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[captblitzdawg]

I am looking for comics that would feature Central/ South American Indians, primarily the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas. Any character references, jungle comic appearances, etc.  Good or bad representations. I am a librarian and I am doing a children's program on the Mayans. I thought showing some public domain golden age comics would help the kids better understand just how little we really know of these civilizations.
Any recommendations, issue numbers would be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

[Janus Wolf]

I would be careful, usual this type of art is made by non indigenous peoples. You may just be re-enforcing negative sterotypes.

[captblitzdawg]

Understood. And in this case, presenting a story that is inaccurate (whether based on stereotypes, bad information, or wrong theories of the time) just reinforces how far we have to go to still really know about these people and their civilizations. The kids will also see some of the research being done by Nat Geo, and make Confidence Shields, high hats, and build a step pyramid.

[MarkWarner]

I guess there are quite a few images, but they'll be in the horror titles.

But now I have a question. From a couple of documentaries I have seen human sacrifice (normally children) was a reality and happened on really large scale. IE: Not the occasional kid or two at equinox. Is this your understanding?

[narfstar]

Adventures into the Unknown 79
Catman 7
Champ Comics 12
Space Western 42
Target Comics 5
Top-Notch Laugh 33
Wyatt Earp 71
The Beyond from Ace 12 and 16 have Aztec
Daredevil 109 has a brief history of the Aztec
Fightin' 5 #29
Indian Chief 20
Jackpot 8 a Black Hood story
Zip Comics 19 "Lost City of the Aztecs"

       INCA
Blazing Comics 4
Cyclone Comics 5
Exciting Comics 16
Headline Comics first nine issues had Perry Allen

Beyond 4
Fight Comics 67
Hand of Fate 25a
Konga 7
True Comics 50
The Unseen 10

Mayan
Crown Comics 9+10
Web of Mystery 5, 15
Airboy 17
Baffling Mysteries 21
Fantoman 3
Modern Comics 52

We should have most if not all of these.

[captblitzdawg]

I guess there are quite a few images, but they'll be in the horror titles.

But now I have a question. From a couple of documentaries I have seen human sacrifice (normally children) was a reality and happened on really large scale. IE: Not the occasional kid or two at equinox. Is this your understanding?

From what I have been able to find on information from the last 10 years or so, the Aztecs had an assembly line of sacrifices at times- offering up from a few ten to 10,000 people depending on the event/ritual/time of year. Normally, sacrifices were prisoners of war or slaves. The Spanish documented some of these sacrifices, but they should be taken with a bag of salt, as their aim was to drum up support for the conversion or eradication of these "savages".
The Maya performed sacrifices, not on the scale of the Aztecs, and timed them around the lunar calendar and the appearance of the planet Venus. They also conducted their warfare at those times, meaning most of their fighting was done in the early evening or early morning.
The Incas sacrificed their own children (maybe that's why they lasted only a couple hundred years!?) but I don't know enough to tell you if there was any cycle or regularity to it.

[Roygbiv666]

Eastern's Heroic Comics #24's Man o' Metal story features Incan iconography.

We don't seem to have a copy, but there's one on DCM:
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=17076

[captblitzdawg]

Thanks so much for the list! I'm amazed you were able to find so many! This will be a big help!

Adventures into the Unknown 79
Catman 7
Champ Comics 12
Space Western 42
Target Comics 5
Top-Notch Laugh 33
Wyatt Earp 71
The Beyond from Ace 12 and 16 have Aztec
Daredevil 109 has a brief history of the Aztec
Fightin' 5 #29
Indian Chief 20
Jackpot 8 a Black Hood story
Zip Comics 19 "Lost City of the Aztecs"

       INCA
Blazing Comics 4
Cyclone Comics 5
Exciting Comics 16
Headline Comics first nine issues had Perry Allen

Beyond 4
Fight Comics 67
Hand of Fate 25a
Konga 7
True Comics 50
The Unseen 10

Mayan
Crown Comics 9+10
Web of Mystery 5, 15
Airboy 17
Baffling Mysteries 21
Fantoman 3
Modern Comics 52

We should have most if not all of these.

[captblitzdawg]

Thank you for the find!

Eastern's Heroic Comics #24's Man o' Metal story features Incan iconography.

We don't seem to have a copy, but there's one on DCM:
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=17076

[RickDeckard525]

Aztecs were pretty brutal and would wear flayed skins of enemies in some ceremonies. Mayans less so, and Incans did the most child sacrifices, but really not very often and only among themselves. It was considered to be very honorable and I guess most of the kid's parents decided to "take one for the team."