Jungle Jim

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Jungle Jim is a made-up jungle hero from King Features Syndicate. The comic strip started on January 7, 1934, and told the adventures of Jim Bradley, a hunter in Southeast Asia who is nicknamed Jungle Jim. It was created to compete with Tarzan and ran as a Sunday page until August 8, 1954. The first artist was Alex Raymond (1934–1944); Don Moore wrote it. After Raymond left for World War II, John Mayo drew it (1944–1954) and Paul Norris drew (1948–1954).

Jungle Jim also appeared on radio. The Adventures of Jungle Jim began on November 2, 1935, with 15-minute episodes. Matt Crowley played Jungle Jim for a few years, then Gerald Mohr took over in 1938. Other cast included Shanghai Lil and the servant Kolu. Some radio stories were based on the comic strip. There were films and TV episodes as well, notably with Johnny Weissmuller as Jungle Jim.

The stories are set in Asia with Jim as a hunter rather than a wild man. He has friends like the strong native Kolu, and Lille DeVrille is a femme fatale who appears later. Early plots featured pirates and slave traders; during World War II the stories often fought Japanese enemies. Jungle Jim moved from a topper strip to a full Sunday page before it ended.

Publishing history includes Ace Comics reprinting Jungle Jim from 1937 to 1947. Dell Comics released 20 Jungle Jim comic books from 1953 to 1959, with the last eight by Gaylord Du Bois. Standard Comics published 11 original Jungle Jim comics from 1949 to 1951. King Features released a single Jungle Jim issue in 1967 (a reprint of a Dell story). Charlton Comics continued the numbering with issues 22–28 in 1969–1970. In 2015, Dynamite Entertainment announced a new Jungle Jim series by Paul Tobin and Sandy Jarrell as part of their King:Dynamite line.

Trivia: The name Jungle Jim comes from artist Alex Raymond’s brother Jim. The hero is Jim Bradley, based in Southeastern Asia, a hunter rather than a Tarzan-style wild man. In 1957, Louis Marx and Company released a Jungle Jim playset with figures.