9a. Tarzan Comics - 1950s
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'Tarzan Adventures', originally titled Tarzan: The Grand Adventure Comic but retitled from volume three, was published by Westworld from 1951 until 1959. A total of 342 issues were initially published fortnightly but later (from volume three) weekly.
It began as a British edition of a French magazine which reprinted American Tarzan newspaper strips, though later issues contained some new filler material, including some stories by Michael Moorcock (who also edited the magazine). Vol. 1 #2 was incorrectly labeled as Vol. 2 #2, but is easily identifiable because the size of the Volume 1 issues were much larger (15" x 11 & 1/2") than Volume 2 (12 & 1/4" x 8 & 3/4"). Starting with Volume 3 #1 there would be 52 issues for each volume until the Ninth Volume, which ended the series with #32. (see below) Throughout the contents were made up of daily and weekly American newspaper strips, along with other Sci-Fi and Western filler that was original content.
With the British printing plates from the original Tarzan comic strip having been destroyed in WWII by Nazi bombs, as a teenager Michael Moorcock started his literary career translating the dialog from Spanish plates. He would later contribute text stories and for a time late in the run became editor.
The covers of the Tarzan Adventure weeklies are what made them unique, with the issues of the earlier volumes following a pattern developed in America by Dell Comics, where a photographer would take a number of different shots during a shooting session, resulting in many similar covers from different angles of view. There were a number of Johnny Weissmuller and Gordon Scott covers, but the majority were dedicated to Lex Barker. http://thewildstars.com/TarzansBritishHeritage.html
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Vol 7 No 25 21/09/57 Vol 7 No 43 25/01/58
Vol 7 No 50 15/03/58 Vol 7 No 41 11/01/58
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Below are a few of the covers issued between
1954 and 1959
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Volume 4 No. 12. 26th June 1954. The cover shows Johnny Weissmuller in a still from his film 'Tarzan and the Mermaid' also contained in the comic is a western 'Dave Logan Trail Scout' and 'Chris Welkin Planeteer'
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Volume 4 No 2. 14th April 1954 The cover shows Lex Barker in a still from 'Tarzan & the Slave Girl' also contains 'Arizona Bill' and 'Twin Earths' strips.
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Vol 5 No 14. 9th July 1955 Cover picture Gordon Scott. + The Water Pirate by Conrad Frost & Tobias Blunt strip.
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Volume 4 No 8. 2nd June 1954 Cover shows Lex Barker in a still from 'Tarzan's Savage Fury' Contains 'Arizona Bill' & 'Sister Planets' strips.
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Volume 5 No. 52. 31st March 1956. Also contains a strip using stills from the film 'The Conqueror' Starring John Wayne. and 'Saga of the West' featuring Buffalo Bill.
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Volume 5 No 35. 3rd December 1955. Contains 'Armed Robbery' short story by Glynn Croudace and 'Tobias Blunt' strip.
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Volume 6 No. 15. 14th July 1956. also contains a western strip 'Rising Moon' and a short story 'The Secret Cave' by Mary McAndrews.
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Volume 6 No 3. 21st April 1956. Contains 'Amphbus MK1' and 'Lone Hawk Kingdom' strips.
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Vol 7 No 32. 9th November 1957. Contains short story 'The Sword of Arthur' by George Locke & Buffalo Bill strip.
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Volume 7 No 10. 8th June 1957 contains 'The Blue Flag' short story by Charles Irvin and 'Saga of the west' strip.
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Vol 7 No 51. 8th March 1958. Contains still of Gordon Scott as Tarzan on the cover plus short story by Michael Moorcock 'Prisoners in Stone' and Buffalo Bill strip.
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Volume 7 No 40. 4th January 1958. Contains 'Canvas and Wire' short story by Mike Moorcock and 'Buffalo Bill' strip.
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Volume 8 No. 24. 13th September 1958. Contains the strip 'Tarzan and the Missing Link' and short story 'Prize of the Buccaneer' by Peter L Ashford.
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Volume 8 No 17. 26th July 1958. Contains 'The Castle of Doom' short story by Mary McAndrew and 'The Crooked Judge' strip.
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Vol 9 No 21. 10th October 1959. Contains 'The Perilous Voyage' by Karra Vanne, 'Wanted' strip and a still of Dennis Miller' the latest Tarzan film hero.
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Volume 8 No 52. 28th March 1959 contains 'The Gang to the Rescue' short story by Alistair Graham and 'Rex Hunter' strip.
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Vol 9 No 32 26th December 1959. This was the last ever edition with a note of regret from the editor R M Samuel saying they hoped to produce a monthly edition at sometime. This never happen.
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Volume 9 No 16. 18th July 1959. Contains 'Raiders on the Night Scot' short story by Eric Hawkesworth and 'Spanish Gold' strip.
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Vol 8 No 30 25/10/58 Vol 6 No 42 19/01/57
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Vol 8 No 28 11/10/58 Vol 4 No 8 26/05/54
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