Cougar (Atlas Comics)

The Cougar
Cover art for 'The Cougar #1. Art by Frank Thorne.
Publication information
Publisher	Atlas Comics;
First appearance	The Cougar #1 (April 1975)
Created by	Steve Mitchell
In-story information
Alter ego	Jeff Rand

Fictional Character Biography

Jeff Rand is a very successful stuntman. He becomes known as the Cougar due to a starring role in a movie called "The Cougar" that failed miserably, and because he is said to have the reflexes and reaction speed of a cat.

After shooting a scene for a movie being filmed in Germany, Jeff and a few of his friends decide to go into town to have a drink at a local bar before calling it a night. One of the crew, Roger, says that he will join them later as he needed to make sure that the castle was prepared for the scene they would be shooting the next morning. Upon going into the castle, Roger sees a coffin and thinks that it is a prop that has been left out too early for the scene being shot the next day. Roger opens the coffin and sees a stake driven into what looks like a man’s clothing. When Roger removes the stake, the vampire Krolok materializes and immediately takes Roger’s life.

Back in town, Jeff and company are all having drinks when in walks Krolok. Krolok sees Jeff’s friend Katie and mistakes her for a former lover of his named Katya. He immediately tries to subdue and capture Katya, but is interrupted by Jeff, whom Krolok swats away very easily. Krolok leaves before the police arrive. The next morning, Katie informs Jeff that Roger never made it back to the hotel and they venture with the police to Castle Krolok, where they find Roger's body. Jeff then starts to investigate in town about the castle and finds out that it belonged to a true vampire.

The next night, Kathie is in her hotel room and does not know that she is being watched over by the Cougar and the police. Both are afraid that Krolok will try to kidnap her once again. Krolok finally does attack once more, and overcomes both the police and the Cougar. The Cougar is incapacitated and realizes that Katie has been kidnapped when he awakens. The Cougar immediately heads for Castle Krolok, where he finds the vampire ready to drain Kathie of her blood. A battle ensues, which ends when the Cougar drives a stake through Krolok’s heart.^[1]

While filming another movie, Jeff performs a stunt that causes him to dive into a moat around a castle. He is shocked to discover a dead body floating in the moat with its throat torn out. Having had previous experience seeing this type of injury before, Jeff knows that this type of wound could only be caused by a werewolf.

We then learn the origin of Jeff’s acrobatic background, agility, and reflexes. In a flashback, Jeff is shown having grown up with his family: Father, Mother, and brother Rick in the bayou of Louisiana. Jeff is shown swinging from tree to tree, and fishing with his Father. The reader is also introduced to the witch…Black Hattie, whom Rick has a stern dislike for. On a visit to the Rand home, Rick is very angry and rude to Black Hattie and she places a curse on Rick and is never seen again. Two years later, Jeff comes home to find his mother and father dead from being attacked by what appears to be a werewolf, whom Jeff assumes is his brother Rick, since he is missing.

Back in the present, Jeff calls his cousin (Roger), for more information about his family’s legacy. Yet, before he is able to meet with Roger, Roger is attacked and killed by the werewolf. Jeff is very distraught because he again thinks of his brother Rick.

A few days later, Jeff joins his girlfriend, Janie Johnson, at her concert at the L.A. Forum. The werewolf arrives, looking to kill Janie. Jeff repels the attack, and using a rope to swing towards the stage, plunges a silver dagger into the heart of the werewolf, while at the same time severely injuring himself by hitting his head with the full force of his weight against a crate on the stage, knocking him unconscious.

The werewolf succumbs to his injuries and is revealed to be Jeff’s brother Rick, now dead. Jeff is taken to the hospital after the incident and is found to be paralyzed from permanently shattering his spinal cord while trying to save Janie.^[2]

Powers/Abilities

Though the Cougar had no super powers, he was a highly skilled stuntman, having performed stunts in lots of movies and having lived in the bayou of Louisiana where he frequently engaged in rigorous activity. He is also somewhat skilled in combat as witness by his maneuverability when fighting Krolok and his brother Rick (in werewolf form).

References

1. ^ "The Cougar #1 - Atlas Archives"
2. ^ "The Cougar (Issue #2) - Atlas Comics"