TURKISH-MADE 'SON OF TARZAN' COMICS FROM 1945

Starting from no. 133 (dated July 14th, 1945), a comics titled 'Tarzanın Oğlu [Son of Tarzan]' and credited to Turkish artist Mehmet Tekdal was serialized in the Turkish children's weekly magazine Çocuk Haftası for 12 issues. The comics starts with the introductory caption that "Tarzan, with his wife, had gone to America and left his son as protector of his jungles."
The plot kicks off with the appearance of a small and hostile expedition in the jungle:

It turns out that the baddies are intent on stealing "Tarzan's treasure" hidden under a waterfall:

The whites dispose of the their native servant once he brings forward the treasure..

..and then set out to dispose of each other!:

Finally, it is upto Numa the lion to dispose of the surviving baddie:

Like Ekrem Dülek's 'Tarzan ve Numa' (see the post from last month), I suspect Tekdal's 'Tarzanın Oğlu' to be redrawn from some foreign materials. Again, if anyone has a hint, please let us know.

Tekdal, whose birth date is unconfirmed, was probably in his early twenties when his first works appeared on the back covers of a puzzle magazine in 1944 (*). He would turn out to be the most prolific of the young Turkish comics artists working in Çocuk Haftası. Most of his output are historical or mythical epics, including several adaptations of Dede Korkut tales. In 1955, he had a short-lived stint as publisher with Roket, Turkey's first comics magazine in 3-D. His works continued to appear in Turkish children's magazines till the early 1970s. At some point, he migrated to Germany to continue his career abroad and settled there (**).

(*) Hakan Alpin, Çizgiroman Ansiklopedisi (Istanbul: İnkilap, 2006)

(**) Levent Cantek, Çizgili Hayat Kılavuzu (Istanbul:İletişim, 2nd ed. 2002)

Coming soon in this blog: Historical Overview of Tarzan comics in Turkey