Janu was a young boy who accompanied the adventurer Congo Bill on many of his adventures.
History
Pre-Crisis
Janu's father was a famous jungle guide who was slain by a tiger, forcing young Janu to flee deep into the Indo-China jungle. Living amongst the animals, Janu survived in the wild for many years, earning the nickname "jungle boy" from the locals.
Congo Bill was tasked with finding Janu and bringing him back to the civilization to attend school like other children of his age. However, impressed by his survival skills and seeing he's been taking American correpondence school lessons by mail, Bill instead adopts Janu as his ward.[1] In the following years, the duo had many adventures around the jungles of the world.
New Earth
Wandering in the African jungle after the death of his father, young Janu was found and adopted by the famous adventurer Congo Bill. Bill raised the boy like his own, and the two of them would fight against evil as Bill became Congorilla.
As Janu grew older, he left the jungle for college in America. Living abroad, Janu get his first taste of the luxuries of the civilized world - most importantly, money. Refusing Janu's ideas of banking with his name, Congo Bill remained in the body of Congorilla, protecting his jungle. As a farewell gift, Bill gave Janu Kawolo's Magic Ring for safekeeping. Janu returned to America and got rich by working as a drug dealer for a crime boss named Hendrickson.[2]
After betraying Hendrickson and almost dying in a car crash orchesterated by his angered employer, Janu hatched a plan to become a drug lord in his own right. He put on the magic ring, transfering his mind into the body of Congorilla, and therefore transfering Congo Bill's mind into his own battered body. As the mighty Golden Gorilla, Janu set up shop in his home jungle, gathering and dealing gorilla adrenochrome as a narcotic,[3] planning to bring his vision of the American dream - money, power and women - all over the world.[4]
Congo Bill, trapped in the body of Janu, not only managed to survive the hospitalization following the car crash, but a personal assassination attempt by Janu as well. Realizing his ward had betrayed him, Bill set up a safari to hunt down and defeat Congorilla-Janu.
Janu set to kill all of his enemies, starting with Hendrickson. However, his reign was short-lived, as Congo Bill, who had transfered his mind back into his original body, used his superior hunting skills to defeat the gorilla. As a last resort, Janu tried to transfer his mind out of the body of Congorilla, only to realize Bill had pinched back the magic ring. Congorilla-Janu then fell to his death.[5]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Supersonic Whistle: Janu has a supersonic whistle designed by a scientist to emits a high pitched sound that only animals can hear. Janu summons his friends with it, some of them are Bombo the Elephant, Chota the Chimp and Haddo the Hippo.
Notes
- Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
- During the pre-crisis era, Janu's hair color was black, but in Congorilla Vol 1, published post-crisis, it is red.
Trivia
- Janu was often known as Janu the Jungle Boy and Janu, Boy of the Jungle.
- Janu often used alliterations such as creeping crocodiles, leaping lions, tumbling tigers, jumping jackals, great giraffes, howling hyenas.
Related
- 93 Appearances of Janu (New Earth)
- 1 Images featuring Janu (New Earth)
- 1 Quotations by or about Janu (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Janu (New Earth)
Footnotes