Tarzan in European Cinema

Let’s look at the films featuring Steve Hawkes and Jose Luis Ayestaran (aka Richard Yesteran) as Tarzan! 

The first film that Steve Hawkes appeared as Tarzan was in Tarzan and the golden Grotto, a campy part time Mockbuster set in the then contemporary Sexual Revolution. Tarzan and the Brown Prince was its sequel which got released three years later, in 1972.

Tarzan and the Jungle Mystery was even more vacuous. Made in 1973, it was filmed in the Ivory Coast with Richard Yesteran as a pretty but dull Tarzan closely resembling the variant of Joe Kubert. Its sequel was Tarzan and the Treasure of Kawana, which was released in 1977 but made three years earlier.

Kenzo Masaoka's feral boys

A synopsis: The shipwreck is ashore on Sarugashima in the southern sea. The only surviving baby on the boat is raised by the monkeys living on an island, and eventually escapes from the island itself. 

Another synopsis: A human baby thrown out of a shipwreck will be raised as a monkey on the drifting monkey island. A sequel, "The Pirate Ship (A Sea Adventure)" was produced.

The full synopsis: The sea was full of rainstorm. The captain of the sailing ship threw an orphaned baby in a box, hoping to help the child at least. Luckily the baby's box flowed into an island. Only the dark brown skinned locals, the monkeys and the lone resident lion live on the island. The monkeys consider the baby to be their messiah and take good care of it. But as the baby grew older, the tail did not grow, so the monkeys bullied the child. The kid defeats the monkeys and jumps into the sea from the high cliffs, makes a canoe and escapes the island.

A synopsis: produced in 1931 (Showa 6). The sequel to "Sarugashima" produced the previous year. Similar to the previous work, it is a work affiliated with Nikkatsu Uzumasa Manga Film Club. Currently, there are no film prints of both works except for a museum residing copy of the first, but 30 paper cuts used in the second turned out to be parts of folding screen and were found to exist in decent condition. 

The full synopsis: A sequel to the first work, Sarugashima. A child drifting in the middle of the ocean, while riding on a squid, one day saw a sailing ship on the horizon. The child raised in Sarugashima did not know that it was a ship. The same small child is drifting on the sailboat, and when he approaches to help, the child scares and tries to escape. Rescue after hard work, but not familiar with the sailors. One day, a black sailing ship approaches rapidly. The ship was a pirate ship. A fast-sailing pirate ship quickly catches up, the sailors are caught alive, the cargo is robbed, and the budding princess on board is kidnapped. The child, who was quickly hiding behind the pirate ship's sail and watching this turmoil, was upset when he saw the princess being kidnapped, jumping into the sea alone and boarding the Pirate Island. At the island house, a pirate captain returned with his own kidnapped princess, so a celebration party was held. The child who reaches the entrance of the island house, is swallowed up by a gatekeeper lion. In the lion's belly, the same old child pulls out bones one by one, kills them, puts on this skin, and boards the banquet hall. Surprised pirates follow with bows and swords. First rescue the princesses, let the girls and children escape, escape with the princesses on the tower above the hall, and escape the rails laid from the tower to the seaside on a truck. The pirates who chased to the top of the tower blow off with explosives set by the children. The sailors who seized the pirate ship are waiting on the quiet sea. The Children and the princesses happily pull up on the boat.

Tarzan in Mediterranean and Latino Cinema

Welcome to Tarzan in Mediterranean Cinema! Let's go for the films that marked a huge change in Tarzan's looks. 

The Steve Hawkes Era began with Tarzan King of the Jungle and the Grotto. This film was a part-gritty, part-sexy spectacular for its time focusing on a sometimes melodious Tarzan, who looks like Lupin the Third, and his girlfriend who was similar to Jane Parker. Its sequel, Tarzan and the Black Panther, though infamous for the fire that occurred during its making, is also a decent one as well.

The Richard Yesteran Era began with Tarzan and the jungle Mystery, which is a tongue and cheek romp that has been occasionally dubbed in English for international markets. Same for its sequel, Tarzan and the Kawana Treasure, as they are among the few adaptations filmed in Africa. 

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.

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

http://lolanaenaallo.blogspot.com/2013/03/1_9.html check out the link!

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. 

What could’ve been: the Tida Wanorn manga project

Tida Wanorn, a highly popular Thai Lakorn (read: drama) created in 2008, is getting a duo of manga books and two international anime coproductions. 

