Wednesday, 29 July 2020

Original Characters revision Part 21

Devoleena - A demon regular in Plainsville School. 
Mahika - Mahika is another of Tarzan’s illegitimate children. 
Ralph Parker - a Boyfriend of the Miller Sisters. Based on Manning’s Kavandavanda. 
Cordelia Adams - Cordelia is Georgia and Harry’s daughter, who is the snobbish, vitriolic best friend of Gemma Andrews. 
Gemma Kimana Andrews - Gemma is one of the more interesting characters in Swampworld. 
Marnie Beaner - Bassom’s wife. 
Zubair - Zubair is one of the more interesting characters in the mind screw that is The Jungle Book. 
Harika - Harika is one of the fans. She is Based on Sarah Ghost's fan character Jade. 
Zoraida - Zoraida is a messenger to Mowgli. 
Carla Bloomsbury - Bassom’s daughter. She’ll marry. 
Barsha Kirya - Barsha Kirya, also known as Kirya, is one of Tarzan’s friends. 
Chumley Bloomsbury - Catherine and Zachary’s son. 
Aindrita - She is one of the recurring characters in Pazia's Lament. 
Daryl - A Flesh Golem Buddy. 
Kiana - Kiana is one of the greats. 
Genelia Savage - Genelia is Jupitora’s younger sister and the wife of Oliver Savage. 
Jupitora Savage - Jupitora Savage is Wiley’s wife.  
Ahaana - Ahaana is one of Tarzan’s supposedly Illegitimate children. 




Nive - Nive is another illegitimate child of Tarzan. 





Riley Payne - Riley Payne is the husband of Tabitha Cohen. 
Saya Linette Payne - Saya Payne is Tabitha Cohen’s and Riley Payne’s child. 
Cinna - She is the cinnamon haired illegitimate child of Tarzan. 

Saturday, 25 July 2020

Chilean Tarzan clones! Part 1

BY MAURICIO GARCÍA

On this occasion I want to make an outline of the Chilean comic magazines dedicated to adventures in the jungle or with content related to the subject and the mention of some international characters of the aforementioned genre who have been present in magazines published in the country, excluding magazines foreigners that circulate or circulated in Chile.

In the first place we will treat as adventures in the jungle those carried out by children raised by animals; men or women who live in this area, in struggle with nature or with ambitious adventurers and the adventures of hunters or guardians of their secrets or nature, among others. They are the main themes imposed by the precursors of the genre in the novels: Rudyard Kipling and his tales of the tropical forests and Edgar Rice Burroughs with Tarzan. Also Alex Raymond with the comic Jungle Jim and Lee Falk with The Phantom.

The first adventure comics in the jungle.

As it happens in other manifestations of the comic strip, in Chile there are Comic Strips of adventures in the jungle that could be called pioneers, where classic topics such as children raised with animals are discussed and Tarzan, the king of the jungle, is presented in a booklet style, generally without sandwiches, with text at the bottom of the drawing, in magazines that initially they maintained a majority percentage of stories or continuous novels and only in the mid-twentieth century they are true comic magazines, with a large number of series in panels on their pages, until they reached one or two fixed protagonists per number. In this case we are interested in highlighting that the first comics are made for newspapers, especially the journalistic consortia of the United States, generally with comics or humorous cartoons. The first adventure cartoon proper is from 1929: Tarzan, the man raised by apes and who becomes king of the African jungle, based on the famous novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who had also succeeded in film. The drawings were by Harold Foster, later famous fo Prince Valiant, who adapted Tarzan, the ape man, which, with its success, gave rise to the comic saga that we all know and its multiple imitations.

In our country, among the comics and magazines that collected these adventures, it is worth highlighting: In the newspaper La Nación since approximately 1938 and for almost 30 years Tarzan was published. In El Colegial, a magazine published by Eleodoro Caro in 1942, the New Adventures of the Werewolf (Nuevas Aventuras del Hombre Lobo) appear, based on Mowgli, the famous character in The Jungle Book by English writer Rudyard Kipling. The adaptation and drawings are made by Machuca, of which we have no further background. There are two pages per number, in a brochure and text at the bottom of the comic.

Kipling's work would only have a real quality comic strip adaptation in El Cabrito, by Editorial Zig Zag, between 1946-47. The author is the great Spanish draftsman and screenwriter Victor de la Fuente, who lived in Chile during those years. The work is presented under the name of The Jungle Book (El Libro de la Selva), on a 1 page panel, with text at the bottom of the drawing.

Returning to Tarzan, in the magazine El Peneca, by Editorial Zig Zag, which circulated with great success between 1908 and 1960, with more than 2800 issues, Sandar, the titan, who is the local counterpart to Tarzan by Burne Hogarth, one of the best known cartoonists after Harold Foster. Also in El Cabrito, since No. 288, April 1947, and syndicated by the United Features Syndicate, Tarzan by Rex Maxon is published, the same cartoonist as from No. 8 in the magazine Okey, by Zig Zag, of October 24, 1949, presents The new adventures of Tarzan, sometimes on the cover, with two pages, in a booklet and text at the bottom of the drawing.

There are also other stories with a jungle setting. In the 1940s there is one that was not a comic strip itself, called Linda and the Jungle Boy (Linda y El Niño de la Selva), by Mario Silva Ossa, the famous Coré, whose hero, the boy Kendru, would have been a precedent for Mario Igor and his future work The Untouchable (El Intocable). Also The Adventures of Bill and Bosy, a shipwrecked boy and an indigenous boy on an island, which was created in the late 1950s.

Okey was one of the most prominent comic magazines, with more than 850 issues, with a first stage in black and white, plus a light brown color, with a format larger than the traditional magazines, 36 x 21 cm, and after almost 800 numbers would change colour, with 32 pages and a format that would become almost uniform, 26 x 18 centimeters. In panel style, it published foreign, unsigned cartoons, such as Togar, a young shipwrecked person in Asia, or stories such as The White Elephant with white hunters in Asia.

It was also usual, from 1954, a series with a heroine named Blonde Panther (Pantera Bionda), an Italian classic, but identified in some magazines as created by the late artist Ingam, which features a blonde Amazon in the jungles of Borneo and fellow islands of the Sunda archipelago probing around. The artist's real name is Enzo Magni and the scripts are by Gian Domenico Dalmasso himself.

In addition, in the 1950s, since 1955, he published an American classic: Jungle Jim by Alex Raymond, about a hunter in the jungles of Burma and Asia in general. Sinbad magazine also had it on its pages. We will talk about this comic later, when dealing with his own magazine.

In Pulgarcito, by Editorial Arcilla, during the early 1950s the series Aventuras de Aguilucho was published, which we will also talk about later, when dealing with his magazine. The material was exclusively American, prepared by the King Features Syndicate in daily size. The magazine is Sinbad (Sindbad). I present a story called Prisoners of the Jivaros in the 1950s.

In the magazine Cascabel, published by El Mercurio, through Editorial Lord Cochrane, between 1960 and 1962, a series is presented with another heroine of the jungle, Rani of the Tigers (Rani De Los Tigres), a princess of India, who first appeared in N ° 1 of the magazine, on the cover, is usually presented. No signature. The usual dress of the protagonists of these stories was a kind of bikini, leopard skin or another animal. Also, in Cascabel there was a giant blonde from the African jungle, Lovarzán, signed by Syd Shores, with some cover signed by Abel Romero.
 
The golden age of the Chilean adventure cartoon.

