From Prose to Radio to Comics

Tarzan first appeared in the pulp magazines in 1912, but his enormous popularity soon had him spilling off the page into film and radio. In 1934 and again in 1936, there were two 39-part syndicated radio serials produced that were nothing less than superb, telling excellent stories and capturing the Ape Man's personality perfectly. 

{For more detailed information on these serials, check out the chapter about Tarzan in my book Radio by the Book or read this article I wrote a few years ago.}

The 1936 serial was Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr. And, since Tarzan's wanderlust is insatiable, he soon wandered off the airways and onto the pages of Dell Comics' Four Color, bringing the Fires of Tohr with him. 

Four Color #161 (writer unknown, cover and interior art by Jesse Marsh) is a 30-page streamlined version of the radio serial. The story is greatly simplified, with several characters and sub-plots dropped, but what is left is a strong, entertaining and exciting Tarzan adventure. 

Tarzan and his friend Paul D'Arnot are travelling through the jungle when they find two people--a scientist and his daughter--lost after having been abandoned by their safari. Tarzan agrees to help them, which soon means protecting them from some hostile natives.

Jesse Marsh has never been my favorite Tarzan artists--I don't think his figure work is as strong
as Kubert or Manning--but he was an excellent visual storyteller all the same, with strong compositions and some beautiful-looking jungles and backgrounds. So his art quickly draws us into the story and carries us along quite nicely.

The escape from the natives via canoe eventually takes them through a cavern and into completely unknown territory. And.... well, Tarzan can't run out to the corner store to buy a newspaper without stumbling across a lost civilization. So it should be no surprise to anyone that he finds a lost civilization here. The natives are claw-footed and, for reasons we are never told, speak English.

To be fair, the justification given in the original radio serial was pretty weak, so this is a flaw in an otherwise strong story that has simply carried over from the source material.

The natives come from the city of Tohr, which is ruled by the evil queen Ahtea. Ahtea soon demonstrates her penchant for evil by sacrificing someone to the titular fires of Tohr.

So Tohr is not a healthy place to be. Ahtea, though, wants to make a deal. If Tarzan stays in Tohr as her mate, the others will be allowed to leave. Tarzan is willing to agree to this if it saves the others, but his companions refuse. Even if they were willing to agree to this deal themselves, they figure Ahtea would simply have them killed regardless.

They are likely correct about this, because Ahtea abruptly tosses Ruth Barton (the girl Tarzan had initially rescued) into an arena to be devoured by a hungry lion. Tarzan kills the lion and the incident allows them to befriend Ukah, a rebel leader.

The group, now joined by Ukah, is locked in a vast cavern that supposedly offers no escape. Tarzan, though, soon finds a way out, though it leads them through a chamber in which the Fires of Tohr originate. This sequence is especially riveting, as it involves Tarzan using his intelligence as well as his physical capabilities to bypass several dangers to get his friends back into the city.

But once in the city, they are recaptured. Ruth is about to be tossed into the Fires. Ukah manages to push Ruth to safety and it is Ahtea who falls to a horrible death.

It's a strong ending. Ukah was actually going to sacrifice himself to get Ahtea, but is dragged to safety by Tarzan in the nick of time. It was a nice touch to give the local rebel leader a chance to be proactive in the story rather than having all the action fall solely on Tarzan's shoulder.

For all my complaints about Marsh's figure work, much of this story looks magnificent, especially the sequence set in the caverns below Tohr. The story, though simplified from the original serial, is still a strong one. So both the radio version and the comic book version of The Fires of Tohr have their value.

Next week, we'll return to the Old West to ride again with the Pony Express.