Collecting things

I wonder if who will do it? 

A pair of Epoch Family Kamishibai sets may be nice.

Ripoffs and competitors

Here come the rip-offs and competitors....

Soyuzmutfilm made two largely faithful adaptations of both Rikki Tikki Tavi and the Jungle Book eight years apart.

Chuck Jones made two decent-quality competitor adaptations of both Rikki Tikki Tavi and The Jungle Book a year apart.

At the same time, Filmation made a celluloid animated tv show, which was its own decent-quality adaptation of the Tarzan books that lasted from 1976 to 1980.

Nippon Animation made a celluloid anime, which was its own good-quality competitor adaptation of The Jungle Book lasting from 1989 to 1990.

Golden films made two rip-offs of both The Jungle Book and Tarzan nine years apart, even though it was the Tarzan film that fared better in terms of faithfullness and quality. The Jungle Book ripoff with redhead Mowgli was, strangely enough, the first Jungle Book adaptation with Jim Cummings, predating the Jungle Book 2 by 12 years.

Bevanfield films made its own ripoff of The Jungle Book in 1992. It was crude and in poor quality.

Jetlag productions made a good quality and relatively faithful competitor version of The Jungle Book in 1995.

Low budget German cartoon studio Dingo Pictures made its own ripoff of Tarzan in 1999. It was a very crude and poor quality film called Lord of the Jungle. 

DQ Entertainment still makes a 3D tv show and its various film spinoffs, which are its own decent-quality competitor adaptations of The Jungle Book.

Constantin Film made a badly motion captured ripoff version of Tarzan in 2013.

Arad Animation made a disappointing competitor adaptation of the Tarzan books for Netflix, which lasted from 2017 to 2018.

Jungle Lovers and Jungle Yarns

An upcoming anthology

The scenery of Joe Kubert’s Tor

Joe Kubert’s Tor is known not just for its large array of stone punk archetypes, it is also known for its amazing scenery. 

The 1953-54+1975-76+Sojourn incarnation has the prototypical Tor living in a subtropical savannah, indicating that the prototypical series is somehow set in a fantasised cross of Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, PRC, Myanmar, and northeast India.

The 1993 incarnation has its variant of Tor living in a patch of the Himalayan foothills, indicating that it’s set in a fantasised mix of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, which are three North Indian states. 

The 2008 incarnation has another variant of Tor living in both the jungle and savannah, indicating that it’s set in a mix of south and southeast Asian nations. 

Adapting the Classics: Tor

After a sludge of potentially good concepts never came up within Joe Kubert’s lifespan, his character Tor strongly needs an animated series of his own, which is mostly because another prehistoric fantasy concept, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, has become a success both nationally and internationally due to having little dialogue. 

Sometimes I’ll add female characters into a proposed animated series centring around Tor himself, such as the lady wearing a diadem (who appeared in the original 50s prototype and its 70s remake), a fawned over redhead (who appeared in the 90s series) and a mysterious grey skinned lady (who appeared in A Prehistoric Odyssey). 

In the proposed animated series, Tor himself is the bereaving son of a brutal female warrior and her somewhat nebbish bodyguard, and it is he who also has a redhead son, a brown haired grandson, and a crapload of great grandchildren. 

Rulaman: the prehistoric fantasy novel that inspired generations

Rulaman is a popular public domain classic which has been translated into Russian, Korean and other languages, but not into English yet. 

There’s a high probability that Rulaman inspired Joe Kubert’s Tor, Shotaro Ishinomori’s Ryū the prehistoric boy, Jong Jin Yi’s Baba the cave boy, and various other prehistoric heroes. 

The significance of Joe Kubert’s Tor

Tor is a prehistoric fantasy comic franchise co-created by the late Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer (but owned from the 80s-90s onward by the super talented artist and later his own studio, Joe Kubert Productions). 

There’s the 1950s Tor comic book series and its own kin. 

The 1950s series is the prototype for all the other incarnations. The prototype’s eponymous hero is considerably lighter and softer than other incarnations. He strived for a better world. 

While the 1975 DC series is largely a remake cum reprint, it’s safe for me to assume that this incarnation’s eponymous hero also appears in a then all new volume 1, itself a revised origin of his own backstory, which began life as a failed comic strip. The two sojourn strips made in 1977 are technically both loose sequels to the St John incarnation and the pilots to both the Marvel and DC incarnations. 

There’s also the 1993 Marvel series, which is perhaps a darker but more ponderous continuity reboot to both the 50s and 70s incarnations. There’s also a short story made in 1991 which is its beginning. Its eponymous hero, now a gritty fella, must survive in a world just as unforgivingly deadly as it was when his father was once alive. 

The 2008 DC series, a more optimistic continuity reboot of both the St John-Sojourn and Marvel incarnations has its eponymous hero go into a mysterious mountain containing a deadly underground world.