While the live action 3-season original and its reimagining remain stuck in Thailand, the 2 manga books (which act as the screenplay for the anime shows) and both animated tv series, which are all aimed at the Shojo demographic, will deliberately be exported to many international countries. 

The live action incarnations have one annoyingly and melancholically catchy tearjerker of a theme song. Despite the upbeat tune, its lyrics are basically about a lost child anyway. 

On the day I got hurt, I had tears and I was tired.

I Want someone to help comfort me.

I Want to go back to see my mum, who cares about me.

I'll Return to warm love someday.

* Is there anything else? As much as mother's love.

Will there be somebody to help?

I Care about It. I Will Wipe away the tears that flow.

You Console and hold me for a long time.

** But embracing anyone is unlike caring for my mother, who cares.

I'm Warm, safe, and embrace my 'mother' only when I need to.

When you hugged me, I didn't know what it was for.

I can't touch my heart. 

I replace the original lyrics with funny, kid friendly standup rants acting as lyrics for what I call Terk’s House Party Song In Kaniel the Mad Scientist. 

On the day that We first met that Boy, We laughed and Ranted a lot.

We Want Him to stay with us, even when he’s hurt.

We Want to go back home, when he’s not there.

I’d Return to find him someday.

* Is there anything else? As much as friendship.

Will there be someone to help?

I Care about It. I Would meet him again.

He loves to party all the way down the hill. 

** But a friendship breakup is unlike caring for a friend.

I'm Warm, safe, and embrace my best friends when I need to. 

When you hugged me, I didn't know what it was for.

I can't touch my back. 

The misadventures of Ken the wolf Boy

The characters
Sylvia Vel - Sylvia is from a dysfunctional elite family. Is the younger sister to Hannah.
Lila Washington - Lila is a survivor of a boat crash resulting in only herself surviving, running away into the savannah to be with friend Shu.
Babu - Before fighting against and then reconciling with Ken, Babu was a childhood acquaintance of Ken at one stage. His real first name is Andrew.
Mariella - Queen of the underground and of all the ghouls in the purgatory. Was born in New Asura, a downward backwater that was once a prototype civilisation in the northeast of Dagon, which in turn was south of the Kazinga Channel.

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.

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. 

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. 

The Gora Gopal conundrum

The Gora Gopal conundrum

Gora Gopal is a comic character created by Spanish artist Carrillo. Unlike various other Jungle Guys and Girls out there, it seems that Gora Gopal, in Carrillo's original version, was a post-war Anglo-Indian (albeit of British descent) 'lost child/man' named Tom Colvin raised by elderly mentor and guru Chandenagor in the jungles of Bengal. His girlfriend is Carolina.

My three other Indo-centric projects will be Rikki Tikki Tavi (the mongoose in this version will be a short tailed one) and The Tea Lords. One of which is Rudyard Kipling's story whereas the latter is by Hella Haasse. Rikki will be relatively short for a full length film at 52 minutes, whereas The Tea Lords will be a sprawling tv series set in colonial Java.

Cast of Argentine telenovela Teach Me to Live

Clodine / Asai (Violeta Urtizberea): She is the daughter of the Fernández Salguero couple and the true granddaughter of Amanda. She was raised by monkeys in the jungle and is a natural, fresh, tender and wild young woman unaware of evil. Since she cannot speak, she repeats everything she hears.

Lucas Linares (Pablo Rago): He is a young and handsome teacher. While he is responsible and gentleman, he is fun and informal. He only fell in love once and suffered. The arrival of Asai, whom he must teach to behave like a person, will be his second chance in love.

Lorena Beatriz Benítez / Clodine (Julieta Zylverberg): she is the true daughter of Benítez and Emilia, but after the accident they made Amanda believe that she was her granddaughter. It is whimsical, frivolous and superficial. She strives to be the leader of her group and her friends idolize her. She is attracted to Lucas Linares and will do her best to grab her attention.

Amanda (Adela Gleijer): She is Clodine's tender and kind grandmother. After the accident, the Benítez family make her believe her granddaughter is Lorena. Seeing on the news that a girl was found in the jungle, he decides to bring her to the mansion, since he believes she is the daughter of the servants.

Benítez (Jorge Suárez): He is the cruel butler of the Fernández Salguero family mansion, and the true father of the false Clodine. All his life he envied Agustín's economic well-being, but that, he exchanged with the babies after the accident that killed him. When the fake Clodine turns 21 and becomes the heir to the fortune, she plans to reveal her true identity and live like a king. He is Emilia's husband, the maid, and he stays by her side only to prevent her from revealing the whole truth.

