Alter Ego #190 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Forest-Primeval Comics Fanzine

No. 190 Nov. 2024

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IT’S A

JUNGLE COMIC OUT THERE! MITCH MAGLIO TOASTS TARZANIC TRIUMPHS

FROM KAÄNGA

TO KA-ZAR— FROM SHE TO SHEENA!

Satiate Your Sinister Side!

“Greetings, creep culturists! For my debut

All characters and properties TM & © their respective owners.

issue, I, the CRYPTOLOGIST (with the help of FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON), have exhumed the worst Horror Comics excesses of the 1950s, Killer “B” movies to die for, and the creepiest, kookiest toys that crossed your boney little fingers as a child! But wait... do you dare enter the House of Usher, or choose sides in the skirmish between the Addams Family and The Munsters?! Can you stand to gaze at Warren magazine frontispieces by this issue’s cover artist BERNIE WRIGHTSON, or spend some Hammer Time with that studio’s most frightening films? And if Atlas pre-Code covers or terrifying science-fiction are more than you can take, stay away! All this, and more, is lurching toward you in TwoMorrows Publishing’s latest, and most decrepit, magazine—just for retro horror fans, and featuring my henchmen WILL MURRAY, MARK VOGER, BARRY FORSHAW, TIM LEESE, PETE VON SHOLLY, and STEVE and MICHAEL KRONENBERG!” (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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CRYPTOLOGY #2

CRYPTOLOGY #3

CRYPTOLOGY #4

The Cryptologist and his ghastly little band have cooked up more grisly morsels, including: ROGER HILL’s conversation with our diabolical cover artist DON HECK, severed hand films, pre-Code comic book terrors, the otherworldly horrors of Hammer’s Quatermass, another Killer “B” movie classic, plus spooky old radio shows, and the horror-inspired covers of the Shadow’s own comic book. Start the ghoul-year with retro-horror done right by FORSHAW, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, RICHARD HAND, VON SHOLLY, and editor PETER NORMANTON.

This third wretched issue inflicts the dread of MARS ATTACKS upon you—the banned cards, the model kits, the despicable comics, and a few words from the film’s deranged storyboard artist PETE VON SHOLLY! The chilling poster art of REYNOLD BROWN gets brought up from the Cryptologist’s vault, along with a host of terrifying puppets from film, and more comic books they’d prefer you forget! Plus, more Hammer Time, JUSTIN MARRIOT on obscure ’70s fear-filled paperbacks, another Killer “B” film, and more to satiate your sinister side!

Our fourth putrid tome treats you to ALEX ROSS’ gory lowdown on his Universal Monsters paintings! Hammer Time brings you face-to-face with the “Brides of Dracula”, and the Cryptologist resurrects 3-D horror movies and comics of the 1950s! Learn the origins of slasher films, and chill to the pre-Code artwork of Atlas’ BILL EVERETT and ACG’s 3-D maestro HARRY LAZARUS. Plus, another Killer “B” movie and more awaits retro horror fans, by NORMANTON, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, VOGER, and VON SHOLLY!

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Vol. 3, No. 190/Nov. 2024 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Associate Editor) Mark Lewis (Cover Coordinator)

Comic Crypt Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich, Bill Schelly

Proofreader

William J. Dowlding

Cover Artist

Lou Fine (with a 2024 assist from Shane Foley)

Cover Color & Restoration Chris Fama

With Special Thanks to:

Sean Howe Heidi Amash Christopher Boyko Eric Jansen Nancy Shores Dewey Cassell Karlebach John Cimino Jonathan Levey Shaun Clancy Jean-Marc Lofficier John Coates Jim Ludwig Comic Book Plus Mitch Maglio (website) Dan Makara Comic Vine The Paul Norris (website) family Chet Cox Will Murray Mark Evanier Pinterest (website) Wendy Everett Justin Fairfax pulpartists.com Chris Fama (website) Shane Foley John Romita, Jr. Conrad G. Froelich Virginia Romita Grant Geissman Randy Sargent Janet Gilbert David Saunders Grand Comics Bryan D. Stroud Database (website) Dann Thomas Richard Halegua Kevin Wright Ron Harris

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Ramona Fradon, Roger Hill, & John G. Pierce

Contents Writer/Editorial: Rumble In A Four-Color Jungle . . . . . . . . . . 2 “It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Tarzanic tales in the Golden Age of Comics & beyond, spotlighted by Mitch Maglio.

From Kansas To Congorilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Conrad G. Froelich examines explorers/filmmakers Martin & Osa Johnson in comics.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! We All Have To Start Somewhere! (Part 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The early work of comics great Sam Glanzman, celebrated by Michael T. Gilbert.

Tributes to Ramona Fradon & Roger Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #249 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 John G. Pierce salutes artist Bob Laughlin—then P.C. Hamerlinck salutes JGP!

On Our Cover: There seemed no cover nearly so fitting to grace this issue of Alter Ego as the one for Fiction House’s Jungle Comics #1 (Jan. 1940), delineated by the great Lou Fine. It seems to have been the only artwork for that title Fine ever did, but it set a high mark for everything that followed, and heralded a comicbook that incorporated just about every jungle sub-genre, as you’ll see in Mitch Maglio’s masterful article that begins on p. 3. The only art on our version of the cover not by Lou Fine is the primeval-scene masthead, with its illustration of lions stalking a gazelle, which remained a fixture on Jungle covers for years. Since so much of it was covered up by the Jungle Comics logo, we asked our marvelous “maskot” artist Shane Foley to draw a fuller version of it, and as usual, he came through like a champ (not a chimp)! Cover art restoration by Chris Fama. [Art © the respective copyright holders.] Above: Fiction House has pride of place on our contents page, too, since no jungle series starring the female of the species came anywhere close to matching the appeal of “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,” cover star for years of Jumbo Comics as well as her own title. Above is the lead splash panel from Jumbo #51 (May 1943), drawn by Robert Webb and Ann Brewster. Writer unknown. Pay no heed to the “W. Morgan Thomas” byline atop the page; virtually all Fiction House series sported such house pseudonyms. [Sheena is a trademark of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.] Alter EgoTM issue 190, November 2024 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Alter Ego, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Six-issue subscriptions: $73 US, $111 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only. All characters are © their respective companies. All material ©their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Article Title writer/editorial

Rumble In A Four-Color Jungle

t always happens! Every time I think an issue of Alter Ego is going to be easy to put together, it turns out to have a mind of its own.

This time, Fiction House and jungle-comics specialist Mitch Maglio put together a fine overview of jungle-related comicbooks from the Golden and Silver Ages—only to have me decide belatedly that I wanted it to at least mention in passing even more of the multitudinous rainforest regnants. Which meant that I spent hours looking up info on Morak the Mighty, Marga the Panther Woman, et al. Mitch’s article, plus the piece I commissioned from Conrad G. Froelich on the comics adventures of jungle filmmakers Martin & Osa Johnson, pretty much filled up the issue! But, in my over-enthusiasm, I’d invited a few others to submit jungle material as well, so I wound up with two sidebars by Will Murray… a welcome plethora of comic art from former Tarzan artist Thomas Yeates… a handful of jungle-related cartoons from John Lustig’s online humor-feature Last Kiss… plus notes from Jean-Marc Lofficier on European titans of the tropics. So much material, in fact, that when I remembered I hadn’t yet decided what would fill out A/E #191 behind its FCA lead feature, I decreed our very next issue will showcase “It’s a Jungle Comic Out There! Part II.” I only hope we can fit everything left over—plus our sadly postponed “re:” section—into that one! One thing I didn’t ask Mitch or the others to deal with is a sore point that inevitably comes up when dealing with the literary “sons and daughters of Tarzan”—the touch (and often more than a touch) of “white supremacy” that often seems a sub-text in a genre that, after all, started off with the notion of the scion of an English

nobleman raised by apes and becoming a “jungle lord” over both beasts and indigenous black inhabitants of Africa. By now, though, that defect in the genre is so well-known and oft-discussed that I decided we didn’t need to waste a lot of words re-proving the long-proven. Let’s just accept that shortcoming of the subject matter as a given—and if someone wants to scribe an article about that aspect of jungle comics, I’ll certainly consider publishing it if it amounts to more than gratuitous race-shaming.

Matter of fact, I was surprised, when re-reading many jungle mags, to find that one thing wasn’t as predominant as I thought it might be: namely, the visual stereotyping of the “natives.” Sure, they’re often (usually) depicted as relatively primitive and unsophisticated by Western standards of the period; but most of the stories are set during a time when many sub-equatorial peoples still lived under tribal conditions. And we have to remember that, while the tales covered in this issue were mostly published in the ’40s and ’50s, they actually reflect the half-mythic past of the Tarzan concept, so that the surreal milieu in which they occur is really more reflective of the late 19th and very early 20th centuries than of the date listed in the publishers’ indicia. Of course, that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel the need to point out a few artistic stereotypes along the way… but to do too much more would’ve seemed to me like beating a dead hyena. Jungle comics, except of the ecological/environmental type, are pretty much in our rearview mirror now, and that’s probably by and large not a bad thing. But the original jungle comics are a part of comics history, and thus grist for Alter Ego’s ever-grinding mill.

Bestest,

COMING IN DECEMBER #191

“ROCK OF ETERNITY”— & COMIC JUNGLE, Part II!

Comics. Shazam hero TM & © DC

• FCA #250 Super-Special!: Two kinds of larger-than-life royalty! P.C. HAMERLINCK & CARL LANI’KEHA SHINYAMA pay homage to MAC RABOY’s breathtaking 1940s Captain Marvel Jr.—and its influence on the life, career, and look of rock’n’roll king ELVIS PRESLEY from the Fabulous ’50s through the Vegas ’70s! Plus surprising excerpts from the bio that first mapped it all—ELAINE DUNDY’s Elvis and Gladys, annotated by ROY THOMAS! • “Comic Jungle – Part II!” More art & anecdotes re the classic Tarzanic comicbooks, courtesy of THOMAS YEATES, WILL MURRAY, & JEAN-MARC LOFFICIER—& “Last Kiss in the Jungle” hi-jinx (& lo-jinx) from JOHN LUSTIG! • Plus—MICHAEL T. GILBERT presents ALAN JADRO’s You-Are-There report on JOHN BENSON’s 1966 New York comic-con, featuring KIRBY, STERANKO, BINDER, THOMAS, et al.—all this & MORE!!

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!” Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond) by Mitch Maglio

with Caption Annotation by Roy Thomas here is a little-known, seldom-told tale of the legendary jungle king, Tarzan of the Apes.

One day, the Lord of the Jungle swung into his treetop home, where he found his companion Jane wondering for the 100th time what two adults were doing living in a tree.

“…Just Like A Queen And Her King!” It’s their party and they’ll throw spears if they want to! From first to last, the covers of Dell/Western’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan (as per #7, Jan.-Feb. 1949) tended to be less inclined toward violent action than those featuring Sheena on Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics (as evinced by that of #159, May ’52). Respective covers by Jesse Marsh and an unidentified artist—quite possibly Maurice Whitman. Covers courtesy of the Grand Comics Database & Mitch Maglio, respectively. Except where otherwise ID’d, all images accompanying this article were supplied by author Maglio. [Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; Sheena is a registered trademark of Galaxy Publishing Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

A clearly nervous Tarzan in his deep baritone voice intoned… “Jane, make Tarzan martini.” (The Jungle Lord was not much of a bartender and deferred to the more talented lady of the house.) After taking a long gulp from his drink, Tarzan became very quiet, a faraway look came into his eyes, followed by a Sherlockian observation… “Jane, it’s a jungle out there!” Where comicbooks in the 1940s and 1950s were concerned, Tarzan’s observation was the literal truth. It was a jungle out there! [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: I apologize most abjectly to author Mitch Maglio for stealing his thunder a bit by having adapted the above punchline into the title of his article—but I figured I might as well, since I had already independently used the phrase “It’s a JUNGLE COMIC out there!” in the long-advertised cover copy for this issue. There are, after all, only so many good jungle jokes to go around.] When Action Comics #1, featuring a colorful new character called Superman, hit the stands in April of 1938 (cover-dated that June), a seismic shift ran through the still evolving comicbook industry. Within a very few years of the debut of the Man of Tomorrow, there were literally hundreds of super-powered characters appearing in an equal number of publications. Some, like Batman, became icons in their own right. Others, such as the “immortal” Minimidget, an Atom-like crime-fighting hero (first appearance: Amazing-Man Comics #5, Sept. 1938), were gone almost before anyone noticed they were ever there. By 1939, Superman had his own eponymous comicbook title, a radio series, and an official “Superman Day” at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The Age of the Super-hero had begun and would continue unabated until the end of World War II. Given the dominance of the costumed hero, it is easy for comics fans to believe that the Golden Age was only about the super-hero. They would be mistaken.

While super-heroes dominated the comicbook landscape in the early years, there were as many genres in comics as there were in pulp magazines, radio, and film. Westerns, war stories, horror, science-fiction, comedy, and romance all had their place in the new medium. Welcome to the jungle! Today the “jungle adventure” genre is largely a thing of the past, relegated to the occasional Tarzan, King Kong, or Jungle Book reboot… and of course Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, persists on and off in comicbooks right up to the present. Aside from those few exceptions, the jungle-adventure genre rests firmly in the realm of nostalgia. However, during the first six decades of the 20th century, the jungle-adventure genre was as popular as science-fiction is today. That particular genre is largely the creation of three writers: H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The work of Rider Haggard (1856-1925), though less well-remembered today than that of the other two authors listed above, is no less important to the jungle genre… and precedes that of even Kipling by nearly a decade, and ERB by rather more. In 1886 he penned the novel She – A History of Adventure, which was published in episodic form in The Graphic magazine in Great Britain

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), of course was the creator of Tarzan of the Apes, who first appeared in a pulp magazine titled The All-Story in October of 1912. His subsequent series of adventures were later consolidated into book form, and today it is the common belief that Tarzan began life as a novel when, in fact, his birthplace was in the world of the pulps. The exploration of “the Dark Continent” and the mystery of exotic, far-off lands was fertile ground for the likes of Jack London, W.H. Hudson, Rider Haggard, Kipling, and Burroughs. These writers, among many others, transported readers to places they could never go, to encounter adventures they could never have dreamed of. “The jungle” was a favorite locale.

H. Rider Haggard

The term “jungle” is somewhat nebulous, in that it doesn’t have to be a traditional African locale. The “jungle” could be in Africa or in India, or in China. It could be a land that time forgot or a lost city in the desert or a mystical island. In comics the “jungle” could be under the seas or even on the moons of Jupiter! In short, the “jungle” is any exotic location that serves the needs of the story.

was Sir Henry by the time of this 1905 photo. Two of the reasons for his knighting were the novels King Solomon’s Mines (1885) and She – A History of Adventure (1886), both represented here by vintage art showing Allain Quatermain and Ayesha. [© the respective copyright holders.]

through 1887. The story revolves around Queen Ayesha of a lost realm in the African interior, most often referred to as “She Who Must Be Obeyed.” In addition to She, Rider Haggard had earlier created Allan Quartermain in the 1885 novel King Solomon’s Mines, which also takes place in the jungles of Africa. If Quartermain wasn’t Indiana Jones’ father, he was surely somewhere on the family tree. It was Quartermain who provided the template for characters like Alex Raymond’s Jungle Jim, “King of the Kongo,” and DC Comics’ “Congo Bill.” Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was influential in several areas of writing, but is especially remembered for his works set in India, with his two Jungle Books among his greatest claims to immortality. His creation Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves who eventually slays the vicious tiger Shere Khan, may or may not have influenced the even more popular Tarzan (Burroughs certainly never admitted to it), but definitely got there ahead of any other humans-reared-by-jungleanimals.

Edgar Rice Burroughs really shifted the jungle-adventure genre into high gear with his authorship of the novel Tarzan of the Apes, which first appeared in the Oct. 1912 issue of The All-Story magazine, with oft-seen cover art by Clinton Pettee (below right). (We’re uncertain of the name of the artist of the illustration on that issue’s title page but included it above because it’s rarely seen—yet is obviously the second image the public ever saw of the ape-man.) The tale was published as a book in mid-1914 and became a runaway seller. [Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Rudyard Kipling did for late-19th-century India what Rider Haggard did for Africa. His The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) introduced the world to Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, but each also contains a number of other stories of jungle lore and wild beasts, such as “Toomai of the Elephants” and the mongoose “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.” The illustration by W.H. Drake is from the first edition of Jungle Book. [© the respective copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

W.H. Hudson Alas, we couldn’t locate any illustrations (assuming there were any) from the 1904 edition of Green Mansions, but here’s the cover of the 1944 Modern Library edition. In the 1970s, DC briefly published a comicbook of Rima the Jungle Girl, which was set in the Amazon rainforest and starred the heroine of Hudson’s book. The novel itself related the romance of this relatively passive “jungle queen” (with a white man from civilization, naturally), which ended tragically. A 1959 film adaptation of Green Mansions starred Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The rise of the jungle genre—which started with Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines and She in the 1880s; Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895), featuring the wolf-boy Mowgli but also various other tales set in the jungle of India; W. H. Hudson’s Rima the Jungle Girl in Green Mansions (1904); and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes (1912) and The Land That Time Forgot (1918)—blazed a trail that led directly to Sheena by way of your local movie theatre.

Trader Horn was a 1931 film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, based on the biography of an ivory trader. Its “jungle girl,” Nina Trent, was the daughter (fictionally inserted into the movie) of a dead missionary; she is worshipped by a black tribe and “rescued” by white hunters. A comparison of the re-release poster (above) and publicity still (below) reveals that she was portrayed in ads as far more of a proto-Sheena th5an she actually was in the film. Still, the details of Nina’s origin may have influenced those of Sheena a few years later. Actress Edwina Booth caught a career-ending disease while filming in Africa and later sued MGM over it. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Both Tarzan and Ayesha have been portrayed on film since the silent era. Beginning in 1918 with the release of Tarzan of the Apes starring Elmo Lincoln as the Jungle Lord and Enid Markey as Jane Porter, the jungle genre made an indelible mark on cinema. Betty Blythe played She in 1925. With the coming of the sound era, the 1931 Trader Horn (very loosely based on a biographical novel), became the first non-documentary film ever made in Africa and dealt with a vaguely Ayesha-like “jungle queen” portrayed by Edwina Booth; it was set in the 1870s. With the coming of the sound era, Tarzan began a highly successfully series in 1932 with Johnny Weissmuller as ERB’s hero and Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane in Tarzan the Ape Man. In 1935 Merian C. Cooper (major creator of King Kong) directed an epic re-adaptation of She that starred Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott, and Nigel Bruce. The jungle had its share of lords, but many lost worlds were dominated by jungle queens. This would be particularly true when the genre made its presence felt in comicbooks. Jungle “girls” particularly dominated comics, second in popularity only to the “super-hero,” for over a decade.

Silents On The Savannah (Left:) Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan and Enid Markey as Jane in the 1918 silent adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes. (Right:) A vintage lobby card for the 1925 film of She. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

In a stunning role reversal, jungle “lords” played second banana to the ladies. Characters like Sheena, Rulah, Cave Girl, Judy of the Jungle, and South Seas Girl (all long-legged and scantily clad) went viral in the pages of comics from some of the biggest publishers of the time from 1937 through 1957. The jungle girl could be a queen, a princess, a savage, or a cave girl. She could be a mate, a partner, or a villain. Jungle girls were generally tough, capable, smart, ruthless, and, because of the bias of the time, they were almost always white. Jungle girls all had one other thing in common. They didn’t just rule the jungle; they looked good doing it! Often blonde (though sometimes raven-tressed), the jungle girl was usually clad in some sort of animal-skin bikini or mini-dress. (Clearly this was before the no-fur movement!) Her legs were impossibly long and her hair was always perfectly coiffed! She never, ever had a wardrobe malfunction and was never in need of a makeover. The beauty of the jungle girls was the centerpiece of a style of drawing known as “Good Girl Art” (a.k.a. GGA). This was a style that helped make comicbooks the single most popular form of disposable entertainment in the world. That approach also contributed its bit to nearly destroying the industry in 1954, when a Senatorial sub-committee on juvenile delinquency and various pressure groups forced comicbook publishers into the establishment of the self-policing (and artistically stifling) Comics Code Authority. After 1954 artists were forced to make “Good Girls” so good that no one looked at them anymore. There was no place left for the jungle girl to thrive. Of course, all of that seemed a million miles away when Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, made her first appearance in the short-lived British comic called Wags in 1937. When she made her debut in America in the pages of Jumbo Comics #1 (Fiction House) a year later, a star (and a comicbook genre) were born.

She Who Must Be Imitated Just one year after the publication of King Solomon’s Mines, Henry Rider Haggard created the first true jungle queen in

the person of Ayesha, the central character of his novel She – A History of Adventure. She is a “Lost World” epic that serves as the introduction of the very first “jungle queen.” She was first published in The Graphic magazine, in weekly installments between October 1886 and January 1887, featuring illustrations by Edward K. Johnson. She was then released as a novel in 1887 and has never been out of print in the more than 100 years since its inception, selling over 100 million copies in 44 different languages worldwide, making it one of the most popular novels of all time. Its influence on the adventure and jungle genres cannot be overstated. The story of She centers around the journey of Horace Holly and his ward (Bruce Wayne wasn’t the only guy with a “ward”!) Leo Vincey to a (yup!) Lost Kingdom in the heart of darkest Africa. During their travels Holly and Vincey come across a race of primitive natives led by an enigmatic white queen, Ayesha, worshiped by her people as “She Who Must Be Obeyed”. Ayesha turns out to be a 2000-year-old woman who gained immortality by exposing herself to a mystical “Pillar of Fire.” Her beauty is so enchanting and timeless that it is said no man can resist her charms. When Holly meets Ayesha, he is so enraptured that he does not at first see the evil that lives within her soul. Yes, the very first “jungle queen” was a bad guy… er, girl. Ayesha is possessed of many “super-powers,” including a mastery of alchemy, telepathy, the ability to heal wounds; she may even be able to reanimate the dead. She becomes convinced that Holly’s ward Leo is the reincarnated version of her long-dead lover Killikrates, whom she herself had killed in a fit of rage two millennia prior. Her fixation on Leo as the reincarnation of her dead paramour leads her to acts of jealousy and murder. She is determined that Leo bathe in the Pillar of Fire and join her as immortal (and amoral) co-ruler of the world. After a long and perilous journey, Horace Holly, Leo Vincey, and Ayesha come to the cave of that houses the Pillar. At the last minute Leo becomes afraid that the Pillar of Fire (The Spirit of Life) will kill him. Ayesha, in an attempt to reassure him, bathes once again in the fire. This time, however, the flames reverse the effects of immortality and Ayesha reverts to her true age and dies… But not before declaring to Leo: “Forget me not. I shall come again!” You just can’t keep a good villain(ess) down! Ayesha makes appearances in two more Rider Haggard novels, Ayesha – The Return of She and She and Allan, in which she encounters the writer’s other iconic creation, Allan Quartermain.

