Real Name:
UnrevealedEL MONTANO
Real Name:
Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human;
citizenship/nationality unrevealed (possibly African
and/or Middle Eastern)
Occupation Drug lord, slaver, crime lord
Group Membership: Leader of his own unidentified criminal organization
Affiliations: Formerly Abdullah and other unidentified minions
Enemies: French government, Fulani tribe, Shanna the She-Devil, S.H.I.E.L.D. (including agent Jakuna Singh); to some extent, most official law enforcement agencies in the world
Known Relatives: None
Aliases:
None:
the narrator described him as the man-mountain;
Shanna called him Bloated One, Hippo Hocks and the
schemer;
his minion Abdullah called
him "the effendi", a honorary title of Ottoman origin meaning "lord" or
"master"
Base of Operations: A fortress-palace covered by Neolithic ruins, in the northern periphery of the Sahara Desert
First Appearance: Shanna the She-Devil I#2 (February, 1973)
Powers/Abilities: Although
overweight and prone to hedonistic pleasures, El Montano was a
surprisingly quick and effective fighter who could batter a man with
his two hands, and his mass was such that hitting him with naked limbs
caused some pain to the attacker. He was proficient with the bull whip,
his weapon of choice, and could run surprisingly fast for a man of his
weight.
Bigoted, el Montano claimed to be superior to any woman in both speed and intelligence, but his encounter with Shanna the She-Devil proved him wrong.
El Montano usually had binoculars
available, wore a watch on his left wrist and surrounded himself with
several subordinates, going from specialized technicians to guards
armed with semiautomatic guns.
El Montano had access to huge amounts of money for his plans. His slavers captured mostly male prisoners in tribal compounds and transported them to the nearby palace in sand yachts.
His palace in the northern borders of the Sahara desert was also an almost-unassailable fortress with apparently miles of corridors and different construction style, from the ostentation of his own pleasure spaces with slaves, to the granite-buttressed corridors in dungeons hewn from the rock, to the technical accuracy of his control missile rooms, to even the pits to punish slaves or the cages of at least four Siberian guard-wolves that he released whenever a slave tried to escape. Armed guards in thawbs (Arabic ankle-length robes) patrolled the surrounding areas.
Height: Unrevealed (at least 7', if not significantly taller)History:
(Shanna
the She-Devil I#2 - BTS) - A master criminal wanted by most police
agencies in the world, supposedly guilty of many important crimes, el
Montano decided to steal a French rocket after its launch, detouring it
from the intended Moon destination. El Montano stole technological
equipment, losing four agents in the process, and bribed a French
technician, but managed to hide half a ton of cocaine in the rocket; by
stealing it, he'd have access to both the drug and the machine, which
he intended to ransom to the French authorities. El Montano estimated
that he could buy one thousand new slaves with his profits. While
preparing for this plot, el Montano sent his slaver agents to Fulani
tribe compounds near his fortress. International peacekeeping agency
S.H.I.E.L.D. knew of el Montano's activities, schemes, and HQ, and they
sought to stop him.
(Shanna the She-Devil I#2) - S.H.I.E.L.D.
agent Akuna Singh recruited African-based jungle adventurer Shanna the
She-Devil to infiltrate el Montano's fortress and stop his rocket
hijacking. Shanna agreed, although she was more interested in rescuing
the slaves. Shanna approached the palace with only her pet leopards Ina
and Biri as companions, but she and the animals were apprehended by el
Montano's guards led by Abdullah. El Montano
ordered to keep them all to skin the big cats later, then went to his
missile control room to oversee the technician's operation in the
rocket hijacking. Shanna and the animals escaped, killing the guard.
El Montano was notified just after the rocket launch; Shanna attacked
at that point, damaging the control room's consoles. El Montano
confronted Shanna with his whip, but she disarmed him; however, el
Montano had a chance to call for more guards. El Montano tried to
escape when Shanna defeated his entourage, damaging the control room
beyond repair. Chased by Shanna and her leopards, el Montano vainly
unleased Siberian wolves on her. El Montano tried to walk on a ramp
over a shaft where unruly slaves were disciplined, but the catwalk
broke and the prisoners, eager to get revenge on el Montano, jumped on
him, and then Shanna joined the fray.
Immediately after that, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Singh and French soldiers arrived to apprehend the criminals on the rocket crime charges, and to release the slaves. El Montano was apparently killed, and the rocket landed on the moon, with El Montano's drug still on board.
Comments: Created by Carole Seuling (writer) and Ross Andru (art).
El Montano appears exclusively in Shanna the She-Devil I#3 (February, 1973). Jim Steranko's cover shows Shannah in a cell harassed by yellow hyaenas that do not appear in the story and are probably intended to be the Siberian wolves with wrong colouring and art details.
Montano is an Italian, Spanish and Portuguese surname, indeed meaning "the one from the mountains." It is a derivative of Latin name Montanus, who founded the Christian movement named Montanism in the 2nd century. Montano could be this character's surname, but "El" (Spanish for "the") cannot be his first name; "El Montano" is more likely an alias, a reference of him being a man-mountain (not to be confused with Man Mountain Marko).
In the last scene, Jakuna Singh arrives and claims that Shanna is "unharmed." However, at the very least, a Siberian wolf had bitten her left wrist and made her bleed. Singh may have not noticed this.
This profile was completed 11/25/2020, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.
Profile by Skippy Farlstendoiro.
Clarifications:
El Montano has no known connections to:
Abdullah
was one of el Montano's favored minions. An Arab, he dressed a striped
red vest without shirt underneath, green trousers, a wristband on his
left arm and a yellow knit cap, instead of the thawbs most other guards
wore; and he wielded a scimitar instead of a semiautomatic gun; he also
had access to chloroform as a means to subdue prisoners without killing
them. El Montano called Abdullah by his name, except when insulting him
as "clumsy pig." Other nicknames he received, uttered by Shanna the
She-Devil, included fleshmonger and sadistic killer, although Abdullah
claimed to have never murdered anyone.
When Shanna the She-Devil raided el Montano's palace in the night, she was intercepted by Abdullah and his guards. Using superior numbers, they subdued and knocked down Shanna and netted her companion leopards, Biri and Ini. Abdullah used chloroform on the prisoners, then ordered the guards to tie and gag them (using nosemasks on the tigers to keep them unconscious) before showing the captives to el Montano. Satisfied, el Montano ordered Abdullah to throw the prisoners to a cell, being careful to not damage their skins as they were valuable. Abdullah indeed threw Shanna and her big cats into a cell -- the same cell for the three of them, which was a mistake.
Shanna ungagged her trained tiger Ina so she would untie Shanna with her fangs. She then pretended to be attacked by the animals so that the guard would enter to help, only to find himself the target of three enemies at once. Shanna sent the carnivores against Abdullah and contemplated as they tore him to pieces before escaping.
Another guard would eventually find Abdullah's corpse in Shanna's cell and reported to el Montano that the prisoners had escaped.
--"Shanna the She-Devil I#2
Shanna the She-Devil I#2 (February, 1973) - Carole Seuling (writers), Ross Andru (penciler), Vince Colletta (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
First posted:
09/28/2021 Any Additions/Corrections? please
let me know. Non-Marvel
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Last updated: 09/27/2021
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