Emilia (Patricia Etchegoyen): She is the wife of Benítez and mother of the false Clodine. Although she agreed to the exchange of the babies, she thought that the true heiress had died in the accident. She is very afraid and wants to tell the truth, but her husband does not allow it. Day by day she endures the mistreatment of her daughter, who despises her without knowing that she is actually her mother.

Minerva (Ana María Picchio): She is Amanda's lady-in-waiting, for whom she left her life in the background. She is reckless and does not express herself very well, but she is the only one in the house who dares to face Clodine. Although she closed her heart, she does not know that love will soon come again into her life.

Goyena (Germán Kraus): Correct and always very willing to solve any family issue, he is the attorney for Amanda. Although he is married, he will fall in love with Minerva, and next to her he will be in charge of unmasking Benítez.

Farsa (Pepe Monje): He is a corrupt lawyer who knows the secret of Emilia and Benítez, and is allied with him because he hopes to obtain an economic return when Clodine inherits the fortune.

Cristóbal Linares (Felipe Colombo): He is Lucas's younger brother, with whom he lives. He promised to mature and help with spending, but he can't handle his instincts. He escapes commitments and his weakness is women, until he meets Ro and falls hopelessly in love. Since she constantly ignores him, she resorts to the false Clodine to help him conquer her, promising to intervene so that her older brother can notice her.

Macu (Fernando Dente): He is a handsome young man and in a good position who is hopelessly in love with the false Clodine, but the appearance of Lucas makes the picture more complicated.

Ro (Laura Cymer): She is the best friend of the false Clodine. Although she is not very graceful, she has a very high ego. Together with Clodine, she will make life impossible for Asaí.

Ana (Valeria Lorca): She is the doctor who took care of Asaí when she was brought to Buenos Aires. By a request she is fired from the hospital, and will be in charge of warning Lucas about the dangers Asai is running in the City.

Marcela (Laura Azcurra): She is a teacher and is Lucas's girlfriend. Asaí's appearance will put her relationship at risk, so she will carry out all sorts of macabre plans to keep her at all costs.

Beasts

Once Upon A Time, A Bunch of Beasts went into the park. But one day, a bunch of exterminators are going nuts. 

Saleh Ardisoma

Translated From Jual Komik Lama. 

In the world of comics, he is better known as just Ardisoma, even though it is his father's name. His real first name is Saleh, which in his comic works is written as Saleh Ardisoma, S. Ardisoma, S.A. Soma, or S.A.S. This name was inscribed on comic panels which later became a milestone in the history of comic books in the 1950s-1960s, accompanying RA Kosasih's phenomenal wayang adaptations of Ramayana and Mahabharata. There are three prominent titles of Saleh Ardisoma's comics, namely Jakawana, Ulamsari, and Wayang Purwa. Most of his publishing is under Melody. Melody Publishers was known to often innovate themes in comic publishing in the 1950s. Melody pioneered the publication of comic books in the form of graphic novels, as well as pioneering the creation of local superhero figures such as Sri Asih, Putri Bintang and others. Melody also pioneered the publication of comics with “local” themes such as folk tales and wayang.

Tarzan was a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. Tarzan was transferred to the comic strip format in 1929 by Hal Foster. The plunge of a muscular male figure who was raised by apes, but who was good-looking and smart had caused a huge outbreak of comic artists in Indonesia. That outbreak was in the form of inspiration to create new comic figures. Tarzanesque Figures were created by Indonesian artists. RA Kosasih created Tjempaka (Cempaka), a once popular female Tarzanid character. John Lo also created a female Tarzanid named Nina of Kalimantan. Bahzar, a Medan based North Sumatran artist, created Mala, Eng created the Zanga character, the Javan-born Chinese Indonesian (convert to Islam) Kwik Ing Hoo created the Wiro character, and many other figures including Jakawana (Djakawana) by Saleh Ardisoma. The story is very similar to the story of the "creation" of the original Tarzan. A child named Kohar was abandoned in the forest and then raised by a great ape (who’s perhaps a matronly Central Bornean orangutan) so that he becomes Jakawana, a wild man who befriends other animals. Kohar wears a pair of leopardskin trunks connected to the upper body, exactly like Tarzan in early Hal Foster comics. Jakawana as a character began to popularise Saleh Ardisoma to the Indonesian masses. In my childhood, in the 1960s, the name’s old spelling (Djakawana) was mentioned quite often. In my sister's reading garden in the past (1967-1969), there were many who borrowed its two volumes. 

