Pulp Month Presents Tarzan Tuesday: The Imitators!

After Tarzan made his first appearance in the early years of the twentieth century, the popularity of the character took off like a sky-rocket. So it should be no surprise that the world of pulps and comic books wasted little time in converting that success to other forms with other, quite similar characters.

The pulp stand-outs were Ka-Zar (certainly more famous for later being part of the early Marvel Mystery Comics that also introduced Sub-Mariner and Human Torch) and Ki-Gor, Jungle Lord, star of the long running Jungle Stories pulp. A public domain character now, Ki-Gor has appeared in books published by Atlus Press and Wild Cat Books with comic and pulp anthologies from Moonstone Books coming soon.

But comics... comics were filled with Tarzan clones left and right. I am sure if you checked out a comics rack in the first half of the forties you could find half a dozen titles with jungle themes. Characters with names like Ka'anga and Wambi appeared, while early female star Fantomah was an insanely over-powered (and sometimes skull-faced) protector of the jungle.

Things really went up a notch following the debut of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. The Eisner-Iger creation was one of the most popular characters of the thirties and forties, surviving until 1953. She spawned a pulp during that time (a feat rare among comic books). She returned in a short-lived TV series, a movie in the mid-eighties, and a very entertaining comic from Devil’s Due just a couple years ago.

Sheena spawned as many imitators as Tarzan. Characters like Zegra, Tiger Girl, Tegra the Jungle Queen, and Jann of the Jungle quickly appeared in an attempt to capitalize off the character’s popularity. One of these spin-offs, Rulah, Jungle Goddess, recently returned to fiction through Metahuman Press’s Timeline.

After the forties, the Tarzan clones became more sporadic. In France rival comic publishers created Akim and Zembla, both long lasting jungle lords. Marvel debuted a new Ka-Zar while DC dug back in to public domain Victorian fiction for the character of Rima. Parodies like George of the Jungle would also soon crop up. Wherever he appeared, the character of Tarzan seemed ready to appear in any number of variations in any place or time.

I suppose it is the mark of a truly defining character. Whatever the case, it seems Tarzan will live on, in one form or another, for a very long time to come.

Pulp Month Presents Tarzan Tuesday: The Original Novel!

When I started Pulp Month a couple weeks ago, I knew I had to review Tarzan of the Apes, arguably the original novel that did more to revolutionize the pulp hero than any other. I haven’t read it in over a decade, so I popped on down to my local library and picked up a copy.

The first thing I noticed when reading it was the first thing I noticed when reading it the first time: just how different this story is from every adaptation of it I have ever seen. Movies have never done the original work justice and probably never will.

The novel is actually rather simple in its development, especially compared to the ever increasing level of adventure shown in some of his more fantastical later stories. Instead the story has a simple narrative flow. It starts with Tarzan’s father and mother as they are on a ship off the coast of Africa. After a mutiny, the couple are stranded on shore. His father sets out to build a life for them as they await rescue. But both are left dead by unfortunate circumstance, and baby Tarzan comes in to the hands of an ape named Kala. Kala raises him in the tribe, despite the hatred of the strange baby by her husband Tublat and the rampaging leader of the tribe Kerchak. Tarzan eventually learns to read and write by studying his father’s untouched books., but remains unable to speak the English language. (Hooked on Phonics didn’t exist yet.) Eventually another group of Europeans and Americans are left on a neraby shore. Tarzan investigates and helps them, despite not understanding their words.

And he, of course, meets Jane. But little comes of their relationship in this novel. She is enfianced to Tarzan’s cousin (neither man understands the nature of the other as of yet) and the group leaves before Tarzan meets and befriends Paul D’Arnot of the French Navy. D’Arnot teaches Tarzan French and eventually brings the savage back in to western civilization.

It’s a good story, although it lacks the punch of a true villain or a complete narrative. It almost comes off as the first episode of a television series rather than a true novel. Other novels in the franchise are left open-ended, but never to the degree of this initial work. Despite that, Tarzan is such an iconic figure that this book begs to be read. It’s somewhat dry in places, but Burroughs still writes with a rather action-oriented flow that most readers should enjoy.

