Ki-Gor was a Tarzan clone who headlined in the Jungle Stories Pulp. (Not to be confused with the 1931 Jungle Stories.) The John Peter Drummond byline was no more real than Kenneth Robeson or Maxwell Grant. It was a house name owned by the Fiction House to insure a steady stream of stories. No one author could hold the publishers up for a raise nor realistically turn out that many adventures on a quarterly schedule (at those rates).
Artists are identified where known.
The real authors included John Murray Reynolds, Dan Cushman, James McKimmey, Stanley Mullin, W. Scott Peacock, and Robert Turner. Ki-Gor began life as the son of a missionary, who was killed by the Wunguba tribe. The baby was raised in the jungle by the elephant Marmo. Later he acquires his Jane in Helene Vaughn who crashes in the jungle. Ki-Gor’s allies are Tembu George and M’Geeso the pygmy. The stories feel much like the Tarzan films of Johnny Weissmuller, with a kind of jungle domesticity punctuated by daring escapes and rescues. If Ki-Gor has one claim to fame it is that he appeared in more adventures than Tarzan, making him the most prolific jungle lord. Edgar Rice Burroughs never commented on that.
1938
Ki-Gor, King of the Jungle (John Murray Reynolds) (Winter 1938)
1939
Ki-Gor and the Stolen Empire (Summer 1939)
Ki-Gor and the Giant Gorilla-Men (Fall 1939)
Ki-Gor and the Secret Legions of Simba (Winter 1939)
1940
Ki-Gor and the Forbidden Mountain (Spring 1940)
Ki-Gor and the Cannibal Kingdom (Summer 1940)
The Paradise That Time Forgot (Fall 1940)
The Empire of Doom (Winter 1940)
1941
Lair of the Beast (Spring 1941)
The Temple of the Moon God (Summer 1941)
White Savage (Fall 1941)
Tigress of T’wanbi Winter 1941)
Slaves for the Renegade Sultan (Spring 1942)
Blood Priestess of Vig’Na (Summer 1942)
The Cannibal Horde (Fall 1942)
The Devil’s Death Trap (Winter 1942)
1943
Voodoo Slaves for the Devil’s Daughter (Spring 1943)
Eyrie of the Golden Goddess (April 1943)
Caravan of Terror (Summer 1943)
Death Krall of the Elephants (Fall 1943)
Stalkers of the Dawn-World (Winter 1943)
1944
Cobra Queen of the Congo Legions (Spring 1944)
The Monkey Men of Loba-Gola (Summer 1944)
Bride of the Serpent God (Fall 1944)
Land of the Lost Safaris (Winter 1944)
1945
The Silver Witch (Spring 1945)
Huntress of the Hell Pack (Summer 1945)
The Golden Beasts of Zuli’Maen (Fall 1945)
Slave Brides for the Dawn-Men (Winter 1945)
1946
The Monsters of Voodoo Isle (Spring 1946)
Death Seeks for Congo Treasure (Summer 1946)
Safari for Black Ivory (Fall 1946)
Blood Gold of B’Tonga (Winter 1946)
1947
Where Man-Beasts Prowl (Spring 1947)
The Diamond Fangs of M’Muba M’Ni (Summer 1947)
Warrior Queen of Attila’s Lost Legion (Fall 1947)
The Seven Silver Skulls of L’Gonda (Winter 1947)
1948
Slave of the Jackal-Priestess (Spring 1948)
Zomba Has a Thousand Spears (Summer 1948)
The Golden Claws of Raa (Fall 1948)
The Lost Beasts of Ta-Tamba (Winter 1948)
1949
Nirvana of the Seven Voodoos (Spring 1949)
Safari of the Serpent-Slaves (Summer 1949)
The Mad Monster of Mu-ungu (Fall 1949)
The Sword of Sheba (Winter 1949)
1950
Lost Priestess of the Nile (Spring 1950)
The Beast-Gods of Atlantis (Summer 1950)
Voodoo Slaves for the Devil’s Daughter (Fall 1950)
Art by George Gross
Flame-Priestess of Carthage (Winter 1950)
1951
The Monkey Men of Loba-Gola (Spring 1951)
The Devil’s Death Trap (Fall 1951)
Blood Priestess of Vig N’Ga (Winter 1951)
1952
Night of the Wasuli Death (Spring 1952)
The Monsters of Voodoo Isle (Fall 1952)
Caravan of Terror (Winter 1952)
1953
The Silver Witch (Spring 1953)
Slave-Caverns of Molundu (Fall 1953)
Fane of the Python Princess (Winter 1953)
1954
White Cannibal (Spring 1954)
The Pulps died in 1954, taking heroes like Ki-Gor with them. Some, like Tarzan and Conan, were met gladly with paperback reprints. Others like Ki-Gor had to wait much longer to find themselves reborn in collections. Jungle fans have long memories and many fans. The stories were collected by Altus Press 2009-2016. New Ki-Gor adventures have been written since 2007 by Peter Currane, Tom Johnson, Wayne Skiver, Duane Spurlock, Barry Reese, Aaron Smith, W. Peter Miller, John R. Rose, Ron Fortier and Clayton Hinkle.
Great set of covers and interior art of the Ki-Gor tales. Here’s an article from Howard Andrew Jones, which lists probably the best of the series. It also contains thoughts from John C. Hocking and Morgan Holmes. (BTW, I’m the “Andy Beau” mentioned in the article.)
http://www.howardandrewjones.com/heroic-fiction/pulp/the-mighty-ki-gor-tarzans-forgotten-rival