In 1966, as a secondary character in the magazine la historia de Chile, under the direction of Enrique Melcherts at Phoenix Ltda. Editions, named Pardo, the lord of the jungle, was born, with a script by Ruth Eliana Merino, first scriptwriter of adventure comics. and drawings by Eduardo González Olea. Of course, the protagonist's outfit is leopard skin.

In the same year and following Editorial Zig Zag begins the publication of two adventure magazines in the jungle: El Intocable and Jungla, both with 32 pages, in colour, biweekly, with more than 150 issues each.

El Intocable magazine was published between 1966 and 1972, first by Zig Zag and then Editorial Quimantú. Initially monthly, then biweekly. The adventures of Mizomba, a white, blond giant, with his leopard skin outfit as all clothing are presented. Raised by a black king in the equatorial African jungle, after the death of his parents on the Argos yacht, a recurring theme in many stories. Mizomba, with his dog Kiron and the Walkis, warriors who obey him, is the scourge of slave hunters, mainly Arabs, fighter against unscrupulous hunters, help of explorers and scientists, all between the love of a young black woman named Karola and a beautiful white lady, Mariana. Stories also abound in strange places, of extinct cultures or distant time periods, animals with strange powers and black magic of their occasional enemies.

The story is a creation of the Zig Zag Comic Department, with scripts by José Zamorano and drawings by Sam (Samuel Gana) and Mario Igor. After the first numbers, Abel Romero, José Orellana, Hernán Jirón, Máximo Carvajal, Hildegardo Igor, Lincoln Fuentes, Manuel Cárdenas, Juan Francisco Jara and Manuel Soto, among others, also draw. In general, the continuity of the stories is not very faithful and in some cases the script and/or the drawing is irregular.

In the first stage, by Zig Zag, there is usually as a complementary series a story of a hunter named Tipp Kenya (Kenia), a creation by Héctor Germán Hoesterlheld and drawings by Carlos Roume, both from Argentina. Later he's drawn by the Chilean G. de la Vega.

We will expand on the Quimantú era and a second stage of the magazine later.

The magazine, Jungla, published between 1967 and 1975, monthly and then biweekly, started with two base characters who each occupied almost half of the magazine: Mawa and Elundí. The latter would eventually disappear in the face of public preference for the former. Both stories are located in the Amazon and the Matto Grosso.

Elundí is the white Jivaro, a mestizo or caboclo, the son of an explorer and an indigenous woman. The stories had a good plot and drawings of a quality superior to the medium, showing the character in permanent contrast with society, as in the rescue of an astronaut, fighting against hunters or wars between the peoples of the Amazon, with a very expeditious justice. In No. 1, Juan Bley is indicated as a screenwriter. The cartoonists: Juan Francisco Jara, Mario Igor, Manuel Rojas, Germán Gabler, Abel Romero, Máximo Carvajal and Manuel Cárdenas.

Mawa is the priestess of the Devil's Chair, who is white and with a mysterious past related to India. It is a story that takes the classic Sheena and the Blonde Panther, as well as Pardo’s leather suit. She reigns in the Amazon jungle with the help of the Great Lotus, a wise old man, two jaguars who obey her and a group of warriors, with whom she faces hunters, explorers, mad scientists, mysteries, monsters and, on occasions, she comes out in defence of the earth against aliens.

The search for her origin makes her leave the Mato Grosso on a trip to India, facing new adventures, in the company of an indigenous person and a mestizo hunter, with whom there is an ambiguous love relationship. The stories acquire a certain police character, being perhaps the best moment of the series.

The initial scripts are by Juan Bley and Juan Marino. The base cartoonist was Juan Francisco Jara. Hernán Jirón, Lincoln Fuentes, Guillermo Varas and others also collaborated. In this first stage, Zig Zag, a series titled Shekkai, a boy in the Indian jungle, who communicates with animals, was presented without a signature.

Later we will continue with the character and his change during the publication by Quimantú and then the Editorial Gabriela Mistral. In the picaresque sphere, which in the 50s and 60s had varied productions, the long-running magazine El Pingüino stands out, which in the mid-60s featured on its pages a great cartoon about a certain king of the jungle, Farzán by Hervi (Hernán Vidal), which was also published in the Can Can magazine. Likewise, in El Pingüino, the great Themo Lobos achieves a high-quality semi-rich comic Tarzan, the cute man in a series about the heroes of the 20th century.

In humor, in Condorito, by Pepo, Condorzán appears, in an obvious caricature of the king of the apes and permanent adventures of hunters, cannibals. There is even a special Condorito in the jungle, No. 4 of the thematic compilation.

For its part, Lord Cochrane Editorial, from 1967 and 1968, by agreement with King Features Syndicate, published in color, in 32-page magazines, three classic jungle adventures well known in Chile for their appearance in newspapers. and magazines: El Fantasma, Jim de la Selva and Aventuras de Aguilucho.

The first, The Phantom, created by Lee Falk in 1936, with drawings by various authors, especially Ray Moore and Sy Barry. Bill Lignante signs in the magazine. The walking ghost, the twentieth hero wearing the violet suit and mask that identifies him, the guardian of Bengalla, an eternal fighter against piracy and crime in the jungle. The character also appeared at length in the newspaper La Tercera. In the magazine appears like complementary series King, Queen and Jack, about two hunters and a young orphan and Hunter, a hunter and his friend Oloo.

The second character, Jim de la Selva, based on Alex Raymond's character, Jungle Jim, contains drawings by various cartoonists, including Paul Norris and Frank Thorne. They are an adventurer hunter and his helper in the jungles of India or Malaysia. Back stories are Shankar the Shikari, a hunter's guide, and Ranee the tigress, where an Asian tigress's lifestyle is shown.

The last character is Aguilucho and his friend Pepe, known internationally as Tim Tyler’s Luck (in Spain Jorge and Fernando). A Creation of Lyman Young, it presents Aguilucho in his adventure stage in Africa, in the Patrol of Nadowa or Ivory, a police entity in an Africa without identity or culture. The artist who did it the longest was Nat Edson. The comic strip also appeared in the newspapers El Mercurio and La Tercera.

Despite all their historical interest, we will not go into all of them for being foreign material. Largely national in nature, Editorial Lord Cochrane presents the Mampato magazine, generally 52 pages, in color, in a 28 x 21 cm format. The main character is a boy, Mampato, created by Eduardo Armstrong and Oscar Vega, Oskar, in the drawing. But it would be Themo Lobos after the first numbers that would immortalise him in scripts and drawings. Mampato, despite his stories in space and time, is an adventure character who, since magazine issue 105, January 1972, begins a long adventure in the Congo, Africa, together with Ogú and Ojo Mágico, a great hunter. In pursuit of the evil Smith and Wesson, they stumble across the elephant graveyard and other classic elements of the jungle adventure.

Notwithstanding this adventure, the magazine includes in its almost ten years of existence other adventures set in the jungle, some with a mixture of science fiction, which with the classic continued delighted us every week, apart from Max the explorer, a humorous one page cartoon. For the time of publication of the rest of the material, we will deal with it later.
 

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Tarzan clones of yesteryear and now

There are Saturnin Farandoul, Mowgli, Tarzan, Paw and Bomba clones of a worthy note. Whereas Souji Yamakawa actually saw "Tarzan of the apes" starring Elmo Lincoln, which was released in Japan in 1918, others didn't watch and read about the character at all, just creating other character clones.

