Korak is the Honorable Jack Clayton, son of English Lord John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke, also known as Tarzan, lord of the jungle. He is the hero of a 1915/6 magazine serial and 1917 novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and a 1920 silent movie serial, as well as a character in several other Tarzan stories from 1914 to 1924. He experienced a revival in 1964 as the star of his own comic book series and as a major character in various Tarzan comic books, pages, and strips from 1966 to 1978.
As depicted in the comic books, pages, and strips, Korak has a lean, athletic physique, broad shoulders and thin waist, almost no clothing, a cute, boyish face, and full, thick hair. He is also an intelligent, enthusiastic teen-aged boy with excellent natural instincts and a good heart.
Korak strives to emulate his legendary father but lacks his strength, maturity and experience. Therefore, he is both more likely to enter into dangerous situations and more vulnerable to being defeated.
As the star of his own comic book series in 1964, Korak is a capable, young hero. His adventures were somewhat similar to those of his father Tarzan, but independent from them.
In 1966, ABC released the TV series Batman, featuring the frequently imperiled youthful sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder. As a fan of seeing cute, young sidekicks in trouble, I watched every episode.
The British Tarzan weekly started in 1977. This week's artist is the wonderful Dan Spiegle.
Korak continues to have a lean, athletic physique, broad shoulders and thin waist, almost no clothing except for a leather loincloth over his mid-section, a cute, boyish face, and full, thick, dark hair. However, under Spiegle, Korak tended to have a shorter, more compact, gymnast's build.
He continues to be a strong, athletic, teen-aged jungle boy. However, his smaller size makes him even more vulnerable to defeat to larger, more mature opponents.
He continues to be an intelligent, enthusiastic teen-aged boy with good natural instincts and a good heart. His youthful inexperience makes him vulnerable to dirty fighting techniques or seduction. His youthful enthusiasm may also lead him into trouble over good but dangerous causes or to otherwise confront dangerous opponents to prove himself.
In a prior story, a local fisherman managed to catch a mermaid. Korak rescued her and took her to the ocean, but was severely injured and taken to her underwater city to be treated. Learning that the mermaid's underwater city sent a small army to the fisherman's village to find her, Korak managed to notify the general of the army that the mermaid was safe in her underwater city. The mermaid tasked Korak with destroying the helmet which produced the small army.
This week, Korak carelessly throws the helmet into the garbage, where it is found by a hungry ape, taken from the ape by a local fisherman, won from the fisherman by the unscrupulous owner of a gambling house, who uses the helmet to gain revenge upon a hostile village.
Korak again demonstrates his speed, strength, and intelligence by managing to survive the assault of one of the helmet soldiers and launching a counterattack causing its retreat and disappearance. However, this week's chaos was Korak's fault for being so careless in his disposal of the helmet.
Spiegle's artwork is excellent. Unfortunately, Korak is absent for much of this week's scenes. Still, viewers get a good view of Korak's lean, athletic physique both at the beginning and later as he confronts the soldier.
Favorite scene: page 1, panel a
Previous blog:
This blog is intended to raise interest in and appreciation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character Korak. To see this story in context, you may find it in my Korak in British Tarzans blog at the following link:
This week's adventures can also be found at the following link(s):
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