Me Tarzan—You Jane—But Who’s That Ape? Two publicity stills related to Tarzan the Ape Man, featuring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan. The ape above, perhaps because it’s really a man in a furry suit, comes closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ concept of the mangani (“great apes”) being a separate species, neither chimpanzee nor gorilla, than would be seen in later films. [Tarzan & Jane TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

In his novels, Rider Haggard created the building blocks of the jungle and lost-world genres. He established the exotic jungle queen as a strong, ruthless, and desirable figure. His creation of Ayesha is the prototype for Sheena and all who followed her. Before morphing into a standard hero archetype, Sheena exhibited many of the same amoral personality traits as “She.” Her earliest adventures shroud

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Henry C. Kiefer Thanks to David Saunders and his website pulpartists.com for both photos.

Vincent Napoli

She Who Must Be Illustrated While Classics Illustrated never got around to adapting H. Rider Haggard’s novel She, one of its imitators did, in the 1950 series Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated from Seaboard Publishing, with cover art by “Wambi” (and often Classics Illustrated) artist Henry C. Kiefer. The script inside was by Dick Davis, the art by pulp artist Vincent Napoli. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Lee Falk The original writer (and official creator) of The Phantom.

Ray Moore The first artist of The Phantom.

The Phantom Menace One of the most influential and long-lasting jungle comic strips is The Phantom, which made its debut on Feb. 17, 1936—a year before Sheena. The Sunday strip at right for May 28, 1939, recounts the hero’s origin. The Phantom combined elements of Tarzan (the jungle setting) and various pulp characters such as The Shadow—and his costume pre-figured the colorful acrobat-style costumes of Superman and later super-heroes. The Phantom has appeared in comicbooks since the 1940s, when his newspaper exploits were reprinted in issues of David McKay Publications’ Ace Comics. [TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

Thanks to David Saunders.

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Sheena in mystery and depict her as having little patience for intruders into her realm.

Sheena & Her All-Girl Band Artists Will Eisner and Jerry Iger first crossed paths in 1936 when the former went to work for the latter to produce art for Wow! What a Magazine (Henle Publications). Wow! featured the earliest comicbook work by Eisner, as well as that of future icons Iger, Dick Briefer, Bernard Baily, and pioneering female artist and writer Serene Summerfield. Soon after being hired to produce Wow! What a Magazine, Iger placed an ad in The New York Times looking for cartoonists to generate content. Eisner was among the applicants and quickly went to work for Jerry, producing features like “Bully Hayes – the Black Pirate,” “The Flame,” “Harry Karry,” and “Captain Scott Dalton.” Dick Briefer worked on “Smoothie,” and Bernard Baily drew “Stars on Parade.” This magazinesized, pre-Golden Age comicbook is black-&-white, featuring text interspersed with comics throughout. Unfortunately for Iger and Henle Publications, Wow! was not particularly successful and folded after four issues in November of 1936. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the failure of Henle led directly to the formation of Syndicated Feature Syndicate, better known as the Eisner & Iger Studio. The partnership between Eisner and Iger, in turn, led directly to the birth of the jungle queen from whom all other comicbook jungle queens were derived: Sheena. When Jerry and Will first opened their studio, packaging jobs were few and far between for United States-based publications. The reason for this lack of domestic demand was that American comicbooks were then primarily made up of reprints of popular newspaper comic strips. Since the available pool of reprint material had not yet been exhausted, Eisner & Iger had to look elsewhere for opportunities. Their search led them to a man named Joshua Powers of Editor’s Press Service. EPS had been founded in the early 1930s and marketed syndicated strips to both Central and South American markets. An initial attempt at publishing a weekly comic strip reprint magazine called Wags failed. Editor’s Press Service revived the title in 1937 and began marketing it to Great Britain and Australia. EPS turned to Eisner & Iger for eight pages per week for a black-&-white comicbook called Wags. It was in the pages of Wags and not Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics that Sheena made her very first appearance in 1937. According to Jerry Iger in artist Jay Disbrow’s 1985 book Jerry Iger’s Comic Kingdom, Iger had been asked by EPS to produce a Tarzan knock-off but did not want to simply produce another jungle lord strip. Jerry claims it was his idea to feature a female lead and name her Sheena, alleging that Will Eisner had no part in Sheena’s creation. Eisner, not surprisingly, recalled Sheena’s birth somewhat differently. According to Michael Schumacher in Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life, it was

Sheena Makes Her One-Color Debut (Above:) The rarely seen first-ever “Sheena” page, which appeared in black-&-white in Wags, the 1937 UK comic magazine produced by Eisner & Iger—with a young Mort Meskin as illustrator. The early “Sheena” adventures were configured like a Sunday newspaper strip, a common attribute in comics of that period. [Sheena is a registered TM of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

Mort Meskin Eisner & Iger Will and Jerry (left to right) in their younger days. [© the respective copyright holders.]

was destined to become one of the most respected artists in the history of comicbooks.

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Eisner who created Sheena as a female version of Tarzan, and her name was a play on H. Rider Haggard’s She. It is likely that neither account is 100% accurate and that Sheena was, at least to some extent, the result of discussions between the two partners. What is not in dispute it the fact that legendary comic artist Mort Meskin was the man who first drew “Sheena” for Wags in 1937. It was Meskin, later to become one of the field’s most respected and imitated artists, who established Sheena’s early look—and it was he who first rendered her jungle domain. Mort Meskin, fully as much as Will Eisner or Jerry Iger, was the creator of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. According to Iger in a 1985 interview, he turned to Meskin as an early choice to draw Sheena. Meskin had been a go to-freelancer for Iger. According to Iger, Sheena was Mort’s first opportunity to have a byline on his work.

made her first solo appearance on a Jumbo cover with issue #9, then again on those of #13 and #15. Beginning with #18, she took over the covers for a run of 143 straight issues (through #160). Sheena covers were created by some of the most revered artists of the Golden Age, including Dan Zolnerowich, Nick Cardy, John Celardo, and Joe Doolin. Although Eisner and Iger dissolved their partnership in 1939, Sheena remained with Fiction House through the Iger Studio. She was the signature character of Fiction House comics and the unquestioned “Queen” of Jumbo Comics. While it cannot be disputed that the primary reason for Sheena’s popularity was the fact that she was a beautiful blonde in the jungle wearing… not much… she had more going for her than Good Girl Art. In her earliest stories, she was the protector of a lost

In late 1937 Eisner approached Thurman T. Scott, the president of Fiction House Publishing, and pitched him on the idea of branching out into comicbooks. Fiction House had been founded in 1921 by John W. Glenister as a publisher of pulp magazines. Glenister was a largerthan-life character who resembled Teddy Roosevelt and was the only man ever to survive a swim in the Niagara Rapids. His love of adventure was reflected in the Fiction House pulp line that included Action Stories, North-West Stories, Wings, Fight Stories, Lariat Story Magazine, and Love Romances. Scott was intrigued with the possibilities for profit in the new medium and eagerly agreed to give it a try. Making use of printing plates from the stories that had appeared in Wags, Eisner & Iger put together the first issue of Jumbo Comics, cover-dated September 1938 (it actually hit the stands on July 12, 1938). Eisner & Iger were not about to waste all the work that they had done on Wags and actually reacquired enough plates from EPS to provide content for the first eight issues of Jumbo. The interior art for those issues appeared in black-&-white format because the original plates were black on pink. In addition, because the Wags plates were larger than those used in American comics at the time, the dimensions for those early issues were slightly larger than other comics on the stands (10½” x 14½ inches). The covers were rendered using the four-color process, common to American comics at the time. The first issues of Jumbo were made up of the features that Eisner and Iger had created for Wags, including “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “ZX-5 Spies In Action,” “Hawks of the Sea,” “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Diary of Doctor Hayward,” and of course “Sheena.” “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” is the wellspring from which all other female comicbook heroes have sprung. Although not the first super-powered female (that distinction would go to “Fantomah” in Fiction House’s Jungle Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) and “Amazona” in the same company’s Planet Comics #3 (March ’40), Sheena is strong, capable, and does not in any way need to be rescued by a male. She provides the template for tough-as-nails female characters that is still followed today. In many ways her impact on comicbook archetypes compares favorably to Superman himself. Early issues of Jumbo Comics sported covers that depicted several of the features appearing inside, as was the custom for most anthology titles. However, once it became apparent that Sheena was the breakout star of Jumbo, she began to be featured more prominently. She

When Jumbo Comics Was Big News! The multi-artist cover of Fiction House’s over-size Jumbo Comics #1 (Sept. 1938) didn’t suggest that, very quickly, “Sheena” would become its long-running cover star. Seen is the first page of the “Sheena” continuity in that intial issue, which picked up the earliest page from Wags that Eisner & Iger retained copies of! Note that, at this stage, Sheena was not unlike a more assertive version of the Nina Trent “jungle queen” in the 1931 film Trader Horn. [Cover © the respective copyright holders; Sheena is a registered TM of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

named Koba, and they soon form a fast friendship. Koba becomes so attached to him that he is devastated when Rivington announces his intention to return home. In an effort to keep Rivington from leaving, Koba slips him a mystic mickey that is supposed to compel the explorer to remain in the jungle. Unfortunately, the potion kills the explorer instead. As penance, Koba resolves to make Sheena the queen of the tribe, and she goes through a Tarzan-like transformation from little girl into mistress of the jungle. (There are definite echoes in this story of the daughter-of-a-missionarybecomes-jungle-goddess rise of Nina Trent, the “white goddess” of Trader Horn, except that the latter is a far less aggressive figure.)

A Woman Of “Mystery” “Fantomah” splash panel from Jungle Comics #5 (May 1940). Script & art by Fletcher Hanks. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

jungle kingdom in Africa and does not suffer visitors well. Later, she shed her moral ambiguity and took on more standard heroic characteristics, but she always remained a somewhat mysterious and complex woman whose devotion to her jungle home and the people in it never wavered. Sheena is the daughter of Cardwell Rivington, an explorer of jungles (believe me, there were a lot of those guys running around in the 1930s). Rivington meets and befriends a tribal witch doctor

Sheena’s origin, like those of most long-running comicbook heroes, underwent many revisions over the years before being consolidated into a two-page text story in issue #100 of Jumbo Comics in June of 1947. That origin story was written under the house name “W. Morgan Thomas.” It is quite possible that it was written by Ruth Roche. Roche was a prolific, though often uncredited, writer. She started as an employee at the Iger shop in 1940 and never left. She became his partner and stayed on with Jerry at the studio, now known as Roche & Iger, until it folded in the early 1960s. While it is probably true that Sheena was primarily created by Will Eisner and Mort Meskin (and perhaps Jerry Iger), it was Ruth Roche who wrote many of the character’s earliest adventures and was a Ruth Roche key contributor to the development of the jungle queen. She later took her experience was the writer of many writing of Sheena’s jungle over to Camilla’s, stories for Jerry Iger, and was eventually his where she penned the lioness’ share of that partner.

Jumbo From Left To Right Sheena’s very first full-cover appearance, on Jumbo Comics #9 (Aug.-Sept. 1939), as rendered by the great Lou Fine, who’d drawn the iconic cover of Jungle Comics #1… A typical Sheena cover (Jumbo #9, Aug. ’40), as she hit her stride (artist unknown, but the GCD suggests it may be a team-up of Bob Powell on the Sheena figure and Charles Sultan handling the rest)… …and that of Jumbo #37 (March ’42), with the dynamic look that Sheena covers would have for the remainder of the 1940s, often courtesy (as here) of artist Dan Zolnerowich, who signed his name with the more exotic-looking “Zolne Rowich.” Well, why not? After all, virtually all “Sheena” stories were credited to one “W. Morgan Thomas,” which like the bylines on most Fiction House stories was merely a house pseudonym. The “Sheena” and other FH scripters, by and large, are unidentified. [Sheena is a registered trademark of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

heroine’s stories for Fiction House’s Jungle Comics. The rise and fall of Sheena’s comicbook popularity is directly linked to the rise and fall of Fiction House and of the Golden Age of Comics in general. At the height of her popularity, Sheena was as influential as Superman, spawning a plethora of imitators. Jungle girls like Camilla, Tiger Girl, Rulah, Cave Girl, Judy of the Jungle, Princess Pantha, and dozens of others were simply variations on the Sheena theme and a convenient canvas for the proliferation of Good Girl Art on the covers of millions of comicbooks all over the world. The Good Girl Art of the jungle queens had a benefit beyond selling comicbooks. It was the perfect showcase for some of the very best artists in comics history. Creators like Matt Baker, Jack Kamen, and Alex Schomburg had the opportunity to create beautiful and iconic images that would not have existed without the concept of the jungle girl. The impact of Sheena is felt in comicbooks, film, and television even today. The character has been revived periodically in comicbooks, both in reprint form and in new adventures. She has also been the subject of the 1984 film Sheena starring Tanya Roberts, and, most notably, the 1955 syndicated television series Sheena, Queen of the Jungle starring former Vargas girl Irish McCalla. Sheena is the archetype, the model, for (not only) jungle heroines but for all comicbook heroines. As one of the first extraordinary, if not specifically super-powered, female heroes in comics, she spawned countless imitators. In this sense she is very much like her male counterpart Tarzan and the first

Sheena Sees Double! The cover sketch and finished art for the cover of Jumbo Comics #90 (Dec. 1944), both from the hand of an unidentified artist. [Sheena is a registered TM of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

“A Lion In Your Lap!” (Left:) That’s how the first American 3-D movie, Bwana Devil (a jungle epic, no less!), was advertised in 1953. Later that year, the cover of Fiction House’s 3-D Sheena Jungle Queen #1 (left) may not have jumped out at you when viewed through special “glasses” like the interiors did; but it was still a thing of beauty, and in color to boot. Alas, the artist is unidentified—but looks like Maurice Whitman to us! Courtesy of the GCD. [Sheena is a registered TM of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

Nellie Of The Jungle? Nellie Elizabeth “Irish” McCalla, TV’s Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Girls’ Night Out— At Fiction House Fiction House, the home of Sheena, featured the jungle genre in each of their “Big Six” offerings (Planet Comics, Jumbo Comics, Rangers Comics, Wings Comics, Fight Comics, and of course Jungle Comics), and jungle girls were featured in all but Planet and Wings.

Robert Webb is the guy standing up in the boat, with boss-man Jerry Iger seated. Mrs. Webb and their young son are seen at right. From Jay Disbrow’s 1985 tome The Iger Comic Kingdom, which was reprinted with copious photos and art in Alter Ego #21.

Thus, since we’ve got to start somewhere: While jungle kings certainly played their Tarzanic part in the jungle-oriented comics of the Golden Age, let’s first take a look at the female side of the four-color forest…. The first issue of Jungle Comics (dated Jan. 1940 and naturally appearing in late 1939) introduced not one but two jungle girls. The first is Ann Mason. She is a straight clone of Tarzan’s Jane

In The Swim Of Things Nudity, as opposed to merely scanty clothing, was rare in Fiction House’s comics, but these opening panels from the “Sheena” yarn in Jumbo Comics #81 (Jan. 1945) were an exhilarating exception. Script attributed to Will Eisner. The pencils may be by major “Sheena” artist Robert Webb, with other art (including inking) by Alex Blum, Matt Baker, and David Heames. [Sheena is a registered TM of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

comicbook super-hero, Superman. Like the latter two males, Sheena served as a proof of concept. And, boy, did she prove it! Almost immediately after Sheena made her debut in American comics on June 12, 1938, jungle queens, jungle princesses, jungle empresses, jungle sorceresses, and just plain jungle girls began popping up everywhere. More than a dozen publishers between 1938 and 1954 jumped on the jungle girl bandwagon. Companies that featured jungle girls either in solo titles or as features in anthology titles included Ajax-Farrell, Atlas, Avon, Better, Dell, Fawcett, Fiction House, Fox, Hillman, Ingam, Leader Enterprises, Marvel, MLJ, Nedor, P.L. Publishing, Quality, Rural Star, and Story.

Joe Doolin

Leading the pack were Fiction House and Fox Feature Syndicate. First up… Fiction House.

in a vintage portrait drawn by either himself or someone else.

Sheena Who Must Be Obeyed Joe Doolin’s cover for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #4 (Fall ’48). Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [Sheena is a registered TM of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

crazy!) Fletcher Hanks, can lay claim to being the very first female super-hero in comics history. She is a reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian princess, complete with virtually any super-power she needed at any given time. Her first appearance, in Jungle Comics #2 for February 1940. comes almost two years before the debut of Wonder Woman in All-Star Comics #8 (cover-dated December 1941). Among Fantomah’s powers is the ability to shape-shift and command near-omnipotent magical powers. She uses the latter to dish out sometimes very brutal punishment to her enemies. After Hanks leaves the feature, Fantomah begins to change into the more standard jungle heroine, and her powers are toned down a bit. She even comes into possession of a pet panther named Fury. The first sixteen appearances of Fantomah were written, penciled, and inked entirely by Fletcher Hanks. After issue #15 the feature was drawn by George Appel until the character was retired with issue #51.

The Devolution Of Camilla “Camilla” started out as the queen of a lost empire, as per this (Bob Powell?) splash panel from Jungle Comics #5 (May 1940), but soon wound up as pretty much a “jungle girl,” plain and simple. Well, maybe not so plain, as drawn in later issues. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Over in the pages of Fight Comics, the jungle was being ably “manned” by one heck of a lady. Tiger Girl, created by Robert Hayward Webb in issue #32 (June 1944), is a Sheena clone who

Porter and the mate of Jungle Comics lead male Kaäanga. (We’ll get back to him later—in this genre, he’s a biggie!) In that first story, Kaänga rescues Ann from the slaver Blacton, and tells her how he came to live in the jungle. Thereafter she serves as both mate and partner in adventure to the blond-haired Tarzan clone. In that same issue we see the debut of the first direct Sheena clone, Camilla – Queen of the Lost Empire. Camilla (created by Charles Winter) has almost the same origin as Ayesha in She. The Fiction House heroine is, as the feature’s title states, the ruler of a lost civilization, and like Ayesha she has become supposedly immortal through mystical forces. Camilla and her world are discovered by a group of scientist/explorers led by John Dale… a plot device likewise lifted directly from Rider Haggard. Camilla is also like Ayesha in that initially she is wicked, bordering on outright evil. The only difference between the two characters is the fate of the two leads. (Actually, Camilla does die at the end of her premier story in Jungle #1—but that finale was reworked for issue #2 and Camilla was spared!) Early on, she was not above killing or scheduling the occasional human sacrifice, but by issue #28 she had morphed into a direct copy of Sheena and even sported the requisite fur bikini… in her case, made of zebra-skin. Camilla ranks behind only Sheena for the most appearances by a jungle queen in Fiction House Comics, appearing in all 163 issues of Jungle Comics. During her decade-and-a-half run, her adventures were penciled by Nick Cardy, Fran Hopper, Bob Lubbers, Bob Powell, George Tuska, Howard Larsen, Jim Chambers, Matt Baker, Jim Mooney, Marcia Snyder, Frank Schwartz, Ralph Mayo, and Saul Rosen. Ruth Roche often wrote the scripts for the feature. While still derivative, Fantomah (Mystery Woman of the Jungle), created by the wonderfully eclectic (or just plain

Fran Hopper One of a number of talented female artists who drew for Fiction House, especially during the WWII years. This 1945 photo appeared in several books co-authored by Trina Robbins.

The Female Of The (Jungle Ruler) Species Camilla could apparently wield a sword as handily as a Sheena-style huntingknife, as per this page drawn by Fran Hopper for Jungle Comics #92 (Aug. 1947). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

from issues from #49-81. Kazanda, yet another “Queen of the Lost Continent,” made her first appearance in Rangers Comics #23 (June 1945). Created by writer Archie E. Martin and artist Edward “Brodie” Mack, Kazanda’s adventures take place in a lost land in uncharted waters. Kazanda is capable of a form of telepathy and the ability to speak with animals, as well as limited pyro-kinesis. Her adventures are standard jungle fare, but Kazanda is always in the thick of the action. Even Howard Larsen’s “Crusoe Island” is dominated by women who are equal parts tough and resourceful. Washing up on shore in Rangers Comics #30 (Aug. 1946) with reporter Connie Courtney and Chinese princess Lou Fey was the very lucky Paul Harris (son of a famous American general). The trio seem to find a large number of bad guys to fight on this “completely deserted” jungle island for 11 appearances, and it is the girls who lead the way. While it’s true that the trio of Fiction House features “Sheena,” “Camilla,” and “Tiger Girl” made more appearances than every other comics publisher’s jungle queens combined, those other houses still provided us with other young women who were pretty swingin’ in their own right.

Crazy Like A Fox! In the late 1930s Victor Fox and his business associate Bob Farrell decided to enter the growing comicbook publishing field and established Fox Features Syndicate. Fox and Farrell were businessmen, not creators as was the case with Eisner and Iger, who were both. Fox contracted with the Eisner & Iger studio for content and launched their line with Wonder Comics #1 in 1939.

Hold That Tiger, Girl! This “Tiger Girl” splash page from Fight Comics #54 (Feb. 1948) may, or may not, have been penciled by the team of Matt Baker and Jack Kamen—with inks probably by the artists at the Iger shop. Scripter unknown, as per usual. Thanks to Richard Halegua. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

roams the jungles of Africa with her trusty pet tiger Benzali. Princess Vishnu (her original name) even has her own “batcave,” in the form of a hidden jungle temple, and is summoned by the natives via signals from their “bat-drums.” Her weapon of choice is most often a whip that she wields with the skill of Indiana Jones. During her 63 appearances the princess fought everything from ape-men to vampires, though sadly, not ape-man-vampires. (That would have been cool!) Tiger Girl’s adventures were often rendered by Matt Baker, arguably the very best Good Girl Artist in the history of comics. Several other accomplished G.G.A.s, including Maurice Whitman and Joe Doolin, ensured that Tiger Girl was not only just about the toughest dame in the jungle but arguably Fiction House’s most glamorous! Jungle queens dominated comic covers during the 1940s and 50s, and Tiger Girl was not going to be overlooked. T.T. Scott, who knew that Good Girl Art sold comics, made sure that she graced the cover of Fight Comics in an unbroken run for over five years,

Right In The Kazanda! “Kazanda” proved to be no Sheena, Camilla, or Tiger Girl, but she did hold forth for a few episodes in Fiction House’s Rangers Comics, as per this splash from #23 (June 1945). “Brodie Mack” was apparently a real artist, while “Peter Amos” was the usual FH fictitious house name. Courtesy of the Comic Book Plus website. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Eisner & Iger. Fox brought production in-house and hired Joe Simon (who later co-created Captain America with Jack Kirby) as the editor of Fox Publications. Eventually Fox got their super-hero lead in the form of “The Blue Beetle,” and the company achieved lasting posthumous fame as the home of Good Girl super-heroine supreme, “Phantom Lady.” Unlike Fiction House, Fox did not have a singular editorial philosophy. Fiction House comics covered a wide variety of locales and story types, but were always firmly placed within action/ adventure. Fox, on the other hand, went where the wind took them. If super-heroes were in vogue, Fox featured super-heroes. If funny animals sold, that’s what Fox produced. And when jungle girls were all the rage… well, you get the picture. Fox also differed from Fiction House in the overall production values of their offerings.

