King Ekeko

"Go to hell!"

- Kamandi

"Pay attention, sun-hair. We are already there."

- Ekeko

King Ekeko was one of the major antagonists in the Kamandi comics, specifically The Kamandi Challenge. He was the leader of a Mesoamerican tribe of leopards that worshipped a Sun God, unaware that it was actually a giant robot piloted by renegade leopard Professor Cano.

History
While Kamandi, the plant girl Vila and the anthropomorphic bat siblings Kreeg and Saparta were on the run from a group of animals who believed Kamandi to be a god, they were ambushed by tribal leopards and knocked out. When Kamandi woke up later, he found himself in a place resempling a Mesoamerican temple, surrounded by the leopards as Ekeko approached him. Kamandi noticed a strange smell and realized that the leopards have grilled Kreeg and Saparta for dinner. Ekeko hit him with his claw and told him to shut up and only to speak when being spoken to. He then turned away and ordered three female leopards to "prepare" Kamandi. They used some powder to make the human fall unconscious again.

Kamandi woke up later, this time being stripped to a pole next to Vila in the middle of a ceremony with all Leopards playing a drum beat as their god, a giant leopard wearing the skins of various big animals like elephants as clothing and and a fight jet for a collar, who was seeing the two as "dinner". When Kamandi was devoured by the god, he realized that it was a giant robot. He landed right before the pilot, a leopard scientist called Professor Cano. Cano was a renegade of the tribe who was outcasted as the tribe saw his science as a sacrilege against their god. He finally created the robot to use the superstitious belief of his fellow leopards and rule over them as a god. Cano told Kamandi that he would use him for his experiments now, as he did with all the "sacrifices" made to the robot. However, when Vila was also swallowed, Kamandi was able to climb back up the throat of the robot along with her, to both Ekeko's and Professor Cano's shock. He then climbed into the jet that was attached to the robot's necklace and used to destroy the robot, causing it to collapse. When Cano and his assistant R'lash climbed out of the robot, they were met by an angry Ekeko and his tribe who pointed their spears at them. It's unknown what Ekeko did to Professor Cano.

Ekeko was later present among the other animals in the final chapter of the event, listening to Kamandi's speech about them having to work together instead of fighting each other.

Personality
Ekeko was a strictly religious pendant of the Sun God, sacrificing intruders to him so the god would make the sun shine bright every year. It's mentioned by Professor Cano that the leopard's belief was so strong they were usually not fond of any scientific research and even saw this as a sacrilege, resulting in Cano being banished. When Cano later climbed out of the "god", Ekeko realized that he and his fellow tribesmen had been decieved for years and took Cano prisoner. It's unknown whether Ekeko turned away from his belief, but it's possible that he saw Cano's action as simple blasphemy instead of seeing his whole belief as a lie as the leopard's religion was older than Cano's deception.

Ekeko and his tribe were, in a way, cannibals as they captured other anthropomorphic animals and ate them (although they also sacrificed many of them). When Kamandi commented about the smell that originated from Kreeg and Saparta being grilled, Ekeko told him to be thankful that it wasn't him, implying that the leopards also ate humans (although humans were usually unintelligent animals in this world).

He also took great narcisstic pride in his position, hitting Kamandi with his claws and telling him to speak only when addressed. He was later shown drinking wine during the ritual, implying that he enjoyed a certain luxury while watching his god eating his sacrifices.