Hexagon Comics: Strangers Origin -Tanka

 

Story & art by Yves Mondet; cover by Stephen R. Bissette.

1. THE SACRED SCARAB
2. THE EMERALD EMPIRE
7x10 squarebound comic, 

84 pages 

b&w
ISBN-13: TBA

During the late 1940s, in the troubled, immediate post-war period, a new champion arose in the jungles of the western equatorial African state of Karunda to protect the locals from predatory invaders, rescue those in need of help, and administer justice to all.

In this issue, discover the first adventure of Tanka originally published in April 1967: The Tomb of the Sacred Scarab, in which the young jungle lord foils the plans of a tomb raider.

Created by popular artist Yves Mondet, Tanka went on to have a long career in the 1960s and 70s, before eventually becoming the leader of the Strangers in a new incarnation that started in the early 2000s. But this is where it all started!

My copy has Strangers Origins on it and there is no information about the cover price -$12.99 on the web page but no ISBN so I will update that later and you can order the book direct https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-strangers-origins-tanka-1-the-sacred-scarab.html

Ah, for the era of the jungle lords which in novels, pulps and movies lasted from the late 19th century up until the 1970s. Glad to say that there is a slight resurgence of interest in the big names such as Tarzan.  The Stephen Bissette cover is quite striking and of course Tanka is depicted as blond whereas in the original strip Mondet uses the technique to show a character has brownish hair but I don't think that really matters since the character was to jump from the jungle into the modern world and those who have read Hexagon Comics will know about those adventures as head of the Strangers team.

The story might be called "standard jungle action" but this is a character most people outside of France will know nothing about -rather like Hansrudi Wascher's jungle hero (Akim – Herr des Dschungels) in Germany. So this is a good starting off point and I do know from past experience that there are comic collectors who are only or mainly interested in the jungle action genre. Years after I first did Titan Books Tarzan collections those posts still attract a lot of attention.

The art is good and full of action and character and it is good to get a chance to see a full adventure of an old character which, unless you have a fair bit of money and can read French is usually not possible. I have space (somewhere!) for Hexagon Comics or else this would go on the Tarzan shelf!

Fun -which is what comics should be!