MAJABA - ULTRAMAN

Majaba, insecte mutant créé par des pesticides illégaux en Australie, ne veut que protéger ses oeufs. Parce qu'elle a détruit quelques avions, Ultraman engage le combat. Triste époque pour les insectes géants ! The mutant giant Majaba, from episode 8 of "Ultraman: Towards the Future", "Bitter Harvest" (1990).

The mutant giant Majaba, from episode 8 of "Ultraman: Towards the Future", "Bitter Harvest" (1990).

A prolonged drought, and the overt use of an illegal pesticide on Australian farmlands, results in the birth of various breeds of mutated locusts. The biggest and most extreme of these being Majaba - a female with a longer life span, stronger build, and ability to reproduce and lay eggs. Thus making her a greater danger than her relatively smaller brethren, which includes a lesser, male Majaba that served as her mate.

However, when the Majaba brings down several crop-dusting planes, it gains the attention of the Universal Multipurpose Agency (U.M.A.), who investigate and ultimately discover the creatures. The male Majaba is destroyed in a mid-air confrontation with U.M.A. jet vehicles dubbed Hummers, while the larger female flies back to her nest of eggs. And with the help of the alien superhero Ultraman Great (secretly U.M.A. member Jack Shindo), and a local farmhand named Sandman, U.M.A. agents manage to locate and destroy Majaba and her unhatched brood.

Despite her grotesque disposition and voracious appetite, Majaba showed surprising, motherly emotion in the end; tragically trying to save her eggs (now set ablaze by Ultraman Great), with her own body. And abandoning her fierce battle with sliver alien giant in doing so.

Majaba later returned in an American comic spin-off, published by the long defunct company Nemesis, in 1992. Totally ignoring the events of "Bitter Harvest", the comic's first three-issue miniseries had Majaba imprisoned on a Moon base, with several other past monsters from the television show. They are all released from their inclosure, by the newly resurrected Gudis (also from "Towards the Future"), and set forth on a lunar rampage against human built colonies. Eventually, Majaba meets her demise once again by Ultraman Great, though not before giving him a sound beating, accompanied by her fellow inmates.

Pics and text sent by Raf C Gonzalez and Ultrazilla thanks !