Saturnin Farandoul possibly has the fewest clones due to the fact that both Mowgli and Tarzan, as well as Bomba, are far more popular choices than him. 
John Arthur Livingstone - Apart From Kenzo Masaoka’s feral boys raised by Monkeys and Squids, Possibly the only direct Saturnin Farandoul clone on record. Raised by a community of misplaced apes on a jungled island. He is Inspired by Taku Horie’s Shonen Harimau, Shishio and Kazuo Fukuyama’s Jungle Kid, as well as Ejim from the Tombiruo books. 
Hictaner - A minor but significant French pulp character, 
Hictaner inspired his more famous Russian expy Ichthyander and, in terms of his design’s colour, the latter’s own much more famous successor DevilMan.
The titular character of the Island of Regeneration - this character himself inspired Ichthyader, Kroom, Dolphin Boy and Mar (also called Tamar). 
Monkey Boy - Monkey Boy is a boy raised by Monkeys. He himself inspired the protagonist of the Panther’s Fangs manga by Mitsuo Higashiura and the two protagonists of the Kamishibai plays ‘Cry of the Beast’ and ‘Shonen Taro’. 
Squid Boy - Squid Boy is the adoptive brother of Monkey Boy. He Mara the Island Princess and many others, including Yutaka Yoshida’s own Wolf Boy, the rather disparate basis for Toei’s Wolf Boy Ken. 

Polaris is possibly a prototype Tarzan clone himself, appearing only a year after Tarzan of the Apes was published. He spawned imitators named Kioga, who lives with Native Alaskans in the Northwest of Alaska, Shasta, who is raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, Tarsa, who was raised by bears in a northern Scandinavian forest instead of being completely isolated (but is more of a Popeye expy, mind you), Ozar who was raised by the Aztecs, and Zagor, who rules the forest of Connecticut. 

Tarzan clones are among the most common of all. 
Shonen Champion Shingo - Shingo is a Tarzan clone raised by gorillas. Definitely the first major true Tarzan clone ever created outside of America. He spawned imitators like Tarna, Zomba, Kinki, Tambu, Banto, Jungle Champ, King Somai, Karzak and Shonen Congo. 
Orzowei - Orzowei is basically the Male counterpart of Sheena, but in South Africa. He inspired Hyo (Damon) in Wild Damon. 
Simba Bwana - Bwana Simba is the companion to Jungla, also known as having a brother named Kiwi in Italy or Tiki in France. Unlike most Tarzan clones, it is clear that whilst he appeared in family comics like his predecessor, his older sister Jungla appeared in adult comics. 
Kaspa - Kaspa the Lion man is Tarzan’s Blonde British equivalent raised by lions. He spawned imitators like Tarzaneta, Kwa, Camilla, Durga Rani, Saari, Zegra and Shuna. 
Nanuk - Nanuk is the first known Tarzan clone in the Spanish speaking world. He spawned imitators like Zorro of the Jungle and his competitor Kal, Tirza, Lovarzan, Tibor, Mowg, Zago and the original Hispanic Lion Man. 
Anelope Boy - Susumu Egawa and Toraichi Suma's own character is rather interestingly raised by antelopes. 
Sheena - Sheena was the first major comic book heroine. She also inspired a slew of jungle girls as well as two tv shows and a film. 
Ultus - Ultus is the first major Tarzan clone in the Hispanophone world. He spawned a more famous imitator named Akim, as well as the lesser known Yarmak and Jon of the Jungle. 
Shonen Baboon - Baboon boy was interestingly the equivalent of Shingo and the gang in East Africa, as he himself is somewhat inspired by The Jungle Goddess, a girl raised by jackals, and Lord of the Leopards by F. A. M. Webster. 
Ki Gor - Ki Gor is the blonde equivalent of Tarzan who was raised primarily by elephants. He influenced Zago, Yarmak, Tamulah and Zanthar. 
Kaanga - Kaanga is Ki Gor's comic book equivalent. He spawned many imitators like San Dar, Tamar, Zago, Azan, Konga, Tambu, Princess Vishnu, Bombo and Jungle Jo. 
Silac - Silac is a Tarzan clone whose companions are lions. He himself inspired the Jungle Falcon (Oerwoudvalk), Red John (ROOI Jan), and the Black Leopard (Swart Luiperd), all South African pulp icons. 
Rulah - Rulah is unusual in that she got stranded in the Nile Valley. She inspired an imitator named Jungle Lil. 
Baruuba - Baruuba is a Tarzan clone who is not just biracial, but also raised by lions and chimps. Baruuba spawned an early imitator, Jungle Boy King Ken (aka the prototype for Wolf Boy Ken) from Kobunsha, best known as the publisher of Astro Boy, and Tatsuomi Yamauchi's Jungle Angel.
Shonen Kenya Wataru - Wataru is unusual among Tarzan clones in which he was stranded in Kenya as a preteen. His companion (genre and title wise anyway) is the Baboon Boy and more commonly Kate O'Connell. 
Anjani - Tarzan's British clone who was raised by a tribe.
Taburay - Mexican Tarzan clone created by Beiker and Leopoldo Zea Salas. 
Gogu - Created by Adrian Luky. 
Buruuba - Buruuba is Baruuba's film equivalent. He inspired Barú, a Mexican film character and Kyuuta Ishikawa’s own Shōnen Buruuba. 
Zamba - The name of both Mr Kyuuta Ishikawa's and Wasuke Abe’s much lesser known creations. The former’s is actually Brooba as a teenager, even though his other inspiration is also the first Zamba Kun. 
An - Mitsuteru Yokoyama's only Tarzan inspired creation. 
Asai Sau - The female equivalent of Baruuba. She is inspired by Brazil’s Morena Flor and South Africa’s Tamar, plus Britain’s Zanna and Torama.

