Pulp comics: Russ Manning’s ‘Tarzan’

As a kid, while I watched early Tarzan movies (mainly starring Johnny Weissmuller) and read Tarzan comics from Gold Key, I didn’t get into the Tarzan novels.

But what I really enjoyed were the Gold Key Comics with artwork by Jesse Marsh (who I thought was okay) and Russ Manning (who I loved). This was because these comics, based on the novels, gave us an articulate Tarzan who had adventures in Africa that included lost worlds and strange beasts, which I enjoyed. I really wished the movies had this, but I guess the money and special effects to do so wasn’t there.

Russ Manning (1929-81) was the one artist above all others who worked on Tarzan whom I really liked. And he did a lot of Tarzan work, both in the comics and the comic strips. While most of it has been reprinted, some has not.

At Gold Key (actually Western Publishing), he started work on a backup strip, Brothers of the Spear. This series was owned by Western, but certainly is in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I enjoyed reading these alongside Tarzan.

The “Brothers” are Dan-El and Natongo. Natongo was the son of a Zulu chieftain in the land that would become Botswana, and Dan-El was his adopted brother. They became sub-chiefs, swore brotherhood, and had adventures together.

They learned Dan-el was king by right, whose throne had been usurped. What was notable was that Dan-El was white, and his kingdom was that of a lost white tribe in Africa (Aba-Zulu), while Natongo was black (later ruling neighboring Tungelu).

The first two years of the series dealt with them winning their thrones. By that time, they had individually gotten married. But even being kings and husbands, they continued to have adventures together, many times with their wives.

The strip was done by Jess Marsh, then Russ, and at the end by Mike Royer. After Western lost the Tarzan license, they turned Brothers of the Spears into a comicbook for 18 issues. Dark Horse reprinted the backup strip in three archive editions, but left out two stories by Manning and Royer’s work. I have no idea why. I also wish they had done the comicbook stories as well.

He soon took over the Tarzan comic series, adapting 10 of the first 11 Burroughs books. The first six of these were later reprinted by Dark Horse in three small graphic novels, and then in the first of two planned archive volumes. The second never appeared, which would have collected the final four adaptions. Gold Key also launched a Korak comicbook, and Manning did the first 11 issues. Dark Horse would reprint all his Korak work in two volumes.

During the time he was working on the comic series, ERB Inc. hired Manning to take over the Tarzan daily and Sunday comic strips. His work on the daily ran from 1967 to 1972, when it became reprints only.  With the Sunday strip, his work ran from 1967 to 1979, at which point it was taken over by others.

These strips were more in line with the Gold Key comics, giving us an articulate Tarzan, with adventures in lost worlds, sometimes with Jane and sometimes with Korak. Korak also got a few solo adventures. There were returns to Pal-U-Don, the land of the Ant Men, Opal several times (including meeting again Priestess La). There was also a couple of returns to Pellucidar, meeting up again with David Innes. IDW reprinted Manning’s Tarzan strips in four volumes, with the Sundays in color.

Also while working for ERB Inc., Manning produced a set of four original Tarzan graphic novels for the overseas market. Dark Horse would reprint two of these in one volume, as they both dealt with Caspak, the “Land That Time Forgot”: Tarzan in The Land That Time Forgot and The Pool of Time. I’m not sure why they didn’t do the other two.

While a lot of Manning’s work has been reprinted, it’s frustating that some was not. Dark Horse never got to the rest of his Tarzan comics, nor did they do the rest of the original graphic novels. IDW did a great job, but their volumes are getting hard to find.