All in all, Tarzan gives little for a reader to complain about. And it is easy to read. Even if you don’t want to buy it, you can alway read it online for free. Whatever the case, you should read it at least once. Recommended.

Pulp Month Presents Tarzan Tuesday: The Movies!

Tarzan has been part of cinema almost as long as cinema has existed. In 1918, the first two Tarzan silent films were released, Tarzan of the Apes and The Romance of Tarzan, both starring Elmo Lincoln. But it wasn’t until the talkies and a man named Johnny Weismuller that Tarzan became a household name in film as well as in print.

From 1932 to 1960, Weismuller, Lex Barker, and Gordon Scott made a sum total of 23 Tarzan films with 5 more independent films being produced in the same time period. Six more smaller films from RKO and other studios kept the hero alive for most of the sixties. But in the seventies, Tarzan disappeared from the silver screen. The disco decade gave us only one glimpse of Tarzan, the Filmation cartoon series on Saturday mornings.


That changed in 1981 as a new era of very different Tarzan movies began with Tarzan, the Ape Man. The film took a decidedly different direction as it focused more on James Parker and his daughter Jane, played by Bo Derek. Tarzan (Miles O’Keeffe) almost becomes a supporting character in his own film. (Even the movie poster featured only Jane.) Derek as Jane is clearly center stage, not surprising when her husband John Derek is directing. But the film seems more ready to focus on showing Jane topless for as long as times as possible rather than constructing a good story. If you like skin, you will surely enjoy this film, but if you are looking for solid Tarzan action you are best advised to go elsewhere. Not Recommended.


Three years later, Hollywood would try again with Greystoke — The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. The movie finally does away with many of the tropes of previous films, from the rather idiotic Tarzan of the Weismuller era, while going back to the original material for more of its story ideas. Still it takes massive liberties with the relationship of Tarzan and Jane. While Christopher Lambert (Highlander) and Andie MacDowell bring solid performances to their roles, they often fall flat against a script buried in eighties cinema seriousness. Nowhere will you find the excitement and the fun spirit of Burroughs’ Tarzan. Ralph Richardson does perform admirably as Tarzan’s aging grandfather, but it is not enough to save the film from its own sagging spirit. Mildly Recommended.


It would be another fourteen year gap before Tarzan returned to the screen with Tarzan and the Lost City. The film takes the complete opposite concept from Greystoke. This is a rollicking action adventure with shades of the Indiana Jones franchise thrown in. The Lost City in the title is none other than the city of Opar, though it does not resemble the city of Burroughs’s original works. Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) portrays Tarzan, while model Jane March brings a certain almost foreign mystique to her role as Jane. The movie isn’t particularly well acted, but it is a fun adventure romp. Mildly Recommended.


Tarzan’s cinema life may have come to an end with the release of Disney’s animated Tarzan in 1999. The film traces the life of a young Tarzan in his tribe as he grows to adulthood and makes friends of the animals around him. As an adult he meets Jane, her father, an eccentric professor, and their guide Clayton (a far cry from the Clayton of the novel). But the film does a good job of capturing the spirit of Burroughs’s character while still taking the usual movie liberties with the story. The move does an artful job of weaving its disparate elements together. Yes, the music by Phil Collins can often be off-putting, but the film works as a whole. Though not as powerful as many of Disney’s animated films in the nineties, Tarzan is clearly one of the best screen adaptations of Tarzan ever. Recommended.

Though Tarzan has returned in a cartoon series based on the Disney film and a short-lived WB series, he has yet to return to film. But it seems like only a matter of time before John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, finds his way back to film. Hopefully with a film that makes all his previous forays on to the silver screen pale in comparison.

Pulp Month Presents Tarzan Tuesday: Super-Crossovers!

When Dark Horse picked up the Tarzan license in the mid-nineties, they immediately set out to make him a franchise player with the company. They met with limited success. But one thing they did manage to do was create some great crossovers.

Tarzan’s first Dark Horse comic apparance actually came in a crossover: Tarzan versus Predator At the Earth’s Core. Written by Walter Simonson and drawn by Lee Weeks, the story serves as a sequel to the thirteenth novel, Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. This means the plot can be somewhat dense with characters not know to the casual observer, but I still found it a great deal of fun when I read it as a teenager (having never read a Tarzan novel). It holds up quite well even today, though I would say it’s one weakness actually falls in to the crossover territory. The Predators play a minimal role in the overall story, although this probably works for the best to let the true villains of the tale shine. Mildly Recommended.

