sleeping, but may be speaking metaphorically:
“My body sleep in
ju-ju hut on Coast many treks from here."
--I'd speculate
that it was a trance state where his body functions slowed
sufficiently that Kane just thought he was dead.
--Snood
Thanks to Wolfram Bane for the supplemental information not covered in the stories adapted by Marvel.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
N'Longa should be distinguished from:
black god / gorilla god
The Gorilla God was worshipped by an African
tribe of which Songa was king/chief and N'Longa was witch doctor /
ju-ju man.
A large stone statue of the Gorilla God existed in
the tribal village, and sacrifices were made in its presence.
After Gulka the Gorilla-Slayer slew a tribesman in
an effort to intimidate Solomon Kane, Songa and his ally le Loup
prepared to sacrifice N'Longa and Solomon Kane. However, N'Longa turned the tables by possessing the dead tribesman and slaying Songa.
As the
tribesmen chanted N'Longa's name repeatedly in an ecstatic refrain of
terror and worship. N'Longa stood before the Gorilla God, his arms
outstretched.
--Red Shadows; Kull and the Barbarians#2/2
Note: N'Longa refered to himself as
"priest of the Black God!" in The Hills of the Dead. The "Black
God" was also confirmed as worshipped by Chief Songa and Gulka the
Gorilla-Slayer in Red Shadows, but was refered to as the Gorilla God in Marvel
Premiere #34.
The Black God and the Gorilla God are probably one and the same,
and perhaps the same as the African gorilla god Ghekre, a Vodu god who has been
speculated to be the Gorilla God worshipped by the White Gorilla Cult of
Wakanda (Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica: Vodu).
Despite their
reverence for the gorilla, both M'Baku (Man-Ape) and Gulka ritually slaughtered
a gorilla.
--Wolfram Bane
In the Black Panther movie, M’Baku referenced the Gorilla God as
Hanuman.
images: (without ads)
Marvel Premiere I#34, pg. 3, panel 3 (with black hair);
pg. 4, panel 4 (gorilla god)
(Sword of) Solomon Kane#1, pg. 16, panel 6 (face; color);
pg. 17, panel 3 (gorilla god);
pg. 23, panel 6 (entering trance);
pg. 24, panel 1 (full form, in flames);
panel 5 (animating corpse)
Kull and the Barbarians#2/2, story pg. 1, panel 1 face, B&W);
panel 2 (seated form);
pg. 2, panel 1 (with juju staff);
#3/3, pg. 3, panel 5 (appearing in dream)
(Sword of) Solomon Kane#5, pg. 12, panel 7 (reviving in Kran's form; red eyes);
pg. 17, panel 4 (casting spell)
Appearances:
"Red Shadows," Weird Tales (August, 1928) - Robert E. Howard (writer)
"The Hills of the
Dead," Weird Tales (August, 1930) - Robert E. Howard (writer)
"Hawk of Basti,"
Red Shadow (1968) - fragment written by Robert E. Howard; completed by Ramsey Campbell
Kull and the Barbarians#2/2 (July, 1975) - Robert E. Howard (original
story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Alan Weiss (pencils), Neal Adams
(pencils, inks), Karen Mantlo (letters)
Kull and the Barbarians#3/3 (September, 1975) - Robert E. Howard
(original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Alan Weiss (pencils), Pablo
Marcos (inks), Karen Mantlo (letters)
Marvel Premiere I#34 (February, 1977) - Robert E. Howard (original
story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Howard Chaykin (pencils, inks), Don
Warfield (colors), Jim Novak (letters)
Solomon Kane#1
(September, 1985) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Ralph Macchio
(adaptation), Steve Carr (pencils), Bret Blevins (pencils, inks),
Glynis Oliver (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)
Solomon Kane#5 (May, 1986) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Ralph
Macchio (adaptation), Jon Bogdanove (pencils), Al Williamson (inks),
Ken Feduniewicz (colors), Ken Bruzenak (letters)
First posted: 05/28/2020
Last updated: 09/17/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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