Y’Think Maybe A Swiss Family Pops Up In The Next Issue? Journalist Connie Courtney was clearly destined to be the cheesecake quota in the “Crusoe Island” feature that began in Rangers #30 (Aug. 1946), as drawn by Howard Larsen. Courtesy of the CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“Wonderman” was a straight Superman ripoff, as were seemingly hundreds of other super-hero characters at the time. Fox was quickly sued by DC over Wonderman, and lost the case. The end of that lawsuit was also the end of the relationship between Fox Feature Syndicate and

Jack Kamen Noted EC horror and romance artist, as pictured in a 1950s EC comic. [© William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]

A Jungle Rulah Rulah, Jungle Goddess, first appeared on the cover of Fox’s Zoot Comics #7 (June 1947), drawn by an unknown artist (and with her giraffe-skin outfit colored the opposite of the way it would be in nature). With issue #17, the mag’s title was changed to Rulah, as per the cover of #21 (Dec. ’48), drawn by future EC Comics artist Jack Kamen. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

While Fiction House was known to pay competitive, even high, page rates to their artists, Fox was notorious for paying the lowest possible page rates. The result was apparent between the covers. However, Fox was in absolute lockstep with Fiction House when it came to their covers. Both companies knew that a beautiful dame up there was money in the bank. Although the Good Girl Art covers of Fiction House were more centered on the “glamour girl,” the Good Girls of Fox hit you right over the head with… well… sex. Artists like Jack Kamen and Matt Baker produced GGA covers that would make a sailor blush! The sex appeal of the Fiction House girl strayed towards a demurer style. Not so with Vic Fox’s characters! Once Fox decided to jump into the jungle genre, the company was all in. Particularly where it came to jungle girls. Fox featured jungle queens in Jo-Jo Comics, Crown Comics, Jungle Lil, All-Top, Zoot Comics, Tegra, Zegra, Dagar, and of course Rulah. Rulah was Fox’s undisputed jungle queen, meant to be that company’s answer to Sheena. She is actually a wealthy American woman named Jane Dodge (later retconned to Joan Grayson, for

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Empress.

Matt Baker His comics career was covered in depth in Alter Ego #47, still available (in digital format, at least) from TwoMorrows.

Tangi was a (surprise) white jungle heroine who made her way through the wilds riding on the backs of conveniently available zebras. She went about her Sheenaesque duties with Ongah the gorilla and the more diminutive Chitchee the monkey. Tangi bears more than a passing resemblance to Fiction House jungle girl Camilla, which seems only fair, as Camilla looks a lot like Sheena! Tangi must have had access to a junglebased stylist, because her hair often went from blonde to brunette and back. Tangi made numerous appearances across the Fox jungle in Dagar and Jungle Jo.

At least Tangi’s name stayed the same—something that cannot be said for Tegra, Jungle Empress (the title of “Jungle Goddess” was already taken by Rulah!). Not only did Tegra’s hair color change—so did her moniker! Wait, it gets even more confusing, because Tegra’s first story was originally supposed to be a “Rulah” yarn. It was rewritten for Tegra, who later changed her name to Zegra. Over at Fox, you didn’t know your jungle girls without a scorecard! Tegra made her first appearance in Tegra, Jungle Goddess #1, after which she goes on to make about a dozen appearances under her new name, Zegra. Tegra was supplied with a teenage sidekick named Jono, who helped her protect her village from various threats. Whether she was Tegra or Zegra, blonde or brunette, this jungle queen had no shortage of fantastic foes. She even faced off against a bunch of enemies armed with machine guns on flying carpets—and, in one particularly outré story, soldiers from Saturn!

You’re The Top! Matt Baker’s gal-vs.-octopus cover for All Top Comics #16 (March 1949). All Top was an anthology that starred Victor Fox’s biggest features, including “Rulah,” “Jo-Jo Congo King,” and “Phantom Lady.” [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

some reason). When her plane crashes in an African jungle and she emerges alive, Jane decides to don a giraffe bikini, rescue some natives, and become Rulah—the Jungle Goddess! Maybe she’d been reading Fiction House Comics on the plane ride over, because other than the material her costume is made of and the fact that she is raven-haired, Rulah is as close to a Sheena clone as it gets. (Though she did later clone Tiger Girl’s pet tiger into a pet panther named Saber.) Sheena imitator she may have been, but there was something about Rulah that set her apart from the other knockoffs. Rulah was easily the #1 jungle queen in the Fox line. She made 74 appearances between 1947 and the mid-1950s in Zoot Comics, All-Top Comics, Jungle Thrills, Terrors of the Jungle, Ghostly Weird Stories, Spook, Strange Fantasy, and her own title Rulah (into which Zoot transformed itself, giving in to the inevitable). During the late 1940s, the jungles of Fox comics were raining jungle girls. Most of them made very few appearances and were there only to serve as eye candy. Sometimes they were villainesses such as Merciless the Sorceress, Taho – Bird of Paradise, and Flower Lady. There were, however two other Fox(y) jungle ladies of note. They were Tangi and the somewhat confusing Tegra, the Jungle

Sometimes you just run out of cool ideas for an origin story. Jungle Lil is called Jungle Lil because the tribe that adopted her after her parents died in the jungle (isn’t that where all parents of jungle lords and ladies go to die?) found a photo of her that had the name “Lil” written on it. She grew up to be a protector of her tribe and the jungle, fighting off bad guys and bad beasts. You know, the usual! Lil made four Golden Age appearances in Jungle Lil #1 (April 1950), Feature Stories Magazine #3 (Aug. 1950), Jungle Thrills 3D (April 1950 ), and Spook #25 (July 1953). Jungle Lil’s eponymous title, however, lasted only one issue… being replaced as of #2 by Dorothy Lamour, Jungle Princess. (That long-popular movie star had originally gained fame by appearing in a sarong as a jungle girl named Ulah in a 1936 film called Jungle Princess, followed by sarong-sporting roles in 1936’s The Hurricane and 1940’s The Road to Singapore co-starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, so we suppose it all made some sort of perverse sense.) In 1946, Universal Features Syndicate introduced Seven Seas Comics, an anthology title that featured such characters as Tugboat Tessie, The Ol’ Skipper, Crossbones Charlie, and … South Sea Girl: While the Iger Studio produced hundreds of jungle girl stories for both Fiction House and Fox all through the Golden Age, Iger also produced jungle girl stories for himself. He didn’t limit himself to packaging for other publishers. He also produced his own comicbooks under the publisher name “Universal Phoenix Features Syndicate.” In addition to comicbooks, Iger also distributed syndicated comic strips such as Flamingo (by Matt Baker and Ruth Roche), as well as a comic strip version of “South Sea Girl” (often drawn by John Forte).

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

What’s In A Name? (Clockwise from top left:) “Tangri” was a backup star in Fox’s Dagar [Desert Hawk] #14 (Feb. 1948)—while the titular star of the same company’s Tegra #1 (Aug. ’48) changed her name, and thus her mag’s title, to Zegra, with #2 (Oct. ’48), and retained that moniker for the remaining four issues. Maybe she’d run out of letters? Artists unidentified. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

With A Sarong In My Heart (Above, left to right:) The anonymous cover of Jungle Lil #1 must not have impressed publisher Victor Fox, because with #2 the comic mutated into Dorothy Lamour, with the unofficial subtitle “Jungle Princess.” (Seen at right is the photo-cover of the final issue, #3, Aug. 1950.) For its inspiration the new title went all the way back to the 1936 film The Jungle Princess, which had launched the sarong-clad actress into the Hollywood stratosphere; she had gone on to star in The Hurricane (also 1936), Her Jungle Love (1938), The Road to Singapore (1940), The Road to Zanzibar (1941), and Beyond the Blue Horizon (1942). In both Road films she co-starred with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope—and in all six she wore a sarong or something not dissimilar! [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Alani, or El’Nee as she was sometimes known, was the creation of writer Manning Lee Stokes and artist Matt Baker. She was the protector of a string of islands in the tropical South Pacific. Sporting a “Dorothy Lamour, Jungle Princess” look, Alani’s adventures were pretty much standard jungle girl fare. She had no special powers, and her enemies were pedestrian. Conceptually, “South Sea Girl” borrows in equal parts from Tarzan and Sheena. She did have one very important thing going for her though: the art of Matt Baker.

Island Girl “South Sea Girl” Alani was the principal attraction in the Iger studio’s Seven Seas Comics, as drawn by the amazing Matt Baker on the covers. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Baker’s pencils made Alani unforgettable. If not for his incredible talents, she would simply have faded into the mists from whence she came and been forgotten by comicbook fans. But “South Sea Girl” just wouldn’t stay down!

Wally Wood Portrait of a young artist in his studio.

Despite the fact that Seven Seas Comics only ran for six issues, Alani’s adventures were reprinted by Ajax-Farrell in Vooda (with Alani getting a name change to become the titular character), through the Iger Shop. She even made appearances during the Silver Age, when some of her adventures were reprinted in Tales of Voodoo and Witches Tales (both from Eerie Publications).

Wood She Or Woodn’t She? The lead-feature stories in Dorothy Lamour #2 & 3 (June & Aug. 1950) were drawn by a just-starting-out Wally Wood, only a couple of years away from making his mark as a science-fiction, horror, and humor artist at EC. This inside-front-cover splash from #2, in the usual Fox manner, was printed with only the red of the three color plates. Scripters unknown. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Avon Calling! Avon Periodicals produced not one, but two distinctive jungle girls of their own: Malu the Slave Girl and Taanda, White Princess of the Jungle. Taanda was, at least artwise, the creation of Everett Raymond Kinstler, the prolific Golden Age comic book artist who went on to paint the official portraits of not one, but two United States Presidents (Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan). White Princess of the Jungle (Taanda’s name was not an official part of the title) ran for five issues in 1952 and was a very faithful Sheena rip. Her adventures were most often rendered by Louis Ravelli, who worked for D.S. Publishing, Fawcett, Timely, Street & Smith, as well as Avon. Slave Girl, whose titular heroine was named Malu, was one of the more interesting (if short-lived) takes on the jungle-girl genre. Her adventures actually take place 4000 to 5000 years in the past, during the Bronze Age. (Of mankind, not comics.) Despite this, she seemed to have no problem finding the requisite two-piece outfit along with a very skilled makeup artist. Malu was the co-creation of Fiction House alum and gifted Good Girl artist Howard Larsen. Slave Girl ran for two short issues in 1949, but some of her adventures were later reprinted in Avon’s White Princess of the Jungle.

Slaving Over A Hot Comicbook Slave Girl #1 isn’t really a jungle comic per se—but there are a few jungleset scenes, and then there’s the arena lioness on the splash page. Art by Howard Larsen; scripter unknown. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Among The Sheltering Pines

Everett Raymond Kinstler

Love Me Taanda, Love Me Sweet… The cover of White Princess of the Jungle #2 (Oct. 1951), the second issue of Taanda’s comic. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

began his career as a comicbook artist, later become a painter of, among other things, the portraits of U.S. Presidents.

Judy of the Jungle was the creation of artist Ralph Mayo and an unidentified writer, and her exploits came to us courtesy of Nedor Publications, a.k.a. Pines, a.k.a. Standard. Her first appearance was in Exciting Comics #55 (May 1947), which had previously been headlined by the super-heroic Black Terror, and whom she soon knocked off the mag’s covers. Judy was another in the very large Sheena entourage. She was raised in the jungle, but not by apes, wolves, or even talking snakes. No, Judy is taken to the wilds by dear old Dad, who it seems prefers sleeping on the ground and fighting off wild animals to dinner at the Ritz. Of course, Pop is soon killed by a band of white criminals who have nothing better to do with their time than

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Pantha had a nice cushy job as the “ace animal trainer of the Great National Circus,” but after she is sent to the African jungle to search for a monster gorilla, she decides to settle down, don a fur bikini, and do “Sheena-stuff” for the next few years. Pantha is the artistic creation of Art Saaf, another fine Good Girl artist with a Fiction House pedigree. Princess Pantha made 26 appearances during her initial run, taking on the usual assortment of bad guys while searching for the elusive “white gorilla.” Her run as the featured Good Girl of Thrilling Comics rendered by Schomburg is every bit as striking as that of Exciting’s Judy of the Jungle.

The Perils of Nyoka Although not quite as glamorous as some of her sisters, Fawcett’s feature “Nyoka, the Jungle Girl” was every bit as resourceful and intrepid as any bikini-clad jungle queen. She was also more successful than any other jungle girl (with the exception of Sheena, of course), making over 100 appearances in comicbook adventures from 1942 through 1957.

A Date With “Judy Of The Jungle” “Judy of the Jungle” didn’t possess a very prepossessing name… but the covers by Alex Schomburg and the interior art by Ralph Mayo knocked the super-hero Black Terror off the covers of Pines/Standard’s Exciting Comics during the latter years of the Golden Age. Seen here is the splash page of #67 (May ’49). Art Saaf drew some great-looking “Judy” exploits, too. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

tramp through the jungle looking for eccentric old men to murder. Being a sage old guy, Judy’s dying father tells her to “live for revenge” and then promptly exits the story. After hunting down Dad’s killers, Judy embarks on a series of standard jungle-queen adventures for another 20 appearances alongside her main squeeze, Special Agent “Pistol Roberts.” Yup! Pistol Roberts… you could look it up! “Judy” is special and enduring mostly because of the amazing cover art of Alex Schomburg. His painted covers, exquisitely rendered, made Judy one of the Golden Age’s most iconic Good Girl images. Alex Schomburg was a friend to all jungle girls—but in particular those who appeared on the covers of comicbooks distributed by Nedor/ Standard/Pines. The other Nedor jungle queen to get the Schomburg treatment was Princess Pantha.

Pantha Power It was AlexSchomburg covers and lush interior art that made “Princess Pantha” a hit for several years as the lead feature of Pines’ Thrilling Comics, as witness this cover and Art Saaf’s splash page for issue #71 (Feb. 1949). Scripter unknown, natch. Courtesy of Mitch Maglio and Comic Book Plus website. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

The Perils Of Nyoka (Clockwise from left:) Nyoka the Jungle Girl started out with a tenuous (really, pretty much nonexistent) connection to Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, despite the poster for the 1941 Republic Pictures Jungle Girl movie serial. Later came the 1945 one-shot with that same title, with art by Harry Anderson. The great white huntress was soon the star of her own regularly published Fawcett comicbook, as per the cover of Nyoka the Jungle Girl #2 (the first issue with that title, dated Winter 1945), perhaps drawn by Bert Whitman. The book had legs—and not just Nyoka’s—as witness the photo-cover (posed by a professional model) for issue #71 (Sept. 1952). [Nyoka TM & © Bill Black.]

Nyoka somehow both was and was not a creation of Tarzan’s authorial father, Edgar Rice Burroughs. ERB wrote a story called “Jungle Girl” that appeared in the May 1931 issue of the pulp magazine Blue Book, and was later re-published as “The Land of Hidden Men.” The closest thing to a “jungle princess” in that one, however, was an Asian girl who was no adventure heroine. Somehow, in 1941, a 15-chapter Republic movie serial titled Jungle Girl, officially credited as a Burroughs creation (probably mostly for publicity purposes), starred Frances Gifford as a “great white huntress” named Nyoka. And from that point, at least, “Nyoka the Jungle Girl” was off and running. More like Jungle Jim than Sheena, she did not sport a fur bathing suit or talk like Tarzan. Rather, she was most often clad in safari gear and functioned in ways more closely akin to the future Indiana Jones than to a standard jungle queen. In some manner, Nyoka got licensed or sold outright to Fawcett Publications, home of the original Captain Marvel, appearing at first as a feature in Master Comics (behind “Captain Marvel

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Howard DeLay Jr.”), soon leaping off into a successful run of 77 issues in her own title: Nyoka the Jungle Girl, a comic that often sported photo-covers, perhaps to keep up the feeling of the theatrical serial. When some of Fawcett’s properties were sold off for parts after the company left the comics field in 1953, Nyoka became the property of the Charlton comic group, where she starred in more jungle adventures (including in a comic titled Zoo Funnies!) until November of 1957. During the 1940s there were also a number of short-run distaff jungle rulers in comicbooks. Jun-Gal (from Rural Home/Enwill Associates) was the artistic creation of Harold DeLay, an alum of comicbook packager Funnies, Inc. She is a sarong-clad Sheena type, but she does go up against Hitler himself at one point, in Blazing Comics #2 (July 1944). The “Jun-Gal” feature hung around for five issues of Blazing before fading away in 1945. There was also Ajax-Farrell’s Vooda, who ran for three issues in 1955—picking up the numbering of a Code-torpedoed horror title called Voodoo! Others who pulchritudinously intruded into the jungle briefly included Marga the Panther Woman in Fox’s Science Comics… Astron the Crocodile Queen in Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Comics… Blanda, Jungle Queen, an aptly named entry in Hillman’s Miracle Comics… Kara the Jungle Princess in Standard/ Pines’ Exciting Comics and Tygra in that firm’s Startling Comics… Zara of the Jungle (no relation to Kara, above) in Timely’s Mystic Comics #2 & 3… the generic Jungle Queen in Centaur’s Star Comics… and no doubt several more rainforest femme fatales whom we’ve overlooked in the thick verdant underbrush.

Make Hers Marvel—or ME! Towards the end of the Golden Age, a few comely newcomers managed to carve out a few jungle trails for themselves, at least for a little while. Carol Mantomer, the star of Cave Girl (from Vin Sullivan’s Magazine Enterprises) was, at least artwise, the creation of Bob Powell, who had been one of the first regular “Sheena” artists at Fiction House. She made her debut in Cave Girl #1 (1953) and was a fairly straight-on Tarzan clone. Carol is orphaned in the Lost Valley

For Me And My Jun-Gal Although the theme of “Jun-Gal” fighting Nazis in the pages of Rural Home’s Blazing Comics #2 (July 1944) is inherently fascinating, the racial stereotyping of the “Mammy” character makes one wince even at a distance of eight decades. Art by Howard DeLay; writer unknown. The Iger shop took care of the cover and insides of Ajax-Farrell’s Vooda #21 (June ’55). Vooda’s stories were altered reprints of “South Sea Girl.” [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

of Time and raised by wolves. Carol becomes skilled with a bow and knife, learns to talk to the animals, grows up, and embarks on a series of standard jungle-girl adventures while fashionably attired in an off-the-shoulder zebra-skin affair. (Although in some issues the striped fur-piece was colored yellow, turning it visually into tiger-skin, we guess.) She bumps off the King of the Hairy Men when he won’t take “no” for an answer, but she is much more amenable to Luke Hardin, an explorer and far less hairy suitor. Marvel (then under the Atlas global distribution symbol) dipped its collective toes into the jungle-girl genre with Lorna the Jungle Queen and Jungle Tales (the latter renamed Jann of the Jungle with issue #8). Lorna did her swinging for five issues between 1953 and 1954, while Jann made it into 1957. Don Rico handled most of the scripting, and both series were edited by the late and legendary Stan Lee. Lorna and Jann were illustrated by a rotating combination of Joe Maneely, Jim Mooney, Syd Shores, Russ Heath, and Carl Burgos, the creator of the original Human Torch and a member of both the Kirby and Eisner Halls of Fame! Perhaps unique in the annals of Tarzanic pop-lit was “Tangi,” a feature by an unidentified artist that, after a brief stint in Fox’s Jungle Jo, popped up in Star Comics’ Terrors of the Jungle #21 (Feb. 1953). The red-bikini-clad titular star was styled as the “protector [Continued on p. 26]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Bob Powell from Sick magazine, 1960s.

Magazine Enterprises Caves In! By 1953, Vin Sullivan (who’d been the very first editor of both “Superman” and “Batman” stories) had long since established himself as the publisher of Magazine Enterprises, often crafting its heroes’ initial stories with editor Ray Krank, who would write the actual script. Here, next to Bob Powell’s cover for Cave Girl #1 (1953—no other date), is the splash page of the second tale, wherein our heroine reaches civilization, and “Flash”/”Hawkman”/”Justice Society” co-creator Gardner Fox takes over the scripting. Courtesy of CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Vin Sullivan in 1993, four decades after the debut of Cave Girl. Alas, we have turned up no pics of ME editor Ray Krank.

Gardner F. Fox I Second That Demotion?

Carl Burgos Here the artist/writer/ creator of “The Human Torch” is seen in a detail of a photo taken on New Year’s Eve 1940. Courtesy of Wendy Everett.

(Right:) Lorna, one of the last of the “jun-gals,” started off life as Lorna the Jungle Queen (#1, July 1953) with a cover by Carl Burgos—then switched, for some reason, with #6 (March 1954) to being titled Lorna the Jungle Girl. Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

as drawn by Gil Kane for Showcase #35 (Nov.-Dec. 1961). [© DC Comics.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Subtropical Short-Runs (Clockwise on this page:) “Marga the Panther Woman” from Fox’s Science Comics #1 (Feb. 1940)… probably inspired by the 1932 film adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. “Astron the Crocodile Queen”—a panel from a 1940s panel in Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Comics (art may be by Charles Payne). “Blanda, the Jungle Queen” from Hillman’s Miracle Comics #2 (March ’40). including a rare jungle-girl “nude” panel (seen at bottom right of page). Thanks to CBP & the Internet for the images on this page… all of whose artists (and writers) are unidentified. [Marga & Blanda pages TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Astron TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

Bill Everett in 1939, when he was busy creating “Sub-Mariner” for Timely Comics and “Amazing-Man” for Centaur.

Jungle Jann Session By issue #8, Timely/Atlas’ Jungle Tales had been rechristened Jann of the Jungle after its breakout star. Here’s the particularly dynamic cover of issue #15 (Feb. 1957) by Bill Everett. Courtesy of the GDC. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

(Clockwise on this page, too:) Pines (that company of many names), besides “Judy of the Jungle” and “Princess Pantha,” was blessed with both “Kara the Jungle Princess,” set in the wilds of New Guinea, as per Exciting Comics #49 (June 1945), with art by Al Camy… …and “Tygra of the Flame People,” whose adventures began in Startling Comics #45 (May ’47); art probably by Sheldon Moldoff. Meanwhile, “Zara of the Jungle,” from Timely’s Mystic Comics #2 (April ’40), was drawn by Alfred H. Newton. And then there was the no-special-name “Jungle Queen” in Centaur’s Star Comics, Vol. 2, #7 (Aug. ’39), with penciled art attributed by the GCD to one Claire S. Moe. Scans on this page courtesy of CBP & Mitch Maglio. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

You really can’t talk about the Jungle Lords and not start with the big boy himself. After all, without Tarzan of the Apes, there would probably never have been any of the Lords and Ladies who followed. Tarzan’s graphic-story exploits in both comic strips and comicbooks were covered in lavish detail back in Alter Ego #129, so we need give no more than a cursory vulture’s-eye view of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ primo creation here—but still, in a certain sense, he is definitely the elephant herd in the room, so… Tarzan’s first illustrated adventures were featured in newspaper comic strips beginning on January 7, 1929, with an adaptation of ERB’s novel Tarzan of the Apes. The first Tarzan strip artist was Harold R. Foster. The strip persisted on and off until 2002 and featured many talented artists: Rex Maxon (1929–1947), Burne Hogarth (1937–1945, 1947–1950), Ruben Moreira (1945–1947), Dan Barry (1948), Paul Reinman (1949–1950), Bob Lubbers (1950–1954), John Celardo (1954–1967), Russ Manning (1967–1979), Gil Kane (1979–1981), Mike Grell (1981–1983), Gray Morrow (1983–2001) and Eric Battle (2001–2002) all tried their hand at illustrating the Jungle King’s adventures. The Golden Age comicbooks featuring Tarzan were largely reprints of the newspaper strips, with the first regular title devoted solely to him commencing after a full-issue debut in Four Color Comics #134 (August 1947, from Dell/Western).