Mowgli and Toomai clones are so called because of Asia’s diverse geography. Although not as prominent as Tarzan clones, Mowgli and Toomai clones are mostly characters with different roles. 
Nanga - Nanga is the first known Mowgli clone. He appeared in Jungle Born by John Seymour Eyton. 
Hari - Hari Is the first Mowgli clone created by a Southern Asian, who was also an Indian! He himself inspired Hathoo of the Elephants and Jong Jin Lee/Yi’s Wang Guru. 
Kulafu - Kulafu was the first Mowgli clone of the Philippines. He inspired Hirro, Talahib, Dumagit and most famously Hagibis. Like Tarzan and later Hagibis, Kulafu has a wife and a son. 
Saro - Saro appears in the jungle book tv series by Magic Video. He is himself inspired by Sam of the Jungle and Roy Tiger the Jungle Boy. 
Kore - Mexican Tarzan and Mowgli clone created by Alfonso Tirado. 
Mawa - Though raised In the Amazon, She is more of a Mowgli clone than most Bomba clones are. 
Tam - Tam is the world’s first Major Mowgli clone. He inspired and spawned imitators named Raani from Prince of the Jungle, Sangroo, Rani De Los Tigres, Nyla, Kim, Tajo and Shekkai. 
Shonen Tiger - Shonen Tiger is definitely the world's first major true Mowgli clone outside of America (he's created in 1932), though the character (or at least a later character inspired by the original) didn't see the light of the mainstream until being transformed into an emonogatari series in the later part of the 1950s. Shonen Tiger is raised by a big tigress called the Queen of Asia and plays an active role in the Great Plains and mountainous areas of Asia. There was a beautiful girl called Kana, a white skeleton demon named White Skull with a golden bat-like appearance, and the Devil "Godem Roccon, Roccon Godem" as a main enemy, and Black Satan, who appears with a mysterious snake as his beloved pet. 
Sorak - Sorak is Mowgli’s Malaysian equivalent. 
Sandor - Sandor is notable for being the first major true Mowgli clone in the Anglophone comics. Though little known today, he competed with and spawned a lot of foreign imitators with different roles like Kazanda, Bantan (likely mixed European-Polynesian), Bengala (has English immigrant parents but is Indian born), Wambi (most likely a northeast Indian), Sahib Tigre (likely a mixed race Anglo Indian) and Kali Kriss. 
Taj - Taj is the first Mowgli clone who isn’t fair skinned. She influenced a longer lasting imitator named Tarou, who is also biracial but Malaysian born. 
La Tigre Bianca - La Tigre Bianca is definitely the first major female Mowgli clone, even though she had Irish parents. Her companion was Rikki. 
Wiro - Wiro spawned imitators like Waro, Tiwi, Zanga, Gogo, Cempaka, Jakawana (likely Peranakan Indonesian), Yimbo, Mala and Kali Kriss plus Marimba. He is most likely a mixed chinese-Batak, but has also been acknowledged as the first Tarzan clone to be a fanboy of Tarzan himself. 
Shonen Wolf - Wolf Boy is one of the Japanese Mowgli clones. His companion is Sonia Jones. 
Dumagit - Dumagit is A Mowgli Clone inspired by Nanga of Jungle Born and Carlos Roume’s Sabú. 
Nizar - Nizar is a blonde Mowgli clone whose companion is a tiger. He is inspired by Sōji Yamakawa’s Tiger Boy. 
Ken - Perhaps the most notable Mowgli clone ever created, though the misplaced cultures and wildlife aren’t much of a deal because his show is a fantasy comedy series. 
Gora Gopal - Gora Gopal is notable for being the blonde masculine equivalent of La Tigre Bianca. He himself inspired Toto from Toto’s World and the Prince of Wolf’s titular character. 
Takina - Takina is a Mowgli clone appearing in the mockbuster Jungle Boy. He’s actually a rebadged BaRuuba though, but his backstory is much lighter and softer than in the original BaRuuba no Bōken books. 
Iyawadee - This is the female equivalent of Mowgli, raised by orangutans instead of wolves. She is somewhat influenced by Krishna from a live action film called Jungle Boy, not to be confused with the Good Times cartoon. 
Fathiyah - Iyawadee’s Indonesian equivalent, actually the nickname of at least three jungle girls, all played by a single actress. 

Paw and Bomba clones are of the more obscure variety. 
Jan - Jan of the Jungle is not just a Tarzan or Bomba clone, but a subversion too. Instead of the parents being dead, they do not remember him at all. He spawned imitators like Tukano, Banga, Jaragu, Congo Jack, Okara, the first Ka ZAR, and Charka. 
Jukan - Jukan is Scandinavia's gritty blonde equivalent of Bomba. He inspired Ruthie O’Rourke and in turn is inspired by Torry Gredsted’s Paw. 
Shonen Zamba - Shonen Zamba is set initially in Mato Grosso, though misplaced wildlife and cultures aren't much of a deal, as this is likely a Kazuyoshi ‘Wasuke’ Abe comic which did blend a couple of cultures because Brazil is itself a multicultural country. 
Yataca - Yataca is France's equivalent of Bomba, though he was born to and raised by his geologist parents in South America instead of being not remembered by them. He then moved to Africa as well.
Kio - A Chilean Bomba Clone who lives in the Amazon. His contemporary is Tumac and his expy is Shu Hagiwara of the Nice Barbarian (ステキに野蛮人) manga by Kazuyoshi ‘Wayu’ Suzumiya. 

Sunday, 19 July 2020

Routsos and the Second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 7

It is now the only publication of "jungle" adventures, since the competing publications (Peratzakis' Tarzan) could not stand and closed. Its circulation is absolutely satisfactory. A rather incomprehensible announcement appeared in the pages of issue 31 of the first period announcing the publication of a top magazine twice a week. It is not known if this was done at least once, as the release dates show a weekly release. The reading, however, was reduced in favour of other readings, which were not written by Routsos the great. 

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. However, readers were asked to pre-register (without, however, prepaying) to calculate the circulation. It seems that not many people subscribed. The "rival" company of Georgiadis - Anemodoura has been publishing "Superman" since the middle of 1951, a weekly issue of science fiction adventures.

The magazine, written by Thanos Astritis (Anemodoura) and illustrated by V. Aptosoglou, offered its readers dynamic adventures of a group of superheroes made in Greece. The team is led by the alien Jim Clark, a world-renowned journalist for a major New York newspaper, which was the alter ego of Superman. The hero was endowed with tremendous strength, supernatural endurance, and in addition flew with frightening speed. All this, of course, refers directly to the internationally known Superman of the American comic book of the same title, but ostensibly this hero was a pure cloning of the then lesser-known American comic book Captain Marvel.

The hero's companions and competitors were: El Greco, a Greek who lived and worked in America, a scientist with a rare brain, and who married his daughter Astrapis. There was also his son Keravnos. His grandchildren, Yperellinas and Simon, were later added to the group. (This clearly shows the contrast with Superman who is always alone, as well as the resemblance to Captain Marvel who also has a family). There were of course the jokes of the company, with the first and best super dwarf Kontostoupis.
 
So the readers read science fiction stories in which the Superman and his company faced terrible and formidable enemies of humanity, of earthly or extraterrestrial origin, who all wanted to enslave or destroy our suffering planet. The Superman went out to the stands every Tuesday, as did Gaur-Tarzan. Of course, he could not become a seriously dangerous competitor, but he had his own fanatical audience. Many children of the time tried to read both magazines, which they often did, mainly through borrowing.

Post-war Greece was so poor that the 2,000 drachmas (ie 2 drachmas) that each issue cost was a prohibitive amount. Most parents could not afford to buy two magazines instead of one. Routsos, however, was watching everything that was happening around him. Being able to perform equally well in many fields of writing, in order to further shield his defence, he enriched his material with science fiction adventures, always in combination with the permanent and definitely more intimate jungle stories.

In this way his readers could satisfy any additional interests they had by reading only one magazine, his own. This prevented all those who might have thought of "converting" by joining the other camp. So, with the appearance of the crazy criminal scientists Krab and Krause and mainly with the invention of Lightning and the Storm (children of Gaur and Tarzan respectively) who were also wise long-range scientists (worthy opponents of "El Greco's" ), began to offer its readers stories of great interest to them. So while the "war" was going on, this battle was won.

The next "attack" of the Anemodouras - Georgiadis on Routsos took place on Thursday, July 3, 1952, when a new magazine with jungle adventures was published called "Targa, the fearless Greek boy".

The hero here too was of course (what else?) Of Greek origin. He was about 20 years old. With his companion, the beautiful and very shapely Maloa and his funny assistant Atsidas, they fought everything that every similar self-respecting hero fights: The enemies of all kinds and forms and the servants of evil, wherever it comes from.. And among so many other terrible people, he was confronted by a group of Nazi Germans operating in the jungle and led by the cruel, ruthless criminal Zanour. And as the subsequent publishing developments showed, Anemodouras has since been preparing the ground for the upcoming Little Hero that was released later. This is also indicated by the fact that in a fascinating approx, Targa managed to prevent the Nazis from firing rockets from their secret airport into the jungle and destroying London, Paris and Athens. How did he do it?

He stole a German tank and while driving it (!) He killed the Germans, and at the same time destroyed the airport. (An adventure of a completely similar action was written several years later by Anemodouras for the Little Hero in the same exotic places, where he also exterminated the Germans and destroyed their hidden airport, etc.). A jungle comic called Targa was released in France in 1947, which had absolutely nothing to do with the Greek intellectual child of Anemodouras. This comic had published 39 issues. In Greece, of course, it was completely unknown and few people learned anything about it.

