Aldous
Superman Squad
Offline
Posts: 843
Downunder
|
|
« on: May 23, 2003, 04:22:14 AM » |
|
I have several stories in old Australian reprint albums of this "Imaginary" character, Karkan the Mighty, a sort of Edgar Rice Burroughs version of an "Imaginary" Superman story.
In doing my review of Secret of the Phantom Quarterback, I came across other stories in the same issue, which is not the North American comic but an Australian one. This isn't a problem -- the stories are just as enjoyable no matter who publishes them -- but it does mean I have no idea where and when the stories first appeared. Sometimes I can find out, sometimes not. In this Australian album, Superman Supacomic No. 178, the first story is The Skyscraper that Screamed For its Life, which I'm pretty sure I reviewed in detail on the Superman in the 70s thread, written by Elliot S! and drawn by Swanderson. Next is the little classic Clark Kent's College Days; no credits given, but the art seems to be by Al Plastino. After this comes the Karkan story (which I'll come back to in a moment), then The Curse of the Kung Lo Diamond by Jerry Case (writer) and Howard Sherman (artist). The last story in this edition is the first Steve Lombard story, which I'm reviewing on the 70s thread.
I'm really interested in the Karkan the Mighty series of comics. I have a few of them, as I said, spread out through different Australian reprint albums, and the one in this edition appears to be the first (or "origin") tale. It's a Superboy story called Karkan the Mighty -- Lord of the Jungle, written by David George, drawn by Bob Brown & Murphy Anderson.
A flaming missile plunges from space into the African jungle, terrifying the apes. Later, the apes investigate and find a crashed rocket and baby Kal-El wrapped in Kryptonian blankets. The apes name Kal-El "the hairless one" and they decide to leave him be as he is not one of them. Keena, a barren female, decides to take him and mother him. So the baby grows up in the ape community, renamed "Karkan the Mighty" by his "mother". He is (obviously) the strongest of them all and defeats all predators, obtains food during famines, starts flying around while the apes have to go from tree to tree as per usual, defeats their enemies like the giant python, "Gorg" (but whom he refuses to kill), and beats his chest and gives yells of triumph like a super-powerful Tarzan of the Apes.
Now in his mid-to-late teens, the apes show Karkan from whence he came. He finds the Kryptonian blankets at the site of the crash -- which he crafts into a sort of primitive super-suit complete with a snake-symbol (S) because it's the "mark of Gorg" whom he defeated -- and also has his first encounter with Kryptonite.
Some of the apes taunt Karkan, especially when they spy on other "hairless ones" (human beings) passing through the jungle. Karkan doesn't like being teased: "I am one of you!" he roars at the apes.
These are the beginnings of his adventures as he runs afoul of bad hunters who invade the jungle and find the rocket (and, worse, the Kryptonite), and his encounters with Toni, the "beautiful she".
Does anyone else remember these fascinating stories? How did they come about? How popular were they?
|