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This post is brought to you by Strange Adventure, a new collection by G. W. Thomas. It is a companion volume to Strange Detectives, with Weird Westerns, adventures in the Alps and Labrador, as well as modern ghostbreakers working in Western Canada. More strange mysteries but with more action and monsters. It also features a story with large ape creatures (even on the cover!)
In a previous post, I looked at Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Sagoths and their visual history. While I was working on that, I kept thinking of the Ape Men of Opar, not as apish but still a feature of several Tarzan novels. I promised myself I would look up how they were portrayed in the comics, so here we are.
The city of Opar, with its beautiful queen La, and its descendants of Atlantis, first appeared in The Return of Tarzan (New Story Magazine, June-December 1913). This was the first sequel to the hugely successful Tarzan of the Apes and All-Story rejected it. That’s why it appeared at New Story. And if you look at the book objectively, it is episodic and not a great book. But if you understand the reading public, it was a major mistake. Readers wanted more Tarzan and they didn’t care if the book was a masterpiece.
The Return of Tarzan
And all that being said, the last portion of the book featuring Opar is pretty good. It’s ERB’s first lost city and it houses a huge treasure vault which will draw the apeman back many more times. The major danger of dipping into Queen La’s gold (besides her falling in love with you) are the male heirs of Atlantis, the ape men of Opar.
Burroughs describes them here:
Presently they lifted him from the floor, and half dragging, half pushing him, they brought him out of the black chamber through another doorway into an inner courtyard of the temple. Here he saw his captors. There must have been a hundred of them—short, stocky men, with great beards that covered their faces and fell upon their hairy breasts.
The thick, matted hair upon their heads grew low over their receding brows, and hung about their shoulders and their backs. Their crooked legs were short and heavy, their arms long and muscular. About their loins they wore the skins of leopards and lions, and great necklaces of the claws of these same animals depended upon their breasts. Massive circlets of virgin gold adorned their arms and legs. For weapons they carried heavy, knotted bludgeons, and in the belts that confined their single garments each had a long, wicked-looking knife.
But the feature of them that made the most startling impression upon their prisoner was their white skins—neither in color nor feature was there a trace of the negroid about them. Yet, with their receding foreheads, wicked little close-set eyes, and yellow fangs, they were far from prepossessing in appearance.
The first comic to draw the Oparians was early on, with Rex Maxon’s drawings for Hugh Hutton’s adaptation. These comic strips appeared in 1929. Maxon makes them very ape-like. The colorists indicates the apes from the Oparians using color. The apes at the top are brown while the Oparians are blue.
Gold Key Comics did a single issue version for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #156 (February 1966) written by Gaylord Du Bois. The cover is by George Wilson, showing both La and her men, while the interior art was done by Russ Manning. Manning follows ERB’s description, giving them long hair and beards.
The next adaptation is by DC Comics in the 1970s. Joe Kubert did the writing and drawing for Tarzan #219-223, (April-September 1973) though it is the last two issues that feature Opar. Joe Kubert follows Manning’s lead, with the beards but somehow makes them look for primitive.
The last comic version was Dark Horse’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Return of Tarzan in three issues (April-June 1997) written and drawn by Tom Yeates. Two of the covers feature La and her Oparian men. These were done by John Totleben. Tom Yeates’ Oparians are hairier and more apish than previous.
Queen La is pretty much front and center in this book. She is gorgeous but also jealous, spending a lot of her time wanting to sacrifice Jane. Burroughs explains about the Oparian connection with Atlantis and how the men became so ugly:
La knew that she was beautiful—and she was beautiful, not by the standards of prehistoric Atlantis alone, but by those of modern times was La physically a creature of perfection. Before Tarzan came that first time to Opar, La had never seen a human male other than the grotesque and knotted men of her clan. With one of these she must mate sooner or later that the direct line of high priestesses might not be broken, unless Fate should bring other men to Opar. Before Tarzan came upon his first visit, La had had no thought that such men as he existed, for she knew only her hideous little priests and the bulls of the tribe of great anthropoids that had dwelt from time immemorial in and about Opar, until they had come to be looked upon almost as equals by the Oparians. Among the legends of Opar were tales of godlike men of the olden time and of black men who had come more recently; but these latter had been enemies who killed and robbed. And, too, these legends always held forth the hope that some day that nameless continent from which their race had sprung, would rise once more out of the sea and with slaves at the long sweeps would send her carven, gold-picked galleys forth to succor the long-exiled colonists.