Anemodouras seems to have been inspired by this magazine with the title of his own. Routsos The Great, however, in the context of the controversy between them claimed that the name Targa came from the union of the first two syllables of his own heroes: Tar (zan) Ga (ur), while with the same logic was found the origin of the name of the criminal Zanour, which came from the union of the second syllables of the names of the same heroes (Tar) Zan - (Ga) Ur! Random? It was never confirmed. Who knows now? Targa made only 22 issues.

Gaur-Tarzan continued the publication of the 2nd period until issue 52. Published and pre-announced issues of the second period. From 53 onwards, let the reader exercise his imagination for the content of the issue. 104 of the 112 issues of the third period that were published in the last issue .. It may be the only time that a list of issues of Routsos includes fewer issues than have been published. Usually the opposite happened.
Then he stopped, but this is not due solely to the reduction of its traffic, but also to other, many and various reasons. So where the plate was tilted in favor of Routsos, only Anemodouras remained on the horizon, who finally triumphed after the release of The Little Hero in early 1953.

From Guely: 

Okay, nobody seems to know her. It was the name of a Tarzan comic that appeared in the 1960s in Colombia or Chile, edited respectively by Edicol and Zig-Zag. It was about the adventures of a "white" girl of uncertain origin in the Brazilian jungle and, later in the story, in India. Their base of operations was a mysterious mountain called La Silla del Diablo. Two jaguars, Usha and Saak, always accompanied her. She was rescued as a child by a "white wizard" named Loloto. Some sacred birds (tururúes) served as messengers between her and her subjects, among which the two survivors of a massacre named Okete and Cafunga stood out. She, her two warriors, her two jaguars, and a platonic Anglo-Hindu companion, Victor Nagaland, were the first to unite Brazil and India in a small raft. Her nemesis in the Hindu adventure period is the mysterious Dr. Diablo. I write this review by heart and I must confess that I have not leafed through a copy of Mawa since the mid-1990s, when I was in Peru for the last time. my collection is there and I hope someday to be able to rescue it. Although my brother has told me that he does not place it among the five hundred books that I left behind. Perhaps he has lost her forever. The magazine I started putting it together back in 1973 and I confess not to have obtained but a quarantine of copies of the perhaps one hundred and so much published. I will not deny that I dream of having the complete collection before me one day and thus be able to unravel the secrets of the Queen of the Devil's Chair (Shaitan ka Singashan). The dozens of Arabic words that I know allow me to affirm that the devil is Shaitan in the Arabic language.
 



Wednesday, 15 July 2020

Routsos and the Second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 6

All of the above were the main and most famous heroes of the jungle adventures that kept the many and fanatical readers of this successful magazine company. However, there were some others who played an important role in the development of our stories, but not many people remember them, perhaps because their appearance did not last long. Who were they? Read below: In the very interesting texts of the 2nd period of "Gaur - Tarzan", Routsos made a great innovation: His stories escaped the strict framework of "jungle" adventures: So we entered the framework of science fiction adventures! 

Thus, new protagonists appeared next to the old, good and honest heroes we knew until then. Heroes dedicated to the service of both good and evil. We will try to give more information about the format of the stories contained in the children's fav magazine. That's why we will start from the beginning: So once upon a time, Tarzan and Gaur's companions gave birth to two cute and healthy babies, a boy and a girl. So Tarzan had a daughter and Gaur a son.

But while the babies are still newborn, a crazy scientist, Crab, appears. He reaches the jungle driving a strange spaceship, which has the shape and form of a huge metal robot.

So this new "bad" hero of our stories kidnaps the two babies. He takes them to an unknown, distant and deserted island where he had his refuge, together with the perfectly equipped scientific laboratory where he made his great inventions. He baptizes them Storm and Lightning.
 
From this point on, Routsos's pen surpasses all previous ones: His galloping imagination stands out in all its glory! Wise Crab has vast knowledge of every human science. So he manages to raise the two babies quickly, so that in just a few weeks they become 18 years old. At the same time, with the scientific means at his disposal, he transmits all his vast knowledge to all fields. And all these miracles happened while the two children were sleeping! That is, something like the well-known "sleep education" that Routsos probably started to implement in the world first!

The two children quickly became first-class scientists: Their inventions surprised Crab, who was proud of his creations. Time passed and once old Crab felt he was nearing the end of his life. So before he died, he told Keravnos and Tyhella their whole story, while confessing who their parents are and how they are in the jungle.

So, after Crabb's death, the two children set off for the jungle, flying in their spaceship. They felt very happy and wanted to see the people who brought them into the world as quickly as possible. But as soon as their first meeting took place, Tarzan, Gaur and their companions treated the two youngsters with great suspicion: They could not easily accept the fact that they were found to have eighteen-year-old children overnight. Later, this suspicion turned into a deep hatred, So let's go back in time.

Even before Crab died, his replacement had appeared. That was Dr. Cruz. A wise scientist and he, but a fierce criminal, was called the "dark man". His ambition was to become the ruler of the world, to destroy our ageing planet and to overthrow God himself! This criminal has known Crab for a long time. He considered him his direct competitor and watched him closely with the "television set" he had invented. That's how he knew the whole story of the two babies that Kramp had abducted, as well as their artificial upbringing afterwards. 

So he knew every detail. So when the two youngsters set off for the jungle, he caught up and in disguise first met their parents, saying that those who would come and tell them that they were their children, were in fact the ones who abducted the babies and then killed them! He also presented as evidence their layers that Crump had kept on his island.

Thus, of course, the reaction of our heroes in the jungle is just justified, as soon as they saw the Lightning and the Storm, they rushed to hit them, shouting "Criminals, murderers!"….

Many events took place until the truth was restored and all misunderstandings were resolved. In the end, everyone was loved and everything turned into honey and milk.

So as we said above, we now enter into descriptions of stories that completely escape the strict framework of "jungle" adventures. This is how we read the adventures of our new and old heroes in completely unusual places for the genre of the magazine: In London, New York, Space, even the seabed. Science fiction, mystery, combined with police adventures, which lasted until issue 52, the last of this period.

With all that we have mentioned, the reader can get an idea of ​​what exactly happened in the "2nd season" of "Gaur - Tarzan", and which were not mentioned again in the 3rd period of the following issue, when Routsos collaborated again with Papadimitriou. Lightning and the Storm were completely absent.

The bad, crazy scientists made their appearance, but now Crab was called Urag (irrelevant anonymity of Gaur, as he does not want to symbolize anything), while Cruz appeared as a Chinese man named Chen Hu. The role of both was quite degraded this time. Until issue 110 of the third period, the stories were based mainly on the old texts of Routsos, which of course had undergone significant modifications.


The last two (111 and 112) were adaptations of old adventures, from the time of the first period when the magazine was still titled "TARZAN", that is, before Gaur, Tatabu and Jane appeared in the jungle.


As for the first two, they made an "instant" appearance in issue 111, while their absence from the action of issue 112 was justified by the fact that when Tarzan went to the rocky mountain to ask for his help, he found Gaur seriously ill and Tatabu to take care of him, and therefore could not help him in this adventure.

So he was forced to act alone. The same issue states that Jane had left the jungle for good: She went to the big port, got on a boat and returned to her homeland England.

The 4th period finally, with the 22 issues that managed to circulate, did not add anything substantially new to the case of this important children's magazine: The titles and texts of the adventures were exactly the same as those of the third period.

