April-May 1974 something strange happened. DC’s Tarzan went from 36 pages to 100 pages! Issues #230 to 235 ballooned to giant issues of Edgar Rice Burroughs-ness. A reprint idea from DC that affected titles from Superman to Sgt Rock, it gave this preteen ERB fan a glorious holiday of six issues that would only happen again when Tarzan Family appeared at the end of 1975. Lots of jungle-related comics with Joe Kubert still at the helm with extra Tarzan daring-do from Russ Manning. Also there were old comics like “Bomba the Jungle Boy”, “Congo Bill” and “Detective Chimp”. Better than these old non-ERB strips were articles and filler about Tarzans of old.
But none of that matter as much as the anchor spot. Robert Kanigher wrote a Korak adventure for four of the issues, each drawn by Alex Nino. The first issue had been a Korak tale drawn by Russ Heath but that didn’t catch my attention. It was the fantastic artwork of Alex Nino that made this short-lived series shine. Like Nino’s adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s “People of the Dark” for Savage Sword of Conan #6 (June 1975), these were heroic adventure with a difference, and that difference was style.
Alex Nino (1940-) was born in the Philippines but moved to the US in 1971 along with a wave of talented artists, including Tony de Zuniga, Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, E. R. Cruz, Jess Jodloman and Gerry Talaoc. Alex worked for all the big companies, DC, Marvel, Gold Key, Warren and Heavy Metal. His distinctive style is instantly recognizable. He received the Inkpot Award in 1976.
Let’s look at these four issue:
“The Ancient Awakes” has Korak finding a cylinder for suspended animation in the jungle. A giant rat (?) attacks him but he kills it Tarzan-style. Inside the cylinder is Vrodinn the Ancient who seeks a better world. Korak hosts the man but evil hunters kidnap and try to kill the jungle man. Vrodinn decides humans are still too violent and goes back into his cylinder. The idea for this story is gently borrowed from Laurence Manning’s classic SF collection The Man who Awoke (1933).
“The Pit of Darkness” has the young apeman out hunting boar when he discovers a city by accident. He shows up just as the locals are about to sacrifice a beautiful girl named Maiya. The rite is to bring the spring rain. Korak rescues her gets attacked by a unicorn-tiger, which he kills Tarzan-style. Maiya dies because of the beast and the rain begins to fall.
“The Star of Death” has Korak arrive at a deserted island, where weird plants snag him. Once captured strange hooded priests take him to an altar. An ugly red skinned demon comes with a knife to sacrifice him but a stray ray of sunlight breaks through the clouds and Korak is free. He wanders and is captured again, repeating the whole scenario. This time he gets no sunshine and has to fight the demon, who has a body that feels like smoke. The two tumble into the ocean and the monster dies. Korak grabs his boat and gets the hell-outta-dodge.
“White Death” begins in a polar region where Korak is chased by a polar bear. He kills it by dumped giant icicles into it like spears. Korak finds a tribe of icemen living in a cave. The cave people try to drive him away with thrown spears. Korak spies one of the tribe babies about to be eaten by a sabertooth so he kills it Tarzan-style and the cavemen accept him. Unfortunately the cave is inside an iceberg that breaks up and the cavemen are all swept away in the sea. Korak finds his boat but no survivors and sails on.
Alex Nino made these rather standard Korak adventures into something to remember. Korak would return for more wandering and more lost cities, etc in Tarzan Family. But these would be drawn by Ruby Flores though you can see Alex’s influence as much as Joe Kubert’s. Alex would go onto do two of my favorites for DC’s competitor: Otto Binder’s adaptation in Marvel Classics Comics #2: The Time Machine (1976) and Marvel Premiere #38 (October 1977) where he inked Mike Ploog.