Tangi Wore The Loincloth In The Family Tangi first appeared in Fox’s Jungle Jo #1 (May 1950). Her mate Kala in Star’s Terrors of the Jungle #21 (Feb. 1953) is a dead ringer for Jungle Jo (né Jo-Jo, the Congo King) himself, with his name apparently re-lettered in word balloons. It’s the only feature we know of where the “jungle lord” was far less important in a strip than his “jungle queen.” Artists & writers unknown. Courtesy of CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

[Continued from p. 22] of the jungle”—while her mate Kala was a dead-ringer for Kaänga. But it was Tangi who got top billing and, in the splash panel, had to rescue her blond lover from bloodthirsty Arabs. Even if only symbolically, it was she, not he, who clearly wore the leopard-skin pants in that colorful couple, even if Tangi in her second incarnation was a one-shot wonder—like many a jungle lord who popped up in Star Comics, usually written and drawn by Jay Disbrow. And so, it goes. From 1938 to 1954, the Swingin’ Jungle Girls of the Golden Age kept the world safe for us all! From Sheena to Tegra… from Rulah to Cave Girl… swingin’ through the trees never looked so good!

The Good BOYS Of The Jungle Yes, it’s true that, to a great extent, women ruled the Golden Age jungle. But it wasn’t for a lack of effort on the part of the boys!

Tarzan did well enough with his appearances in Four Color to warrant his own title, which made its debut cover-dated Jan.-Feb. 1948. Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan #1 was drawn by Jesse Marsh and written by Gaylord Dubois, a team that endured for years. Although the first few issues were heavily influenced by Burroughs, by issue #3 the films’ influence took over and dominated throughout the run. Dell’s Tarzan ran for 161 issues; in 1962 it became part of the Gold Key comics group when Western ended its partnership with Dell. Although Tarzan’s comic adventures perhaps never had quite the same “pop” as those of some of his Golden Age contemporaries, he has persisted in comics both print

The New Adventures Of Tarzan Jesse Marsh’s cover for Dell/Western’s Four Color #134 (Feb. 1947), the first comicbook that created new material starring “Tarzan.” Previous comicbook appearances had merely reprinted newspaper strips. [TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Jesse Marsh From an ERB-related magazine published by fans.

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

and digital well into the 21st century. Over the years DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Idaho, Dynamite, Blackthorne, and Malibu have all published their takes on the first and still most iconic Jungle Lord. In 2012, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., started releasing webcomics on their official website with Tarzan by writer Roy Thomas and artist Tom Grindberg, and Tarzan of the Apes by Thomas and artist Pablo Marcos. (Again, see A/E #129 for more details. And we do mean details! Also, see the ad on p. 80.) Meanwhile, back in the Golden Age… Ka-Zar was a blond Tarzan clone (self-promotionally known as Ka-Zar the Great) who first appeared in the first issue of the pulp magazine Ka-Zar for October 1936, from Manvis Publishing, owned by Martin Goodman, future publisher of Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics. Like Tarzan, David Rand (a.k.a. Ka-Zar) took up the hobby of fighting jungle bad guys with his lion friend Zar. His father, John Rand, was flying to Cairo from Johannesburg with his wife Constance and son David when the plane developed motor trouble and was forced down in the Belgian Congo. John and Constance died soon afterwards, leaving David alone to be raised by lions. Some years later, after acquiring the requisite fur bathing suit and pseudo-jungle moniker, Ka-Zar pals around with the elephant Trajah and with the lion Zar.

of Fang and Claw” by Bob Byrd as a back-of-the-book “Ka-Zar” feature for Marvel Comics #1 (also a Goodman production, dated Oct. 1939). That storyline was continued in Marvel Mystery #2-5 (Dec. 1939 to March 1940). Ka-Zar was featured in new stories until Marvel Mystery #27 (Jan. 1942). But publisher Goodman wasn’t yet done with Ka-Zar—or at least his name. Stay tuned!

Jungle Comics—Trademark Pending If there was one comicbook which, more than any other, represented the “jungle” theme during comicbooks’ Golden Age, it was Fiction House’s Jungle Comics. This monthly title contained, at its height, no fewer than eight continuing features, each devoted to a slightly different slice of the jungle cake: jungle man, jungle girl (two or three of them, in fact), jungle beast-king, jungle boy, jungle white hunters, jungle costumed hero, jungle wizard, and even a junglebased version of what seemed to be a takeoff on the French Foreign Legion! See why Jungle Comics deserves an entire section all its own? The lead feature in Jungle was “Kaänga,” first drawn inside by Alex Blum, following Lou Fine’s cover masterpiece. “Kaänga”

Writer/artist Ben Thompson adapted the pulp story “King

[Continued on p. 30]

No Animals Were Harmed In The Making Of This Comicbook You glimpsed the cover of the first issue of Fiction House’s Jungle Comics on our cover—so here’s the singular Will Eisner effort for that of #5 (May 1940), and Dan Zolnerowich producing that of #31 (July 1942), on which jungle king Kaänga rescues his mate Ann from yet another “king of beasts.” No wonder folks had to start an environmental movement in Africa! Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Sub-Saharan Sidebar by WILL MURRAY

Secrets Of Ka-Zar The Great

he pulp origins of Za-Zar the Great are shrouded in mystery.

Ka-Zarwas one of Martin Goodman’s oddball short-lived pulp titles released in the summer of 1936, and the first to be printed under his new Manvis imprint. It was copyright July 20, which is probably its on-sale date. Knowing that Goodman was a follower of trends, we can safely guess why he decided to publish a magazine built around a jungle hero in the mold of Tarzan of the Apes. As a multi-media character, Tarzan was pretty hot during the 1930s, appearing in films and on radio and in newspaper comic strips. Goodman decided to cash in. Hence, the first issue of Ka-Zar. It was published with an October 1936 cover date, giving the magazine three months to find an audience. A Tarzan movie entitled The New Adventures of Tarzan had been released in late 1935, starring Herman Brix. Johnny Weissmuller was taking a brief hiatus from playing the ape-man, but he would return in November in Tarzan Escapes… about the time the second issue of Ka-Zar went on sale. Perfect timing, in Goodman’s view, to catch casual readers excited by Weissmuller’s return. Ka-Zar was pretty typical imitation Tarzan fare. All the tropes and clichés are present: orphaned boy, in this case raised in Africa by lions instead of anthropoids. As a knockoff, it was more slavish to its inspiration than, say Bomba the Jungle Boy, whose juvenile book series was winding down after twenty volumes. The identity of the author of Ka-Zar is murky. A Robert L. Bird had sold a single story to The World Adventurer a few years before. After

Ka-Zar, Vol. 1, #1 This October 1936 issue, with a cover painting by John W. Scott, introduced Timely’s pulp-mag jungle lord to the world. The early “Ka-Zar” installments in Marvel Comics/Marvel Mystery Comics would later adapt this story by “Bob Byrd.” All three Scott Ka-Zar covers courtesy of Will Murray. Thanks to David Saunders and his website pulpartists.com for the artist ID. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

the three Ka-Zar novels credited to Bob Byrd were published, that byline appeared only once more—in a Goodman pulp called American Sky Devils, in 1938. When someone realized that Byrd’s swan song, “Scourge of the Sky Hellions,” was a rewrite of an old boy’s book by Henry Thomson Burtis, speculation erupted that Burtis was the author of Ka-Zar. This has never been proven, but it’s certainly possible. Burtis was a prolific pulp author during that era. The debut Ka-Zar pulp novel, King of Fang and Claw, was reprinted in 1937 by a British publisher. That was the year the long-delayed third issue of the magazine finally appeared, retitled Ka-Zar the Great.

Ka-Zar, Vol. 1, #2

Dated January 1937. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Dated June 1937. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The character might never have surfaced again, except that Goodman decided to jump onto the comicbook bandwagon in 1939 and so dragged Ka-Zar out of literary limbo for the

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

incredible popularity of Tarzan reprints in paperback reprints at that time, and not nostalgia for Bob Byrd’s character, no doubt fueled this incarnation. But Ka-Zar never got much traction back in the 1960s. It was the early 1970s before he was promoted from guest-star status to his own feature. A little-known footnote to Marvel history had occurred in 1964. Goodman wanted to expand, but was limited by his (and DC’s) distributor to a small Ben Thompson number of titles. Super-heroes like Thor Taken New Year’s Eve and Giant-Man had taken the lead spot in 1940. Courtesy of former fantasy titles such as Journey into Wendy Everett Mystery and Tales to Astonish. A decision was made to get rid of the back-up fantasy stories and split the books between two super-heroes. Goodman gave editor Stan Lee a short list of characters he wanted to see revived in the back pages of those titles. They were the Hulk, whose popularity had outlasted the failure of his six-issue title… the Sub-Mariner, who had been successfully revived in The Fantastic Four, and… Ka-Zar. Lee reportedly conferred with artist Steve Ditko and handed him Goodman’s list, essentially inviting Ditko to pick any character he would like to draw as a regular feature. Ditko was busy drawing Amazing Spider-Man and “Doctor Strange,” but was open to a third super-hero strip. Out of the three, he chose the Hulk. The fact that he had drawn the final issue of the character’s short-lived solo title might have had something to do with his selection.

Your Lion Eyes Artist Ben Thompson drew—and probably wrote—the comicbook adaptation of the pulp Ka-Zar, Vol. 1, #1 (Oct. 1936), beginning in the first issue of Timely’s Marvel Comics, cover-dated exactly three years later. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

debut issue, Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. ’39). The character’s inaugural novel was adapted into comics form by artist Ben Thompson and serialized over several issues, concluding in Marvel Mystery Comics #5. Every installment proclaimed: “From the famous character created by Bob Byrd.” Ka-Zar’s Golden Age comicbook career was not illustrious. He faded away after 27 issues. Another version resurfaced in the 1950s, oddly renamed “Lo-Zar.” He lasted only a handful of issues. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revived the character in 1965 for the classic 10th issue of The X-Men, they completely revamped him. Borrowing from Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar stories, they took Ka-Zar out of the increasingly vanishing African jungle and put him into a subterranean world populated by dinosaurs beneath Antarctica. Gone was his loyal lion Zar; in his place roared Zabu, the sabertooth. Ka-Zar was no longer American David Rand, but an Englishman, Kevin Plunder. And his jungle name went from meaning “Brother of the Lion” to “Son of the Tiger.” As someone who purchased that comic off the racks in ’65, I can tell you it was one of the most thrilling issues of The X-Men ever published. No doubt this was intended to re-introduce the character in updated form for the new Marvel audience. The

But imagine if Ditko had chosen Ka-Zar! He would have been the first hero revived in the back half of Tales to Astonish in the summer of 1964. No doubt Ka-Zar would have been quite different from the incarnation Lee and Kirby conceived several months later for X-Men #10. [EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s true, of course, if the notion of Ka-Zar lording it over a primeval sub-Antarctica world was Jack Kirby’s idea, or something Lee and Kirby came up with together. If, however, the foregoing was Stan’s idea, as it might well have been, then the result might have been fairly similar to what finally emerged.] I wonder if artist Gene Colan was likewise given the opportunity to choose from Ka-Zar or Sub-Mariner when the latter replaced Giant-Man a year later in Astonish. The “Sub-Mariner” strip was originally going to be drawn by Wally Wood, but he abruptly left Marvel before he could start. So Colan got the assignment, drawing initially under the pseudonym “Adam Austin.” Ka-Zar next surfaced in Daredevil #12 (Nov. 1965), where his new name and origin were revealed in a two-part tale drawn by John Romita. But it was several years before Ka-Zar finally got his own strip, first in the black-&-white magazine Savage Tales, then as half of the color Astonishing Tales.He went on to star in his own comic. While the character has proven to have a long life in comicbooks, his career has been sporadic. The fact that Ka-Zar has survived into the 21st century suggests that he may be more than a mere Tarzan imitation….

Will Murray

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

(whew!)—with scripts often authored by Ruth Roche.

Alex Blum

Another long-running feature in Jungle Comics starred Wambi, a “jungle boy” based in the wilds of India. Wambi closely resembles Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1894) and its sequel. Wambi, like Mowgli, lives in the jungle and can talk to animals, often enlisting their aid in his adventures. He functions as sort of a Kid Tarzan, fighting the usual roster of bad guys alongside his elephant sidekick Tawn and his orang-utan pal Ogg.

“Wambi of the Jungle” was a tent-pole feature in Jungle Comics until issue #158, and like Kaänga, had his own eponymous title, which ran for eighteen issues between 1942 and 1952. Mostly drawn from the start by Henry G. Kiefer, “Wambi” was also illustrated at times by Frank Doyle, Matt Baker, Jean Levander, and Bob Webb. In a reversal of roles, “Simba, King of Beasts” stars a heroic lion (since Simba is a male lion, he also qualifies as a “Jungle Lord”!) who is aided by a human sidekick named Boko. Simba was artistically created by August Froelich and was often quite beautifully rendered by such illustrators as Al Walker, George Tuska, Howard Larsen, Nick Cardy, Pagsilang Rey Isip, Richard Case, Ruth Atkinson, and William Merle Allison. Simba is possessed of extraordinary wisdom and surprising gentleness to go along with his fierce physical attributes, which he uses to dispense justice throughout the jungles of Africa for 124 appearances through issue #129—long before the Disney people came up with The Lion King.

Long Live The King! The “Kaänga” splash page from Jungle Comics #1 (Jan. 1940). Just 162 more to go! Art by Alex Blum (as “Alex Boon”); scripter unknown. Thanks to CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Another long-running feature in Jungle Comics, created

[Continued from p. 27] appeared in every issue from 1939 until the very end in 1954. He’s a straight Tarzan “rip,” from his origins to his mate, Ann Mason. He even has his own jungle war cry: “Ooga… Fiction House’s Ooga!” Like Tarzan, Kaänga is orphaned in the jungle when his parents are killed and is raised by native “ape-men.” He learns the ways of t he jungle and completely forgets those of the “white man.” As an adult, Kaänga meets and falls in love with Ann Mason, who readily divests herself of clothes to join him as his mate. In fact, the only discernible difference between Kaänga and Tarzan is that Kaanga is a blond and/or redhead (it varied over the years). Kaänga was actually the comicbook incarnation of the slightly earlier cover-featured hero of Fiction House’s pulp mag Jungle Stories—only there he was named Ki-Gor and had a shapely mate named Helene. Over the years, the “Kaänga” feature was drawn by Alex Blum, Dan Zolernowich, Charles Sultan, George Tuska, Howard Larsen, Jim Mooney, Joe Doolin, John Celardo (who would become best-known for drawing the syndicated Tarzan strip), Ken Jackson, Maurice Whitman, Nick Cardy, Rafael Astarita, Reed Crandall, Bob Webb, Ralph Mayo, Ruben Moreia, and Rudy Palais

Comics & Stories

Ki-Gor and his mate Helene, who ruled the Fiction House pulp Jungle Stories (which had begun life in 1938, more than a year before its comics equivalent), were the prototypes— along with Tarzan and Jane, of course—for Kaänga and Ann in Jungle Comics. One has to wonder why the publisher didn’t simply make Ki-Gor the star of the comicbook as well. Painted cover by George Gross; thanks to David Saunders and his pulpartists.com website. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Jim Mooney He would move on to “Batman”— and eventually “Spider-Man.”

Some Classic Artists Dance The “Kaänga” A trio of great “Kaänga” splash pages from (clockwise): Jungle Comics #42 (June 1943), by Reed Crandall—that legendary artist’s one and only “Kaänga” story, apparently… Jungle #50 (Feb. ’44) by Jim Mooney… and Jungle #53 (May ’44) by Ruben Moreira. Thanks to CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Reed Crandall Also noted for “The Ray,” “Blackhawk,” et al. Courtesy of Kevin Wright & Ron Harris.

by artist Fletcher Hanks, was “Taboo” (very soon altered to “Tabu”), a Tarzan knock-off who possessed a sixth sense that made him the Ruben Moreira superior of any animal in the jungle (and of the Later illustrator of the bad guys as well). Like Tarzan, Tabu was raised Tarzan comic strip and by beasts after being orphaned in the jungle and of DC’s “Impossible But True.” was granted his super-powers by a Shazam-like witch doctor. Along with his sixth sense, Tabu has power over the elements, communicates with beasts, and possesses mystical abilities as called upon by plot needs. He eventually becomes a sort of “Sorcerer Supreme” of the forest primeval, but never wanders too far from his Weissmuller/Burroughs roots. Oh, and unlike most jungle-lord types, he sometimes wore a cape! “Tabu” appeared until issue #141, for a total of 137 appearances. His feature was drawn at various times by Hanks, Arnold Hicks, Brodie Mack, Charles Sultan, Enrico Bagnoli, Frank Schwartz, George

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

John Celardo at Fiction House in 1954.

appearance in Jo-Jo #7 (July 1947). But Jo-Jo was apparently a pretty fickle guy, because he promptly traded Gwenna in for another (and more or less identical) jungle girl , named Tanee. Truth be told, it is entirely possible that Jo-Jo was entirely faithful and true and that Gwenna simply underwent an unintentional name change in the same way that Marvel Comics’ Bruce Banner became “Bob” Banner and finally Robert Bruce Banner some years later. Strange are the ways of comicbook editing!

Actually, Jo-Jo himself underwent a monicker mutation near the end of his vine-swinging career. Instead of Jo-Jo Comics #30, Fox in 1950 published an unnumbered comic with the title Jungle Jo—whose title hero was clearly none other than Jo-Jo, minus his second syllable! Inside the comic were “Jo-Jo” stories, merely with that name omitted so that the feature was titled “Congo King.” Oddly, no attempt was made at first to alter his name in the captions or dialogue balloons, where he was still referred to as “Jo-Jo.” Had someone suddenly decided that there was something offensive about the term “Jo-Jo”? (Or maybe that it was just a silly name for a jungle lord—but then, it always had been.) That Jungle Jo was followed by three more issues, numbered 1 to 3, before long with an actual “Jungle Jo” masthead and usage inside the comic as well. Strange were the ways of Victor Fox and his big little comicbook company.

Another Fox jungle lord went by the name of Zago (they sure liked the letter “Z” at Fox!), who had a brief four-issue run in 1948

When Pellucidar Freezes Over While Kaänga mostly stuck to fighting lions, leopards, crocodiles, and the occasional rhino, he would occasionally run up against prehistoric animal foes, as on John Celardo’s cover for Jungle Comics #17 (May 1941). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Carl Wilhelms, Marcia Snyder, Howard Larsen, Maurice Whitman, Max Elkan, Richard Case, Rafael Astarita, R.L. Golden, Ruben Moreira, Ruth Atkinson, and Saul Rosen. Whew! Other features that appeared in Jungle Comics were “Roy Lance” (a Jungle Jim clone), “Captain Terry Thunder and the Congo Lancers” (initially drawn by Arthur Peddy), and “The Red Panther,” a costumed jungle lord who began life as the White Panther in issue #1 and was first limned by Taylor Martin.

Kings Of This Place And That No jungle lord worth his spotted (or striped) underpants goes about his heroic adventures without the company of an impossibly long-legged jungle girl. Fox’s Jo-Jo (the hero so great they had to name him twice!) was no exception. Starring in his own title, Jo-Jo [Congo King] Comics, he was ably abetted and assisted in his adventures by Gwenna, who was equal parts Jane Porter and Sheena. Gwenna made her first

Maurice Whitman The Only U.S. Comic With An Umlaut In The Title? Beginning with a first issue dated April 1941, Fiction House also published nearly two-score issues of Kaänga Comics. The final issue, #20 (Summer 1954), sported a cover by Maurice Whitman. Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Boy, What A Jungle! (Left:) The turban-wearing “Wambi of the Jungle,” clearly inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli, was most often drawn by Henry C. Kiefer, as in Jungle Comics #124 (April 1950). Wambi also had his own comicbook for a while. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Lion King, Eat Your Heart Out! The above “Simba” splash is not only by an unknown artist—but from an unidentified issue of Jungle Comics! (This comes from Ye Editor’s addiction to buying coverless, often incomplete copies of old comics so their interior images can be used in Alter Ego.) Nice art, though, huh? [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

This Is “Tabu”! (Left:) A page drawn by Charles Sultan for Jungle Comics #6 (June 1940), featuring “Tabu,” the oft-cape-wearing jungle wizard. There was lots of talk about “jungle juju” (= magic) in this long-running feature. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

and 1949. He was a Jo-Jo of the blond persuasion. His sidekick/mate was a Rulah lookalike named Wana.

During the early 1940s in particular, it had seemed as if every comics company had to have at least one jungle lord or lady. The Quality group had Samar, holding forth in the Doll Man-starring Feature Comics… Fawcett had Dr. Voodoo behind “Captain Marvel” in Whiz Comics… Trojak the Tigerman ran wild in Timely’s Daring Comics. There was Congo King in Green Publishing’s Atomic Comics (no relation to Jo-Jo the Congo King—let alone to the jungle lawman

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

More White Men Wandering Around The Jungle (Comics) Hunter “Roy Lance” from Jungle Comics #3 (March 1940)… Captain Terry Thunder in a later issue, #124 (April ’50)… and The Red (formerly White) Panther in Jungle #3. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

King of the Congo in Fiction House’s Wings Comics)… Ty-Gor, Son of the Tiger in MLJ’s Blue Ribbon Comics… Zudo the Jungle Boy in Avon’s Mystery Comics… The Jungle Prince and “Duke” in Gorilla Land in Centaur’s The Arrow and Fantoman, respectively… Jungleman in Harvey’s Champ Comics… Tamaa, Jungle Prince in Holyoke’s run of Blue Beetle… Zomba, jungle fighter, in Great Publications’ Choice Comics… Morak the Mighty and

Joe Orlando From an EC comic of the early 1950s. [© William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]

Tigerman in Street & Smith’s Doc Savage and Super-Magician Comics, respectively… the first Cat Man (drawn by Irwin Hasen) in Temerson’s Crash Comics Adventures… the prosaically named Lance Hale in Comic House’s Silver Streak and Daredevil… Jungo in Rural Home’s Variety Comics… not to be confused with Jungo the Man Beast in Holyoke’s Sparkling Stars. Even Fiction House managed to sneak Oran of the Jungle into Fight Comics, probably just to keep “Tiger Girl” on her toes… and that company’s Rangers Comics had its young Jan of the Jungle, perhaps to keep “Wambi” [Continued on p. 39]

Say It Ain’t So, Jo-Jo! (Left:) Instead of Jo-Jo #30, Fox in 1950 abruptly gave us an unnumbered issue of a comic titled Jungle Jo, whose stories still used the name “Jo-Jo” in captions and dialogue balloons. The full switch to “Jungle Jo” (for whatever reason it was made) took place over the course of #1-3 in the months that followed. But apparently, with #3 (Sept. 1950), a recognizable team took over the art: Joe Orlando and Wally Wood. In comics of this period, Orlando would generally pencil and Wood usually ink. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Jo-Jo The Congo Bigamist Oddly, Jo-Jo the Congo King had no fewer than three mates at various times, if names are anything to go by. In Jo-Jo Comics #7 (July 1947—actually one of two Fox issues numbered “7”), he’s with Gwenna in one story, and Geesha in another (or maybe it’s just the same lady with different monikers)… while in Jo-Jo Comics #8 (Nov. ’47) the unidentified writer and artist introduced Tanee, who outlasted them all. Most fans were more interested in the armored elephant! Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Mac Raboy Future artist of “Captain Marvel Jr.” and Flash Gordon. Thanks to Shaun Clancy & Christopher Boyko.

