Attack of the Jungle Clones – Part 1: 1920-1930s

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Tarzan is one of those iconic characters, like Dracula or Sherlock Holmes, that is known world-wide, whether people have read any ERB or not.  The apeman first appeared in Tarzan of the Apes (The All-Story, October 1912). The book version was a couple years later but for the years 1912 to 1925, Burroughs had the Jungle all to himself. With Hollywood making his vine-swinger even more famous, it was inevitable that someone would try and steal some of Tarzan’s thunder. This happened in hard cover books, Radio, comics, movie serials and Pulps. Let’s look at that long list of Tarzan clones in fiction. For it’s on the printed pages that the jungle blossoms into an arena for daring-do and exotic creatures. (If you want comic book versions, go here.)

The 1920s

The first of the clones was from the Stratemeyer children’s publisher with Bomba the Jungle Boy. Written by different authors under the house name of Roy Rockwood, we do know the first book was written by John W. Duffield. If he was paid similarly to Leslie MacFarlane who wrote the first ten Hardy Boys novels, he would have received about $75 for all rights. The series would get twelve feature films starring Johnny Sheffield in 1947 to 1955 and a comic book in the 1960s. For more on Bomba, go here.

Bomba the Jungle Boy by Roy Rockwood (Various)

Bomba the Jungle Boy (1926) by John W. Duffield

Bomba, the Jungle Boy at the Moving Mountain, 1926

Bomba, the Jungle Boy at the Giant Cataract, 1926

Bomba, the Jungle Boy on Jaguar Island, 1927

Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the Abandoned City, 1927

Bomba, the Jungle Boy on Terror Trail, 1928

Bomba, the Jungle Boy in the Swamp of Death, 1929

Bomba, the Jungle Boy Among the Slaves, 1929

Bomba, the Jungle Boy on the Underground River, 1930

Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the Lost Explorers, 1930

Bomba, the Jungle Boy in a Strange Land, 1931

Bomba, the Jungle Boy Among the Pygmies, 1931

Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the Cannibals, 1932

Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the Painted Hunters, 1932

Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the River Demons, 1933

Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the Hostile Chieftain, 1934

Bomba, the Jungle Boy Trapped by the Cyclone, 1935

Bomba, the Jungle Boy in the Land of Burning Lava, 1936

Bomba, the Jungle Boy in the Perilous Kingdom, 1937

Bomba, the Jungle Boy in the Steaming Grotto, 1938

Morgyn the Mighty by Dudley D. Watkins

“Morgyn the Mighty” (The Rover, 1928) was a text story that would later become a hard cover novel. The character would evolve into a comic strip version later in 1938 in The Beano. Morgyn was the first of many apemen in the British Story papers.

The 1930s

The 1930s saw a sharp increase of new Tarzan clones. With Stratemeyer selling new jungle adventures, why should anyone else worry about getting sued. As long as you don’t call him Tarzan (any close approximation was okay)…

Morgo the Mighty by Sean O’Larkin (John F. Larkin)

Morgo the Mighty (The Popular Magazine, August 15, 1930-October 1, 1930) takes place in a huge cave in Tibet, not the jungle. Morgo has lived in the caves since he was ten and is a friend of the man-bats. The narrator gets pulled into Morgo’s conflict with an evil cult leader who runs the cave.

Jan of the Jungle by Otis Adelbert Kline

The Call of the Savage (Argosy, April 18-May 23. 1931) has two teams of scientists racing to find a medical discovery in the jungle. They happen upon the lost city of Mu and Jan. Jan has a monkey companion named Chicma.

Jan in India (Argosy, January 12-26, 1935) Some people imagined a feud between Edgar Rice Burroughs and Otis Adelbert Kline but there is no evidence of this. For more, go here.

Tam, Son of the Tiger by Otis Adelbert Kline

Tam, Son of the Tiger (Weird Tales, August September October November December 1931) has an American lad taken and raised by a white tiger in Burma. He enters a subterranean world to save a princess and fight strange monsters. Weird Tales may seem to be a strange place for a jungle adventure but Farnsworth Wright liked to experiment with stories that weren’t exclusively Horror fiction. He used Science Fiction, Shudder Pulps, even a masked hero in Captain Satan. He was quite willing to publish one of Kline’s Burroughs knock-offs if he could get some J. Allen St. John artwork for it. Sadly, this go-round was illustrated by the competent C. C. Senf.

Sangroo the Sun God by Irving J. Crump

“Sangroo the Sun-God” (Jungle Stories, August 1931)

“The Trumpeting Herd” (Jungle Stories, October 1931)

Irving J. Crump is better known for his later Og, Son of Fire stories. These cavemen tales aren’t Jungle Lord material exactly though Crump was obviously a Burroughs fan.

Congo Jack by Douglas Dundee

(The Triumph, December 26, 1931 – January 1932) For more on the Apemen of The Triumph, go here.

Kaspa the Lion Man by C. T. Stoneham

The Lion’s Way (1931) reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1948

Kaspa the Lion Man (1933) For more on Kaspa, go here.

 

Cave-Boy Erek by Douglas Dundee

(The Triumph, 1933)

Kwa of the Jungle by Paul Regard (Perly Poore Sheehan)

“Kwa of the Jungle” (Thrilling Adventures, August 1932)

“Kwa and the Ape People” (Thrilling Adventures, January 1933)

“Kwa, King of Ophir” (Thrilling Adventures, February 1933)

“Kwa and the Beast Men” (Thrilling Adventures, March 1933)

“Kwa and the Walking Moon” (Thrilling Adventures, April 1933)

“Kwa and the Swamp Demon” (Thrilling Adventures, May 1933)

For more on Kwa, go here.

