Joe Kubert’s creation, Tor, had a short early run for St. John: two 3-D issues and three standard comic book issues. Despite the sin of commingling dinosaurs and humans in world of “1,000,000 years ago,” it was a nicely done title featuring a wandering caveman who shows up just as other tribes are having some problems that need Tor’s intervention. You can find a link to a Tor posting below. The series ended in 1954.
From Tor Joe went on to DC and the next year began the Viking Prince stories for writer/editor Robert Kanigher, with whom he had a long collaborative association. This entry in the series is from
The Brave and the Bold #2 (1955). Go to the link below to see the first story featuring Viking Prince from
The Brave and the Bold #1.
Occasionally when going through boxes of old comics I pause to look again at anything Joe Kubert did, just to remind myself how much all of it has meant to me.
(Even with that build-up, no, I am not furnishing examples of Joe’s Tarzan beyond this cover...sorry!) It is fitting that when DC got the rights to the famous literary character, Kubert’s progression from Tor to Viking Prince to Tarzan seemed very natural and a perfect choice.
More Tor, and the Viking Prince’s origin. Just click on the thumbnails.
Mostly a tight little story, but we're cheated of a big fight at the end, which it seemed to be leading up to.
ReplyDeleteRyan, with the Comics Code so new (and as I've read, meddlesome and dictatorial) it could have been the threat of censorship or maybe just DC being cautious that kept down the violence.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know this Kubert's early works...
ReplyDeleteAmazing how his style has developed through the years, here I sense Hal Foster' Valiant...
Synthesis is the goal of all the greatest.