Now You See Them… Three early-in, early-out jungle heroes: Quality’s “Samar” from Feature Comics #48 (Sept. 1941), by an unknown creative team… “Dr. Voodoo” from Whiz Comics #16 (April ’41) with art attributed to a young Mac Raboy… and “Trojak the Tiger Man” written and drawn by Joe Simon for Timely’s Daring Mystery Comics #2 (Feb. 1940). Thanks to CBP and the Marvel Masterworks series. [Trojak TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other pages TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Joe Simon in the early 1940s. Courtesy of Pinterest site.

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Clockwise Congo & Other Kings & Kids “Congo King” (no relation to Jo-Jo) from Green Pubs’ Atomic Comics #4 (July 1945)… “King of the Congo” (no relation to either) from Fiction House’s Wings Comics #101 (Jan. 1949)… “Ty-Gor, Son of the Tiger” (another Mowgli type) from MLJ’s Blue Ribbon Comics #5 (July 1940), with art some attribute to George Storm… and “Zudo the Jungle Boy” from the Aug. 1944 (#1) issue of Pines’ Mystery Comics. Courtesy of CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Still More Clockwise Jungle Guys Kelo the “Jungle Prince” of darkest Siam (drawn by Dan Gormley) from Centaur’s The Arrow #3 (Oct. 1941)… “Tamaa, Jungle Prince” in Holyoke’s Blue Beetle #27 (Nov. ’43)… “Jungleman” in Harvey’s Champ/ Champion Comics #11 (Oct. ’40)… and “Zomba” from Great’s Choice Comics #2 (1942), with art probably by Casper the Friendly Ghost co-creator Seymour Reit, since that’s what the “house name” byline spells backward! Courtesy of CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

George Tuska Courtesy of Dewey Cassell.

Enrico Bagnoli

More Jungle Fun (Above & right:) Panels from the “Oran” tale in Fiction House’s Fight Comics #4 (April 1940), illustrated by George Tuska… exquisite Enrico Bagnoli-drawn panels from “Jan of the Jungle” in FH’s Rangers Comics #50 (Dec. ’49)… and Sid Greene’s splash for “Fangs the Wolf Boy” from Holyoke’s Sparkling Stars #20 (Dec. ’46). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Sid Greene 1965 photo courtesy of John Fahey.

A Jo-Jo By Any Other Name… (Right:) Fox’s Zago, Jungle Prince #1 (Sept. 1948) looked, for all the world, like Jo-Jo/Jungle Jo with his hair dyed blond. He only lasted four issues—so maybe blonds don’t have more fun! Artist unknown. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

jungle hero vine-swung from one company to another: Ziff-Davis published eight issues of Wild Boy commencing in 1950; in 1953, St. John Publishing picked the series up with “issue #9,” rebranding it Wild Boy of the Congo. Also deserving of a paragraph (if not a whole chapter) all to himself is Voodah, in McCombs Publications’ Crown Comics #1 (Fall 1945), whom Ken Quattro’s pioneering study Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Norman Saunders Artists of Comic Books identifies as “the first His 1966 passport clearly Black hero to have his own feature photo, supplied by son in a comic book.” In some later stories, David Saunders from alas, Voodah was often rendered as a his invaluable website pulpartists.com. Caucasian… but at least he had his own moment as the very first black jungle lord. All that, and Matt Baker art, too! Not that this is meant to be a totally inclusive listing. This is only an 80-page magazine, after all!)

The Fabulous Rainforest ’50s Although Rudyard Kipling’s immortal creation Mowgli preceded Tarzan and all the other jungle lords and ladies, the

Wild Boy Doesn’t Wanna Leave The Congo Ziff-Davis began its 8-issue run of Wild Boy with issue #10 (1950), with a cover by pulp master Norman Saunders, and only began correct numbering with #4. When St. John Publishing took over the title in 1952, they changed the comic’s name to Wild Boy of the Congo. Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

[Continued from p. 34] honest over in FH’s Jungle Comics. (Frankly speaking, “Jan” had much more illustrative art!) Speaking of Jan, Wambi, and indirectly Mowgli—for years in the 1940s and ’50s, the Buster Brown Shoe Company published its own comics, given away in its shoe stores and based on dramatic episodes appearing at regular intervals on its Smilin’ Ed’s Gang children’s radio show… and one of that mag’s Do, Do That “Voodah” That You rotating stars was Gunga, Do To Me! who was probably African-American artist Matt Baker drew inspired by the same “Voodah” for McCombs Publications’ Kipling story “Toomai Crown Comics #3 (Fall 1945). Voodah of the Elephants” that was, as Ken Quattro notes in his awardhad led to the popular winning book Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books, Sabu-starring film “the first clearly Black hero to have his Elephant Boy in 1937… own feature in a comic book.” However, in with the name echoing some later issues, he was abruptly colored Kipling’s famous poem like a Caucasian and his black origins “Gunga Din.” At least one young

left unmentioned. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Let’s Do It Counterclockwise For A Change! The pre-Holyoke “Cat Man,” drawn by Irwin Hasen for Temerson’s Crash Comics Adventures #4 (Nov. 1940), had been reared by a tigress in the jungle but fought crime on U.S. city streets, dressed like a head-on collision between Batman and Tarzan… “Lance Hall,” the big-game hunter who in Comic House’s Silver Streak Comics #2 (Jan. ’40) would suddenly be given superpowers and sent into space to fight for the Earth (talk about cross-genres!)… and “Morak the Mighty” in a black-&-white scan from Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Comics, Vol. 1, #6 (Nov. ’41). Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert for the “Morak” scan; other pages courtesy of CBP. [Morak splash TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications; other art TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

young wolf-boy was a relatively latter-day arrival in comicbooks. Classics Illustrated first adapted three Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book in issue #83, dated May 1951 (originally with art by Alex Blum; the scripts were redrawn later by Norman Nodel for a second edition). Perhaps inspired by this, Dell/Western in 1953 published three Four Color issues (#487, 582, & 620) of Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli Jungle Book, with art (including painted covers) by Morris Gollub, and at least the first of the pair scripted by the prolific Paul S. Newman. Fiction House’s Wambi of the Jungle, though, had definitely outpointed Kipling’s “Little Frog” over the years. A late entry into the Golden Age of jungle lords was Thun’da, King of the Congo (Magazine Enterprises), which was tied in to a Buster Crabbe movie serial of the same title. Yet another Tarzan knockoff, Thun’da had the advantage of an all-star team of talent to bring him to the printed page. Issue #1 featured scripts by Gardner Fox and art by Frank Frazetta. Subsequent issues were helmed artwise by Bob Powell. Thun’da ran for six short issues between 1952 and 1953. For some reason, Martin Goodman decreed that his Atlas (formerly Timely, future Marvel) comics line get in on the jungle action again at a relatively late date, more than a decade after the original Ka-Zar had stalked the savannah with his lion buddy. In 1954, editor Stan Lee pieced together two new jungle-anthology

Gunga, There’s A Tremendous Din Out Here! Ray Wilner’s splash page for the “Gunga” story in a 1950s (?) issue of Buster Brown Comics, a mag that was distributed free at Buster Brown shoe stores all over the U.S. The rest of this particular story was apparently drawn by Reed Crandall. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Irwin Hasen as a U.S. Army private during World War II. Courtesy of Dan Makara.

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

The Jungle Book—Illustrated! (Left:) The 1942 British-made Alexander Korda film of The Jungle Book, starring the young Indian actor Sabu, was a smash hit, often re-released. (A/E’s editor first saw it in a theatre in the latter 1940s.) (Right, top to bottom:) The Jungle Book was adapted into comics form first as Classics Illustrated #83 (May 1951), with art by Alex Blum & Bill Bossert; scripter uncertain… then, for a 1968 reissue (at bottom of page), it was redrawn from the same script, the art this time by Norman Nodel. [TM & © Frawley Corporation and its exclusive licensee First Classics, Inc. All rights reserved by Jack Lake Productions.]

Mowgli In Four Color(s) Dell/Western published three issues of Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli Jungle Book in its Four Color series: #487 (1953), #582 (1954), and #620 (1955). The cover of #487 was painted by Morris Gollub, who also illustrated Paul S. Newman’s script inside. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Morris Gollub

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Rolling Thun’da In the course of the third of three stories in Magazine Enterprises’ Thun’da, King of the Congo #1 (Jan. 1952), behind his dynamic (but caricature-laden) cover, artist Frank Frazetta established his hero in a timelost jungle and supplied him with a mate and even a sabretooth as his constant companion. By the third story, however, that trio had left the primeval world for modern-day jungles and adventures. The scripts are credited to Gardner Fox. Courtesy of CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Frank Frazetta

series in the vein of Fiction House’s just-vanishing Jungle Comics. The first was Jungle Tales (with #1 cover-dated Sept. ’54), headlined by “Jann of the Jungle” (written by Don Rico and penciled by Arthur Peddy), backed by other features such as the unsurprising “Cliff Mason, White Hunter” (by Paul S. Newman, Sid Greene, and Joe Maneely) and the very surprising “Waku, Prince of the Bantu”—one of only a couple of black heroes during those decades headlining a feature set in the sub-Saharan part of a continent where the great, great majority of people were dark-skinned. A bit more standard Jungle Comics-style fare was Timely/Atlas’ Jungle Action #1 (Oct. ’54), which spotlighted Lo-Zar (a straight Ka-Zar/Tarzan type drawn by Joe Maneely), a gorilla named Man-oo the Mighty, Jungle Boy (originally illustrated by John

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Jungle Hi-jinks In The Fabulous ’50s (Left:) Of Timely/Atlas’ two mid-1950s Tarzanic entries, Jungle Tales came first, though we’ve chosen to reprint the cover of issue #6 (July ’55), with its three hero/heroine features plus other rainforest fare. Cover penciled by Syd Shores. (Right:) Joe Maneely’s cover for Goodman’s Jungle Tales #1 (Oct. ’54), with its full contingent of four regular features. Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Syd Shores Courtesy of daughter Nancy Shores Karlebach.

Forte, later John Romita), and, just for a lark, a costumed jungle heroine, Leopard Girl (drawn by Patsy and Hedy artist Al Hartley).

And of course, as noted some pages back, these two mags were companion titles to Lorna, the Jungle Queen, which had debuted in 1953. But the time for jungle comics (whether at Fiction House, Timely, or elsewhere) had mostly passed. Jungle Tales lasted seven issues, Jungle Action six… though the former did transform itself briefly into a Jann of the Jungle title. The heroes and heroines outlined on these pages were the top jungle girls and guys of the Golden Age. Oh, there were a few other “great white hunters” and other rainforest-roaming roustabouts, from the very real-life hunter Frank Buck (briefly a Charlton comic circa 1950) and lion-tamer Clyde Beatty in Dell/Western’s Crackajack Funnies to the fictional Greg Knight in Timely/Atlas’ mid-’50s Lorna of the Jungle or Safari Cary in Dagar. And, to be sure,

there were several more Lost World wannabes that popped up between 1938 and 1954… But we’d need another issue or three just to list them all!

Joe Maneely

Still Vine-Swingin’ After All These Years There’s no getting around the fact that the Golden Age of Comics was the golden age of the jungle adventure genre. Although the post-Golden Age is beyond the scope of this article, our discussion would be incomplete without at least a nod at the genre after the mid-1950s. During the Silver, Bronze, and Modern Ages, the jungle adventure has occupied a comicbook niche that has sometimes waxed and sometimes waned but never totally disappeared. During the Silver Age and Bronze ages, DC helped keep the jungle genre alive with characters like Congo Bill (a Golden Age holdover from More Fun Comics, then Action Comics) who became

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

Al Hartley from Marvel Tales Annual #1 (1964)

Jungle Lights—Jungle Camera—Jungle Action! Fred Kida

(Above:) Two ongoing series of Jungle Action #1 (Oct. 1954)—and, actually, of the entire 6-issue series—were “Lo-Zar, Lord of the Jungle”with art by Joe Maneely and “Leopard Girl,” delineated by Al Hartley. Incidentally, when the “Lo-Zar” stories were reprinted in the early 1970s, Roy Thomas rechristened him “Tharn,” after a jungle hero from the old pulps. All writers unidentified. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Prince Of Ebony More Congo Capers Bob Powell’s cover for Thun’da, King of the Congo #2 (1952). Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“Waku” was a most unusual feature, since its hero and all its recurring characters were black, a true rarity for those days. He appeared on the covers of all seven issues. This Fred Kida splash is from Jungle Action #5 (June 1955). Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

“Bring ’Em Back Alive!”

the far more simian Congorilla in 1959. Congo Bill(rilla) had a long run as a back-up in Action until 1961. [EDITOR’S NOTE: See our follow-up feature on Martin and Osa Johnson in the comics of the 1940s for some surprising angles on “Congorilla.” Because of it, we’ve omitted the paragraphs Mitch Maglio had penned on the Johnsons, once-famous jungle explorers and filmmakers—and comics stars.] Over the years, DC has kept their toes in the jungle with features like Bomba the Jungle Boy (based on a series of “young Tarzan”-type juvenile novels introduced in the 1920s), “B’wana Beast,” and even to some extent the post-apocalyptic Kamandi (The Last Boy on Earth). Over at Marvel, perhaps at the suggestion of publisher Martin Goodman, writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby came up with a new and improved rendition of the Golden Age Ka-Zar that utilized nothing but the name and hair color of the original. In The X-Men #10 (March 1965), the young mutants encountered a new and even fiercer Ka-Zar in a prehistoric jungle beneath the Antarctic ice. The new jungle hero chummed around not with Zar the lion but with Zabu the sabretooth! This one went on to become a long-running comics star on his own. The next year, T’Challa, the Black Panther, made his debut in Marvel’s Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), from the same Lee & Kirby team. His further adventures were chronicled in Jungle Action and various Black Panther series, right into the 21st century. Today the Black Panther and Wakanda are central players in both the print and cinematic Marvel Universes.

With its May 1950 issue (#70), the romance comic My True Love was converted for three issues into Frank Buck, creating fictional adventures for the true-life famous hunter of big game to supply to U.S. zoos, with his resounding motto (which we’ve utilized in the heading of this caption—and which was also the title of his first ghost-written autobiographical book). The interior art in #70 was the work of a young Wally Wood. Courtesy of CBP. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Marvel didn’t stop with those two, however. In the early ’70s, a new jungle heroine named Shanna the She-Devil (who might just be a first cousin of Sheena) found a Bronze Age home at the House of Ideas—and eventually she and the new Ka-Zar even found each other! The jungle continued to thrive during the Silver Age at Dell in titles like Jungle War Stories, Toka [Jungle King], and Jungle Jim (who also had a Silver Age run at Charlton Comics). In 1964, Gold Key took up the Tarzan mantle in a new way with issue #1 of Korak Son of Tarzan. The first issue featured art by Morris Gollub and scripts by Russ Manning. The series ended in November 1971 after 45 issues. Also in 1964, Charlton took a brief (and unauthorized) stab at chronicling Tarzan’s exploits with a four-issue run titled Jungle Tales of Tarzan and based on ERB’s stories that had been collected in a book of that name decades earlier. Later, first DC, then Marvel, then still later Dark Horse became the official publisher of ERB’s seminal hero. Sheena, the girl who started it all (at least in terms of comicbooks), continues to rule over her little piece of the jungle to this day. In the 1980s original 3-D “Sheena” adventures were [Continued on p. 49]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

The 1960s Jungle—DC Style! Carmine Infantino Photo courtesy of Mark Evanier. Since Carmine was known to scowl a lot, it’s great to see him smiling in this one!

(Left:) DC Comics editorial director (and veteran artist) Carmine Infantino penciled the cover of Bomba the Jungle Boy #1 (Sept.-Oct. 1967), inspired by a popular young-readers series of the 1920s and ’30s supposedly written by one “Roy Rockwood.” The reference to his being “TV’s Teen Jungle Star” probably refers to circa1950 low-budget Bomba movies then playing on the boob tube, starring Johnny Sheffield, who had played “Boy” to Johnny Weissmuller’s “Tarzan” in the 1940s. Oh, and the inking was by Chuck Chidera. (Right:) Earlier that year, Showcase #66 (Jan.-Feb. ’67) had introduced a belated jungle super-hero, “B’wana Beast,” behind a cover by Mike Sekowsky and Joe Giella. Both scans courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby at a cartoonists event, circa 1966. Courtesy of Sean Howe.

The 1960s Jungle—Marvel Style! The covers of both The X-Men #10 (March 1965) and Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966) were penciled by Jack “King” Kirby. The former mag was inked by Chic Stone, the latter by Joe Sinnott. Scripts & cover text by Stan Lee. Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Mike Sekowsky The prolific artist at work!

“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Shanna—Not To Confused With Sheena—Or Maybe She Was? Although George Tuska and Ross Andru were the pencilers of the several issues of Marvel’s Shanna the She-Devil, while Stan Lee and Carole Seuling had co-created the mischievously named jungle heroine, it was Jim Steranko’s super-charged pulp-style cover for #1 (Dec. 1972) that really turned heads! Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Jim Steranko A shadowy snapshot from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual.

A “re:” Of Sunshine No “re:” section this ish, but that won’t stop us from printing Shane Foley’s homage to Will Eisner’s figure on the cover of Jungle Comics #5 (May 1940)! Colored by Randy Sargent. [Alter Ego hero TM & @ Roy & Dann Thomas; designed by Ron Harris.]

Inca-Dinka-Doo! (Above:) Toka #10 (Jan. 1967) was an interesting experiment at Dell/ Western, since that jungle king was indigenous—the descendant of an ancient Incan ruler in South America, who protected his surviving subjects from every threat. Cover artist Frank Springer drew the tales inside; Joe Gill wrote them. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarzanic Tales In The Golden Age (& Beyond)

What Was There About 1958? (Above:) Numerous old jungle-comics stories were reprinted in the 1950s and ’60s, the heyday of companies like Israel Waldman’s IW Publishing/Super Comics, which would acquire the black-&white proofs and color plates of comics from a decade or two earlier and re-package them, often with new covers. All the following appeared in the single year 1958:

Jungle Jim Needed A Jungle Gym! The Pines group had launched a Jungle Jim title with “#11” for January 1949, starring Alex Raymond’s famed comic strip hero, behind a cover by Paul Norris. In the late 1960s, Charlton picked up the title for a time. [Jungle Jim TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

Jungle Comics #9 (there was no #1-8, though) reprinted late-’40s tales of Fiction House’s “Kaänga” and “Wambi” behind a cover by L.B. Cole (which may be left over from the latter’s Star Comics line)…

Ross Andru

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #9 (again, no #1-8) contained vintage exploits of that blonde heroine, with a cover by Evertt Raymond Kinstler re-purposed from that of Avon’s White Princess of the Jungle #4 (Aug. ’52)… …and publisher Waldman’s go-to team of penciler Ross Andru and his inker/partner Mike Esposito churned out, among numerous new covers for IW/Super, this one for Fantastic Adventures #17, which “re-presented” Matt Baker’s “South Sea Girl.” Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Don’t STEAL our Digital Editions!

Paul Norris as a young man, before he had even co-created “Aquaman .” Courtesy of the Norris family.

C’mon citizen, DO THE RIGHT THING! A Mom & Pop publisher like us needs every sale just to survive! DON’T DOWNLOAD OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! Buy affordable, legal downloads only at

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“It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!”

Sheena Stoops To Conquer! We pretty much started with Fiction House’s top jungle gal, so we figured we might as well end with her. Seen above are two 1980s covers by the late great comics artist Dave Stevens: Blackthorne Publishing’s otherwisereprint Sheena 3-D Special #1 (May 1985) and Jungle Comics #1 (May ’88), plus a Golden Age “Sheena” page from the former, probably at least partly drawn by Robert Webb, turned into 3-D. [Sheena is a registered trademark of © Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

Dave Stevens [Continued from p. 45] reprinted by Blackthorne. In the late 1990s she was featured in several series from various publishers (London Night Studios, Devil’s Due, and Moonstone) before finding a home with Dynamite Publishing in 2017. The post-Golden Age jungle is alive and thriving. But that’s a swingin’ tale for another day.

Mitch Maglio

Mitch Maglio is the author of Fiction House: From Pulps to Panels, from Jungles to Space and Jungle Girls, both for Yoe Books. He is also an actor/director for Ghostlight Players, a non-profit theatre group in Staten Island, NY.