Tarzan And the Jewels of Opar
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (All-Story Weekly, November 18-December 16, 1916) was Tarzan’s fifth book and not rated very highly by Richard A. Lupoff: “In September and October, 1915, Burroughs wrote Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, which may be considered the last novel in the original Tarzan chronology. The quality is not very great, the plot is still a continuation of the original elements introduced in earlier books…” In other words, not much new, with Tarzan making a second trip to the treasure vault because he needs money. (Swinging through the trees and fighting lions, doesn’t pay as well as you might think.)
Rex Maxon again did the first version of the novel for the comic strips in March-July 1930.
Gold Key was next with a three issue adaptation in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #159-161 ( August- October 1966) written by Gaylord Du Bois and drawn by Russ Manning.
Russ Manning got a nice new cover for a reprint by Dark Horse in 1999.
It wasn’t DC who did the next one but Marvel Comics who got the license after DC. Tarzan #1-3 (June-August 1977) gave us one Oparian cover. The novel was adapted by Roy Thomas. Art was by John Buscema alone for #1-2 but inked by Conan alumnus Tony deZuniga for #3,
Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 9, 1922-January 20, 1923) has a third time Tarzan needs money (because of supporting the war effort) and goes to Opar with his new golden lion. He puts La back on the throne by the end of the book. Not much new here but it did get one comic book adaptation from Gold Key. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #172-173 (October-December 1967) again Gaylord du Bois and Russ Manning do the honors.
Tarzan the Invincible
Tarzan the Invincible (The Blue Book Magazine, October 1930-April 1931) has another kick at the cat (Jad-Bal-Ja would not appreciate that!) Again Tarzan must intervene to put La back in charge. The Communists are behind the plot and Tarzan beats them too. (Burroughs was not a fan of any government that would pinch his royalties.) Unlike the previous magazine appearances, this novel was lucky to be in Blue Book, the most illustrated of all the Pulps. Frank Hoban got to draw the Oparians and their queen.
Again Only Gold Key did a comic version in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #182-183 (February-April 1969) written by Gaylord du Bois and drawn by Doug Wildey. Wildey took his direction from Manning but manages to make the Oparians look a little more shaggy.
Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins
Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1927/1963) has a complicated history. The first half “The Tarzan Twins” appeared as a book in 1927. “Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins With Jad-Bal-ja the Golden Lion” appeared as a Big Little Book in 1936. The two were combined in 1963 by Canaveral Press. The comic was adapted and drawn in Gold Key’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #196 (October 1970) by Mike Royer. Read the whole thing here.
Conclusion
Opar wasn’t finished with the death of ERB in 1950. The prehistory of the Atlaneans appeared in Philip Jose Farmer’s Opar novels Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974), Flight to Opar (1976) and The Song of Kwasin (20212) with Christopher Paul Carey. These books don’t feature La or hairy apemen but are set before the decline of the Atlanteans. As you can see from Roy Krenkel’s DAW cover, Hadon is not hairy at all. I’m not sure why Farmer wanted to write the pre-history of Opar though it is only suggested by ERB and open to plenty of original material.
I do understand that he feels some kind of sympathy for these hairy dudes. Unlike the Sagoths, they aren’t cruel and mostly evil. They have developed a weird civilization that requires human-looking male children and hairy girls to be cast over a cliff. This strange sexual di-morphism is important to them for some reason. Burroughs created the idea for obvious reasons, to get La to fall in love with Tarzan, being both strong and less hairy. Now if we can only address those large cash withdrawals, Lord Greystoke…
Space Opera from RAGE m a c h i n e
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