Batman / Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman is one of my personal favorite comics. Ron Marz and Igor Kordey teamed up to produce a great book with some amazing twists. Basically we get an Elseworlds version of Batman sometime in the early twentieth century as he meets the traditional Tarzan. They come together after an expedition sponsored by Bruce Wayne is exposed as a looting. The person who exposes it is a cat-garbed thief, but this Catwoman is nothing like Selina Kyle. The adventure quickly leads Batman, Tarzan, and Catwoman in to the jungles where they face the looter Finnegan Dent as he tries to return for the rest of his fortune. The Elseworlds twists play out perfectly over the course of the series, and Kordey may be the ideal Tarzan artist. All in all Batman / Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman is great comics. Strongly Recommended.

The last of these stories releaed in real time is Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle by Chuck Dixon and the late Carlos Meglia. Unlike Batman/Tarzan, they produce an Elseworlds for both characters. John Greystoke never gets lost in the jungle. Instead a baby Kal-El is raised by apes. The tale focuses far more on Kal-El as he goes through the experiences shown in early Tarzan stories while John finds himself out of place in polite society. By the time the three issues end, both men are in Africa and fighting to save Jane Porter and Lois Lane from a certain evil empress. It’s failure is in not being as good as previous Superman as Tarzan tales. Sadly, Not Recommended.

The final collection we will cover today was actually nominated for a Harvey Award the year it arrived in stores. Originally printed as six issues of the ongoing Tarzan series from Dark Horse, Tarzan: Le Monstre would use Tarzan in a way quite similar to the later League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Through three two-part stories, Tarzan faces off with the Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Writer Lovern Kindzierski clearly knows how to tie these stories together and makes this level of meta-fiction look easy. The art team of Stan Manoukian and Vince Roucher bring the intricate style they used previously on Dark Horse’s Shadow comics to the architecture of Paris. This comic is a joy to behold and an even better read. Strongly Recommended.

Sadly, while Dark Horse still holds the Tarzan license, they have done little with the character in the past few years outside classic comics reprints. Hopefully, this will change in the near future, as comic fans may be more responsive to the classic character than in past years. We will just have to wait and see.

April is Pulp Month!

Starting Thursday we begin a month long celebration of pulp fiction in honor of the newest site in the Metahuman Press family: Pulp Empire!

So stay tuned as we bring you reviews of everyone from the Avenger to Tarzan and beyond!

Timeline 20: The Rise of Rulah Notes

I am going to be straight up with everyone here. I love Tarzan. It doesn’t even matter how many terrible reinventions or terrible actors play him, I love him. The entire concept of the jungle hero is something I truly love. And it’s not just Tarzan. I absolutely love the new Sheena material from Devil’s Due. I still miss Bruce Jones, Mark Waid, and Priest on Ka-Zar. I go to newspaper websites well out of my area just to read Phantom strips online. Heck, I love Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire for its jungle hero Atlanteans. So it should come as no surprise after I say all that, that I wanted my own jungle hero. Generally, I try to use literary characters wherever I can to avoid pastiches. I didn’t want Torzo, Jungle King, or anything equally preposterous.

So, what should I see, while cruising Toonepedia. for info on more golden age heroes for Tales of the Living Legends, but Rulah, Jungle Goddess. A quick surf of my favorite public domain download site quickly found her first and subsequent appearances. All with art by the amazing Golden Age artist Matt Baker!


So my jungle hero choice was made clear, Rulah was the one for me.

My plans are to continue irregularly writing new Rulah stories for the foreseeable future, but I will cover more on that at another time. Before I could really start making original stories, I thought it would be best to adapt her origin story from the horrendously title Zoot Comics #7. I updated a few bits and tried to clean up the dialogue. I also took the time to explain why all these African tribemen spoke perfect English. And finally I inserted Tembo, a character that will play an important role in my stories for the next few years.

As to the means for Rulah’s new stories to appear. I will just say that an old sister site, dating all the way back to MHP’s days as a subsite, will be making its return in a big way come 2010.