This page is a work in progress. I'm still adding comics, editing the text, and arranging the order, but here's what I have finished so far.....
Since the success of Tarzan in 1912 many writers, comic book artists and publishers have been inspired to create their own jungle heroes. As such a new genre of heroes emerged. Below are all of my jungle hero comic books, more or less in order of publication.
Comics from the 1950's
Frank Henniker "The Little Savage"
Classic Illustrated: The Little Savage, issue 137, 1957
Mowgli
Here is a reprint of the Classics Illustrated comic book presenting The Jungle Book. This reprint is from 1997 but the original comic was published in the 1950s. I like the cover artwork for this version.
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book was published in 1894, a considerable 18 years before Edgar Rice Burroughs would publish Tarzan of the Apes. Therefore Mowgli is the second jungle hero to pre-date Tarzan that I know of.
Comics from the 1960's
Akim
A jungle hero from Italy who was also very popular in France, Akim was not only a Tarzan-like hero, he also looked just like Tarzan with short black hair and leopard print trunks. If I understand correctly, the character first appeared in comic books in Italy in 1950 and was later featured in comics that were published in France. The character appeared in several series of comics, including "Akim", "Bengali" and "Akim-Color", which ultimately lasted until the early 1990s. Well done Akim!
Akim No. 167, June 1966, and Akim No. 239 (unknown date) Apparently Akim has the ability to pin a Rhino down with one knee!
Bomba the Jungle Boy
Bomba the Jungle Boy, issue 1, 1967
Comics from the 1970's
Tarzan was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and first published as a story in a magazine in 1912. I've posted all of my Tarzan comics here.
Korak
The son of Tarzan, also created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in text stories published in 1914.
David Innes
Another Edgar Rice Burroughs character, David Innes is a man from the present who finds the lost world of Pellucidar in the centre of the earth populated by dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. The series of novels begins with "At the Earth's Core" published in 1914. In addition to the original novels, the character David Innes was featured in a series of comics titled "Weird Worlds", published by DC Comics beginning in 1972. The comics related the adventures of David Innes as he battled dinosaurs while exploring the strange world of Pellucidar. Although a modern day human, David is often depicted as a caveman or jungle hero type with long black hair wearing a loincloth (the remains of this torn clothing). Alternatively, the character is depicted in some cases as wearing pants, tall boots and a black vest with no shirt. In this outfit I find that the David Innes character resembles Han Solo who first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars many years after DC comics started publishing "Weird Worlds".
Ka-zar
I've posted all of the Ka-zar comics here
Kona
"Kona, Monarch of Monster Isle" was a comic book series that was first published in 1962 and lasted 21 issues. The character appears to be a mix of the caveman hero and jungle hero types.Toka Jungle King
"Toka the Jungle King" was published by Dell Comics in 1964 and lasted 10 issues, until 1967. Toka seems to be an aboriginal warrior but fights leopards and alligators just like Tarzan. The name "Tokka" was later used in a completely unrelated 1991 movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" for one of the film's villains, an evil mutant snapping turtle.Naza
From Dell comics "Naza, Stone Age Warrior" was published in the mid 1960s, with issue No. 3 in 1964. There are about ten issues in all.Anthro
I'm only speculating that the popularity of Bomba in the 1960s led to the creation of Anthro from DC Comics in an attempt to cash in on Bomba's success...who, let's not forget, was actually cashing in on Tarzan's success. Anthro was a caveman however, so I could be wrong about Bomba having anything to do with influencing the creation of the Anthro comic. It's an interesting coincidence however, that both comic book titles were published by DC Comics in 1968. With his long hair, it seems that Anthro is more like Tarzan's son Korak than Bomba.
DC Comics Anthro No.1, July-Aug 1968. Cover art by Howie Post. This caveman character first appeared in DC Comics Showcase No. 74, May 1968, again illustrated by Howie Post. Alas, Anthro's own comic series only lasted 6 issues.
