My favourite Tarzan clones!

From the JJ Nevins site

Janess, Polaris. Polaris Janess, one of the earliest of the Tarzan knock-offs and one of the best executed, was created by Charles Billings Stilson and debuted in All-Story Weekly in 1915. Janess' parents, a glory seeking explorer and a dutiful wife, are stranded at the South Pole, with his mother dying and Janess Sr. crippled, thus leaving Senior to care for the infant Polaris. (As I said, Polaris is a Tarzan knock-off) The duo survive life at the South Pole for the years it takes Polaris to reach manhood; they survive despite horrible snow storms and the attacks of polar bears. (Polar bears at the South Pole? It's a pulp; don't ask, just accept) (They live on polar bears, walruses, and seals) Polaris grows up to be perfect in mind and body, his father having taught him well. Then, alas, Father Janess dies, leaving Polaris to make the long walk back to civilization and to carry certain Papers back to civilization. He saves a beautiful woman, Rose Emer, and meets other men, and discovers a lost city, and has other Tarzan-like adventures.

Sorak. Sorak was created by Harvey D. Richards (Aka Noel Sainsbury Jr) and appeared in the four book "Sorak Jungle Series," which began with Sorak of the Malay Jungle, or, How Two Young Americans Face Death and Win a Friend (1934) and continued through 1936. Sorak was essentially Tarzan, but in the jungles of Malaysia. He was accompanied by a friendly tiger. Among his adventures were an encounter with Cro-Magnons in Malaya.

Sheena. Sheena, the original queen of the jungle, was the daughter of a white explorer. The explorer died in the Congo, leaving Sheena to raise herself. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, wore a fetching leopard skin outfit, and used knife and bow against bad guys.

Tarzan. I don't really need to go into any depth about Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, do I? Raised in the jungle by apes, white lord of the jungle, all that? I'm not going to write anything else; instead, I'm going to direct you to this site.

Tarcaneta. Tarcaneta appeared in "Tarcaneta" (Tarzaneta), a strip in Strip, a Yugoslav magazine which began publication in 1935. Tarzaneta--I mean, Tarcaneta was created by the Russian artist Nikola Navojev; she was a "half-naked, half-wild girl from the jungle," a distaff version of Lord G. 

Jan of the Jungle. Jan (not to be confused with the Atlas Comics character of the same name) appeared in a six part serial in Argosy running from April 18 to May 23, 1931. He was very much in the vein of previous and later Tarzan knockoffs. Doctor Bracken, a brilliant scientist but one tetched in the head, proposes to the beautiful redhead Georgia Trevor. This makes him mad, makes him mean and mad, and he vows revenge. He gets it when she gives birth to a son, Jan. He steals Jan and takes him to his lab in the depths of the Everglades. He plans to have Jan raised by a chimpanzee mother, the goal being that he would be a chimp in ape form, trained to kill redheads. (Gotta give it to Bracken, he's not just a little crazed, he's a full-blown psychotic)

Jan somehow maintains his sanity and when he is 16 breaks free of the lab, accompanied by Chicma, his chimp mother, and Borno, a Haitian who had worked as a janitor at the labs. They escape by boat but are caught in a Hurricane and blown ashore in "South American jungle country." Jan learns the skills of the jungle for two years while Chicma and Borno...well, don't do much but wait, really. Then Jan saves sixteen-year-old Ramona Suarez from a panther attack, the first save of many for her and him. (Or is it her and he?) She lives nearby on her father's rubber plantation. They of course become a couple. Jan has various adventures, finds a lost colony of Mu, becomes a Prince of the Sun, is reunited with his family, and makes his way to India.

Bantan. One of several Tarzan rip-offs, Bantan, "the bronzed giant," debuted in Bantan--God-Like Islander (1936), written by Maurice Gardner. The orphaned three-year-old Arthur Delacourt is washed ashore on the South Seas island of Beneiro. He is found by the native chief and raised by him, but educated by the local French missionary, Father Lasance. When Arthur, now called Bantan by the natives, reaches 18 he begins his adventures (the usual Tarzan variety, only on South Pacific islands, many unknown to maps and man and full of Lost Civilizations, dinosaurs, amazons, and weird science) in a series of novels which run through the 1970s.

Ozar of the Aztecs. One of several Tarzan knock-offs, Ozar was written by "Valentine Wood," aka Walker A. Tompkins. Ozar appeared in Top-Notch in 1933. An American scientific expedition venturing deep into the mountains of Mexico find a lost tribe of Aztecs. The entire expedition is slaughtered with the exception of an infant (the expedition brought a pregnant mother with them for some unaccountable reason). The Aztecs see in the baby the "predestined ruler of Karnux," said destinies speaking of a pale-skinned, fair-haired ruler. The Aztecs keep the child, now called Ozar, alive for twenty years, so that he will fulfill the "Five Sacred Commands of Mexlitl, the Sun God." Ozar does, in the end, in part by slaughtering the priests who are plaguing the otherwise peaceful city of Karnux. (Peaceful Aztecs. Suuuuure) Ozar kills dozens of warriors and priests, but in the end, Karnux is liberated. I mean, free.

