(Amazing-Man Comics 011, 1940)
Zardi, Prince of Zandipore, the Eternal Man. The immortal guy is a fun character type that is usually assigned to villains, presumably because someone with endless knowledge and resources will prove a challenge to even the most seasoned of heroes. Plus they can have inscrutable long-range goals! In Zardi's case, he just wants to have a good rest (reasonable as he is upwards of 15 000 years old) but will rouse himself to combat evil using his magic cape (restores Zardi's youth, invisibility, flight), magic cane (magical multitool and focus for spellcasting) and array of magics (including illusions, sleep, tlekinesis, etc). He also has an implied network of agents around the world but we only meet his manservant Nogi and a young woman named Janni Bayless.
All that is by way of setting the scene: the thing I really want to look at is the series of vignettes used to highlight Zardi's immortal nature.
We're going to tally everything up down at the bottom. See you there!
Grand totals!
Concrete events:
- Knows the secret of the Sphinx: |
- Saw the Egyptian kings buried: |
- Saw the Flood: |
- Saw the Fountain of Youth hidden away forever: |
- Saw the parting of the Red Sea: ||
- Saw the Pyramids built: |||
- Witnessed the fall of Babylon: |
and the more ephemeral:
- Knows every form of magic: |
- Knows the locations of various riches: ||
- Learned the secret of Chaldean magic: |
- Saw Hindu magic created: |
What does this tell us? Well, for starters the Bible is real, at least up to Exodus (was Zardi on the Ark or was he just immortal enough to float around for a month plus? no clue). Magic is real. Zardi really likes Egypt and the Middle East.
Magic? Real, and Zardi knows all of it. The Fountain of Youth? Real, and Zardi was there to see it. I imagine that "we found a whole new continent" is a very exciting thing to hear when you're an immortal. Even one who doesn't travel much.
In conclusion, there's not as much meat on this bit as I imagined! Oh, and Zardi the Eternal Man is pretty okay.
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