Ki
-Gor was one of the more popular of the
Tarzan imitations. He was
featured in
about 60 stories appearing in the Jungle Stories pulp
magazine from 1938 to 1954. At first glance you might confuse him for
Kaanga. And not because both looked like Charles Atlas and could be
played by Buster Crabbe in a movie. But because both heroes adventures
were published by Fiction House.Ki -Gor as mentioned in the
pulp magazine Jungle Stories.And Kaanga in the comic book Jungle Comics.
And there were a few covers of Jungle Comics featuring Kaanga that were
" swipes " of
Jungle stories starring Ki - Gor. In any case
Ki - Gor was the original appearing first in Jungle Stories ( Winter
1938 ) in a story written by John M. Reynolds.
As
origins go Ki - Gor's was pretty cliche. The son of a missionary killed
by the fierce Wunguba tribe the boy survives in the jungle with the
help of his elephant friend Mamo. Later growing to manhood he rescues
American aviatrix and socialite Helene Vaughn who has crashed in the
jungle and been captured by slavers. The two fall in love after sharing
several adventures and she forsakes America to marry Ki -Gor and remain
in the jungle with him. Like I said pretty cliche. But the stories
wouldn't remain that way. They would become down right psychotronic with
the hero facing dinosaurs , mad scientists , glowing zombie men ,
vampiric flying squirrels and witch women with actual supernatural
powers.
I'm sure another reason for the hero's
popularity stemmed from the wonderful Jungle Stories magazine covers.
Aside from Ki -Gor wrestling with crocodiles , lions and gorillas on his
way to discovering lost cities in the jungle , you also found his wife
Helene in a two - piece leopard swimsuit. Sometimes in bondage.
Sometimes she would be in the foreground looking like she was posing for
a pin - up calendar while he swung to her rescue or fought the bad guys
in the background. The Fiction House editors certainly knew how to
catch the attention of pulp reading young men.
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And as we close this weeks blog, I'd like to congratulate Dave Goode on having written his 200th blog. His knowledge of pop culture, psychotronica, martial arts, and wrestling far exceeds many of the so called "experts" posting on the world wide web. He claims that much of his knowledge has slipped away...I disagree...once you get him talking about some nostalgic moments of yesteryear, the gears begin to turn and Dave Goode's built in pop culture dynamo is back to full power. Dave's a fantastic writer and a better friend. Congrats, bud.
Vance Capley
artist