 

The creation of the genre "Tarzanide" or "Jungle Adventure" does require a good mastery in creating images of human anatomy because the characters in it often do not wear much clothes. Comedy artists of this genre will be increasingly trained in drawing human body movements and muscles more closely. In addition, good mastery in creating images of animal anatomy is also needed because usually a jungle adventurer will meet various types of animals. Scenes outside the room - especially the forest - also dominate the picture on the panels. Even though the story is not special, it is the trusty Jakawana story that makes Saleh Ardisoma more proficient in drawing the anatomy and motion of humans, animals, and depicting panoramic scenes of Indonesia's natural scenery, also building storylines. The skills gained from making Jakawana comics were very supportive in innovating the puppet drama genre which he worked on later.

Ulamsari is one of the comic book titles by Saleh Ardisoma which is also quite "sought after" at the time, also "highly collectable" by current comic collectors. Ulamsari is an excerpt from the background of the Mahabharata monkey story. In contrast to RA Kosasih who worked on Mahabharata by trying to be obedient to the Indian standard (although in the end there were still some adjustments), generally the wayang comedy that Saleh Ardisoma worked on took more from the narrative of puppeteer puppet show. Ulamsari tells the story of Raden Abhimanyu who turns into a beautiful fish named Ulamsari. The fish made Duryodhana Prabu’s daughter fall in love.

From the comics produced by S. Ardisoma, in this genre of "wayang", Saleh Ardisoma received a position that was quite appropriate and accepted by the community. Amongst all his works, it can be said that his own take on Purwa, featuring comic book variants of Wayang Puppets adapted from the characters themselves, is the peak. S. Ardisoma's Wayang Purwa, published in 1956, is one of the cornerstones of comic history, especially in the wayang genre.

The term "Purwa" in the performing arts (wayang golek or kulit), by some experts, is interpreted as "the past". Some other scholars say that the word "purwa" comes from "parwa" (parva), namely episodes or chapters in the Mahabharata story. In fact, the Indian version of Mahabharata consists of 18 parwa, which starts from Adi Parva who tells about the origin of the Bharata dynasty, and ends with Swargarohana Parva about the final journey of the Pandavas to ascend to nirvana. Whereas the word Wayang itself actually refers to a form of performance art. So what is often referred to as "wayang stories" actually does not exist. What is there is a "story" that is usually sung in a puppet show and the story is usually a series of stories around the great story of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The comic version of Wayang Purwa does not tell episodes in the parva from India but rather stories before the Ramayana and Mahabharata periods. RA Kosasih in the late 1970s, under the publisher Maranatha also made a comic with the title Wayang Purwa and with more or less the same content structure. Likewise with Oerip S. So, the term "Wayang Purwa" in cergam finally refers to the meaning of "stories that occurred before the Ramayana and Mahabharata".

 

In the Wayang Purwa poem, there is an episode about Manikmaya, which is a story about how the Sanghyang Tunggal passed on his blessings to the children of the gods. Then there is the story of the original origins of the archipelago such as Semar and his family. After that, there is a story about Dewi Sri and Batara Kala. The Arjuna Sasrabahu episode in India itself was not too prominent, in Wayang Purwa it was enough to get a large portion. The story is combined with the story of Somantri and Sukrasana. After that, there were also episodes about Subali, Sugriwa, Ravana and the birth of Hanuman. Only in the last part of the episode was the abduction of Sprott by Ravana the mighty. The chorus stops at the time of Rama's attack on Alengka and the publisher is welcome to continue it in RA Kosasih's comic, Ramayana. The stories are indeed colossal. In it many scenes of war between gods and giants. The creatures that appear are also fantastic, there are giants, gods, monsters, animal-headed humans, and others. Saleh Ardisoma is able to describe it with beautiful and dramatic perspectives. His depiction of the palace and heaven also feels magnificent. In a long volume range, it can be seen that Saleh Ardisoma's skill in making comics is increasing. The pages in the final episode are much better than the pages in the first volume.

Wayang Purwanya Saleh Ardisoma, Ramayana - Mahabharatanya RA Kosasih (including Bharatayuda and Pandawa Seda) have represented the main outline of the main puppets. When we finish reading the three titles, it will be easier for us to follow and understand other wayang plays in the form of story excerpts such as Ulamsari. Until now, comic is the most up-to-date medium of wayang story that can be said to be successful because based on direct recognition from many people, they recognise the "puppet" stories for the first time from reading comic.