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books 1928-1999 Online Edition Created by Jerry G. Bails FREE – online searchable database – FREE http://www. bailsprojects.com/ whoswho.aspx – No password required The hero of this feature in Fox’s Dagar [Desert Hawk] #15 (April 1948) is officially “Safari Cary”—but you wouldn’t know it from the diving damsel in the foreground! Art by Edmond Good (as “Damond”); scripter unknown. Thanks to Mitch Maglio. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

From Kansas To Congorilla

The Adventures Of Martin & Osa Johnson In Comics

by Conrad G. Froelich

n the first half of the last century, pioneering documentary filmmakers, photographers, and authors Martin and Osa Johnson captured the public’s imagination with scenes and stories of distant, exotic lands. From 1917-1936 this married couple from Kansas traveled across the South Pacific, Borneo, and East and Central Africa. Through years of work in the field, they innovated wildlife film techniques and made documentary movies superior to others of the time. The Johnsons’ legacy is a record of the cultures and wildlife of many remote areas of the world which have since undergone significant changes. It includes some of the earliest and best-quality images of East Africa and other regions. Consequently, it is of great value to researchers, continues to be used in modern documentary programs, and inspires new fans. The work of Martin Elmer Johnson (1884-1937) and Osa Helen Leighty (1894-1953) resulted in dozens of popular commercial movies, lecture films, and shorts released by Metro, Fox, Columbia, and other studios. Their movies had wonderfully inspired Hollywood titles such as Simba (1928), Congorilla (1932), and Baboona (1935). Between them, the Johnsons also wrote 20 books and more than 100 magazine articles. Osa Johnson’s autobiography I Married Adventure, with its eye-catching zebra-striped cover, was the No. 1 bestselling non-fiction book in 1940 and is still in

print in English, French, and Spanish. It had been written following Martin’s death in an airplane crash in California in January 1937. The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum was established in Osa’s hometown of Chanute, Kansas,

Martin & Osa Johnson (or, as they were always known before Martin’s tragic death in 1937, “Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson”) on the African Serengeti (in today’s Tanzania) in the ’30s—above the Dec. 24, 1934, daily of their 6-times-a-week comic strip Danger Trails (art & story by William A. Steward)—and a page from Fiction House’s Wambi the Jungle Boy #1 (Spring 1942), drawn by Henry C. Kiefer, which related the story of the adventurous filmmakers. All materials accompanying this article have been provided by Conrad Froelich, unless otherwise indicated. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

The Adventures Of Martin & Osa Johnson In Comics

development of a nationally syndicated daily strip in the 1930s. Steward’s first letter to Martin Johnson at The Explorers Club in New York City is dated September 12, 1931, and begins:

Enduring Epithets (Left:) The Johnsons’ 1932 “travelogue” Congorilla was advertised as the first sound film made entirely in Africa. (1930’s Africa Speaks! had filmed one faked lion attack at the L.A. zoo!) The Johnsons’ inventive title seems to have had a long legacy in popular culture, as you’ll see in a page or three. (Right:) The title of Osa’s 1940 tale of her and Martin’s exciting life together—I Married Adventure—was not only catchy on its own; but someone dreamed up its “zebra-skin” cover, which makes it still sought-after today for folks who want visually stunning book covers on their shelves. The memoir, while Osa (and her presumed collaborator/ghost-writer) may have gilded the lily on occasion, holds up quite well as a joint story of marriage and adventure. A/E’s editor, who first checked the book out of the Jackson (MO) Public Library around age ten, when it was less than a decade old, suggests reading it in conjunction with P.J. and E.M. Imperato’s 1992 joint biography They Married Adventure. [© the respective copyright holders.]

in 1961 to preserve this legacy. It maintains the largest collection of Johnson materials and is a center for research into their achievements. Within these archives are diverse collections— —including comics. The Johnsons’ lives were covered by the 1934-1936 daily comic strip Danger Trails: True Adventures of the Famous Explorer Martin Johnson, drawn and written by William “Bill” A. Steward. It was initially handled by an erratic agent, Edward N. Dolbey, Jr., and later by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate. This biographical strip illustrated the Johnsons’ story, beginning with their first trip together into the South Seas. Martin had initially visited these islands as a crew member of the 1907-1909 Snark voyages trip with Jack and Charmian London. As the strip progressed, Steward added fictional characters and parallel storylines to keep up the interest of readers. Following Steward’s death in 2001 at the age of 90, his daughter Barbara Hillmer very generously donated boxes of Danger Trails material to the museum. This included 164 original comic strips plus 16 pages of original sketches, 141 pieces of correspondence between Steward and the Johnsons dated 1931-1935, 81 newspaper clippings, 58 black-&-white photographs, numerous promotional items, and more. In 2009 the museum was honored to accept a second Steward collection, containing 131 photographs from Bill’s grandson, Sid Steward; this included several Johnson photographs not previously held in the museum archives. These collections provide an exceptional insight into the relationship between a comic artist and his subject and the

You will find enclosed some suggestions for a newspaper strip based on your book “Lion,” which I am taking the liberty to submit for your consideration. Like most young fellows I am much interested in your books and pictures and while studying cartooning at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, I hit upon the idea of working up your adventures in strip form. The more I thought of it the more I was convinced that it had wonderful possibilities, so I drew up several strips and showed them to my teacher, Mr. Nick Nichols, cartoonist, and author of the strip “Adventures of Peter Pen” and “Just Sposin.” He spoke of knowing you and advised me to go ahead with the idea and submit it to you. [Note: Charles “Nick” A. Nichols (1910-1992) went on to become an animator and film director at Disney and Hanna-Barbera.]

As the partnership developed, their letters covered the challenges of finding a syndicate to handle this strip during the Depression, evolving illustration techniques, and providing Steward with writings and photographs for accuracy. To promote the strip, they offered free copies of the large Danger Trails “Adventure Map of the South Seas” and “Adventure Map of Africa” to readers. This had a positive result. Steward wrote to Martin on December 19, 1934: “School teachers have requested quantity lots for them and quite a number of school children have written in saying they were making Danger Trail scrap books.” They also tried but failed in 1934 to generate interest in a related Martin Johnson’s Adventure Notes. It featured larger illustrated frames highlighting wildlife species and native customs. This idea was later incorporated into Danger Trails as a weekly “Adventure Note” segment. Plus, they added an occasional “Cut-Out” animal or warrior figure and “Jungle Quiz” with an answer provided in the following day’s strip. Because Steward had not traveled overseas, the Johnsons’ photographs were especially useful. There are numerous side-by-side examples of Steward drawings matching specific photographs. The popularity of using Johnson photographs continued in 1939, with the British State of North Borneo issuing two postage stamps. These contained images of a Borneo native and a proboscis monkey based on Johnson pictures. Danger Trails appeared in several U.S. and Canada newspapers but never reached a significant circulation level. On March 11, 1935, Bill wrote that it was carried by 40 papers, “most of them small.” Among larger papers running this daily strip were the Cleveland Press, Detroit News, New York Evening Post, and Philadelphia Record. In 1935 Martin Johnson wrote his “Big Little Book” Danger

From Kansas To Congorilla

Following Danger Trails—Six Days A Week! (Above:) The Danger Trails dailies for Jan. 31 and Feb. 14, 1935, actually scripted & drawn by William A. Steward. (Maybe having Osa scare off a lion with a hurled boot was a Valentine’s present of sorts to her?) [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Trails in Africa (Whitman Publishing Co. with copyright by Stephen Slesinger, Inc.). Although the book’s illustrator is not named, the drawings are clearly Steward’s from the Danger Trails strip. [Note: Media pioneer Stephen Slesinger (1901-1953) went on to create comic strip characters and is considered the “father of the licensing industry.”] On a related note: In 1934 Martin and Osa Johnson became the first married couple, and Osa only the second woman, featured on a box of Wheaties. Beginning that year Wheaties put pictures of well-known people on cereal boxes to match the slogan “The Breakfast of Champions.” Martin and Osa are pictured atop their giraffe-spotted Sikorsky S-39 amphibian plane. In December 1934, the Johnsons participated in a pre-release promotion of their Fox feature movie Baboona. Celebrated WWI “Ace of Aces” Eddie Rickenbacker was enlisted to fly an Eastern Air Lines plane around New York City while the movie was screened inflight. In the process, Baboona became the first sound movie to be shown during an air flight. Baboona premiered January 22, 1935, at the Rialto Theatre in New York City. After Martin’s 1937 death, there was an unsuccessful attempt to develop the strip Diana Daring in Jungle Depths by “Mrs. (Osa) Martin Johnson.” It was drawn by Glenn Cravath (1897-1964), best known as a comic illustrator for Kings Feature Syndicates, cover artist for pulp books and magazines, and movie poster artist for films ranging from Johnny Weissmuller’s Jungle Jim series to Frank Buck’s wildlife films and Westerns to King Kong features—as well as Osa Johnson’s 1940 movie I Married Adventure, based on her book. For fans of the Johnsons’ books and movies, there are some titles that are uniquely linked to Martin and Osa, such as the 1932 book and movie Congorilla. Congorilla is, of course, a creative

Big Little Bravado The cover of the Danger Trails in Africa Big Little Book from 1935, which utilized images and storylines from the comic strip, altered into that then-popular format. Art by William A. Steward. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

The Adventures Of Martin & Osa Johnson In Comics

combination of “Congo” and “gorilla.” Readers of DC Comics will recognize the character “Congorilla.” Comicbook author and honorary Safari Museum trustee Roy Thomas explained: “‘Congorilla’ was, for several years, a DC feature in Action Comics (which starred Superman). Originally, the strip had been ‘Congo Bill,’ a sort of imitation of ‘Jungle Jim’−but later [beginning

in 1959], as that strip faded in popularity, Congo Bill acquired the power to project his mind inside a golden-furred gorilla and to control it. I’ve long assumed the name was probably taken from the Johnsons’ film, although I suppose it’s possible some writer hit on the name by accident.” Interestingly, Congorilla was also the name of an arcade game based on the 1981 Crazy Kong (that was in turn a bootleg version of Donkey Kong). In later years Martin and Osa found their way into various comics with, unfortunately, the writers and artists often unnamed. The list includes: “Jungle Adventuress Osa Johnson” in Calling All Girls (Vol. 1, #1, Sept. 1941); “Wambi Tells About Big Game” in Wambi the Jungle Boy (#1, Spring 1942); “Martin Johnson” in Real Life Comics (#43, Feb. 1943); “Skir” in Kid Eternity (#9, Spring 1948); “Adventurous Americans,” a mostly-prose piece in Daredevil (#105, Dec. 1953); “Cinéma chez les Cannibales” in the Belgium comic Spirou (#1.050, May 29, 1958)—this story features a continental-looking Martin with a mustache, drawn by Eddy Paape [1920-2012], a Belgian-born animator and cartoonist best known for the Luc Orient series. “Aventures en Polynésie” in the Franco-Belgian comic Le Journal de Tintin, with Osa as a blonde (#1035, Aug. 28, 1968); “The Mysterious Gaudian” by writer Tony DePaul and artist Paul Ryan, with background information provided by publisher Jim Shepherd, in The Phantom (#1527, Christmas Special 2008); …and “Martin & Osa Johnson” by Christophe Gibelin in the French aviation magazine Piloter (#81, May-June 2020).

Daring To Go Out On Her Own After her husband’s death, Osa fronted (whether or not she actually wrote) samples for a new strip Diana Daring in Jungle Depths—but alas, it failed to sell to a syndicate. Art by Glenn Cravath. This must have been intended as a Sunday strip. [© the respective copyright holders.]

A related comic ran in the May 1955 issue of Boys’ Life magazine. The uncredited “The Time of Our Lives!” was a “Story of the Month” comic highlighting the alleged adventures of three Boy Scouts who (in real life) went on safari with the Johnsons in 1928. Additionally, there were caricatures of Osa Johnson drawn by New York Times cartoonist

From Kansas To Congorilla

Clockwise In The Congo “Congo Bill” had been a back-of-the-book feature at DC Comics since 1940 (much of the time in Action Comics), and his proximity in the latter mag to Superman probably led to his starring in a Columbia theatrical serial in 1948, featuring Don McGuire. Dated Aug.-Sept. 1954, Congo Bill was launched in a title of his own. It only lasted seven issues, but that was long enough for him to encounter this “golden gorilla” (there were three of them in the series in all, the final one being the one that really counted). Art by Nick Cardy. Eventually, Congo Bill discovered a magic ring (is there any other kind?) that allowed him to temporarily switch mentalities with the great golden ape known as “Congorilla,” as seen in Adventure Comics #281 (Feb. 1961), written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Howard Sherman. Congorilla has popped up again and again in DC comics over the years. The comics character’s name may or may not owe a debt to Martin and Osa’s 1932 film, but the latter had caused a stir at the time, since gorilla footage was then extremely rare. And of course the classic giant-ape movie King Kong, which has a syllable in common with Congorilla, was released (or escaped) in 1933. Popular culture is a tangled web. [TM & © DC Comics.]

The Adventures Of Martin & Osa Johnson In Comics

Osa Get Your Gun!

I Married The Movies

(Above:) Osa’s newfound popularity following the publication of I Married Adventure was reflected in this 9-page biography that appeared in the first issue of the mostly-comics Calling All Girls (dated Sept. 1941). Art by John Daly; writer unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Movie poster for the 1940 film I Married Adventure, which starred Osa as herself. It was a mixture of new footage plus many sequences from the Johnsons’ earlier films, put together to tell the story of Martin and Osa Johnson as filmmakers, explorers, and a loving couple. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

and band leader Xavier Cugat (1900-1990) and Mexican painter, caricaturist, and illustrator Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957). The Johnsons’ appearance continues in modern comic stories such as the 2020 FanFiction story “Batman: The Gorilla That Went Ape” by “zooman.” While not “comics,” three of Osa Johnson’s children’s books, Pantaloons: Adventures of a Baby Elephant (1941), Snowball: Adventures of a Young Gorilla (1942), and Tarnish: The Story of a Lion Cub (1944), were beautifully illustrated by Arthur August Jansson (1890-1960). An earlier “Pantaloons” article by Osa, in Good Housekeeping magazine (1935), had told the story of the baby elephant the Johnsons brought back to the U.S. from their 1933-1934 “Flying Safari.” The (ghost-written) Pantaloons book, however, is a charming story of the adventures of a baby elephant in Africa with, presumably, the Johnsons (and their plane) making only a brief appearance as unnamed filmmakers. Osa had a humorous comment about Pantaloons, as related in a January 30, 1942, account in the Tulsa Daily World:

How Real Can Life Get? The cover of Pines’ Real Life Comics #43 (Feb. 1948) heralded a 6-page account inside of the Johnsons’ life together. Artist unknown. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

From Kansas To Congorilla

Well, Belgium Did Own The Congo For A While! (Above left:) The Belgium comics magazine Spirou #1035 (May 29, 1958) included a feature on Martin and Osa—centered on their encounter with cannibals in the South Seas early in their filmmaking careers. Art credited to Eddy Paape. (Above right:) The Franco-Belgian comic Le Journal de Tintin covered some of the same material—with a blonde Osa—in issue #1035 (Aug. 28, 1968). Writer & artist unidentified—at least by us! Thanks to Jean-Marc Lofficier. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Her latest book for children is about “Pantaloons, the Baby Elephant” and the name is going to follow her wherever she goes, she is firmly convinced. So she has stopped being surprised when a male shopper comes up to her in a store where she is autographing copies and says “Mrs. Johnson, will you autograph my Pantaloons?” Through the decades there has been an interesting, and sometimes anecdotal, link between Walt Disney and Martin and Osa Johnson. Because of the popularity of the Johnsons’ wildlife documentary films, it’s reasonable to assume Walt was aware of them. As an example, Walt Disney and “The Martin Johnsons” were the subjects of the first two chapters in the 1942 book Twenty Modern Americans by Alice Cecilia Cooper (1878-1960) and illustrator Cameron Wright (1901-?). Some Disney cast members have suggested that the Johnsons’ films influenced Walt’s movies and even the Jungle Cruise attraction’s lion scene. In response to inquiries, Ted Thomas, son of animator Frank Thomas (1912-2004), one of “Disney’s Nine Old

Men,” replied “I’m quite familiar with the work of Martin and Osa Johnson, having seen their films way back in the day when I worked on National Geographic Specials (a long time ago). I’m afraid that I cannot confirm your question outright. However, I can say that my father mentioned having seen the Johnsons’ work, and it is entirely likely that prints of their films were borrowed or rented for the Disney artists to study. From 1935 onward there was the equivalent of a Studio art class where the entire staff studied anatomy, life drawing, and principles of movement in an effort to make their animation more believable. This allowed them to move from cartooning to the caliber of the feature work that began with Snow White (1937).” Collaborations between The Walt Disney Company and the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum began in 1976. That year Disney became the first organization to license Johnson film from the museum for use in modern documentaries and other programs. In this case it was Disney’s Filming Nature’s Mysteries. Disney again licensed Johnson film as part of “Rafiki’s Planet Watch” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom when it opened in 1998 at Walt Disney World. The largest ongoing exhibit of Johnson photos in the U.S., outside of the museum in Chanute, is at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge—Jambo House. The architects and Disney team developing a new “safari lodge” borrowed Johnson films from the museum in 1997 and 1998 for research and inspiration. When opened April 16, 2001, it included 36 Johnson photographs provided by the museum along with an original copy of Osa’s book I Married Adventure in the lodge’s Sunset Lounge. Photos from each of the Johnsons’ five extended African expeditions are represented in this exhibit that is

The Adventures Of Martin & Osa Johnson In Comics

open free to guests and the general public to view. A portion of the online Atlas of Women Explorers text states: “In the movie King Kong, the character of Ann, the young woman whom the huge gorilla kidnaps and carried to the top of New York City’s Empire State Building, was inspired by Osa Johnson, who, in 1933, the year of the film’s release, was at the peak of her fame.” Osa’s story and image continue to influence as a style icon. In recent years she has been a muse for fashion designers and manufacturers of clothing and accessories. This was most evident with American Eagle Outfitters’ 2006-2010 “Martin + Osa” clothing line and chain of stores. The Johnsons’ easily recognizable zebra-striped Sikorsky S-38 amphibious plane has a leading role and appears on the cover of a graphic novel published in 2020 in France and 2021 in Germany. Liberty Bessie–Volume 2: On the Trail of the Maylaros is the continuation of Bessie Bates’ search for her missing father, a World War II Tuskegee Airman. This leads the heroine to Tripoli, where she discovers and repairs the plane to resume her quest. This story begins with a scene reminiscent of the first Indiana Jones movie Raider of the Lost Ark. In this case two men are chased through a jungle by angry natives. They make their way down to a river and narrowly escape in the S-38. Is it possible that the Indiana Jones chase scene was originally inspired by Martin and Osa’s escape from the Big Nambas on the island of Malekula in 1917?

Who’s The Piloter Of This Plane?

Through the years there have been several excellent biographies written about the Johnsons, including Exploring with Martin and Osa Johnson (1978) by Kenhelm W. Stott, Jr, They Married Adventure: The Wandering Lives of Martin & Osa Johnson (1992) by Pascal James Imperato and Eleanor M. Imperato, Osa and Martin: For the Love of Adventure (2011) by Kelly Enright, and Across the World with the Johnsons: Visual Culture and American Empire in the Twentieth Century (2013) by Prue Ahrens, Lamont Lindstrom, and Fiona Paisley.

(Above:) The French aviation magazine Piloter opted for an approach that combined comics, painted illustration, and prose narrative. From #81 (May-June 2020). [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Phantom Meets Martin & Osa—Sort Of! (Right:) In The Phantom newspaper strip circa 2007 or -8, writer Tony DePaul and artist Paul Ryan included the Johnsons’ famous Sikorsky flying boats in the storyline. That sequence was reprinted in The Phantom Christmas Special #1527 for 2008. [TM & © King Features Syndicate.]

If It Isn’t One Thing… (Left:) This 4-17-35 Danger Trails strip by writer/artist Wm. A. Steward told of the Johnsons’ search for the lost wonderland they would soon call Lake Paradise. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

From Kansas To Congorilla

So Near And Yet Safari The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas.

Museum Information The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum was established to preserve the Johnsons’ achievements and to encourage further research into their fields of study. The museum started with a core collection of the Johnsons’ films, photographs, manuscripts, articles, books, and personal belongings donated by Osa’s mother, Belle Leighty. Over the years, related collections have developed to broaden the museum’s ability to achieve its mission, including an African ethnographic collection established in 1974 by Johnson scholar Dr. Pascal J. Imperato, which includes masks, headdresses, furnishings, personal accessories, tools, armaments, textiles, and musical instruments representing different ethnic groups in West and Central Africa.

In 1993 the museum relocated to Chanute’s beautifully renovated Santa Fe train depot as part of a $2 million project. Visitors will find carefully planned exhibits, a range of education programs for children and adults, and a helpful staff of professional employees and volunteers. Winner of state and national awards and named the No. 1 Museum in Kansas, the Safari Museum® is within easy driving distance of Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa, and Joplin, Missouri. For more information about the Johnsons and ways to support the museum’s education programs, you can contact museum staff at 620-4312730 or osajohns@safarimuseum. com. The museum’s website is www. SafariMuseum.com. Conrad Froelich has been director of the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum since 1989, holds an M.A. in Anthropology from Miami University, and, importantly, was the winner of The Dragon magazine’s “Name That Monster” Contest #1 (issue #14, May 1978). He is married to his favorite adventuress, Judy Froelich.

Conrad Froelich director of the Museum (on left), with Museum curator Jacque Borgeson Zimmer, 2023.

Special A/E Note: To join our online discussion group re Alter Ego, go to https://groups.io/g/Alter-Ego-Fans. If you need help getting on board, please contact Chet Cox at mormonyoyoman.com. And, if any convention promoter or comics store owner or podcaster wishes to inquire about booking Roy Thomas for a future appearance—he/she should contact John Cimino at johnstretch@ live.com. John runs the Roy Thomas Appreciation Board on Facebook, too (see below).

(Photo taken at CCXP23 in São Paolo, Brazil, Dec. 2023)

The museum’s Stott Explorers Library was named in honor of the late Kenhelm W. Stott, Jr., General Curator Emeritus of the San Diego Zoo and a friend of Osa Johnson. It was formed in 1980 and includes books and reference materials covering a variety of natural history and cultural subjects. In recent years the museum has received donations of artifacts and records representing other early explorers and travelers.

Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation Publication Title: Alter Ego Publication Number: 1932-6890 Filing Date: July 4, 2024 Issue Frequency: Bi-monthly Number of Issues Published Annually: 6 Annual Subscription Price: $73 Address of Known Office of Publication and General Business Office of Publisher: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 Contact Person: John Morrow Telephone: 919-449-0344 Editor: Roy Thomas, 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews SC 29135 Publisher and Managing Editor: John Morrow, TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 Owner: Roy Thomas, 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews SC 29135 Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders: None Issue Date for Circulation Data: July 2024 Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months: 2433 No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date: 2700 Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies): 406 (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies): 0 (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS®: 1843 (4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g., First-Class Mail®): 31 Total Paid Distribution: 2280 Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included on PS Form 3541: 221 (2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541: 0 (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS (e.g., First-Class Mail): 0 (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means): 0 Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 221 Total Distribution: 2501 Copies not Distributed: 199 Total: 2700 Percent Paid: 91% I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). John Morrow, publisher

Art by Gil Kane & John Romita Ka-Zar TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

We All Have To Start Somewhere! (Part 4)

by Michael T. Gilbert

am was the first pro I ever met up close and personal. The year was 1969 and I was an 18-year-old high school senior, working part-time before school at the Commack Post Office on Long Island, NY. After unloading mail sacks, I spotted a large flat package of comic pages Sam was mailing to Charlton. I was shocked and delighted to discover that a real live comicbook artist lived right in my own town. Gathering my courage, I found Sam’s name in the phone book and called him. Then I nervously asked if my then-girlfriend and I could visit. Slightly suspicious, he asked me what comics of his I’d read. Fortunately, I actually was a fan and listed his recent Hercules series for Charlton (wild stuff!), as well as Dell’s Kona and various war comics. Thus convinced, he invited gal-pal Karen and me over and

Another FLY-By-Night Hero? Sixteen-year-old Sam Glanzman created his first super-hero, Fly-Man, for Harvey’s Spitfire Comics #1. Sam’s Fly-Man was no relation to Archie’s 1960sera hero bearing the same name. His Fly-Man, alas, lasted only two stories. This original page is from August 1941. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

we spent a couple of hours schmoozing. Mr. Glanzman was very friendly. Humble to a fault. And Jewish. Our mouths dropped when he related a war story about his Southern shipmates on the USS Stevens. They had never seen a Jew before—and were genuinely surprised that Sam didn’t have horns! Sam also mentioned that he and his brother Lou (whom he greatly admired!) had drawn comics way back in the Golden Age. I tried to press him on details, but memories of what titles exactly had faded with time. Back then there was no Grand Comics Database, Who’s Who of American Comics, or even Google to find out. There were few historical books or articles on Golden Age comics beyond the original Alter Ego and a few other ‘60s-era fanzines.

