B'wana Beast - Girls Just B'wana Have Fun - R.A. Wonsowski

Panel 1- Looking heroically out into the distance from a high cliff off Mount Kilimanjaro, arms akimbo, one foot forward and resting on a rock, stands B'WANA BEAST. The sun is setting, and a campfire burns at the mouth of a cave. VIXEN and POWER GIRL, dressed in tiny jungle pelt versions of their costumes kneel on the ground, holding tight to his powerful thighs. BATGIRL, costume torn, is behind him, draped about his broad, manly shoulders.

CAPTION: Having single-handedly saved the Just-us Ladies from certain doom, the Beast considers his next adventure...

B'WANA BEAST:  So, who wants to see what else we can merge...

LADIES: Oh, B'wana...!

Panel 2- same as panel 1, in mid-crumple.

NO COPY

Panel 3- B'WANA BEAST is staring ME down, pleading in growing frustration. We are in my kitchen, and DJUBA is at my table pounding away on an electric typewriter. I have tossed the crumpled above page over my shoulder, into a wastepaper basket overflowing with more crumpled balls.

B'WANA BEAST: ...but this is what DC editorial wants...

ME: ...no, no, No, NO...

B’wana Beast – The Brazen Adventures of B’wana Beast and Vixen! – MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

(Each panel should be framed as if to be an image on a TV Screen. The imagery should try to evoke the style and thematics of MYTHBUSTERS but tilted more towards animals and with children’s education in mind.)

Panel 1: Title panel – a plain-ish blue background, on top of which is the title as well as B’WANA BEAST and VIXEN. VIXEN wears her normal outfit, while B’WANA BEAST has a field-friendly lab coat on in addition to his normal outfit – it should look like B’WANA BEAST is making a poor attempt as looking scientific with an intentionally humorous slant in mind.

SFX: [Music Notes]

ANNOUNCER: Today, on The Brazen Adventures of B’wana Beast and Vixen!

Panel 2: B’WANA BEAST and VIXEN are by a mobile laboratory setup somewhere in Africa. B’WANA BEAST is in the foreground holding an insect container with one or more magnified fleas. He takes up most the panel, as if in the middle of a humerous antic.

VIXEN is in the background with a Kangaroo.

SFX: [Music Notes]

ANNOUNCER: The team ‘hops to it’ as they test the limits of the animal kingdom’s jumping strength!

Panel 3: The backdrop is in blueprint style. In front of it are paper-cutout style pictures of a FLEA and a KANGEROO, but each with a human head superimposed on it. The FLEA has the head of MICHAEL JORDAN in ‘AIR JORDAN’ tongue out style, while the KANGEROO has the head of LEBRON JAMES. Both are in the air and have dotted motion lines indicating jumping.

SFX: [Music Notes]

SFX: wwWHOOoop!

Panel 4: B’WANA BEAST is in a cross between a wrestling ring and a rodeo pen with an angry-looking bull. He looks ready to wrestle the bull with his bare hands. His costume has been replaced with a variant that looks mostly the same except for that it’s a solid red.

VIXEN is hovering overhead. A ‘ghost’ image of a Hummingbird is behind her to indicate she’s using the animals flight and hover ability. She has a lasso at her side ready to deploy in an emergency, though it’s currently not out. Her costume is mostly the same, but modified a touch to have a cowgirl feel to it.

SFX: [Music Notes]

ANNOUNCER: Then, B’wana Beast explores the age-old tale about the bull’s rage against red!

Panel 5: B’WANA BEAST is next to the same bull, but the bull is now safely contained. Nearby, VIXEN is with a dog.

SFX: [Music Notes]

ANNOUNCER: Then, the team finds out what happens when you make one color blind with the help of man’s best friend!

(END PAGE)

B'wana Beast - Weak Are Meat, Strong Will Eat - Grant McLaughlin

Splash page (panel 2) with three inset panels (1, 3, and 4).  1 is towards the top of the page, while 3 and 4 are at the bottom.

1 - B'wana Beast looks at the sight before him in shock and horror.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (1): The strong will always prey on the weak to survive.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (2): But this...

2 - Pull back to reveal that B'wana Beast is standing in something of a clearing that is littered with the desecrated corpses of African animals of all type and variety.  It is a scene of death and destruction.  Perhaps the animals are arranged in something of a circle of death.  But perhaps the true depravity of the scene is not visible, either due to panel layout or shadow.  Up to you to decide how much to show / hide.  That said, B'wana is overwhelmed by it all, horrified by it.  The final touch should be "WEAK ARE MEAT, STRONG WILL EAT" written over and over again in blood throughout the scene.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (1): This has nothing to do with survival.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (2): This is slaughter for slaughter's sake.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (3): A message written in the guts and viscera of stolen lives.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (4): I can't yet grasp its meaning.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST) (5): But the intent is clear.

