Kamandi

**Kamandi**, also known as the **Last Boy on Earth**, is a fictional character and hero in comic books published by the American company DC Comics. He first appeared in *Kamandi* #1 (November 1972), but his first appearance in *Swamp Thing* comics was in *Swamp Thing* Vol. 2, #46 (March 1986). He was created by Jack Kirby.

## History

The story of Kamandi actually begins several centuries ago on the planet Earth of a parallel dimension. A group of peaceful, humanoid aliens arrived on Earth with the foreknowledge of a coming Great Disaster. Hoping to prevent the Disaster from ever taking place, they established a united defense force known as the Global Peace Agency. One of the GPA's scientists, a human named Professor Myron Forest created a powerful satellite computer system called Brother Eye to help oversee over Earth's affairs. He also became pivotal in transforming an army stockroom clerk named Buddy Blank into a one-man army corps. Using the name O.M.A.C., Buddy worked in the interests of the Global Peace Agency in fighting Earth's enemies.

For all of O.M.A.C.'s efforts, the Great Disaster could not be averted. Very little is known as to the true causes of the Disaster, but what scant evidence exists points towards a mysterious energy wall known only as the Vortex. Earthquakes and tidal waves erupted all across the globe and the nations of Earth found themselves at the mercy of nuclear Armageddon. Shortly before the final bastions of humanity were to fall, a scientist named Doctor Michael Grant invented a mutagenic chemical known as Cortexin. Although he would not survive long enough to witness the fruits of his labor, the Cortexin drug would succeed in carving out its own legacy in the wake of global annihilation.

Following the Great Disaster, Buddy Blank found himself cut off from the satellite Brother-Eye. He retired as O.M.A.C and set out to eke a new life for himself as ordinary Buddy Blank in this new post-apocalyptic era.

The ambient radiation left behind by the Great Disaster interacted with the Cortexin levels in many of Dr. Grant's laboratory test animals. Over the course of two generations, the animals began to mutate, and their progeny eventually developed anthropomorphic traits including human intellect and the ability to walk upright. With time, these Animal Men inherited the Earth and became the planet's dominant life form. Humanity was left devoid of all culture and social structure, and slowly began to de-evolve into a lesser species (Whether the Cortexin Effect had anything to do with this process is unknown).

Decades later, the aging Buddy Blank returned to an army compound located in the ruins of New York City named Command-D. By this time period, the tribes of the Tiger-Men under the Great Caesar had erected the Tiger Empire. Their domain covered most of the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Buddy was careful to conceal himself or else risk becoming prey to the Empire's anti-human initiatives. Buddy sired a child who in turn later gave birth to a son named Kamandi. Kamandi's name was derived from the bunker in which he had been born (Command-D).

Buddy Blank raised Kamandi inside the compound, where he had access to a microfilm library, detailing large portions of Earth's history prior to the Great Disaster. Kamandi recognized that human beings were once Earth's dominant life form, and this knowledge inspired in him a great desire to seek out others like himself.

When Kamandi was sixteen-years-old, two members of the Wolf-Men tribe named Fen and Stek discovered Command-D and raided the compound. Buddy tried to protect his grandson, but was unable to survive the Wolf-Men's brutal assault. Kamandi was now on his own.

He soon found close allies in the form of a dog-man named Dr. Canus and three human mutants named Ben Boxer, Steve and Renzi. The four traveled across the ruins of New York fighting the Tiger Empire at every given turn. Fleeing from the tyranny of the Great Caesar, Kamandi and the others traveled the continent in their continuing crusade to rescue humanity from the bonds of slavery and extinction.

## Powers and Abilities

### Abilities

* **Karate:** Kamandi is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, specializing in the martial arts form of Karate. Although he is proficient in this form of combat, he is not a master.
* **Tracking:** Kamandi is a skilled tracker.
* **Military Protocol:** Kamandi has been trained in militaristic combat maneuvers.

## Notes

* *Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition* identified this reality as being Earth-86 and Earth-295 with the main difference being that Earth-86 was the result of an atomic war while Earth-295 was a natural disaster.

## Trivia

* *Superman* #295 established that a natural disaster version of Kamandi was a possible 30th century for Earth-1 separate from the 30th Century of the Legion of Superheroes.