Tarzan Comic Adaptations in the iron curtain

Some of the most colourful Tarzan comic adaptations come from the Iron Curtain. 

China has both the Qian Guisun lianhuanhua series based somewhat faithfully on the books and the Wang Zhaodong lianhuanhua quartet based on the rather in name only Johnny Weissmuller films. 

Qian Guisun’s Tarzan comics are pretty good in their own right, aside from skipping The Return of Tarzan, due to such a book being too spicy for the PRC market at the time. They’re such creative comics that they perhaps rival both Joe Kubert’s and Roy Allan Martinez’s comics in terms of all the fun involved. 

Wang Zhaodong’s Tarzan the Apeman lianhuanhua, however, is a stylistic mix of both Kong Kong Manhua and Italian fumetti comics. It’s also inspired by the Johnny Weissmuller films, themselves much different from the canonical books. The 4 volume series is lighter and softer, as well as being more slice of life than Qian Guisun’s more humorous and perhaps even satirical tribute to the various official Tarzan adaptations. 

The Romanian Nicu Russu only drew two Tarzan comics in the mid 1970s; which meant that he was a busy with other comic projects as both Tarzan comics are in colour. Strangely, Tarzan is blonde in such comics rather than black haired like in the books. There are some minor changes involved such as High Priestess La having a different look and the Mangani looking like a mix of prehistoric humans and Sasquatches (kinda fair enough, because they’re technically Frazetta style prehistoric men in all but uncanny valley looks). 

Ernő Zórád also did a Tarzan of the Apes comic strip in the early-mid 1980s. My gawd, it is quite faithful aside from hairstyle changes and how the Mangani actually look like in the canon books. 

The first part of Tarzan of the Apes was also made into a Russian language comic book in 1990, just as the Soviet Union broke up. Despite not being a strong seller, it still has a rather good artistic quality, so it feels nicely illustrated even though it may not be ideal for reprinting anymore due to Tarzan himself being owned by ERB inc. 

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