Created by: Ogden Whitney
1st Appearance: Jungle Tales; 1954
Nationality: African
Aliases: Prince of the Bantu
Team Affiliations: none
Legal Status:no criminal record
Relatives: Kaba (father, deceased)
Skills and abilities: Skilled hand to hand combatant; extensive knowledge of jungle survival
Powers: none
Weapons: Tribal Spear and Shield
Biography
Waku was the prince of the Bantu nation, located in the hidden depths of South Africa. Waku’s father was Kaba, the chief of the tribesmen of Bantu. Kaba fell ill and chose his son to succeed him, however before dying he had Waku swear that he will not use violence to lead their people, but instead to be a wise, peaceful, and gentle leader. To this in honor of his father’s last wishes, Waku swore an oath. To prove his worth, Waku had to face the strongest warrior of the tribe, but due to the oath he swore to his father, he refused to fight. Waku’s rival, Mabu, took this opportunity to seize control of the tribe by not only defeating the warriors, but also claiming, although untrue, that he had slain a mad charging elephant. Madu had secretly made a deal with white hunters to enslave the tribe. The tribe eventually found out about Waku’s oath to his father, and rose up to overthrow Mabu. Waku and Mabu faced off and Waku defeated Mabu. He felt bad for breaking his oath to his father and was going to commit suicide by walking into a pit of fire. At this time, the spirit of Kaba appeared and released Waku from his oath, sparing him form death.