Korak, a fictional character, is the ape name of John "Jack" Clayton III, the son of
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Creat ...
and
Jane Porter
Jane Porter (3 December 1775 – 24 May 1850) was an English historical novelist, dramatist and literary figure. Her bestselling novels, '' Thaddeus of Warsaw'' (1803) and ''The Scottish Chiefs'' (1810) are seen as among the earliest historical ...
.
History
Jack first appeared in the original ''Tarzan'' novels by
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...
. He was introduced as an infant in the non-Tarzan novel '' The Eternal Lover'' (later retitled ''The Eternal Savage''), in which the Ape Man and his family played supporting roles. His next appearance (still as an infant) was in '' The Beasts of Tarzan'', the third Tarzan novel, in which his father Tarzan was kidnapped and taken to Africa. The story of his youth and growth to manhood was told in the fourth novel, '' The Son of Tarzan'', in which he returned to Africa and lived in the jungle, taking for the first time the name Korak ("Killer" in the language of the Great Apes). Most references to him were as "Korak the Killer".
Half of the book relates to Meriem, the girl he rescues from a beating. The two of them run wild in the forest for years before being separated. After many adventures they are re-united and eventually marry.
Korak was later used as a supporting character in the eighth through the tenth entries in the series, '' Tarzan the Terrible'', '' Tarzan and the Golden Lion'', and ''
Tarzan and the Ant Men
''Tarzan and the Ant Men'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the tenth in his Tarzan (book series), series of twenty-four books about the jungle hero Tarzan. It was first published as a seven-part serial in the magazine ''Argosy ...
''. The last of those three also briefly mentions Korak and Meriem's young son "Jackie". The Bunduki series by J. T. Edson - authorized by the Burroughs estate - includes Korak and Meriem's granddaughter Dawn as one of two main characters.
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
, in which he was a major character for many years; and the ''Tarzan'', ''Korak, Son of Tarzan'', and ''Tarzan Family'' comic books.
In the
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller ( ; born Johann Peter Weißmüller, ; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was a Hungarian-born German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive-swimming records o ...
Tarzan films, Korak was replaced by an adopted son called Boy (played by
Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield (born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan, April 11, 1931 – October 15, 2010) was an American child actor who, between 1939 and 1947, portrayed Boy in the Tarzan film series and, between 1949 and 1955, played Bomba, the Jungle Boy.
...
). Tarzan and Jane never married in these films (they do in the books), and the substitution was made to avoid censorship. In the
Dell
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
comic books of the 1950s, which combine material from the books and the films, Tarzan's son was also called Boy. When the Tarzan comics returned to a more faithful portrayal of Burroughs' characters in the early 1960s, Boy revealed himself to truly be called Korak, going on to later be featured in his own comic book.
Portrayal in film
*
Gordon Griffith
Gordon S. Griffith (July 4, 1907 – October 12, 1958) was an American assistant director, film producer, and one of the first child actors in the American movie industry. Griffith worked in the film industry for five decades, acting in ove ...
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.
History
Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...
published ''Korak, Son of Tarzan'' #1–45 from January 1964 to January 1972. It featured work by Russ Manning,
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...
reprinted the Gold Key issues drawn by Manning in hardcover format.
*
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
acquired the publication licensing rights to the series in 1972, continuing the numbering from #46–59 (June 1972 to September–October 1975), when it was renamed ''The Tarzan Family''. The retitled series ran an additional seven issues #60–66 (November–December 1975 to November–December 1976) Both series also included other Burroughs' characters. The ''Korak'' series featured work from writers
Len Wein
Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine (character), Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel sup ...
and
Robert Kanigher
Robert Kanigher (; June 18, 1915 – May 7, 2002)Social Security Death Index, social security #116-07-5117. was an American comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for over ...
Murphy Anderson
Murphy C. Anderson Jr. (July 9, 1926 – October 22, 2015) was an American comics artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in ...
Michael Kaluta
Michael William Kaluta, sometimes credited as Mike Kaluta or Michael Wm. Kaluta (born August 25, 1947), is an American comics artist and writer best known for his acclaimed 1970s adaptation of the pulp magazine hero ''The Shadow'' with writer Den ...
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...