Stories about people finding dinosaurs hiding in strange places go back to Victorian times. As our knowledge of prehistoric life grew, so did our fantasies around it. Jules Verne kicked things off with Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864). “The Last Haunt of the Dinosaur” (The English Illustrated Magazine, September 1908) by Henry Francis is pretty typical, with explorers looking for dinosaurs after hearing rumors. These usually turn out to be diplodocus or brontosaurus. For more, go here.
To be clear here, I am not talking about Cavemen and Dinosaurs, which was a cottage industry after Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World in 1912.) That idea had those staunch explorers finding a “lost world” where cavemen and dinosaurs still exist side-by-side. The people finding them were not jungle lords but usually stuffy Englishmen. This time the central idea is what could a jungle lord do against a dinosaur? These amazing lads and ladies who fight tigers for breakfast should be better prepared than the most us of, who would run off and be eaten in a bathroom like a lawyer.
The results of these stories were recycled in the Pulps, of course. For more, go here. The king of that dino-haunted domain was Edgar Rice Burroughs. He created the interior world of Pellucidar in 1914 and the island of Caprona (The Land That Time Forgot!) in 1918. When we think of Tarzan of the Apes encountering a jungle filled with dinosaurs, we don’t bat an eye. That a Lord of the Jungle should fight T. rexes or triceratopsi seems as normal as lions or leopards or rhinoceri. The idea is actually pretty rare. (These aren’t Cavemen versus Dinosaurs remember.) Most of the tree-swingers got their pay (bananas?) for fighting crocodiles and evil poachers and lots of big cats. But not dinos.
Tarzan’s first encounter happened in Tarzan the Terrible (1921) and then again when he ventured inside the planet in Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1930). Pellucidar was an Edgar Rice Burroughs Cavemen & Dinosaurs scenarios, but to have a jungle lord visit? Pure gold! Hal Foster, the first Tarzan comic strip artist brought Tarzan and dinos together in 1931 (perhaps in part because of Tarzan at the Earth’s Core?)
The next to jump on the dino-wagon was Fiction House. They published both Pulps and comics. One of their Pulps starring Ki-Gor and his mate, Helene, encountered dinos in “Stalkers of the Dawn World” (Jungle Stories, Winter 1943) by John Peter Drummond. (For more on the Ki-Gor series, go here.) If it works in the comics, it’ll work in the Pulps, as Fiction House’s jungle lord, Kaanga, had already proved in the comics as early as 1941.
The Golden Age of Comics offers us the most singular examples of Jungle-Dino comics. Later in the Golden, Silver and Bronze Age entire comics will be devoted to Cavemen & Dinosaurs with Tor, Thun’Da (for issue 1), Turok, Son of Stone, Kona, Korg, Kong the Untamed, Devil Dinosaur, etc. For more, go here. It is much easier to pit cavemen against dinosaurs (despite being 65,000,000 years apart) than it is with jungle lords and ladies. Despite that, here are some of those cases.
“Jungle Battles” (Amazing Man #9, February 1940) was written and drawn by R. Louis Golden. This one features Jay Douglas, famed archaeologist and cut-rate Tarzan. He encounters a stegosaurus before saving his friend, Kelingo, from a python.
“Valley of the Killer Birds” (Jungle Comics #17, May 1941) was written by Frank Riddell. Kaanga’s girlfriend, Ann, gets taken by a pterodon. Kaanga kills a dinosaur then uses its hide to get taken into the pterodon cave to rescue her. (Reminds me of David Innes and the Mahar hides in At the Earth’s Core.) John Celardo was one of the newspaper Tarzan artists. He drew the strip from 1954 to 1967, thirteen years after this comic. John was also one of the cover artists at Fiction House that used the magical Jungle Triangle.
“Monster of Dismal Swamp” (Jungle Comics #21, September 1941) was written by Frank Riddell. A village terrorized by a dinosaur, tries to sacrifice Ann. Kaanaga saves everybody. Kaanga started off in Jungle Comics #1 since Jumbo Comics had Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Kaanga will meet dinos several times but Sheena never did at Fiction House. Later, when she was revived in the 2000s she got plenty of dino-action. Kaanga would later get his own comic for a short time.
“Scaly Sentinel of Taboo Swamp” (Jungle Comics #37, January 1943) was written by Frank Riddell. At the end of this one the bad guys will get eaten by the dinosaurs, saving the hero the trouble. It will happen again later with an evil voodoo man.
“Tabu” (Jungle Comics #53, May 1944) was written by “Mack”, a house name. Tabu was one of the filler characters in Jungle comics along with Simba, Wambi, and Capt. Terry Thunder.
“Voodah” (Crown Comics #6, Spring 1946) was unusual in that the hero was black. He shows us how to kill dinos. Go for the eyes!
“Tabu” (Jungle Comics #92, August 1947) was written by “Mack”, a house name. More bad guys get et!
“Tarzan and The Lone Hunter” (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #4, July-August 1948) was written by Gaylord Du Bois. I include this one because it was first time we encounters dinosaurs in this Dell comic book that would use them frequently. Many of Tarzan’s adventures happen in or near Pal-U-Don, a land of dinosaurs.
“The Miserable Mankillers” (Rulah #21, December 1948) Rulah was Fox’s jungle queen. She started in Zoot Comics but got her own title. It took a while but she finally met with dinosaurs.
“For Many Moons…” (Kaanga #3, Spring 1950)
“Forbidden Valley” (reprinted as “Valley of the Demon Monsters”) (Jungle Jo #2, July 1950) This one takes place in a valley like many of these tales. Using The Lost World idea from Arthur Conan Doyle, there is usually a valley cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years. The idea would show up in Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen’s The Valley of the Gwangi (1969). No jungle lords show up but James Francicus did.
“The Lost Civilization” (Nyoka the Jungle Girl #51, January 1951) Nyoka was a serial star who had a long running comic book. She was played by Kay Aldridge in Perils of Nyoka (1942). The Fawcett comic book started in 1945 and ran until 1953. Charlton would pick it up in 1955. Nyoka’s red and white outfit, not a leopard skin like most jungle girls, was set by the studio. This was Nyoka’s one true dinosaur encounter.
“Morass of Death” (Terrors of the Jungle #4, April 1953) was written and drawn by Jay Disbrow For more on Jay Disbrow and his wonderful monsters, go here. Terrors of the Jungle was a reprint comic from Star though it did use some new material like this one by Disbrow.
“The Cave-Man Valley” (Kaanga #16, Summer 1953) gives us the Arthur Conan Doyle formula again.
“The Terrible Zunga” (Terrors of the Jungle #8, March 1954)
Conclusion
I know some readers may feel like I am splitting hairs here. That the jungle lord versus dinosaurs is really just cavemen & dinosaurs. Yes and no. I feel there is a slight thematic difference that intrigues me. To best illustrate this an excerpt from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Earth’s Core:
Tarzan of the Apes hesitated. He looked upward toward the sun, whose rays were filtering down through the foliage of the forest. He looked about him—everywhere was foliage. There was nothing in the foliage nor upon the boles or branches of the trees to indicate direction, Tarzan of the Apes was lost!
When Tarzan gets to Pellucidar, he goes for a swing to be alone and enjoy the jungle. Being confident of his jungle skills, he doesn’t pay much attention, getting caught in a snare. Then a bull and a sabertooth have a fight over him. He eventually gets stuck with a sagoth for a pal. None of that would have happened if he had been swinging around Africa. The dino-jungle ups Tarzan’s game. After killing dozens of lions, you need a challenge. What could be more challenging than a T. rex?
Lots of cool dino comics here!