ZEMBLA was born in 1963, imagined by JK Melwyn Nash (Marcel Navarro), also drawn by Pedrazza, then by Pietro Gamba, B. Charles and above all by Franco and Fausto Oneta, on screenplays by Mazzanti, Torelli, Cesare Solini ... New success, proof that there was room for several heroes of the same genre. At n ° 60, Zembla goes bi-monthly for 200 issues, then becomes monthly again. A Zembla Special was published from 1964 and still appears. He is one of the rare survivors of the crisis that hit the comics press and pockets. Like Akim, Zembla is surrounded by well-typed characters: Rasmus, a magician who is a parody of Mandrake the Magician, Yéyé (in Italy: Koo), a sympathetic young pygmy, wearing an American MP's helmet, and faithful animals (Satanas, a big wild cat, Bwana the lion and even a Kangaroo named Pétoulet!). Of course, Zembla is tall, muscular, he is always dressed in a panther skin and talks to animals who very often help him in his defense of good causes. Finally, let us point out that the first episode of Zembla was published in n °15 of "Special Kiwi" in 1963, a successful test since the following year this new title from the Lug editions was going to be a big hit among young comic book lovers.
Other publishing houses tried to impose "their" Tarzanide, often recovered abroad. Here are a few:
DJEKI LA JUNGLE, in the monthly "Jim Taureau", in 1958, published by La Sagedition (which has not yet taken over Tarzan). This character will be reissued in "Pépito" in 1966.
KING LA JUNGLE in a mini-format, edited by Editions des Remparts (1960-62), an Italian series by Pini Segna.
BANGA, with the same publisher, in 1962-71. This "Ace of the Jungle" is also of Italian origin but lives in the South American Amazon, drawn mainly by Lino Brazzi, for the Spada brothers, publishers associated with the Remparts editions.
KALI (1966-81), published by Jeunesse et vacances, which evolved in the virgin forests of India. This character is also an Italian creation by Vladimiro Missaglia (drawings) and his brother Ennio (screenplay). In Italy, this character is called "Kriss". Kali's companion, Zora, gave her name to a quarterly which published other unpublished accounts of these characters (1967-79).
TAMAR (1962-65), published in "Tim l'Audace" by Aredit is a "King of the jungle" of Spanish origin, undoubtedly a creation by R. Acedo (screenplay) and A. Borrell (drawings).
TIKI "Son of the Jungle" is a young boy who has the merit of having been created by the famous Pini Segna and the mighty Hugo Pratt, on a screenplay by G. Ottani. But from the 7th plate, he was taken over by the excellent Stélio Fenzo, who made him a successful character. This series appeared in France in 1964-68, in the monthly "Lancelot", edited by Aventures et Voyages and will be repeated in "Safari", by the same publisher, in 1981-95.
DJINGA JUNGLE at OZ/ODEJ, appeared in the "Télé Série Bleue" collection, in 1966. It is undoubtedly due to the Argentinian Schiaffino, on scripts by Jean Sanitas. Djinga "The Master of the Jungle", uses an original weapon: the boomerang. Physically, this young hero looks quite like Tiki. With Gurik, a big giant and Gloop the bear, he lives eventful adventures in the jungles of Asia, within the home port temple of Civa in India.
YATACA "Fils du Soleil" at Aventures et Voyages which started in semi large format all in color for 20 issues before becoming a pocket.
Also in Aventures et Voyages, two tapes which appeared in addition in the pocket Lancelot, TIBOR the son of the jungle by Hansrudi Wäscher and BINGO a young Mulatto Tarzanide living in the jungle with his father Kongo and his mother in a treehouse and living many adventures.
Some American series have been adapted here like BOMBA "The Jungle Boy", at Aredit, in 1969-70 and THUNDA by Frank Frazetta, in the album "Adventure, Mystery and Romance", which included various stories by this author, published by Humanoïdes Associés in 1983.
The weekly press was not left out and a few tests were attempted, tests rarely transformed despite the interest of certain stories. We can cite:
TAO "L'Homme Fauve", by Lucien Nortier, on a Scenario by Robert Charroux, in the pages of "Zorro". Produced at the request of the boss of this publishing house, Tao is a man of the jungle who tries to protect animals from unscrupulous hunters. This story will be taken up, in 1949, in RC in the "Zorro Supplement" collection.
WAMBA "Le justicier de la Brousse" is one of the rare black heroes, it is published on the front page of "Pic et Nic" in 1946. The drawing was by Eugène Gire and the screenplay by Germain Fontenelle (G. Fronval). The following year, Eugène Gire, after having signed a western, puts it back in the same journal with MUNKEY "Lord of the Forest" (text by H.M. Dantin). This time, the hero is a likeable gorilla, who raised a little girl who became a beautiful young lady: Margaret. Their relations are a little ambiguous, fortunately, at the time, the kids did not ask themselves too many questions about the term "companion". After all, there is no proof that Munkey was not a female gorilla. If this new series makes the headlines, inside we can read the exploits of another character once again a black, MAKAO "The King of the Tropical Bush", who is the lover of animals and who saves the daughter of a settler. This strip is signed by a mysterious O'Ritz on a text by H.M. Dantin.
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