| Bomba the Jungle Boy | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Bonny Bartow |
|
First Appearance |
Bomba the Jungle Boy (1926) |
|
Created by |
John W. Duffield |
Origin[]
Bomba the Jungle Boy is a series of American boys' adventure books produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Roy Rockwood and published by Cupples and Leon in the first half of the 20th century, in imitation of the successful Tarzan series.
Bomba is a 14-year-old boy found by Cody Casson, an elderly naturalist and botanist in the Amazon jungle, Brazil. Bomba became friends with Kiki and Woowoo, two parrots, Doto the monkey, and Pololu the puma. Bombas arch-enemy is Tuscarora, chief of the local tribe of head hunters.
Twenty books are in the series. The first 10 (published from 1926–1930) are set in South America, where Bomba, a white boy who grew up in the jungle, tries to discover his origin. The second set of 10 books (published from 1931–1938) shift the scene to Africa, where a slightly older Bomba has jungle adventures. The first editions all used the same cover illustration on their dust jackets; only the title would differ from book to book.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- Bomba the Jungle Boy, 1926 (First ten novels were set in South America)
- Bomba, the Jungle Boy at the Moving Mountain, 1926
- Bomba, the Jungle Boy at the Giant Cataract, 1926
- Bomba, the Jungle Boy on Jaguar Island, 1927
- Bomba, the Jungle Boy and the Abandoned City, 1927
- Bomba, the Jungle Boy on Terror Trail, 1928
Notes[]
- As of January 1, 2024, Only Bomba the Jungle Boy stories that were published before 1929 are public domain.
- From 1949 through 1955, Monogram Pictures brought the character to the motion-picture screen in 12 Bomba films, starring Johnny Sheffield. Sheffield was already established as an outdoor star; he had portrayed the character Boy in the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller. The Bomba films were all set in Africa.
- Like Tarzan and Mowgli, Bomba can talk to animals.
- When the Bomba films proved popular with young audiences, the first ten Bomba books were reprinted in the 1950s with all-new cover illustrations by Grosset & Dunlap, a publisher of many popular series books such as the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. These same books were reprinted again later by Clover Books, a short-lived publisher that also reprinted the Grosset and Dunlap series Tom Quest. Although the Clover editions had no dustjackets, they retained the Grosset & Dunlap cover art.
- In 1962, WGN-TV repackaged the Bomba films as a primetime summertime series called Zim Bomba that became a local ratings sensation. WGN executive Fred Silverman stated that "Zim" meant "Son of" in Swahili.
- In 1967–1968, DC Comics published a Bomba comic book series. It ran for seven issues and included scripts by Denny O'Neil and artwork by Jack Sparling. Stories from this series later were reprinted in DC's Tarzan title, but the character was re-named Simba, as DC no longer held the license.