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Terry Hooper-Scharf

Monday, 9 November 2015

Тарзан or Tarzan. A Russian Comic Series

Many years ago, in a time when there was no internet (children: breath slowly into a brown paper bag) we did things "old school"...we wrote.  Pens and writing on paper.
To cut back on the sarcasm and get to the point, I was contacted by a Wladimir Malyschew (it is a long time ago so I apologise if my spelling and memory is off here).  I think he contacted me after reading the German magazine Watcher in which my German super hero group, D-Gruppe, had just been published.
We corresponded and I sent him a couple of the Tolkien books he was interested in and I got a couple batches of Russian comics/childrens magazines.
There were some issues of  Murzilka --be warned: people on ebay are selling these as Russian "comic books" which they are NOT!  My favourite, however, were Tap3aH  or Tarzan. I did have issues 1-6 of this series published by the SLOVO Association, however, no. 4 is amongst the stolen comics from my collection. 
Just over 7 ins long and just under 5 ins high (about 10 x 17 cms) issues 1 and two unfold, concertina-like, to a length of just under 3 feet (90cms)  but issues 3-6 conform to a badly guillotined 8.5 ins x 5.75 ins (about 22 x 14.5 cms).  Issue 3 has a slightly glossy paper but all the others are the usual Russian standard for the period.
True, the artwork is not comparable to say, Joe Kubert or one of the other American Tarzan comic artists, however, to me that does not matter.  The old Soviet Union did not have an organised comics industry.  Comics were rather "superfluous" to the Soviet mind. My Russian is not good enough to see if there is any credit regarding the writer/artist though that might have been seen as egotism and all I know is that the SLOVO Association published this.
As we are getting a very large number of hits on CBO from Russia perhaps someone there knows something about SLOVO or the creators of this comic?
As I mentioned, the art is a bit crude and the apes look more like reported Sasquatch than chimpanzees or gorillas. But this is genuine, budding Russian comic book art and I just love them. I have no idea how long the series ran (but I doubt I'll ever see a complete set!). 
Someone from a Samizdat (look it up) magazine was introduced to me by a Czech comic fan at one of my last UK Comic Art Conventions in London and I was interviewed and praised this Tarzan series. No idea if the interview ever got published but...
So, here, I present the first issue, low res scans, followed by the covers to the other issues I have.
Enjoy...more of my Soviet "comics" to follow!










Covers for issues 2, 3, 5 and 6:





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