George of the Jungle
George started out in the late 1960's as an animated Saturday morning television character. Intended to be a spoof of the jungle hero character, George was created by the same American team behind Rocky and Bullwinkle. The character proved to be very popular and was spun off into comic books and other merchandise. The cartoons were seen on TV in reruns throughout the 1970s and early 80s. Selected episodes were also made available on VHS sometime during the late 1980s or early 1990s.Zembla
Sporting long brown hair and a bright yellow leopard print Speedo type outfit (with a thin strap across one shoulder), Zembla has been a popular jungle hero in France since the late 1960s or early 1970s. By 1971 the Zembla comic book series already included over 100 issues. In 2000 a new "Special Zembla" comic book series was published featuring different styles of fantasy or cartoon artwork on the covers.
Special Zembla, No. 25, June 1970
Kali / Zora
This is a jungle hero with long brown hair who, instead of the typical leopard loin cloth, wears a solid red fabric wrap (though sometimes it is blue or white) similar to Mowgli. The charater is from the "Kali" comic series in France, that seems to have started in 1967 and continued until at least 1980. Kali has a female compaion who's name I'm assuming is Zora, as both characters are also featured in "Zora" comics from the same time period.
Kali No. 76, Oct 1972 This is a smaller sized comic but I've shown a large picture of it so that Kali's face would be visible.
Rahan
Another Caveman, which seems to have little if any influence from Tarzan, is the blond haired Rahan from France. This was a very successful character that appeared in large format comics during the 1970s. Shown above is No. 19 from the soft cover Nouvelle Collection series. If I'm not mistaken, this is the second series of Rahan comics. The artwork for Rahan is quite remarkable and is why I started collecting Rahan books. I know a little French but unfortunately not enough to read these comics! It would be awesome if they published them in English some day.
Rahan also has his own official website where you can learn the history of the character, or buy Rahan books and other products: http://www.rahan.org/fr/index.html
Zangar
The character Zangar appeared in the 3 issue "Jungle Adventures" comics series, published by Skywald Comics in 1971. Zangar has long red hair and wears leopard patterned trunks.Jaro, Jungle Boy of Jupiter
A short 8 page comic about Jaro was included in issue No 4 of "DC 100-Page Super Spectacular: Weird Mystery Tales" published in 1971 by DC Comics, which was then under the ownership of National Periodical Publications Inc. The Jaro story appears on pages 82 to 89. Credits for the writer, artists or creator were not listed on the inside cover or first few pages, and the back cover and last two pages are missing from my copy, so I don't know who created the story. I had this vintage comic for several years before I even realized that the Jaro story was in there, as it's an odd place to find a jungle hero. Most of the other stories are "shocking" horror stories (rather than the gory kind) or science fiction tales; the sort of thing that you would see in the original Twilight Zone TV series.
The Jaro story takes place in the futuristic year 2001, when we have apparently developed the ability to travel to Jupiter. This allows for three male travelers to go on a jungle safari to see the exotic space animals that live there. The group includes Terry Mason (not to be confused with the popular detective character, Perry Mason, who first appeared in novels in 1933, and was very popular on radio and later television through to the 1990s), Tom (who seems to be wearing a bowl on his head), and Ward (the trouble maker). While on the planet Jupiter, the group visit Crater Island where much to their astonishment they discover an earth boy living in the adjacent jungle. The narrative clearly indicates that this is an origin story about the first time Jaro meets Terry Mason, and seems to set up future stories with the characters. Jaro is able to speak to the animals using his special trumpet, and also flies around on a beaked Gryphon-like bird creature which isn't named in the story but is a companion for Jaro.
This is the only Jaro comic that I know of, as I don't have any other issues from the "DC 100-Page Super Spectacular" comic book series. A quick search online shows that other issues mainly have to do with DC Comics main cast of superheroes, while a few issues feature love stories aimed at teenage girls. Yet, there were over 200 issues in this series so it's possible that Jaro may have made another appearance.
Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth
I've posted all of my Kamandi comics here.
Borok and Lok
In 1974 Hanna-Barbera produced the animated TV series Valley of the Dinosaurs, which featured a family of cavemen. Charlton Comics published a comic book series under the same title. Issue ten was published October 1976. The caveman family included Borok the father, his son Lok, Gara the mother, and Tana the daughter.
Zan / Zarawa
Akim Album No. 72 with Zarawa on the cover (he's the one with the blond hair). This special "album" book is a thicker book like comic. It includes the regular sized Akim issues No. 409, 410, 411 and 412. These issues were first published from August to October 1976. The cover image above is originally from the cover of Akim No. 410.
Kong the Untamed
Another caveman hero from DC Comics, "Kong the Untamed" lasted five issues beginning in 1975. Kong has long blond hair and wears a brown loincloth.Tor
Another caveman series from DC Comics in 1975, Tor has very long brown hair and wears a longer style loin cloth of brown fur skins. At least four issues were made.
Western Publishing Company's Tragg and the Sky Gods, No. 9, 1982 republished edition. Originally published in 1975. Tragg's hair is blond on the cover, but is coloured brown inside the comic!
I've included a picture of the first panel to show how the characters are depicted inside the comic. Gotta love that goofy hair!
Tragg
Another caveman, Tragg was a very short lived comic book character. Published by Gold Key/Whitman/Western Publishing Company in 1975, Tragg and the Sky Gods lasted only 8 issues. Tragg also appeared in Gold Key Spotlight, No. 9, 1977. Issues were later reprinted in 1982.
Tono and Kono: The Jungle Twins
Published by Gold Key/Western Publishing Company in 1975, this is a very campy take on the Tarzan jungle hero. While the idea of jungle hero twins is silly enough on it's own, the idea is actually borrowed once again from Edgar Rice Burroughs who had double Tarzans appear in several of the original Tarzan novels. Burroughs also wrote the children's books, The Tarzan Twins (1927) and Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1936). The Gold Key Jungle Twins comic was first published in 1972 and lasted 18 issues. The only differrence between the two heroes is that Kono wears a necklace and Tono does not.
Gold Key, The Jungle Twins, No. 16, Sept 1975.
Korg
"Korg: 70,000 B.C." is a comic book published by Charlton Comics Group from 1975-76, lasting 9 issues. The comic series is based on the Hanna-Barbera live action TV series starring Jim Malinda as Korg, Bill Ewing as Bok, Naomi Pollack as Mara, Christopher Man as Tane, Charles Morteo as Tor, Janelle Pransky as Ree, and narrated by Burgess Meredith. The TV series was created by Fred Freiberger.Tiki
This character is from a French comic so I'm not certain about the story concept. Tiki is a young teenage character. If there were a contest for skimpiest loin cloth he would win it. It looks like its made out of wigs! I'm not really sure what the deal is with Tiki. He doesn't seem to be a "jungle hero" like the others listed here, but rather just finds himself in trouble and has to run away from danger. The comic is called "Safari" which may have been first printed in the 1970s. I have issue No. 133, and it is dated 1978.
Tiki shown in danger on the cover of Safari, No. 133, Sept 1978
Talos / Carn Whitemane
Another character from DC Comics, Talos of the Wilderness Sea is a one-off comic from 1987. It's about a boy with long white hair named Carn Whitemane, who becomes a warrior known as Talos. The story uses the feral child idea with some medieval fantasy elements added to the mix. Carn is an orphaned baby raised in a strange land by an evil king, then we skip ahead to his boyhood years when the adventure takes place. Despite being royalty, Carn wears only a blue loin cloth (wrapped fabric rather than Tarzan style skins), no shirt, and large boots. Style wise it's quite an interesting and cool comic, and I always thought it was a shame there was only the one issue. I especially like the artwork by Gil Kane.
