General Tara
| General Tara | |
| |
| First appearance: | "The Tyrant of Tarakimo" |
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| Created by: | Lee Falk and Sy Barry |
Profile
- Name: General Tara
- Occupation: Dictator of Tarakimo from Tarakimo's establishment to 1978.
- Legal Status: Criminal, presumed executed by his people but not officially known
- Allies: Major Isamu, his "right hand."
- Place of Birth: Unknown
- Marital Status: Single, but has an ample "harem."
- Base of Operations: Tarakimo
- First Appearance: The Phantom daily strip - August 15, 1977 (The Tyrant of Tarakimo)
- Subsequent Appearances: The Phantom daily strip - April 17, 1978 (Return to Tarakimo)
- Height: Approximately 6'0" - appears taller than most of his countrymen
- Weight: Probably 280-300 lbs. - moderately muscular, but with a large pot belly and rear.
- Eyes: Black
- Hair: Bald, with rounded black goatee and large waxed black handlebar moustache
- Signatures: Favors over-decorated dress uniforms and richly appointed lounging robes and smoking jackets, smokes with an elegant, foot-long cigarette holder
- Special Abilities: None
Fictional Character Biography
Ruling the small Asian nation of Tarakimo for an unknown number of years (and presumably founding the country, hence it's name) General Tara kept a nation of people literally and figuratively at his feet, immobilized in a vice of jackbooted terror and squalor while he personally enjoyed an unprecedented life of luxury.
Tara first polluted the Phantom and his soon-to-be-wife Diana Palmer's lives when Diana agreed enthusiastically to travel to Tarakimo in The Tyrant of Tarakimo, along with her UN colleague Sven, to expose the dictator's regime of greed and corruption, as well as his inherent human-rights violations. Unfortunately, Diana's naiveté led her straight into the megalomaniac's claws immediately before her wedding to the 21st Phantom (see The Wedding of the Phantom).
General Tara is often underestimated in the canon of Phantom villains because he's not a traditional tough guy. He's only as strong as the thugs surrounding him at any point in time. He is, rather, a cold, calculating "gentlemanly sadist" ala an Ernst Blofeld: he behaves like a barbarian but can't resist the comfortable trappings of an urbane, wealthy sophisticate that emphasize his power and superiority over the "peasants" he rules. The ultra-long cigarette holder he frequently brandishes, the riding crops he postures with, the richly accented golden spur straps on his jackboots, as well as the long leather gauntlet gloves he uses to protect his manicured paws, act as metaphors for the distance he puts between himself and his evil. Even when torturing someone, he much prefers the role of the voyeur: watching them squirm, listening to them scream, out of sight but still barking orders via intercom to his primary henchman, Major Isamu, who does his "dirty work." Relaxing with a cigarette or glass of wine in his beautifully appointed, posh office, his lack of physical presence and high-tech (for the time) closed-circuit camera system removes him from any direct responsibility while still offering him the sick pleasures of sadism.
His real strength as a dastardly villain lies in his cunning, his deviousness, and his cruelty. For example, when he has Diana strapped to a vicious, medieval torture rack in The Tyrant of Tarakimo, he toys with her for a bit on the hideous instrument, taunting her, then suddenly "decides" it would be more amusing to have her for his pleasure, feeding her cohort, Sven, to his thugs, instead. He accurately surmises that, to a valiant woman such as Diana, it would be far worse to watch her co-worker be tortured before her eyes. It's all the same to Tara. As long as he gets to inflict pain, he's happy. Make no mistake: this monster truly enjoys hurting and terrorizing people.
As he is a true sadist, his coercive methods often cross over into mental torments, as well. After kidnapping Diana in Return to Tarakimo, he keeps the Phantom's new bride relatively "safe" from physical distress since he wants her alive and well as proper bait for the Phantom, obviously realizing the Ghost would kill him in a second if she were hurt or killed (which the Phantom did indeed promise David "Dave" Palmer). He even goes so far as to plead that he "didn't harm a hair on (Diana's) head" to the Phantom, at the end of the story. But his self-imposed "act of gallantry" doesn't prevent him from getting his twisted jollies at her expense. Assisted by master mental tormenter Isamu, Tara amuses himself in this installment by ridiculing, teasing, and humiliating Diana, while he waits for the Phantom's imminent arrival.
If Tara had the fortune of employing competant thugs, he might truly be a forminable Phantom foe, but as his regiment exists in the Tarakimo series, he's woefully understaffed on brain power...which is probably as he likes it, considering his towering ego.
Notable appearances
- "The Tyrant of Tarakimo" by Lee Falk and Sy Barry.
- "Return to Tarakimo" by Lee Falk and Sy Barry.