Kioga. Yet another of the Tarzan copies, Kioga "the Snow Hawk" was created by William L. Chester and appeared in a seven part serial that ran from April through October 1935 in Blue Book Magazine. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln Rand are boating off the coast of Alaska with their "Indian friend" Mokuyi when a current pulls them into the Arctic Circle, to a strange land north of Siberia. This land is surrounded by a ring of volcanoes, and the volcanoes and the current warm the land so that it is inhabitable. The Rands land and are met by the Shoni tribe, a friendly group of natives who are descended from Native Americans. (The Shoni call the land "Nato'wa") The Rands stay there for a while until they are killed during an attack by a hostile tribe. The infant Daniel is adopted by Mokuyi and his wife Awena and given the name "Kioga." Unfortunately, Kioga is driven from the tribe when he is only six because of anti-white prejudice. Kioga survives in the wild, accompanied only by Aki, his pet bear, and the rest of Aki's clan. Later on Kioga befriends Mika, a silver-coated Arctic puma. (Don't ask) Kioga eventually becomes king of the forest bears and "war chief of the Shoni tribe" after they have welcomed him back. Of course, he also saves a woman from hostile mutineers; this woman, Beth La Salle, naturally falls in love with him.

Kwa of the Jungle. Kwa, a Tarzan copy, appeared in Thrilling Adventures in 1932 and 1933. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Rahan, who was pregnant with Nathaniel, were flying across Africa when they crossed over a large, round valley ringed with mountains. Unfortunately, the plane crashed into this valley, the Valley of Mu. The father died on impact and the mother survived only long enough to give birth to Nathaniel, who was then adopted and raised by apes and given the name Kwa by an old chimp, Kek, who teaches him to speak with the animals of the jungle. He grows up to be Tarzan, essentially, although his background is much less haughty than Lord Greystoke’s. Kwa’s grandfather lives on a small estate at the edge of the African jungle, and Kwa regularly passes through as he begins the transition to American society. There’s plenty of action, though, and Kwa continues to find the city of Ophir and befriend the other apes and to fight the "Beast Men".

Ki-Gor. Ki-Gor was published in Jungle Stories from the Winter 1938-1939 issue to the January 1954 issue and was first written by John M. Reynolds. Ki-Gor was one of the most popular of the Tarzan imitations. Ki-Gor was actually Robert Kilgour, the son of a Scottish missionary who was killed in the jungles of Africa. Ki-Gor lived alone in the wilds and raised himself. In the first novel he saves Helene Vaughn, a society girl and pilot, whose plane crashed in Ki-Gor's jungle. She, red-haired and beautiful, acts as his Jane, but eventually he helps her return to civilization. She returns the favour by marrying him, and they return to the jungle together to keep the peace between various warring tribes. Ki-Gor fought everything from hostile natives to giant sea serpents to dinosaurs to talking gorillas to Arab slavers to zombies. Ki-Gor had two close friends besides Helene. The first was Timbu George, aka George Spelvin, an enormous African-American who was a former ship's cook but ended up becoming the chief of the M'Bala tribe in the "East Congo." Ki-Gor's other friend was N'Geeso, chief of the "Kamazila Pigmies"; N'Geeso was only four feet tall but was a ferocious fighter. Ki-Gor is blond with grey eyes and darkly tanned skin. Of course, Ki-Gor also has a little monkey pal and occasionally rides on a friendly elephant.

Bomba the Jungle Boy. Bomba was created by Howard A. Garis and debuted in Bomba the Jungle Boy (1926), lasting through 20 more novels into 1938 and in 11 films, from 1949 through 1955. Bomba was a fourteen-year-old boy who had been found in the jungles of Brazil, in the upper Amazon, by Cody Carson, an aging, possibly demented naturalist and botanist. Cody taught Bomba English and helped raise him, but he fell prey to an amnesia-causing fever, leaving Bomba to search for his parents (who he found after ten novels--they were the Bartons, a famous painter and opera singer pair). Bomba was in most ways a Tarzan copy, albeit one far more successful than the Ka-Zars and Polaris Janesses of the fictional world. Bomba was a handsome white boy, bronzed and well-muscled and an ace at Tarzan-type tasks, from swinging through the jungle on vines to shooting arrows to cosying up to the local tribe, the Araos. Naturally, Bomba had his savage side, and thought nothing of killing pumas, snakes, and jaguars. He could also communicate with the animals, especially the apes which somehow lived near him, despite the fact that the simians in Brazil were much smaller than the simians of Africa. Bomba's animal pals were Kiki and Woowoo, two parrots, Doto the monkey, and Polulu the puma. Bomba's arch-enemy was Nascarora, chief of the local tribe of head hunters.