One full year before getting the Tarzan license, Mighty Marvel produced their own offbeat and rather grim rendition of the Ape Man.
Under a lackluster Gil Kane cover dated June 1976, we get a good look at the Hyborian Jungle Man -- Amra versus Amra, or Conan versus Tarzan for everyone to enjoy. The Amra character had debuted a few issues before, but had not rated a cover. The red-haired "Lord of Lions" and his comrade, the black-maned Shulo offer a strong threat to the Cimmerian and Belit the She-Pirate.
Here are a few more pages featuring this weird and ruthless Tarzan variant. They demonstrate just how effective John Buscema will be illustrating the adventures of ERB's great hero.
The conflict between Conan and the ferocious Amra proved fatal to the latter and (at least according to Roy) that's how Conan came by his nickname "Amra". You've gotta' love Thomas, he feels a compulsion to explain absolutely everything.
Someone somewhere must've liked what they saw, because one year later we got this outstanding comic.
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Loved the AMRA storyline and got a huge kick out of the whole Tarzan aspect of it. Marvels turn at the Tarzan table was and always will be among my favorite runs...then again what am I saying...I love every Tarzan run from every company...even that new take Malibu tried...the one with the tattoo on his eye. That was cool too
ReplyDeleteMe too. I found the Malibu stuff quite entertaining. I have some more almost-Tarzan stuff upcoming.
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This was the first Conan storyline I was able to follow regularly as a kid, when Marvel started distributing colour comics in my area again.
ReplyDeleteOn reading the paperbacks two years later, I was disappointed to discover that Amra wasn't an original REH creation. D'oh!
I'm planning to buy the Dark Horse reprint collection before the summer's over.
If there was one Conan arc I wished John had inked himself this is it. I drool just thinking of the lost majesty of those pages.
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