A Second Glanz At Comics The Centaur comics group’s Amazing-Man #12 (May 1940) featured “The Shark,” drawn by Sam’s older brother Louis “Lew” Glanzman. Lou went on to a lucrative career in commercial and fine art. Sam was a huge fan! [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Not so today! We now know that Samuel Joseph Glanzman was born on December 5, 1924, and began his comics career in late 1939 in the studios of early comicbook packager Funnies, Inc. However, technically, Sam’s first comicbook art appeared in the fan page of Tip Top Comics #44, in December 1939, drawn when he was at the tail end of fourteen.

We All Have To Start Somewhere! (Part 4)

Tip Top Cartooning! Sam’s very first comicbook appearance was a fan offering on “The Tip Top Fan Club” page in United’s Tip Top Comics #44 (Dec. 1939). Sam was fourteen when he drew it. Three other young, aspiring cartoonists mentioned on the page included Jack Davis, Warren Tufts, and Mort Walker. Wow! [© the respective copyright holders.]

Sam kept busy until 1943 doing art for Chesler, Harvey, and others. Some of his early credits can be confusing. Comic historians sometimes mistake Sam’s early art with that of the similarly-named Sam Gilman. Gilman was also working for Chesler at the time, and

sometimes signed his art with the same ”S.G.” initials. Sam Gilman later became a highly successful character actor for TV and movies. But we know where he got his start! Further confusing the issue is the “Sam Decker” pseudonym that Sam and Lou Glanzman

A Woeful Beginning!

That’s The Bunk!

“Why, Woeful Wilbert…!” may be Sam’s first war story, a genre at which he excelled. It’s from Harvey’s All-New Short Story Comics #3 (May 1943). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

An original page from Harvey’s Green Hornet #12 (April 1943). Lots of goofy details here, but I’m not convinced big-foot humor was Sam’s strongest suit. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

sometimes shared in those early days. And to make matters worse, beginning in the ‘60s, some stories signed “SJG” were actually drawn by Sal Gentile! Oy! C’mon, guys! In 1943, Glanzman enlisted in the Navy, serving on the Destroyer USS Stevens until discharged in 1946. Decades later, Sam would do a series of stories based on incidents he witnessed on his ship. These autobiographical tales, beginning in Our Army at War #218 (for April 1970), would turn out to be some of the finest work of his career—done for both DC and Marvel. After leaving the Navy (and tired of the lousy pay!), the young artist abandoned comics for a series of manual labor jobs in cabinet shops, lumber mills, and boat yards. Later he worked installing machine guns on military jets at Republic Aviation in Farmingdale, NY. But eventually the siren call of comics proved too strong to resist, and in 1948 Glanzman contributed a few stories to Fox’s Western Outlaws and Western Thrillers. A couple of years later, he provided art for Eastern Color’s New Heroic Comics. On the side, he also augmented his income with children’s book illustrations. But his comic career really took off in 1958, when he began working for editor Pat Masulli at Charlton. There, Glanzman produced reams of art for the company (and since they were one of the lowest-paying companies, he had to!). Sam specialized in Charlton’s war comics with names like

Pick Your Poison! Sam tries his hand at sci-fi in this story from Harvey’s All-New Short Story Comics #4 (Aug. 1943) [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

POW! Though not known for his super-hero work, Sam’s heroes really packed a punch! The “Human Meteor” story is from Harvey’s Champ Comics #25 (April 1943). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

The Man Himself! Sam in his studio in 2010.

We All Have To Start Somewhere! (Part 4)

Shocking! Sam Glanzman channels Simon & Kirby for the “Shock Gibson” story in Speed Comics #27 (July 1943). This seems to be Sam’s only “Shock Gibson” story. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Fightin’ Navy, Fightin’ Army, Fightin’ Air Force, Fightin’ Marines, and in fact, Fightin’ anything! At the same time, he began producing war comics for Dell. Air War Stories, Jungle War Stories, and Tales of the Green Berets were some of the titles. Then there were his movie and TV adaptations, including Garrison’s Gorillas, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Lad A Dog.

Dell’s Kona, Monarch of Monster Isle may be the most beloved series he illustrated. Kona was a heroic caveman-type who lived in a hidden valley filled with prehistoric critters. Sam excelled at drawing dinosaurs and the like, and would sometimes experiment with wild, psychedelic layouts. The series lasted 21 issues from 1962 to 1967. From 1959 to 1961, Sam also did art for Gilberton’s Classics Illustrated comics—particularly their The World around Us series. Sam also contributed to two notable Charlton series in the ‘60s. He illustrated a faithful four-issue Jungle Tales of Tarzan comic. Unfortunately, the series was unauthorized and the Burroughs Estate put a stop to it, forcing Charlton to destroy Sam’s art to issue #5 before publication. Arghh! Also noteworthy was Glanzman’s work on the daring World War II anti-war series “The Lonely War of Captain Willy Schultz,” appearing in Fightin’ Army. The run, which lasted from 1967 to 1970, was written by 16-year-old Will Franz. Over time, “The Lonely War of Captain Willy Schultz” gained a cult following and was collected by Dark Horse Publishing in 2023. Glanzman toiled at Charlton from 1957 to 1972, with reprints appearing up to 1986, when the company folded. Beginning in 1970, Sam began working for high-end DC comics, primarily on war titles like G.I. Combat and Our Fighting Forces. He also

Trippy! (Right:) Sam drew a particularly psychedelic cover for Charlton’s Hercules #1 (May 1969). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Kona Breaks Out! (Left:) Sam’s experimental layouts for Dell’s Kona Monarch of Monster Isle #3 (Sept. 1962)— which, come to think of it, would also have fit in this issue’s “jungle comics” coverage. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

USS Stevens: First Blood! (Left:) Sam’s autobiographical series “USS Stevens” began in DC’s Our Army At War #218 (April 1970). [TM & © DC Comics.]

drew spooky stories for their Ghosts and similar mystery comics. Later, he also provided a few stories for Marvel. In 1995 Sam wrote and illustrated a new creator-owned series, Attu, for Flashback Comics. Attu was a noble caveman in the mold of Dell’s Kona, and quite entertaining. Sam passed away on July 12, 2017, at age 92, leaving behind an impressive body of comic art. And, if Mr. Glanzman’s early work was a little, er… crude, well, as I’ve been saying all along… …we all have to start somewhere! Till next time,

War Diary (Left:) This sketch, dated 1943 (or perhaps 1944?), is from one of Sam’s war journals. He later referred to these notes when telling his true-life USS Stevens stories. [© Estate of Sam Glanzman.]

In Memoriam

Ramona Fradon (1926-2024)

A “Clean, Distinctive Style” by Bryan D. Stroud

amona Dom Fradon, whose artistic career began at DC/ National Comics in 1951 as the Golden Age was winding down, passed away on February 24, 2024, at the age of 97, only weeks after retiring after seven decades. She was born October 2, 1926, in Chicago and grew up in New York City. Born into an artistic family, her talent was seen by her father, who influenced her decision to attend art school. She seemed destined to be a cartoonist, as she had married New Yorker cartoonist Dana Fradon, who urged her into the field. (They were later divorced.) George Ward, a friend of the Fradons and later an assistant to Walt Kelly of Pogo fame, further urged her to make up samples which led to her first assignment—on a “Shining Knight” story for DC/National. One of the few women working in the industry, Fradon’s clean, distinctive style quickly led to a regular assignment drawing the “Aquaman” feature. During her tenure, she co-created kid sidekick Aqualad with writer Robert Bernstein. Solidly into the Silver Age, Ramona drew the first Batman team-up for the Brave and the Bold title (with Green Lantern) and then was paired with writer Bob Haney in 1965 to roll out her most famous co-creation, Metamorpho, the Element Man.

Ramona Fradon In a 2007 interview, she Also seen are her “Aquaman” shared these recollections: “I did splash panel from Adventure a number of sketches before I Comics #269 (Feb. 1960), which arrived at Metamorpho’s look. introduced Aqualad… and a Bob and [editor] George Kashdan sketch of Metamorpho and both approved it. I only agreed to friends that she did for fan/ get it started. I had a two-year-old researcher Bryan D. Stroud. daughter and wanted to get away “Aquaman” script by Robert from deadlines and be a full-time Bernstein. [Pages TM & © DC mom. I enjoyed working with Bob Comics.] enormously. His scripts influenced my drawing, and my drawing influenced him. We had such a rapport on that feature you might say we were walking around in each other’s heads.” Other notable work done by Ramona Fradon over the years includes runs on DC’s Super Friends, Plastic Man, and Freedom Fighters, and illustrating the syndicated newspaper comic strip Brenda Starr Reporter from 1980 to 1995. In her later years, freed from deadlines, she turned her attention to doing commission work and appearances at conventions. Ramona Fradon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006. An in-depth interview with Ramona Fradon appeared in Alter Ego #69.

Edited by ROY THOMAS The first and greatest “hero-zine”—ALL-NEW, focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY’S Comic Fandom Archive, and more!

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ALTER EGO #180

ALTER EGO #182

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BLE

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ALTER EGO #177

ALTER EGO #178

ALTER EGO #179

Celebration of veteran artist DON PERLIN, artist of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, THE DEFENDERS, GHOST RIDER, MOON KNIGHT, 1950s horror, and just about every other adventure genre under the fourcolor sun! Plus Golden Age artist MARCIA SNYDER—Marvel’s early variant covers— Marvelmania club and fanzine—FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Cracked Mazagine, & more!

Golden Age great EMIL GERSHWIN, artist of Starman, Spy Smasher, and ACG horror—in a super-length special MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT by MICHAEL T. GILBERT—plus a Gershwin showcase in PETER NORMANTON’s From The Tomb— even a few tidbits about relatives GEORGE and IRA GERSHWIN to top it off! Also FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and other surprise features!

Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1—’cause we kinda blew right past its 60th—plus a sagacious salute to STAN LEE’s 100th birthday, with never-before-seen highlights—and to FF #1 and #2 inker GEORGE KLEIN! Spotlight on Sub-Mariner in the Bowery in FF #4—plus sensational secrets behind FF #1 and #3! Also: FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, a JACK KIRBY cover, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

ALTER EGO #183

ALTER EGO #184

ALTER EGO #185

THE YOUNG ALL-STARS—the late-1980s successor to ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with first artist BRIAN MURRAY and last artist LOU MANNA—surprising insights by writer/co-creator ROY THOMAS—plus a panorama of never-seen Young All-Stars artwork! All-new cover by BRIAN MURRAY! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and beyond!

An FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) special, behind a breathtaking JERRY ORDWAY cover! Features on Uncle Marvel and the Fawcett Family by P.C. HAMERLINCK, ACG artist KENNETH LANDAU (Commander Battle and The Atomic Sub), and writer LEE GOLDSMITH (Golden Age Green Lantern, Flash, and others). Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Golden/Silver/Bronze Age artist IRV NOVICK (Shield, Steel Sterling, Batman, The Flash, and DC war stories) is immortalized by JOHN COATES and DEWEY CASSELL. Interviews with Irv and family members, tributes by DENNY O’NEIL, MARK EVANIER, and PAUL LEVITZ, Irv’s involvement with painter ROY LICHTENSTEIN (who used Novick’s work in his paintings), Mr. Monster, FCA, and more!

Known as one of the finest inkers in comics history, the late TOM PALMER was also an accomplished penciler and painter, as you’ll see in an-depth interview with Palmer by ALEX GRAND and JIM THOMPSON. Learn his approach to, and thoughts on, working with NEAL ADAMS, GENE COLAN, JOHN BUSCEMA, and others who helped define the Marvel Universe. Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

Presenting MARK CARLSON-GHOST’s stupendous study of the 1940s NOVELTY COMICS GROUP—with heroes like Blue Bolt, Target and the Targeteers, White Streak, Spacehawk, etc., produced by such Golden Age super-stars as JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, BASIL WOLVERTON, et al. Plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

ALTER EGO #186

ALTER EGO #187

ALTER EGO #188

ALTER EGO #189

Spotlights ANGELO TORRES, the youngest and last of the fabled EC Comics artists— who went on to a fabulous career as a horror, science-fiction, and humor artist for Timely/Marvel, Warren Publishing, and MAD magazine! It’s a lushly illustrated retrospective of his still-ongoing career— plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more

Focuses on great early science-fiction author EDMUND HAMILTON, who went on to an illustrious career at DC Comics, writing Superman, Batman, and especially The Legion of Super-Heroes! Learn all about his encounters with RAY BRADBURY, MORT WEISINGER, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, et al—a panoply of titans! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

DOUBLE-SIZE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! The Marvel side includes mini-interviews with JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, JIM MOONEY, and GEORGE TUSKA—plus “STAN LEE’S Dinner with ALAIN RESNAIS” annotated by SEAN HOWE! On the DC side: talks with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOHN BROOME, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JOE KUBERT, & MURPHY ANDERSON—plus a GARDNER FOX photo-feature, and more!

JOHN ROMITA tribute issue! Podcast recollections recorded shortly after the Jazzy One’s passing by JOHN ROMITA JR., JIM STARLIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, BRIAN PULIDO, ROY THOMAS, JAIMIE JAMESON, JOHN CIMINO, STEVE HOUSTON, & NILE SCALA; DAVID ARMSTRONG’s mini-interview with Romita; John Romita’s ten greatest hits; plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, & more!

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In Memoriam

Roger Hill (1948-2023)

“He Never Lost His Passion For Collecting”

by Grant Geissman istorian, collector, comic art restorer, and author Roger Allen Hill passed away on December 6, 2023, at the age of 75, after a battle with cancer.

Roger was born in Wichita, Kansas, on October 14, 1948, and graduated from Derby Senior High School in 1966. After four years in the Navy, serving 18 months in Vietnam, he returned home, where he quickly resumed and expanded his collecting interests. His primary collecting focus was on EC Comics, but he also avidly collected monster magazines, vintage movie posters, trading cards, and much, much more. In 1967, in conjunction with his lifelong friend Jerry Weist, the duo released the first issue of Squa Tront, a groundbreaking fanzine devoted to the artists, writers, and staff of EC (Entertaining Comics); he remained affiliated with Squa Tront for over forty years. He also contributed to Rich Hauser’s seminal 1960s EC fanzine Spa Fon, as well as to the EC fanzines Qua Brot and Horror from the Crypt of Fear. He contributed articles to many other publications over the years, including Comic Book Marketplace and Alter Ego. Hill was the first person to interview EC artist/writer Johnny Craig, back in August 1969 (published in Squa Tront #4, 1970). He was also the first person to commission Craig to do an EC-related painting, this one depicting the Vault-Keeper and Drusilla with various assorted creatures in the background. (This painting was used on the back cover of Squa Tront #5, 1974). Craig would go on to do many more such commissions for fans over the years. Roger established the Comic and Fantasy Art Amateur Press Association (CFA-APA) in 1985. The CFA-APA consisted of knowledgeable collectors of comic and fantasy art, who would write related articles as a condition of their continued membership. During the early 1990s, Roger worked with Weist as comic art advisor to the Sotheby’s Comic Book and Comic Art auctions in New York City. Beginning in 2004, he edited and published his own fanzine, called the EC Fan-Addict Fanzine. Its fifth issue was published by Fantagraphics in November 2023, and a sixth, posthumous issue was due out in July 2024. He was the art editor for Bhob Stewart’s 2003 book Against the Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood, writing several chapters as well. In 2010 Roger contributed an essay called “The Early Years” for the Editions Deesse edition of the Woodwork exhibit catalogue done for the Wally Wood exhibition presented by the Casal Solleric in Palma City, Spain. After Jerry Weist’s passing, in 2012 Roger and Glynn Crain finished assembling Frank R. Paul: The Dean of Science Fiction Illustration. Roger’s first book, Wally Wood: Galaxy Art and Beyond, was published in 2016. His other books include Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics (2017), Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics (2019), and The Chillingly Weird Art of Matt Fox (2023).

Roger Hill holding a copy of his book on comic artist Reed Crandall, published in 2017 by TwoMorrows.

Roger’s enthusiasm for—and knowledge about—comics and comic art was both massive and infectious, and from 1967 on he wrote extensively about the subjects. He would leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of tracking down artwork he wanted for his collection, and because of all the sleuthing involved, he became known among his fellow collectors as “the Art Detective.” One of the nicest people ever to grace fandom, he was always willing to share his discoveries. He never lost his passion for collecting, buying and trading material up until just a few weeks before he died. With Roger’s passing goes a lifetime of experience and fascinating stories about collecting, and he is greatly missed. He is survived by his wife, Terry Hill, as well as several siblings, sons, stepsons, and stepdaughters. Requiescat in pace, Roger. Grant Geissman is the four-time Eisner Award-nominated author of several books related to EC Comics and Mad Magazine, the most recent being The History of EC Comics (Taschen). His other books include Feldstein: The Mad Life and Fantastic Art of Al Feldstein! and Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious EC Comics! He is also co-editor of Roger Hill’s EC Fan-Addict Fanzine #5 and the forthcoming #6 (due out in July 2024).

Where did we get those wonderful interviews?

n Alter Ego #188 and #189, we ran numerous interviews with comics greats, all courtesy of David Armstrong [right]. David has been in the entertainment industry for over 50 years, having started his career working for John Casavettes on A Woman Under the Influence, and becoming VP of Programming at USA Networks, International and SVP of Sales at MGM Television, International. He has been an active comic book fan since the early 1960s and has attended countless conventions since his first New York Kaler Comic Con in 1965. From 1997-2005, Armstrong conducted a series of broadcast quality video interviews with many Golden and Silver Age artists and writers. The original intent was to produce a documentary series about the comic book business. They were upconverted to high definition and edited by Alex Grand, where they now reside on YouTube via Comic Book Historians. Thanks, David and Alex! To view those videos, go to: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcJ4JJkHSvBPb9wNv8Ej-LDzyb5md6bSW!

Meet

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ZOWIE!

THE TV SUPERHERO CRAZE IN ’60s POP CULTURE by MARK VOGER

HOLY PHENOMENON! In the way-out year of 1966, the action comedy “Batman” starring ADAM WEST premiered and triggered a tsunami of super swag, including toys, games, Halloween costumes, puppets, action figures, and lunch boxes. Meanwhile, still more costumed avengers sprang forth on TV (“The Green Hornet,” “Ultraman”), in MOVIES (“The Wild World of Batwoman,” “Rat Pfink and Boo Boo”), and in ANIMATION (“Space Ghost,” “The Marvel Super Heroes”). ZOWIE! traces the history of the superhero genre from early films, through the 1960s TV superhero craze, and its pop culture influence ever since. This 192-page hardcover, in pop art colors that conjure the period, spotlights the coolest collectibles and kookiest knockoffs every ’60s kid begged their parents for, and features interviews with the TV stars (WEST, BURT WARD, YVONNE CRAIG, FRANK GORSHIN, BURGESS MEREDITH, CESAR ROMERO, JULIE NEWMAR, VAN WILLIAMS), the artists behind the comics (JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA), and others. Written and designed by MARK VOGER (MONSTER MASH, HOLLY JOLLY), ZOWIE! is one super read! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-125-7 NOW SHIPPING!

MARVEL COMICS In The EARLY 1960s

AN ISSUE-BY-ISSUE FIELD GUIDE TO A POP CULTURE PHENOMENON by PIERRE COMTOIS

This new volume in the ongoing “MARVEL COMICS IN THE...” series takes you all the way back to that company’s legendary beginnings, when gunfighters traveled the West and monsters roamed the Earth! The company’s output in other genres influenced the development of their super-hero characters from Thor to Spider-Man, and featured here are the best of those stories not covered previously, completing issue-by-issue reviews of EVERY MARVEL COMIC OF NOTE FROM 1961-1965! Presented are scores of handy, easy to reference entries on AMAZING FANTASY, TALES OF SUSPENSE (and ASTONISH), STRANGE TALES, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, RAWHIDE KID, plus issues of FANTASTIC FOUR, AVENGERS, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and others that weren’t in the previous 1960s edition. It’s author PIERRE COMTOIS’ last word on Marvel’s early years, when JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, and DON HECK, together with writer/editor STAN LEE (and brother LARRY LIEBER), built an unprecedented new universe of excitement! (224-page TRADE PAPERBACK) $29.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-126-4 NOW SHIPPING!

COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION (EXPANDED EDITION) by KEITH DALLAS & JOHN WELLS

NOW IN FULL-COLOR WITH BONUS PAGES! In 1978, DC Comics launched a line-wide expansion known as “The DC Explosion,” but pulled the plug weeks later, cancelling titles and leaving dozens of completed comic book stories unpublished. Now, that notorious “DC Implosion” is examined with an exhaustive oral history from JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, AL MILGROM, and other DC creators of the time, plus commentary by other top pros, examining how it changed the landscape of comics forever! This new EXPANDED EDITION of the Eisner Award-nominated book explodes in FULL-COLOR FOR THE FIRST TIME, with extra coverage of LOST 1970s DC PROJECTS like NINJA THE INVISIBLE and an adaptation of “THE WIZ,” JIM STARLIN’s unaltered cover art for BATMAN FAMILY #21, content meant for cancelled Marvel titles such as GODZILLA and MS. MARVEL, and more! NOW SHIPPING! (144-page FULL-COLOR SOFTCOVER) $26.95 • (Digital Edition) $10.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-124-0

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HALE & Hearty

An Interview With Fawcett Artist BOB LAUGHLIN by John G. Pierce Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

FCA

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Robert “Bob” Laughlin (1925-2006) never received formal art training, but nonetheless went on to accomplish his childhood goal of becoming a professional cartoonist. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Laughlin was hired by Fawcett Publications’ comics department in 1946 to lay out contents pages, design house ads, and handle corrections on comicbook stories. Two years later he went freelance and became one of the regular artists on Fawcett’s Monte Hale Western, drawing two adventures per month of the cowboy film-star from 1948-51. Laughlin also illustrated filler features for various Fawcett comics and, after the demise of the line, had his own comic strip in Fawcett’s Mechanix Illustrated magazine for over two decades. He drew a short-lived syndicated strip (Cuffy, 1963-64), inked George Gately’s Heathcliff daily strip from 1978-88, created Kitz ’n’ Katz comic strips during the ’80s, and produced numerous sets of baseball cards during his career. William Harper originally interviewed Laughlin in a 1984 issue of FCA-SOB (later reprinted in the 2001 book Fawcett Companion). The following previously unpublished interview with Laughlin was conducted in 1991 via mail by my late friend—and frequent FCA contributing writer— John G. Pierce, who discovered it in his files and sent it to me shortly before he passed away in 2022. —PCH. JOHN G. PIERCE: Could you tell me a little bit about your family and how you first became interested in cartooning/comics art? BOB LAUGHLIN: When I was young, I would watch my dad draw cartoons, and ever since then, I wanted to be a cartoonist and draw comics. My dad, William Laughlin, didn’t draw professionally, but he was a good artist. He worked in advertising, writing copy for ads that were displayed on New York City subway trains. My mom’s name was Gwendolyn and she was a housewife. I had a sister named Virginia who was three years older than me. JGP: Where were you born? LAUGHLIN: I was born in Englewood, New Jersey, on September 18, 1925, but grew up in Leonia, New Jersey, and went to high school there as well. I was the art director on the school’s yearbook staff.

