Johnny Cougar
Real Name: Johnny Cougar
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Professional wrestler
Affiliations: Splash Gorton
Enemies: Grarg
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: U.K.
First Appearance: Tiger (IPC, 31st March 1962)
Powers/Abilities: Skilled wrestler
History: Johnny Cougar was a Native American of the Seminole tribe.
Comments: Created by Geoff Campion. Cougar was one of Tiger's longer running characters, staying in the comic from his debut until Tiger's demise in 1985.
Though most Seminole are to be found in the United States, Johnny Cougar was apparently Canadian. As might be expected given the era he debuted in, some of how he is portrayed reads awkwardly to modern sensibilities - for example, he speaks English with stereotypical "Indian" idioms, using "heap" as an intensifier ("this will be heap interesting") and swearing "By Manitou!" (which, by my admittedly limited understanding of Native American tribes, is associated with an entirely different set of tribes than the Seminole, and so is akin to a staunch Catholic exclaiming "by Buddha!"). Similarly, on at least one occasion, he wears a feathered war bonnet prior to a match, which I again believe should actually be associated with an entirely different set of tribes than the Seminole. However, I think it's only fair to view him in the context of the times he was published, and then he comes across a lot more favourably. Yes, there's some ignorance about the differences between Native American groups, and so he's very much an homogeneous Indian, but people in the U.K. were a lot less aware about such things in the 1960s. On his plus side, he's a non-white lead character in an era where such characters were rare, portrayed in a positive light as the hero of the strip, and artistically speaking, barring the odd clothing faux pas, he's not depicted as a stereotype.
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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