Caveman Hero Comics had a strong tradition to follow. In literature, particularly Pulp and Children’s, there were heroes who were prehistoric men. Caveman literature dates back to almost the first discoveries of Neanderthal skeletons. Irving J. Crump gave the reader’s of Boys’ Life a fellow named Og, Son of Fire. In the Pulps, Manly Wade Wellman wrote of Hok and Howard Browne followed in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ footsteps and wrote of Tharn for Amazing Stories. Jim Kjelgaard, best known for Big Red, wrote a wonderful juvenile called Fire Hunter (1951).
Caveman comics existed back in the comic strip days (1932) with funny characters like Alley Oop. Later The Flintstones would be a smash in the same way, a parody of modern life with dinosaurs. But artist Joe Kubert wanted to do something closer to the real when he created Tor, a fierce fighter in the year 1,000, 000 BC. (Yes, there was the 1940 film with that title, more famously re-made in 1966 with Ray Harryhausen dinos and Raquel Welsh.)
I should make a very clear distinction here. I am not discussing Jungle lords or ladies in this post. The lines between them sometimes blur like with Thun’Da who began like a caveman with dinosaurs and then turned into a typical, boring jungle dude. This means I have also left out characters like Bud Root’s Cavewoman, who despite her name, is really a jungle lady. Also I have not included single appearances by prehistoric folk.
Golden Age
St. John published Joe’s first rendition of the caveman Tor. (He will return and return…) Tor is a caveman who fights against anthropoid adversaries as often as dinosaurs. The gimmick of 3D comics was big and half of Tor’s early adventures were in red and green. Joe chose a world with dinosaurs in it, as would most of the comic creators. The spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs is always with us.
Silver Age
Dell’s Kona, Monarch of Monster Isle ran for twenty issues (May-July 1962 to March 1967) with scripts by Don Segall and art by Sam Glanzman. Using a combination of Kong’s Skull Island and plenty of ERB, Kona tells of a caveman who helps scientists explore the deadly island. The recent Kong: Skull Island (2017) had a very similar feel.
DC’s Anthro was a Howie Post production. It ran for six issues including DC Showcase #74 (May 1968) to July-August 1969. To Post’s credit, he avoided the dinosaurs, preferring actual prehistoric mammals. The story line seems mostly to about how caveboys go through puberty. Like later comics, Post pairs up a Cromagnon child with a Neanderthal parent.
Rahan was a French comic initially written by Roger Lecureux and drawn by André Chéret. Rahan travels about his prehistoric world trying to do good. A hundred stories spread over 30 years, Rahan has had more caveman adventures than anyone. American comics, as this post shows, rarely go longer than ten issues. Sadly, for many in North America, Rahan has only become available in the last few years. In 1986, the comic was adapted to television. In 2006 there was to be a feature film directed by Christophe Gans and starring Mark Dacascos but it did not materialize.
Bronze Age
Now there must have been something in the water in May-June of 1976 because the majority of these comics appeared around that time. Perhaps it was the appearance of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That Time Forgot (1974) and At the Earth’s Core (1976) in theaters but I think it was more.
Charlton’s Valley of the Dinosaurs was a Hanna-Barbera product from TV. Fred Himes basically wrote and drew it. Like Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost, it took a family into a prehistoric world of dinosaurs and cavemen. The Butler family has the caveman, Lok, to help them.
Charlton’s version of Hanna-Barbera’s live-action Korg 70,000 BC ran for nine issues from May 1975-November 1976. Pay Boyette wrote, drew and painted the covers for this comic. The TV show told of the daily lives of prehistoric people with a narration by Burgess Meredith. Because of this, dinosaurs weren’t as evident though robots and such did make an appearance.
DC’s Tor (May-June 1975-March-April 1976) ran for six issues reprinting the 1953 material and adding one story, “the Beating”. The comic gave Joe Kubert a chance to revive his 1953 character while up-grading his world. This comic ran concurrent with Kubert’s Tarzan.
Gold Key’s Tragg and the Sky-Gods ran for nine issues (June 1975-May 1982). It was written by Donald F. Glut and drawn by Jesse Santos. Glut had characters from other comics visit the cavemen who took on the aliens. (The idea of cavemen defeating saucer men goes back to Manly Wade Wellman’s “The Day of the Conquerors” from Thrilling Wonder Stories, March 1941.) Glut puts a nice 1970s Chariot of the Gods spin on it.
DC’s Kong the Untamed ran for five issues (June 1975 to February-March 1976). It was written by Jack Oleck then Gerry Conway. Art was done by Alfred Alcala, Tony Caravana, Jo Ingente Jr., Bill Draut, and David Wenzel. I have to wonder at the name of this comic. Kong had pretty strong association with a certain ape fellow. The idea of a Cromagnon boy and his Neanderthal sidekick was well done, but when Oleck and Alcala abandoned the comic after issue #3, things went downhill pretty quick. The early David T. Wenzel art is nice though.
Marvel’s Devil Dinosaur was a Jack Kirby comic, written and drawn by the master with inks by Mike Royer. It ran nine issues from April-December 1978. While the dinosaur is the star of the comic, he did have a proto-human sidekick, Moon-Boy to bring a relatable point-of-view. The comic has the usual fantastic array of Kirby robots, spacemen and other villains for the dinosaur to fight. Jack may have got the caveman bug from his earlier adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey (December 1976) that featured a caveman called “Beast-Killer”.
Modern Age
Tor returned for a third time in June-September 1993 for Epic Comics Heavy Hitters. Joe Kubert was at the top of his form. these comics are a visual feast and my favorite of all his Tor stuff. There were four issues on high gloss paper. Tor faces off against weird cults, dinosaurs and other larger cavemen.
Tor got a reprinting in September 2001/November 2002 November 2003 but Joe came back in July-December 2008 for a six issue mini-series of Tor at DC. Not really much different than 1993’s Tor, it did have a less vibrant color scheme. This is the mature work of a true master.
Stone Age
Cavemen have had a fascinating draw on modern readers since before the time of H. G. Wells’ A Story of the Stone Age (1897). The daily lives of struggle, adventure and often romance in its more primitive form, continue to produce new works both in fiction and comics. Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear bestsellers have proven that in every generation the cave story springs eternal. Comics are no different.
What struck me as interesting here is that half of these comics were produced by a single talent. Joe Kubert, Howie Post, Fred Himes, Pat Boyette and Jack Kirby all wrote and drew their version of prehistoric life. Dinosaurs most often were included but not always. The image of a club-wielding caveman facing off against a saurian beast is classic Pulp and it lives on in the comics.
If I left out some of your favorite cave dudes, let me know.