Thun'da

Thun'da
Thun'da #3 (1952). Art by Bob Powell.
Publication information
Publisher	Magazine Enterprises
First appearance	Thun'da #1
Created by	Frank Frazetta
In-story information
Alter ego	Roger Drum

Thun'da is a fictional character created by artist and conceptualist Frank Frazetta for comic-book publisher Magazine Enterprises. The character debuted in Thun'da #1 (1952), with writer Gardner Fox scripting. After only a few issues the title was discontinued in 1953.

The character, played by Buster Crabbe, was the main character in the 1952 Columbia Pictures serial King of the Congo.

The character first appeared in 1952 in the comic series Thun'da #1.

Editor Ray Krank asked Frazetta to remove the prehistoric elements but he left the title instead and started looking for work outside comic books.

Thun'da was Roger Drum, a World War II United States Air Force officer who was shot down while flying over a valley deep in the heart of Africa. After crashing, he freed himself from his aircraft only to be captured by hostile ape-men. He managed to escape, and wandered through the valley, pushing himself to exercise daily and becoming a paragon of physical perfection. It was while he was wandering that he was spotted by Pha, the queen of the people who lived in the valley. After fighting and destroying the hostile ape-men, Thun'da rushed to their temple and rang the sacred gong, thereby summoning "the mother of all serpents," whom he killed with the last three shots from his revolver. He won the respect of Pha's people, and they worshipped him as if he were a god. Later, after an earthquake ravaged the lost valley, Thun'da was able to get Pha to safety along with their pet sabretoothed tiger, but her people were killed and the lost valley was sealed from them forever.

The comic series was reprinted in 1987 by Fantagraphics Books as Frank Frazetta's Thun'da Tales, and, in August 2010, Dark Horse Comics released a hardcover collection Thun'da, King of the Congo Archive (ISBN ).