However, we must refer again to the high quality sketches of Avagianos that adorned the covers and of Venetoulias the inside pages. 

NIKOS V. ROUTSOS AGAINST THE COMPETITION OF THE TIME
Let's go back in time, to investigate what exactly was happening in the field of publishing children's non-fiction magazines in the 50's: Routsos has been released on his own since October 15, 1951 in the 2nd period of "Gaur - Tarzan", a publication that will last until the beginning of October 1952, as we said at the beginning.
 




Sunday, 12 July 2020

Routsos and the Second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 5

In contrast, Gaur presented himself as a fearless, law-abiding, full of kindness (reaching the limits of stupidity). He was still a fanatical patriot: He loved Greece to the highest degree, a homeland he had never met.

The purpose of his life was to be able to be there one day. He planned it for issue 113 and last of the second period ("Gaur in Greece"). He had hoisted our blue and white flag at the top of a "rocky mountain", outside a cave where he had his house. Other characteristics of Gaur: He was terribly strong, even more so than Tarzan. He was ambitious, proud and smart. He could never lie. He loved people and animals.

Next to Tarzan was his companion, the well-known English blue-eyed Jane, but here Routsos presented her as a raunchy person, with a promiscuous soul. 

She was constantly typing, and was secretly in love with Gaur. Jane brought a lot to the queen of the jungle, Sina, who at that time was unknown to the Greek reading public. But he was given to Tatabu, his beautiful dark-skinned companion. Also of Greek descent, who was the exact opposite of Jane: She was kind, brave, and generally had all the qualities that Gaur valued…

And too much beauty, which the readers appreciated and the bad ones of the reading fervently wanted, because, bad lies: "Gaur Tarzan", although a national patriotic publication, although intended for children, was unusually bold for its time in matters of sex. In addition to these two pairs of heroes who were the main protagonists of the reading, there was another couple with a different but important role in the stories.

It was Pokopoko and Houhous, two Pygmy natives, who were the light touch: That is, these two with funny faces, constant blunders and clever teasing that mouthed for everyone and entertained the readers for everything, making them calm and to escape a little from the great intensity caused by the relentless action and the continuous transitions of the adventures.

There are many who claim that the two (especially Pokopoko) were the real protagonists, the most important and beloved people of all the other heroes. She was a funny black man with an inflatable belly and huge feet, who had a rusty and broken jaw as a weapon.

He was riding on a scaly tripod donkey, the Purebred.
How many had not really laughed at the laughter from the clever idiots who kept muttering what he called himself "wild rabbit hunter" and "graduate butcher", "snake and woman charmer", "protector of boxes and the weak "(And because Tarzan and Gaur were not only weak, he protected them for the other reason, as he often said). 

And he was an improvised lyricist who introduced himself emphatically: "I'm the Pokopokaros of the jungle lad, I pull my hatzara and the grace of whoever gets it!" 

And the "mamzel Houhous", the "bee-milking vendetta", the "charmer who stole the hearts of all men", as she said about herself, answering Pokopoko’s self-introduced: "I am also Houhous, the most beautiful of all, with graces and tricks, forgive me all!” We will mention most of the heroes whose -common or occasional appearance gave special touches to the reading.
  
The gorilla man Dabuh, half human and half gorilla. He used to speak with "trilects", that is, with phrases that contained only three words. This quirky hero was deeply kind. But once the winged god of love marked his heart: He fell madly in love with the wide Tatabu (and he!), With a desperate love without a tomorrow.
 
He often abducted her, and took her to the huge tree in which he lived. He raised her to the branches, while he sat on the ground, like a watchful guard, a guarantor of her safety.

So the unfortunate Dabuh, victim of the charm of Gaur's witty companion, could not bear it. He shook his mind. Thus he became the "crazy gorilla man" who was constantly wandering in the jungle, constantly shouting the name of his beloved…

Another hero who was also struck by the arrows of love was Max Arlan, an American adventurer. He once came to the jungle to hunt wild animals and eventually became a permanent resident. But he had fallen in love with both charmers, in turn… The giant Yahaba, an Arab awful in appearance and soul.

Together with his gang, a group of black criminals, they caused a lot of trouble in the jungle and trouble to our "good" heroes. He also occasionally tried to enslave Jane and Tatabu, but Tarzan and Gaur always ruined his plans.

He was still the monster-shaped Bohar, a scary creature in appearance. Tall as about two giant-bodied men together, with a huge head completely disproportionate to the rest of his body. His power was unreal and he often panicked the innocent natives.

Of course, Gaur and Tarzan could not face him in a "melee" battle, but they always managed to emerge victorious thanks to their experience and intelligence. Another hero with an important role was Nachra-Doo, a monstrous one-eyed magician with unlimited supernatural abilities. He lived in an underground cave with scorpions and snakes.

He had a strange character: Sometimes he fought our heroes and sometimes he helped them to face the great calamities that at times threatened the jungle.

The representative of the good was the missionary Johanna, a beautiful white girl who traveled the jungle teaching the natives the word of the "true God", so that they would stop believing in the jungle god Kraumba, as they had done until then… The good old doctor Houhla, who with her miraculous herbs and her vast knowledge was always willing to heal any sick or injured person who asked for her help ..

Sporadic appearances in the jungle were made by Dr. Juke, a stocky and funny-looking scientist who was looking for rare butterflies he was studying, while completing his vast collection. Pokopiko had given him the nickname Count Tzoutzoukos. At this point we must mention Tarzan's son, the successor to the jungle that everyone called "Baby". He was a troubled kid, in comical ways, laughing in a very funny way (hi-hi-hi)… Baby was another attempt to diminish Tarzan's prestige that Routsos was trying to pass on to his readers as part of Gaur's exaltation. But it seems that the "Tarzan" readers were not happy with all this. They saw that Tarzan did not have a son worthy of him and many had expressed their dissatisfaction.

So the otherwise prudent writer once received the message. And he transformed the funny Baby into a handsome, smart, brave and kind-hearted young man. But how was such a subversive change justified? Baby had a terrifying experience when he was young that shocked him. And his body had reacted in a way that made him look stupid and retarded. At some point, however, a new equally frightening experience happened to him. And after this new shock finally came together.

The healed young man has changed radically. He threw away his useless glasses, changed his uniform (ie swimsuit) and the reading acquired another dynamic hero. Of course, he also changed his name: From Baby to Krajabu, as his godfather decided. Who was he? But the awesome Pokopiko of course! It should be noted that Krajabu was a name particularly liked by Rutso. He had used it again in many fairy tales that he wrote from time to time, as well as in a fairy tale that was given in sequels in some issues of the same edition. 

The transformed Krajabu therefore actively participated in the various adventures, with a very good performance. In the continuation of the issues of the 3rd period, we learn that at some point he also found his match in the face of a beautiful fourteen-year-old mix, Vanda, who thus became the youngest member of our company.


Wednesday, 8 July 2020

Routsos and the Second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 4

Part 4 

The illustration was taken over by N. Niros (cover) and Themos Andreopoulos (internal pages), then Bost, Gliatas and Koukakis (with the latter making the cover). Since issue 100, the standard and recognizable appearance of the cover has changed dramatically, as has the title logo. "Gaur" entered the first row in capital letters, while "Tarzan" entered the second, in lower case. It seems, however, that this trick did not save the situation either. A situation that had entered a declining trajectory with the consequence of the smallest circulation, which makes the last ten issues today a collector's rarity.

