Tarzan mangas galore!

Perhaps the first postwar Tarzan manga that we know of was made in 1946. Drawn by illustrator and mangaka Yoshio Inoue, Tarzan's Adventures was a pretty fine Jungle comedy for its time.

Throughout the 40s and 50s, at least from 1948 to 1951, a film inspired Tarzan manga series was created by the late Fukujiro Yokoi and was briefly continued after his death by the little known Ippei Teranishi.

Also in 1947 and 1948, kawaii illustrator Seiji Nishida actually did a pretty decent Akahon about Tarzan, which is known as 'The Hidden Jungle Lands'. The other two mangas made before that, ‘Tarzan’s Jungle’ and ‘The Jungle Treasure Trove’ were just pretty crud. 

In 1949, Illustrator Yoshizo Wada made a rather unofficial manga centring around the youth of Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan portrayal, which clearly suggests that such a portrayal was itself raised by Chimps and Gorillas amongst various animals, instead of just by Manganis like in the canonical ERB books. Afterwards, for nearly a decade, a succeeding story named the Jungle Club, which is likely set after Tarzan and the Huntress but before Tarzan and the Mermaids, has an expy of him ride a giant eagle friend of his, who’s likely inspired by Argus from the ERB books. 

Being made in 1955, one of the famed illustrator Macoto Takahashi’s first ever mangas was a really hard to find unofficial oddball for a good reason. It revolved around a shaggy long haired Tarzan in name only and his girlfriend, a High Priestess La+Jane Porter cross named Princess Jane. It was likely manufactured when he was starting his career while turning twenty one. 

In 1967, Tarzan, Jai and Cheeta’s only foray into semi-official manga was made possible when Takeshi Koshiro (Furushiro), better known as a lamented manga adapter of historical events, made a semi-offical Tarzan manga centring around Ron Ely’s well done Tarzan portrayal, his ward Jai (sometimes called Boy due to his young age) and their furry friend Cheeta (who’s likely a young tomboy). 

Most of the Tarzan mangas are just too frail to ever get reprinted, not only due to ERB Inc being the owner of Tarzan himself but also because of all the legal complications surrounding the character. 

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