ERBmania! - Korak In Pal-ul-don

KORAK, SON OF TARZAN
Issue #13, June 1966

David Adams

Cover: George Wilson
Inside front cover: Lotuka Rain Dance

Story: The Night Riders of Ras Kaffa
Position: 1
Writer: Gaylord Dubois
Artist: Warren Tufts
Inker: Warren Tufts
Pages: 15
Characters: Korak, Princess Judith, Gary Knight, Isur, Fasil, Ras Kaffa

Synopsis: Hunting near the Ethiopian border, Korak investigates gun shots and finds a hillman shooting at a land rover. He frightens off the lone attacker with well-placed arrows and meets Princess Judith, Gary Knight, an American scientist, and Isur, an Ethiopian government official. They are a seismological team hunting earthquakes. Korak leads them to their base, the castle of Ras Kaffa, which seems to be haunted by voices, war horns, and ghostly horsemen. It has been deserted and the radio is smashed. Suddenly, a war horn sounds! They see ghostly men on horses, and the Princess disappears. Korak finds a secret panel and follows a tunnel alone when he is locked in. Korak rescues the Princess from two of Ras Kaffa’s men. An earthquake kills Ras Kaffa and his henchmen, but Korak and the Princess get out and return to the partially destroyed castle. The others are OK, but another tremor collapses the entire castle. Korak’s quick reactions gets all out alive.

2. Text page: The Tall Ones

Story: The Hidden World
Position: 3
Writer: Gaylord Dubois
Artist: Warren Tufts
INker: Warren Tufts
Pages: 9
Characters: Korak, Nannette Laurier, Doctor and Mrs. Vaughan

Synopsis: In the French Cameroons, while investigating the ruins of a house, Korak narrowly escapes an attack by Holeri spearmen. Going through a tunnel, he finds a "little Paradise" in a volcanic crater and a girl living with chimps. She flees and falls from a cliff, breaking her leg. Korak sets the bone and applies a splint while she is unconscious. Korak discovers she is a French girls named Nanette Laurier, who has lived (for 8 years) with wild chimps since her father’s death. When she was 10, her mother was killed in their home by Holeri spearmen, but she and her father escaped to the crater. He taught her how to hunt with bow and arrow, and died suddenly one day while building them a stone hut. Korak gives her "Susanne," a tiny China doll he had found at their old home. He carries her out of the crater just as the volcano erupts. They ride elephants to a missionary family, fighting off Holeri hunters on the way. The 18-year-old Nanette will be cared for by Dr. and Mrs. Vaughan, but she does not want Korak to leave her!

Remarks: Cameroon's split Anglo-French personality is further complicated by its bewildering array of African ethnic groups and languages. Of over 130 ethnic groups, however, there are 5 major ones: Bamiléké and Bamoun in the west, Fulani and Kirdi in the north, and Ewondo around Yaoundé. The Bamiléké are the most populous group in the western highlands and one of the largest communities in Douala, where they have taken control of much of Cameroon's economy. In their rural homeland, there are some 80-odd political units ruled by strongly independent chefferies (chiefs). Within each unit there are numerous secret societies responsible for the preservation of rituals. By contrast, the Bamoun are governed by a single leader called the sultan. Cameroon made international headlines in 1986, when a toxic cloud erupted from a remote volcanic lake in the western mountains, asphyxiating nearly 2000 people in their sleep. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/cameroon/history.htm

4. Jon of the Kalahari: The Savage Swamp. Gaylord Dubois, writer; Jesse Marsh, artist; 3&1/2 pages.

5. Chocolate and Spice