The last issue, where the continuation of the adventures was announced, after ... two years !. When the reissue of all 112 issues would be completed, for the sake of the new readers! An attempt at a revised reissue was made, however, "after 20 years" ... The last issue was released on November 16, 1961, announcing the re-release of the series from the beginning. Not sure if the reissue was complete. Probably not, but several numbers were released anyway.
  
However, this was not the final end. Arriving in 1981, another attempt is made to revive this childhood reading - a legend. So begins the 4th period of the magazine, always with Routsos as author. The publication was made by the house of Char. A. Papadimitriou. It is essentially a revised attempt to republish the third period with the publisher instructing the author to soften the wild descriptions and become more politically correct in matters of ecology. The jungles were cool in the early 1980s. The publisher's intention was to send an awareness message to the children-readers of the magazine.

Admittedly, however, Routsos was not the most appropriate, accustomed to exterminating… in writing in every issue the inexhaustible in lions, elephants, crocodiles and even tigers of his galloping imagination not to mention the way to roam the jungle paths. The series, illustrated by comic book experts and children's book Akis Avagianos on the cover and Michalis Venetoulias in the middle pages, was interrupted before the 30th issue, probably due to Routsos' inability to continue due to health problems. Besides, Nikos Routsos "left" in December of the same year.

This was, in short, the story of Gaur-Tarzan, one of the most successful magazines of all time, with many children's non-fiction readings.

THE HEROES OF READING AND THE SURROUNDINGS
The well-known Tarzan, the lord of the jungle, the creation of the author Edgar Rice Burroughs gave the initial inspiration to Rutso. So he began by describing his heroic adventures in the jungle. Very soon the reading was enriched with the appearance of a new hero, of Greek origin this time: The giant dark-skinned Gaur. His father was a white, fearless Greek hunter and his mother was a native Egyptian of Coptic and Greek descent. Regarding the name "Gaur", Routsos clarified that in some African dialects it means "Lightning". He added unofficially that the name is an imitation of the majestic lion roar.

Either way, he responded to the implications and slurs of his publishing rivals who often paraphrased the name of the Greek hero in "giaour", a well-known derogatory Turkish word meaning infidel, a designation addressed to the Romans in a contemptuous manner during the Turkish occupation. Of course, Tarzan was already well known to the general public from books and especially from the movies that were very successful in those years.

But from the moment Gaur first appeared, it was clear his intention to exalt him, while degrading the English Tarzan, whose compatriots were tyrannizing the Hellenism of the Cypriot martyrdom. So the strong lad, the son of the Apes we knew until then and who served good and justice, changed abruptly. So he started doing "bad deeds", betraying friends and enemies, computerising etc. The thing went even further: Routsos went so far as to attribute a "personality split" to him. Thus, from time to time, his evil self, Nazrat (Tarzan anagram), emerged, who was supposed to be responsible for all evil.

In the end, however, he came together and regretted bitterly what he had done. Then everything was arranged with honey and milk.
 

 

Monday, 6 July 2020

Routsos and the Second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 3

Part 2

From the very beginning, everything is a given in advance. The magazine, now entitled "GAUR - TARZAN" with a strong patriotic orientation that emphasized it with the slogan "Honor and pride that you were born Greek" and a permanent Greek subtitle "Weekly" magazine of patriotic spirit ", had on the cover a central black and white image depicting scenes according to the content of this issue, while around there was a monochrome frame, with a different colour in each issue (successive alternations in green - red - yellow - blue, with different shades). 

In this context were the figures of the main heroes of the reading, while at the top was the title of the magazine, with the heads of Gaur and Tarzan right and left. Although the story began with jungle reading standards of the time, even with bizarre creatures he had arbitrarily added to the jungle world, he ran into science fiction fields competing with the "Superman" of Anemodouras who was circulating at the same time.

The publishing rivalry between the two publishers-authors is perhaps the only one that has been recorded so obvious and intense in the chronicles of the children's popular publication. The interior illustration was by Aptosoglou (Byron), initially, who also designed the cover images in all issues - one of his best works in black and white sketch - and then Bostanzoglou (Bost). the portraits of the heroes of reading.

For a series of issues, the main two-page, the living room, as they say, hosted an independent comic about the funny adventures of Tsichlibochlis, of a hero, whose adventures did not go down in the history of Greek comics, but his name, in the 50's, at least, was synonymous with the idiot who joked in his youthful vocabulary.
   
During this period only 52 issues were published, instead of the 113 planned by the author-publisher and as usual he pre-published a list of all future titles. His original plan was not completed, for reasons that are not present to be mentioned. To these issues, perhaps, should be added the eight 16-page issues that were published in parallel with the magazine "Gaur-Tarzan" with the main character Pokopoko, who also maintained a personal column in the magazine! It was undoubtedly the great vendetta that threatened Gaur's popularity.

With "Gaur-Tarzan" of his own edition, Nikos Routsos opened new avenues of communication and links of magazine-readers with competitions, gifts, Gaur-Tarzan associations. Based on what we have already mentioned, it is easy to see that the readers were divided into Tarzan fans (yes, there were those even though the game was clearly set up) and Gaur. He was also the first in Greece to give his readers the opportunity to get to know the tape recorder by inviting them to record audio messages about Hellenism abroad, which he would take care to send to America, Africa and Australia. The first issue of the magazine was published on Tuesday, October 16, 1951 and the 52nd and last on Tuesday, October 7, 1952.

It was released, that is, for exactly one year. The following Tuesday, October 14, in the place of "Gaur Tarzan", Routsos launched the short-lived "Koursaros". Among the promotions implemented by N. Routsos to get a share of traffic was to ... print inflation money!

The opposite was of course for internal consumption. In fact, they were scores of Tarzan fans. The Gaurians also had a corresponding bank account to pay them with the same ... currency! But also figures of the shadow theatre bar, where he would give dialogues to be played in the numerous courtyards of the Athenian neighbourhoods at the time, were employed in the tricks used by Routsos to attract and retain regular readers.

THE GREAT PERIOD
What he had not succeeded in the first two editions of Gaur-Tarzan, that is, to complete the more than one hundred previously announced titles - where coincidentally one edition from the other had a longer lifespan of only one month -, he succeeded in the second period of his collaboration with "Ankara" by Apollon Papadimitriou. This is the third period of the magazine. The title of the 1st issue of the third period is essentially a semantic variation of the title of the second period. Maybe to show that everything starts all over again. The 3rd period of "Gaur - Tarzan" began with the issue "Duel of Giants" on Thursday, October 8, 1959, seven years and exactly one day after the cessation of the publication of his own publishing attempt to publish "Gaur-Tarzan".

From the universe of the Gauro-Tarzan jungle, some continued in this period, some did not, while new faces entered in minor roles. One could say that neither the writing style has changed, nor the titles, which in several cases referred to science fiction or splatter thrillers with bizarre monsters, while recycling episodes from adventures of previous cycles are also found.

Saturday, 4 July 2020

Routsos and the second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 2

Part 2 

After the completion of the first series of 56 issues of "Tarzan" and "Tarzan - Gaur", a serious disagreement of "Ankara" with Nikos Rutsos arose and their cooperation stopped.

The company then started publishing a new jungle adventure magazine, entitled "Greco Tarzan" in texts by Pyrros Makris. Without success, the magazine made only 8 issues. Later, N. Routsos, collaborating with the company of Georgiadis - Anemodoura, wrote articles for the magazines "The Little Tarzan" (1959) and "Jungle - True Adventures of Tarzan" (1963).