Ozar the Aztec by Valentine Wood (Walter A. Tompkins)

“Ozar the Aztec” (Top-Notch, January 1933)

“Ozar and the Plumed Serpent” (Top-Notch, February 1933)

“Ozar and the Jade Altar” (Top-Notch, March 1933)

“The Death Drums of Ozar” (Top-Notch, April 1933)

“Ozar and the Black Skull” Top-Notch, May 1933)

“Ozar’s Crown of Victory” Top-Notch, June 1933)

Valentine Wood is a house name and was used by various writers. In the case of Ozar, it was Western writer Walter A. Tompkins. Top-Notch, despite its name, was not a high-paying magazine. Since jungle adventure wasn’t Tompkins usual fare, the pseudonym may have been chosen for this reason.

Sorak by Harvey D. Richards (Noel E. Sainsbury Jr.)

Sorak of the Malay Jungle (1934)

Sorak and the Clouded Tiger (1934)

Sorak and the Sultan’s Ankus (1934)

Sorak and the Treemen (1936)

Sorak and his tiger companion live in the Malay jungle of Southeast Asia. Sorak discovers a lost city in Sorak and the Sultan’s Ankus and Cro-Magnon cavemen in Sorak and the Treemen. These fantastic elements pull it out of the regular jungle scenarios. The covers all used the same image.

Sarajak the Jungle Man by Douglas Dundee

“Sarajak the Jungle Man” (The Triumph, September 17-December 29, 1934)

“The Ju-ju with Talking Feet” (The Triumph, November 23, 1935)

Kioga, the Snow Hawk by William l. Chester

Hawk of the Wilderness (The Blue Book Magazine, April May June July August September October 1935)

Kioga of the Wilderness ( The Blue Book Magazine April May June July August September October 1936)

One Against a Wilderness (The Blue Book Magazine, March April May June July August 1937)

Kioga of the Unknown Land (The Blue Book Magazine, April May June July August 1938)

The Kioga novels by William L. Chester are unusual in this list because Chester wanted to do some Burroughs-type Tarzan stories but chose the North for his setting rather than a different jungle. These wonderful novels appeared in Blue Book, so they got a ton of illustration from Jeremy Cannon. There was a serial starring Herman Brix (who also played Tarzan) in 1935.

Bantan by Maurice B. Gardner

Bantan, the God-Like Islander (1936)

Bantan and the Island Goddess (1942)

Bantan Defiant (1955)

Bantan Valiant (1957)

Bantan’s Island Peril (1959)

Bantan Incredible (1960)

Bantan Primeval (1961)

Bantan Fearless (1963)

Island Paradise and Others (1964)

Bantan and the Mermaids (1970)

Bantan’s Quest (1974)

The Ancestors of Bantan (1976)

The New Adventures of Bantan (1977)

Maurice B. Gardner began his Tarzan-like series in 1936 and continued to add new volumes until his death in 1977. Unlike the house written Bomba, Gardner wrote his own novels set in the South Seas.

Ka-Zar by Bob Byrd

King of Claw and Fang (Ka-Zar, October 1936)

Roar of the Jungle (Ka-Zar, January 1937)

The Lost Empire (Ka-Zar, June 1937)

Ka-Zar appeared in these three novels by Bird in the 1930s. They were adapted in Marvel Comics in 1939, which brought the name into the Marvel fold. The character got a full revamp later by Jack Kirby in the 1960s. For more on Ka-Zar, go here.

Strang the Terrible by Dudley D. Watkins

Adventure 1936, that’s the British Story Paper, Adventure, not the Pulp.

Jaragu of the Jungle by Rex Beach

Jaragu of the Jungle (1937) Big Little Book with a pedestrian plot about a lost mine with some questionable racism. What else would you expect from a guy who wrote Northerns?

Charka by Peter Garnett

“Charka of the Great Apes” (The Triumph, June 12-October 2, 1937)

“Charka Takes the Terror Trail” (The Triumph, April 1, 1939)

“Charka’s Revenge” (The Triumph, June 24, 1939)

“Charka, King of the Great Apes” (The Triumph, December 30, 1939)

Boy King of the Fighting Apes by

“Boy King of the Fighting Apes” (The Skipper, September 1939)

Conclusion

The 1920-1930s Tarzan clones range from strange characters like Morgo in his cave world to rather obvious Tarzan pastiches in the children’s markets and British Story Papers. The commercial possibilities of a vine-swinging hero can’t be denied. I often wondered why Edgar Rice Burroughs didn’t litigate against any of these publishers, especially Stratemeyer back in 1926. There are two possibilities here: first, Burroughs faced his own legal qualms with Rudyard Kipling and The Jungle Book. The English reviewers in particular accused him of ripping off Kipling, Haggard and Wells. Perhaps ERB felt he would lose in court with that precedent having been set.

The other possibility is that Burroughs realized that the imitators were good for business. After a pale imitation, readers (and listeners and viewers) would want the real Tarzan. Whatever his reasons, by 1940, the floodgates were open and jungle lords and ladies were everywhere.

Next time: 1940-1970s….