3 - Close-up of B'wana Beast's face again.  He looks down, saddened at the sight before him.  His exact expression could (should?) be covered in shadow.

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST): A darkness has descended on this land.

4 - Close-up of B'wana Beast's fist clenched in determination.  This could also be shadowed (if not fully silhouetted).

CAPTION (B'WANA BEAST): And it must be stopped.

B'wana Beast - Another Wednesday In The Jungle - P. A. Nolte

1/ Over the heads of four grubby mercenaries, all dressed like low rent Indiana Jones(es), a figure of solid muscle in a hood and a leopard skin loincloth leans playfully against the trunk of a very large tree, balancing expertly on a low, thick branch. The leader of the mercenaries below holds a small jade idol in the shape of a parrot.

B'wana Beast: I'm afraid that doesn't belong to you. 

2/ The leader nearly foams at the mouth with rage. His pistol is already drawn and discharged. If only his men would back him up. 

Leader: It's THE BEAST! FIRE!!! 

3/ B'wana Beast is between the three stooges, firing their weapons blindly up into the air as they are attacked. One gets a punch to the face while another gets kicked in the stomach, sending him flying back into the third stooge, but not knocking him over. 

B'wana Beast: That's B'WANA BEAST to you jokers. LORD of the JUNGLE! KING of CHIMERA! 

4/ B'wana Beast has landed skillfully, but the gun barrels of both men still standing are aimed at his head. Still, he grins. This is a fun game. 

B'wana Beast: HERO of the D-- 

SFX: KLIK Leader: That's enough. Any other last words before Eddie and I perforate your skull?

B'wana Beast: Just one... 

5/ Suddenly, a large blue monkey/warthog hybrid with powerful arms and dangerous tusks has crashed through into the clearing where his master fights the mercenaries. The leader and the last stooge are trampled, but B'wana Beast has jumped out of the way. 

B'wana Beast: KI KI KI KIUIIIIIII! 

6/ The hybrid nuzzles at B'wana Beast, who scratches under its chin affectionately, though his gaze never diverts from the incapacitated mercenaries on the ground. In his other hand, he holds the idol. 

B'wana Beast: Ha ha! GOOD boy! Er... BOYS. 

B'wana Beast: NOW. Let's get this LITTLE BIRDY back to KEN. I have a feeling the ZAMBESI will be glad to see it RETURNED.

Why B'wana Beast? - P. A. Nolte

In college, Mike Maxwell made friends with Rupert Kenboya, son of Chief Kilo of the Zambesi. When Rupert returned to Africa to serve as a Police Commissioner, Maxwell joined him, accepting a job as a game warden. But, their plane went down on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and while Ken tried to revive Maxwell with some water from a cave, they were beset upon by a large, purple gorilla. Maxwell sprang to action, stronger and faster than before, and after defeating Djuba, the gorilla, he was given a mask that lets him communicate with and command animals, as well as combine them into more powerful hybrids.

A creation of Bob Haney, also known for co-creating the Teen Titans and Metamorpho, and Mike Sekowsky, the premiere artist on Justice League of America, B'wana Beast's adventure fighting the possibly-immortal Hamid Ali and his giant, orange, crocodile-shaped tank from DC Showcase #66-67 (1967) somehow failed to resonate with readers, and he was doomed to the back-issue bin for almost twenty years. When Grant Morrison re-introduced him in the late 80's, Maxwell teamed up with Animal Man to save Djuba from wayward research scientists, ultimately retiring and passing on his mantle, only to re-emerge some time later as the evil Shining Man. When he was promptly killed. 

And that's pretty much it. 

According to Toonopedia.com there was supposed to be a third DC Showcase issue, but Sekowsky found the concepts to be racist, left the project, and was never replaced. He was probably justified. And, while the jungle tropes used were outdated by a few decades when the story was first printed nearly 50 years ago, B'wana Beast is still just so darn cool. Well, ... maybe not "cool." 

With less than a dozen issues under his loincloth, Mike Maxwell's defining characteristics are still up in the air. His comic origin plays like a greatest hits mashup of unlikely circumstances just begging to be streamlined, and his powers are essentially Aquaman's but on land, except Aquaman never merged a seahorse and a hammerhead shark together to attack a submarine. In his appearances on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he wasn't even a game warden, but a wrestler who was splashed with radioactive waste. 

So, in the spirit of exploration, you have a cumbersome (and potentially offensive) name, a bizarre set of powers, an exotic locale, the unusual battle cry of "KI KI KI KIUIIIIIII!", and ultimate free reign in tone and canonicity. 

What more could you ask for?