The comic book Wayang Purwa by Saleh Ardisoma apparently also attracted the attention of the French publisher, Trismégiste. In 1982, one episode of Wayang Purwa, Manikmaya, was published in English and French. In 2002, Wayang Purwa was completely reprinted in a smaller format by PT Elex Media Komputindo. In 2010, Saleh Ardisoma's best work was re-published in a large size. It seems that the Plus + publisher really understands the importance of the Wayang Purwa by Saleh Ardisoma so that it is immortalized in a luxurious format and is very worthy of being collected.

The best known Indonesian versions of Mahabharata and Ramayana are indeed "owned" by RA Kosasih, but S. Ardisoma truly and surely was the first designer of the "Wayang Purwa" universe in comic books.

By Iwan Gunawan

What could be: Barumba’s Distant sequel

The Barumba’s Adventures sequel will have a scrawny feral girl, who is also a descendant of Mowgli and Nashi, his wife. 

It may become possible and yet will be much darker than most Jungle girl depictions that have stood the test of time for decades or longer. Though her father was raised by literal snowmen type apemen, she will be raised by him! 

Swinging from tree to tree

I like gibbons, ‘cause they’re the acrobats of the jungle. The same can strikingly be said for Tarzan in his original literary form. 

To swing from tree to tree throughout the rainforest canopy and within a crap ton of ancient trees, a character has to flex his or her arms. 

MNCTV’s Tarzan Cantik Summary

Tarzan Cantik became the latest Sinetron (soap opera) on MNCTV. This soap opera again showed a bare amount of hilarious action from Aryani Fitriana, who acted as Fathiyah.

Synopsis of Tarzan Cantik MNCTV: 

Fauzi (Adam Jordan), who, from a wealthy family, chose to work as a plant researcher and did not think about his family's assets. Fauzi is actually married to Lisna (Nana Khairina) but he has a loving girlfriend, Rianti (Lyra Virna), a fellow researcher. When he learned that Rianti was pregnant, Fauzi decided to divorce Lisna and marry Rianti, and they lived happily in a remote forest.

Time flies.

Rianti will give birth. While on their way to the hospital in the nearest town, the car carrying Rianti and Fauzi was intercepted by the Pharmacy Superpowers, a pharmaceutical company that had long targeted Fauzi, until an accident occurred and Rianti was separated from Fauzi.

Rianti who splashed into the river ended up inadvertently giving birth in the water. Rianti is caught by Lisna's unloving men.

Rianti and Fauzi's baby girls were stranded on an uninhabited island, mostly only big apes and other wild animals.

17 years passed. Fathiyah (Aryani) who grows up to be a lively, cheerful, loving feral girl. While looking for food with her best friends, the 3 monkeys, Fathiyah accidentally met and fought with a very tall human named the Madman (Arianto). Since the first meeting the Madman fell in love with Fathiyah.

When Fathiyah’s forest is disrupted by a group of people who will destroy it and capture its animals, Fathiyah gets to know Erfan (Kevin Kambey) and Revi (Rafael Sm*sh), and they work hand in hand together. Until finally Fathiyah accidentally carried their car to Jakarta.

Fathiyah lives in the house occupied by Revi and Erfan. Erfan initially disliked the presence of Fathiyah because he considered only disturbing, noisy and could not do anything. Revi who is more easily familiar with Fathiyah and want to teach Fathiyah all kinds.

Erfan and Revi turned out to be neighbours with Lisna and 2 of her adopted children, Carla (Gita Sucia) and Carlo (Lavicky), who had also reached their teens.

Carla, who has a long crush on Erfan, immediately hates Fathiyah. Carla and Carlo always collaborated to work on Fathiyah but as a result they were always unlucky.

One day Fathiyah, who ran away from the pursuit of Carla and Carlo, accidentally hid in the Superpower Pharmacy factory. In the factory, in a hidden room, Fathiyah instead found Fauzi. Apparently Fauzi is still alive!

Tarzan Cantik soap opera aired on MNCTV every day at 17:00 WIB, starting Monday, May 26, 2014.

Adventures in preservation piracy

Not written until years later.

Preservation piracy is a sensitive, touchy topic. However, it is increasingly socially acceptable for nerds to go out of their original comfort zone and into the Wild West of preserving something as relatively obscure as a clunky piece of old Kamishibai.