East Is East, And West Is West… (Left:) The previously published 1947 photo of Fawcett’s comics department in New York City, all wearing Captain Marvel sweatshirts. (Left to right:) Bob Laughlin, Roy Ald, Ginny Provisiero, Edna Hagen, Kay Woods, Len Leone, Wendell Crowley, Elinor Mendelsohn, Will Lieberson. (Above:) Laughlin’s splash page for “Monte Hale Battles the Great Hunger” from Western Hero #94 (Sept. 1950), written by William Woolfolk.[(TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

JGP: Where did you go after graduating high school? LAUGHLIN: I entered the U.S. Army in December of 1943 and was sent to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. I drew a strip called Spud Skinner for the Army newspaper, the Fort Jackson Journal. JGP: How long did you serve in the Army? LAUGHLIN: I was discharged in 1946, and I joined Fawcett Publications’ comics department that same year, in September.

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

JGP: What were your main duties at Fawcett? LAUGHLIN: By the time I joined Fawcett, they were having all comic art pages done and delivered by freelance artists. Once we received them, I would do any minor “doctoring up” of the artwork that was needed, and did dialogue corrections inside the word balloons “We’ll Have These Moments To as directed by the Remember” editors. The comics Robert Laughlin’s Leonia (NJ) High School department was senior photo, 1943. Bob was art director set up in one big on the school yearbook staff, and a star room, except for pitcher for the school’s baseball team. editor-in-chief Will Lieberson’s office. Working alongside Len Leone, we also both handled the layouts of contents pages and advertisements—such as those for the Captain Marvel Club and ads promoting other Fawcett comic titles. JGP: Do you recall some of the artists who stopped by to drop off their work? LAUGHLIN: Some artists I got to know better than others. I became close friends with Carl Pfeufer—one of my heroes of the comics and a great artistic influence to me. The pages he penciled that were inked by his collaborator, John Jordan— such as Tom Mix Western—were some of my favorites. JGP: What about C.C. Beck? LAUGHLIN: Beck didn’t talk to us “menial” artists much! [laughs] I lived in Leonia, New Jersey, just minutes away from Beck, who lived in Englewood. I did go over to his house once or twice, but I never really got to know him very well.

A Tall Tale Bob Laughlin inked the majority of Carl Pfeufer’s pencils for scripter Leo Dorfman’s comicbook adaptation of the film Ten Tall Men starring Burt Lancaster. From Fawcett Movie Comic #16 (April 1952). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

JGP: How long did you continue in this position? LAUGHLIN: In 1948 I left to start freelancing for Fawcett. After [I drew] up a sample “Tom Mix” story (never published), Will Lieberson assigned me to Monte Hale Western. The Westerns were all the rage at the time, and Fawcett did a lot of them. My first assignment was a “Hale” story done for Western Hero, with Captain Marvel’s Wendell Crowley editing. I then went on doing two of the four stories in each issue of Monte Hale Western from 1948 to 1951. I’d get a script, lay it out in pencil for the editor—first Roy

Clubbed! This advertisement for the Captain Marvel Club from Whiz Comics #101 (Sept. 1948) was put together in Fawcett’s comics department either by Len Leone or Bob Laughlin… or both of them! [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Hale & Hearty

Hale And Farewell! Three pages of “Monte Hale” drawn by Bob Laughlin. (Clockwise from top left:) “Prairie Plague,” from Monte Hale Western #38 (July 1949). Scripter unknown. Writer William Woolfolk refurbished an old Bulletman adversary for the Old West in “Monte Hale Meets The Weeper,” in Western Hero #79 (June 1949). A/E editor Roy Thomas recalled two “Monte Hale” stories he especially liked, which featured a sympathetic “Wolfman.” The first of these was drawn by another artist, but McLaughlin drew the second one for Monte Hale Western #40 (Sept. 1949). [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Ald, then Crowley, and later Barbara Heyman—then, after they okayed it, I did the final inking and often the lettering as well. JGP: Did you draw anything else for Fawcett? LAUGHLIN: I drew fillers for Jackie Robinson, Hot Rod Comics, Pinhead and Foodini, and I inked the 1952 Fawcett Movie Comic adaptation of Ten Tall Men, penciled by Carl Pfeufer. I also remember doing one Gabby Hayes Western story. During the ’50s I also inked Patsy Walker and Wendy Parker for Timely, and lettered various comics for Harvey. The lawsuit with DC was going on the whole time I was with Fawcett. After they dropped the comics, I drew a workshop strip

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

They Also Serve… (Above left:) Laughlin drew back-up strips in Fawcett’s Hot Rod Comics series. “Race to Death” is from HRC #7 (Feb. 1953). (Above right:) He wasn’t tapped to draw the lead Hall-of-Famer in the company’s Jackie Robinson comic series, but he did illustrate the likes of this featurette on the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Wee Willie Keeler. From JR #3 (Sept. 1950). Both writers unidentified. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

called “Freddie Fumbles” in Fawcett’s Mechanix Illustrated magazine for 26 years. Will Lieberson had recommended me for the job. My first MI editor was Larry Sanders, who became a well-known novelist (The Anderson Tapes). I lettered the Bantam Prince comic strip by Lawrence Lariar and Carl Pfeufer, and the early Our Space Age syndicated panels by Otto Binder and Pfeufer. JGP: What were some other projects you worked on over the years? LAUGHLIN: I got into a lot of commercial art stuff. I illustrated a lot of sports books for Prentice-Hall, drew numerous baseball card series for Fleer, and worked for Motor Magazine monthly. JGP: Did you do any other comics work? LAUGHLIN: Ever since going freelance, I was always trying to sell a comic strip to a syndicate. I’d work one up every few years. In 1963, Bill Zaboly, who’d retired from King Features and Popeye, had started a small syndicate (Select Features), and took on my daily kitten strip, Cuffy. I did that for a year, but the syndicate never flourished. I later sold the strips to Cat Fancy magazine, whose publishers then started Dog Fancy magazine, for which I did a dog strip called Rumpus. Both strips continued for several years. I didn’t really get back into comics until 1978, when I started inking for George Gately on the Heathcliff newspaper strip. I created Kitz ’n’ Katz (black and white cats; they still haven’t figured out which is which!) as a regular daily-style

Act Your Age! Early installments of Otto Binder and Carl Pfeufer’s Our Space Age, a daily newspaper panel syndicated by McClure, were lettered by Laughlin. The above panel is from September 6, 1962. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Hale & Hearty

strip for the Comics Buyer’s Guide. I went on to produce softcover books and six Kitz ’n’ Katz comicbooks—the first issue for Phantasy Press, then Eclipse put out #2-5, and I self-published the final issue. It had a nice little cult following, but didn’t survive because it was not the super-hero stuff comicbook readers were buying. I am a devoted fan of the comic strip Krazy Kat. Pat McDonnell, who did the book Krazy Kat – The Comic Art of George Herriman (Abrams, 1985) told me I have the definitive Krazy Kat collection. JGP: Do you have any real-life cats of your own? LAUGHLIN: Liza, a 15-year-old long-haired tabby.

Play (Gum)Ball

The Whole Kitz ’n’ Kaboodle

Over the course of his career, Laughlin illustrated more than twenty baseball card sets. The above card is from Fleer’s 1971 World Series set. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

(Below left:) Laughlin’s first Kitz ’n’ Katz comicbook, published by Phantasy Press in 1984. (Below right:) His lovable cover for FCA/SOB #20 (Newsletter #31), Winter/Spring 1984. [Art & © Estate of Robert Laughlin.]

In Memoriam

John G. Pierce (1947-2022) by P.C. Hamerlinck

ohn Gilbert Pierce was born February 18, 1947, in Corning, Ohio—a small town in the southeastern part of the state. As an undergraduate in the late ’60s, he was in the Air Force ROTC. He went on to graduate from Capital University in 1969 with a major in Spanish, and later earned a Master’s degree in Special Education. John spent over 50 years as an educator in public, private, college, and home-school settings, and also taught Bible courses during his lifetime. John also acquired some fluency in Italian and Portuguese, the latter mainly from reading Brazilian-published comicbooks. (He

John G. Pierce was well-versed in both U.S. and Portuguese-language comicbooks. Brazilian publishers turned a blind eye on American copyright and trademark laws— with Timely, DC, and Fawcett characters sometimes co-mingling in scenes on comics covers. However, there was never actually evidence of a superhero company crossover story there until John discovered the 1964 issue of Almanaque do O Global Juvenil (Kids’ World Annual) that featured a team-up of the original Captain Marvel and the original Human Torch! Pierce told about the tale in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1, Summer 1999. The story itself was later serialized in AE #54-60, with Pierce translating the Portuguese into English. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Human Torch TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

John G. Pierce

Besides super-hero comics and mystery novels, John enjoyed reading the Bible in various translations. Additionally, he was active in the Christian Comics Arts Society. (John had become a Christian at the age of 15 in 1962, in a small rural church near the farm where he grew up.) John was married to Karen Ann Mills on August 28, 1970. The couple had no children, but served as informal surrogate grandparents to others. I became long-standing friends with John after he answered my Golden Age Captain Marvel want ad that I had placed in The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom during the 1970s. Kindred spirits from the start, John was the helpful guiding-light figure who was supportive of my enthusiasm and fascination with comicbook history and all things Fawcett. He was pivotal in putting me in contact with C.C. Beck, Rod Reed, Kurt Schaffenberger, Jackson Bostwick, Alan Jim Hanley, and FCA publisher Bernie McCarty. I miss collaborating with John on articles, our lengthy correspondence, our comicbook trading, his love of amusing puns, and, most of all, his unwavering kindness and generosity. After over a two-year battle with cancer, John passed away peacefully on July 13, 2022.

If Ever A Whiz Of A Whiz There Was… John Pierce’s The Whiz Kids #1 fanzine from 1975 was published in the UK by Fantasy Unlimited editor Alan Austin. John self-published the second and third issues in the US. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

eventually became, to some extent, an authority on various South American comics.) With his enthusiasm for comics and a gift for writing, John participated in numerous fanzines over the years: Steve Gerber’s Headline, The Golden Age of Comics (edited by Don and Maggie Thompson), Krause Publications’ Comics’ Buyers’ Guide, Larry Herndon’s Batwing, Alan Austin’s Fantasy Unlimited, Gene Kehoe’s It’s a Fanzine, and others, including TwoMorrows’ Alter Ego and Back Issue. John became intrigued by the original Captain Marvel by means of reportage in such seminal fanzines as Alter Ego, which he had acquired during the 1960s. He singled out Roy Thomas’ “One Man’s Family” article in A/E #7 in 1964 as having launched his curiosity regarding the Captain. John later went on to write many insightful articles about the World’s Mightiest Mortal, as well as producing three issues of his own Marvel Family fanzine, The Whiz Kids. He was thrilled to contribute to Captain Marvel co-creator C.C. Beck’s overhaul of FCA titled FCA/SOB. John was also a faithful fan of Superman.

Early Daze John was active in comics fandom since the 1960s. The above is from the letters section in Larry Ivie’s Monsters and Heroes #3 (March 1968).

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

From An Alternate Marvel Age (Far left:) John Pierce’s astute Captain Marvel analysis, “Levity, Learning, and Lightning Bolts”— originally published in the British fanzine Fantasy Unlimited #26 (1975)—was reworked and became one of the cover stories for New Media Publishing’s The Golden Age of Comics magazine #1 (1982), edited by Don and Maggie Thompson. The article was restructured one final time and re-presented in Alter Ego #27, in 2003. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; art of Golden Age Daredevil © the respective copyright holders; Daredevil is now a TM of Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Left:) JGP was honored to contribute occasionally to C.C. Beck’s FCA/SOB incarnation of FCA. Captain Marvel’s chief artist even included a caricature of John on the cover of issue #3/14 (August 1980). [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of C.C. Beck.]

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COMIC BOOK CREATOR #36 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #37 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #38 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #39 AMERICAN COMIC BOOK STEVE ENGLEHART is spotlighted in RICK VEITCH discusses his career from THOMAS YEATES career-spanning interCHRONICLES: 1945-49 view about the Kubert School, Swamp

TOM PALMER retrospective, career-spanning interview, and tributes compiled by GREG BIGA. LEE MARRS chats about assisting on Little Orphan Annie, work for DC’s Plop! and underground Pudge, Girl Blimp! The start of a multi-part look at the life and career of DAN DIDIO, part two of our ARNOLD DRAKE interview, public service comics produced by students at the CENTER FOR CARTOON STUDIES, & more!

a career-spanning interview, former DC Comics’ romance editor BARBARA FRIEDLANDER redeems the late DC editor JACK MILLER, DAN DIDIO discusses going from DC exec to co-publisher, we conclude our 100th birthday celebration for ARNOLD DRAKE, take a look at the 1970s underground comix oddity THE FUNNY PAGES, and more, including HEMBECK!

undergrounds and the Kubert School; the ’80s with 1941, Epic Illustrated and Heavy Metal; to Swamp Thing, The One, Brat Pack, and Maximortal! Plus TOM VEITCH’s history of ’70s underground horror comix, part one of a look at cartoonist ERROL McCARTHY, the story behind Studio Zero— the ’70s collective of artists STARLIN, BRUNNER, WEISS, and others, and more!

Thing, Eclipse Comics, and adventure strips Zorro, Tarzan, and Prince Valiant! GREG POTTER discusses his ’70s Warren horror comics and ’80s reboot of Wonder Woman with GEORGE PÉREZ, WARREN KREMER is celebrated by MARK ARNOLD, plus part one of a look at the work of STEVE WILLIS, part two of ERROL McCARTHY, and more!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #91

KIRBY COLLECTOR #92

KIRBY COLLECTOR #93

KIRBY COLLECTOR #94

Covers the aftermath of WWII, when comics shifted from super-heroes to crime, romance, and western comics, BILL GAINES plotted a new course for EC Comics, and SIEGEL & SHUSTER sued for rights to Superman! By RICHARD ARNDT, KURT MITCHELL, and KEITH DALLAS.

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BRICKJOURNAL #87

30th Anniversary issue, with KIRBY’S GREATEST VICTORIES! Jack gets the girl (wife ROZ), early hits Captain America and Boy Commandos, surviving WWII, romance comics, Captain Victory and the direct market, his original art battle with Marvel, and finally winning credit! Plus MARK EVANIER, a colossal gallery of Kirby’s winningest pencil art, a never-reprinted SIMON & KIRBY story, and more!

IN THE NEWS! Rare newspaper interviews with Jack, 1973 San Diego panel with Jack and NEAL ADAMS discussing DC’s coloring, strips Kirby ghosted for others, unused strip concepts, collages, a never-reprinted Headline Comics tale, Jimmy Olsen pencil art gallery, 2024 WonderCon Kirby panel (featuring DAVID SCHWARTZ, GLEN GOLD, and RAY WYMAN), and more! Cover inked by DAVID REDDICK!

SUPPORTING PLAYERS! Almost-major villains like Kanto the Assassin and Diablo, Rodney Rumpkin, Mr. Little, the Falcon, Randu Singh, and others take center stage! Plus: 1970 interview with Jack by SHEL DORF, MARK EVANIER’s 2024 Kirby Tribute Panel from Comic-Con, neverreprinted Simon & Kirby story, pencil art gallery, and more! Unused Mister Miracle cover inked by MIKE ROYER!

SPACE RACES! Jack’s depictions of cosmic gods and life on other planets, including: how Ego, Tana Nile, and the Recorder took Thor to strange new worlds, OMAC’s space age future, time travelers in Kirby’s work, favorite Kirby sci-fi tropes in his stories, plus: a 1967 LEE/KIRBY interview, MARK EVANIER and other columnists, never-reprinted Simon & Kirby story, robotic pencil art gallery, cover inked by TERRY AUSTIN!

Take to the air with JESSE GROS and his wondrous airships! KEVIN COPA’s renditions of the ships from International Rescue, a.k.a. the Thunderbirds, are also featured, as well as JACK CARLESON and his airliners! Plus BRICKNERD, BANTHA BRICKS: Fans of LEGO Star Wars, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

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RETROFAN #35

RETROFAN #36

RETROFAN #37

RETROFAN #38

RETROFAN #39

Saturday morning super-hero Space Ghost, plus The Beatles, The Jackson 5ive, and other real rockers in animation! Also: The Addams Family’s JOHN ASTIN, Mighty Isis co-stars JOANNA PANG and BRIAN CUTLER, TV’s The Name of the Game, on the set of Evil Dead II, classic coffee ads, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

Feel the G-Force of Eighties sci-fi toon BATTLE OF THE PLANETS! Plus: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.’s STEFANIE POWERS, CHUCK CONNORS, The Oddball World of SCTV, Rankin/Bass’ stop-motion Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, TV’s Greatest Catchphrases, one-season TV shows, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

The Jetsons, Freaky Frankensteins, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling’s HOLLYWOOD, the Archies and other Saturday morning rockers, Star Wars copycats, Build Your Own Adventure books, crazy kitchen gadgets, toymaker MARVIN GLASS, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Tune in to Saturday morning super-heroes Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Mod Squad, Hanna-Barbera cartoonists, Jesus Christ Superstar, Mr. Potato Head, ‘Old Yeller” actress BEVERLY WASHBURN, Flying Nun collectibles, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Can your mind stand the shocking truth of… ED WOOD CAST CONFESSIONS? Plus: Ideal Toys’ Zeroids, television Tarzan RON ELY, Planters® Peanuts’ Mr. Peanut, CHARLES ADDAMS, TV’s The Fugitive, the forgotten 1981 Spider-Man cartoon, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, ED CATTO, and MARK VOGER.

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New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #191

ALTER EGO #192

ALTER EGO #193

ALTER EGO #194

BACK ISSUE #155

MARK CARLSON-GHOST documents the mid-1950s super-hero revival featuring The Human Torch, Captain America, SubMariner, Fighting American, The Avenger, Phantom Lady, The Flame, Captain Flash, and others—with art by JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA, BILL EVERETT, SIMON & KIRBY, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MORT MESKIN, BOB POWELL, and other greats! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

An abridgment of EDDY ZENO’s “Drawn to Greatness” book, showcasing Superman artists who followed JOE SHUSTER: WAYNE BORING, PAUL CASSIDY, FRED RAY, JACK BURNLEY, WIN MORTIMER, and others. With appreciations by ORDWAY, KUPPERBERG, ISABELLA, JURGENS, WAID, MACCHIO, NEARY, NOWLAN, EURY, THOMAS, and more! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

ROY THOMAS celebrates 60 years in comics! Career-spanning interview by ALEX GRAND, e-mails to Roy from STAN LEE, the history of Wolverine’s creation, RT’s 1960s fan-letters to JULIUS SCHWARTZ, and his top dozen stories compiled by JOHN CIMINO! With art by BUSCEMA, KANE, ADAMS, WINDSOR-SMITH, COLAN, ORDWAY, BUCKLER, FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and cover by TONY GRAY!

THIS ISSUE IS HAUNTED! House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Unexpected, Marvel’s failed horror anthologies, Haunted Tank, Eerie Publications, House II adaptation, Elvira’s House of Mystery, and more wth NEAL ADAMS, MIKE W. BARR, DICK GIORDANO, SAM GLANZMAN, ROBERT KANIGHER, JOE ORLANDO, STERANKO, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and others. Unused cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ & WRIGHTSON.

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#191 is an FCA (FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA) issue! Documenting the influence of MAC RABOY’s Captain Marvel Jr. on the life, career, and look of ELVIS PRESLEY during his stellar career, from the 1950s through the 1970s! Plus: Captain Marvel co-creator BILL PARKER’s complete testimony from the DC vs. Fawcett lawsuit, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and other surprises!

BACK ISSUE #157

BACK ISSUE #158

BACK ISSUE #159

BACK ISSUE #160

KEITH GIFFEN TRIBUTE ISSUE! Starstudded celebration of the prolific writer/ artist of Legion of Super-Heroes, Rocket Raccoon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Justice League, Lobo, Blue Beetle, and others! With CARY BATES, TOM BIERBAUM, J.M. DeMATTEIS, DAN DIDIO, ROBERT LOREN FLEMING, CULLY HAMNER, SCOTT KOBLISH, PAUL LEVITZ, KEVIN MAGUIRE, BART SEARS, MARK WAID, and more!

HEY, MISTER ISSUE! The FF’s Mr. Fantastic, STEVE DITKO’s Mr. A, the 40th anniversary of MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Mr. Monster, Mr. X, the Teen Titans’ Mr. Jupiter, R. CRUMB’s Mr. Natural, Archie’s Mr. Weatherbee, and a Mr. Freeze villain history! Featuring BYRNE, CARDY, CONWAY, DeCARLO, DINI, ENGLEHART, the HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, MOTTER, and more! Cover by ED McGUINNESS.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 40th ANNIVERSARY! Pre-Crisis tour of DC’s multiple Earths, analysis of Crisis and its crossovers, Crisis Death List, post-Crisis DC retro projects, guest editorial by MARV WOLFMAN, and more! Featuring BARR, ENGLEHART, GREENBERGER, LEVITZ, MAGGIN, MOENCH, ORDWAY, THOMAS, WAID, and more! With GEORGE PÉREZ’S Crisis on Infinite Earths Index #1 cover.

SUMMER FUN ISSUE! Marvel’s Superhero Swimsuit Editions, Betty and Veronica swimsuit gallery, DC’s Strange Sports Stories, the DC/Marvel softball rivalry, San Diego Comic-Con history, Impossible Man Summer Vacation Specials, DC Slurpee cups, DC/Whitman variants, and more! Featuring BATES, DeCARLO, HUGHES, JIM LEE, LOPRESTI, MAGGIN, ROZAKIS, STELFREEZE, and more! GUICE cover.

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BACK ISSUE #156

BRONZE AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS! 1980s GNs from Marvel, DC, and First Comics, Conan GNs, and DC’s Sci-Fi GN series! With BRENT ANDERSON, JOHN BYRNE, HOWARD CHAYKIN, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, JACK KIRBY, DON MCGREGOR, BOB McLEOD, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. WRIGHTSON cover.