Akim and Jim: Tarzan and Boy of European comics

One of the more popular Tarzan clones was Akim, Son of the Jungle, created by Italian cartoonist Roberto Renzi and artist Augusto Pedrazza.  In Italy Tarzan clones are called Tarzanidi.

During his run in Italy (1950-1967), he was exported to France for 700+ issues, Germany for 500+ issues, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Greece (where he was renamed Tarzan).  Hundreds of issues appeared through the 1960s and 1970s, with ironic "new adventures" in the 1990s.

Amazon.fr has them for sale for between 5 and 10 euros.

Some of the rarest appeared in this single-strip per page format.  Here Akim fights the Biblical muscleman Samson.

Akim's back story is nearly identical to that of Tarzan:

Count Frederick Rank, the British ambassador to Calcutta, is shipwrecked on the wild coast of Africa along with his wife and infant son, Jim.  The parents soon die, leaving the toddler to be raised by gorillas.

Grown up, he becomes Akim, Son of the Jungle, with various animals at his command.  He marries the British heiress Rita, and they adopt a son, Jim, who turns into buffed blond man-mountain.

In most adventures, they leave Rita back at the tree house and venture out as a pair, leaving all of the gay subtexts of the 1940s Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller and Johnny Sheffield.

Sometimes Jim goes out adventuring on his own, requiring Akim to rescue him from the usual jungle poachers, cannibals, and lost civilizations, as well as aliens, mad scientists, and dinosaurs.

Whether they're speaking French, German, Italian, or Dutch, the buddy-bonding is easy to spot.

The Tarzan Twins

Edgar Rice Burroughs gave Tarzan a son, Korak, but he grew up in the fourth novel, The Son of Tarzan (1915).

To cater to the kid market, he came up with a new duo, The Tarzan Twins.

Dick and Doc were not twins at all, but they did look alike, except for their hair: "Dick had a shock of the blackest sort of black hair, while Doc's hair was the sunny hue of molasses candy."

They were cousins born at the same moment to twin mothers and raised together, half the time in England and half in America.  When they were 14 years old, they discovered that they were distantly related to Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apes, so they set out to visit their famous uncle.

In The Tarzan Twins (1927), they get lost in the jungle and captured by cannibals.  Uncle Tarzan is not around, so they have to rescue themselves.

At the end of the story, they lose their civilian clothes and take to loincloths.  As Burroughs helpfully explains: "their life with the cannibals and their flight through the jungle had accustomed them to scant attire and had already somewhat hardened their youthful bodies."

A Big Little Book appeared in 1934, and the story was retold in Rex Maxon's Tarzan newspaper comic strip in 1935.

Burroughs was so busy with Tarzan, John Carter, and his other adult heroes that he didn't write a new story until Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-bal-Ja the Golden Lion (1936).  It takes place immediately after the first: while exploring with the golden lion, Dick and Doc come across some evil sun-worshippers, outcasts from Opar, who plan to sacrifice Gretchen, a missionary's daughter.  They come up with a daring rescue plan; again, Uncle Tarzan is not around.    (not to worry, there's no romance.)


The books appeared together in 1963, and in reprints since.

The story was told in comic book form in Tarzan  #196 (October 1970)

A web comic strip was launched in 2016, written by Martin Powell and drawn by Carlos Arguela.

As far as I know, they have not appeared on film.