Both were quite successful. The first with the classic 16th shape (pocket shape 12x17) made 40 issues, only that Routsos wrote up to 24. Continuing, Potis Stratikis transferred the action to the jungles of India starring Sandro, the ... twin brother of Tabor (that is, the Greek Tarzan, the African). The magazine's only relationship with Tarzan is half the title of the issue.
  
The second was released in large format with the development of a cover on the back cover (wrap cover) made 24 issues. The publishing house "Pidalio press" of Dragounis released two large series of issues and volumes. The first series was called "Tarzan", but it was actually about the adventures of a French hero called Zembla. It was published from December 1969 to 1974 and made 252 issues.

The second series was about the well-known Tarzan of Burroughs, which was also noted on the cover. It came out in 15-day and monthly edition for a long time. We will not expand any further, nor will we refer to so many other other "substitutes" of Tarzan. Closing the topic, we mention that shortly after the beginning of the 21st century, specifically in 2007 the house "Periodikos Typos" of George Anemodouras in the context of an ambitious series with the general title "Comics Series - Classic Heroes". Dedicated to the popular heroes of classical nonsense, but which remained in the first two issues, presents the first album of Tarzan's original stories illustrated by Russ Manning.

The first and only one about Tarzan was entitled "The King of the Monkeys". OR THE BIRTH OF "GAUR TARZAN"
   
A Famous magazine, created by the imaginative and prolific writer Nikos V. Routsos. It was first published by the publishing house "Ankara", by Apollon Papadimitriou, in 1950. In the first issues the title was "TARZAN", with the subtitle "ANKARA FAIRY TALE" and the subtitle "NEW ADVENTURES". In the first issues with illustrations by N. Neirou on the cover and Th. Andreopoulos in the middle pages, Gaur does not exist.
  
The dark Greek Gaur will not be late, but he will make his appearance and will gradually take on the role of co-star, but in the eaves of the cover his name will be long enough. After the 40th issue and second in a row since in such cases the alphabetical order is not taken into account, although the first title dedicated to him - "The revenge of Gaur" - is located in the 26th issue

In the illustration, Aptosoglou (Byron) succeeded Andreopoulos (who, having already left the "Greek-bird / Children's Treasure", was preparing his own illustrated magazine "Tam-Tam").

For a series of issues, the magazine hosted on the inside page of the cover the adventures of Koutalianos ("The legendary achievements of the Greek giant") in the form of a comic and on the back cover the adventures of Count Tzoutzoukos, the fearless hunter of wild butterflies in a sequel comic. 

Tzoutzoukos was a regional humorous character of the "Tarzan" reading, but he could not overshadow the popularity of Pokopoko, who was also responsible for the magazine's weekly editorial in the "Pokopoko Speaks" column. The illustration of the comic was by Nikos Neiros.
 
Throughout its publication the magazine changed several times cassette or supplementary material, which reached a volume to cover even half of the magazine. The publication was stopped in the 56th issue (although the truth is that it had not announced more). That is, it lasted thirteen months.

It was time for him to try his luck as a publisher-writer. This method was known as "self-financing" and was very common in those years .. So we move on to the 2nd period. THE JUNGLE IS CONVERTED IN ACHELINOTIS FIELD science fiction. 
 
The solution of his collaboration with Ankara seems to have been predetermined for a long time, since a week after the 56th and last issue of "Tarzan-Gaur" magazine, "Gaur-Tarzan" is published in his own publishing effort and the story seems to continue from where the previous version stopped.

Thursday, 2 July 2020

Routsos and the second Tarzanid Age: So Bad It's Good Part 1


An excellent publishing effort for its time and commendable is the writing of Routsos who shuffles the deck once again, transporting the heroes of "Gaur-Tarzan" with new identities. Tarzan remains Tarzan, Gaur becomes Zandov, Tatabu Zampa while the once comic duo Pokopoko and Houhous now become Kakarak and Tsicha. Aptosoglou's illustration is, in my opinion, the best he has presented during his rich career.

Tarzan… Tarzan of the apes… child of the jungle… lord of the jungle!!!

There are many nicknames given to him by thousands of his fanatical friends around the world and so many copies of him; kings of the jungle too, although they were never recognised as his official successors. This legendary hero, beloved by young and old, is the work of the American author Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950). In Greece he became widely known mainly via the movies (speechless at first, talking later).

The most representative cinematic Tarzan was of course the actor Johnny Weissmuller, a swimming champion, with an athletic stature and a husky body, who literally threshed the vast jungle, chasing all the bad guys (robbers, murderers, vagrants, poachers). With the help of the ropes hanging from the trees, he could jump from branch to branch and from tree to tree, developing very high speeds. 

The hero soon had a partner, the Englishwoman Jane, and then their adoptive son Boy appeared, growing up in this idyllic environment in the best way.

An inseparable companion of the company was the chimpanzee Cheeta, himself a furry boy or a young adult male, who gave plenty of laughter to the spectators with his inimitable face. It should be noted that Cheeta did not appear in any of the author's books, so he was a mainly cinematic creation.

The beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan (until 1942) appeared in the role of Jane next to Weissmuller for the first six films of the series, while later, other, always beautiful women took the baton: Frances Gifford and Nancy Kelly both appeared in 1943, while Brenda Joyce closed the series with her appearance in the other 4 films (1945-1948).

Weissmuller made a total of 12 films like Tarzan from 1932, when he was 27-28, until 1948, when he was 43-44. Fortunately, many actors - worthy or less worthy - appeared in the same role (such as Lex Barker, Gordon Scott and others), but none had the long lasting success that Weissmuller had.

But we will not expand further in cinema, since our subject is the "written" adventures of the hero, that is, the books and -mainly- the magazines that managed to be known and loved by young and old the legend of Tarzan in our country. Thus we first see that in 1922 the publisher Vouniseas compiled in one book all the hitherto known adventures of Tarzan. Then Dimitrakos proceeded to publish five original books by Burroughs in brochures first and in volumes later, while George Tsoukalas wrote in 1935 two novels with the first Tarzan of Greek origin, which were republished in the 70's.

Then, short and long stories of Tarzan are published in various magazines ("Mask" No. 128 of the period, "Stories and Tales" by Saliver No. 18, "Children's Newspaper"). In 1945-58 two series of issues with adventures of Tarzan were published by Aristophanes Papadimitriou. The texts were anonymous translations from American pulps, not exclusively with Tarzan as the hero in the original, but in the translation there was… Tarzanisation, which is difficult to detect.
   
In the early 50's "Tarzan" is released by Rekos in Thessaloniki (print one of the most amateur publications that have been released in Greece), The typographer Spachis also publishes a careful edition where Tarzan stories are written by Alekos Kostakis (Elekta Paramythia magazine - The true adventures of Tarzan). ROUTSOS APPEARS ON THE SCENE AND BECOMES THE MASTER OF THE GAME.
 
 In July 1950, the publishing house "Ankara-Apollon Papadimitriou" launches a new magazine, which was supposed to write history in children's popular reading, in addition to the fairy tales in leaflets. Writer Nikos V. Routsos, who were at the time, had written for children's readers just a few fairy tales in "Ankara" (the series from which the new magazine emerged as a standalone edition). Its title: "Tarzan". In this historical series, however, we will refer extensively below, since it is the main object of this post. For now we will continue to cite various other magazines with adventures of Tarzan, but also other heroes who from time to time were invented as his substitutes.

On 20-10-1950 the publisher and author D. Peratzakis published a series entitled "Tarzan - Adventures in the jungle", in texts by him and M. Prionistis. 2 series came out: The first one made 22 issues, while the second one entitled "New Adventures of Tarzan" had only 6.