Pappy's Sunday Supplement #4: Thun'da King of the Congo #1

I reveal my ignorance of Frank Frazetta history by admitting I did not know that he created the character, Thun’da, that Gardner Fox did the scripts for the first issue, and that it caused Frazetta to leave that company when ME Comics sold the movie rights without giving him anything. That is what I read in Don Markstein’s Toonopedia. What I did know before reading Markstein was the original concept for the character, that he was a regular guy, Roger Drum, who crash landed into a lost jungle world of dinosaurs and prehistoric dangers, was watered down and subsequent to the first issue Thun’da became just another white jungle character.

The cringe-worthy cover and depictions of black cannibals with filed teeth is from that era when some artists, editors and publishers didn’t see anything wrong with that sort of racial caricature. Be warned.

Thun’da #1 has been reprinted several times. I have two of the reprints. In the seventies Russ Cochran did a beautiful oversized edition on heavy art paper, reproduced from the original art. I have that one, as well as an equally outstanding 1987 edition in a color comic book format by Fantagraphics. My scans today are taken from the original comic, published in 1952.

Cochran demanded the best reproduction, and since I know I will never own any of the original art, at least I can look at printed pages like this.

Since Frazetta assisted other artists, like Al Williamson, did Williamson (and other artists) help Frazetta with the artwork? More of my ignorance. I don’t know.

The inside front cover is an ad for an airline. When is the last time you saw an ad for airline travel in a comic book? I don’t remember seeing any, although it is possible. I just don’t think that comic book readers were the best use for advertising dollars from that industry.

In the blackline ad page on the inside back cover, in 1952 you could order a switchblade knife through the mail (for $1.65). That changed in 1958. I am quoting from Wikipedia: “In the USA, switchblades remain illegal to import from abroad or to purchase through interstate commerce since 1958 under the Switchblade Knife Act (15 U.S.C. §§1241-1245).” Take that, Jets and Sharks!

Number 1696: Crazy for gold

A paranoid man, a machine that turns living matter into gold, a beautiful woman, some opportunistic escaped killers, and Thun'da, King of the Congo, make for a heady mix of danger and greed in the jungle.

Thun'da was born of the pen and brush of Frank Frazetta and writer Gardner Fox. The character was handed over to Bob Powell and his studio. What had begun as a character in a lost land of dinosaurs soon turned into a more routine Tarzan-type in the fantasy jungle of the comic books.

From Cave Girl #12 (1953). Written by Gardner Fox.