Gaylord Du Bois

Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois was born on August 24, 1899, and spent the better part of six decades shaping the landscape of American comics writing before his death on October 20, 1993. Working primarily through Western Publishing and its Dell and Gold Key imprints, he accumulated more than 3,000 comics stories over his career — a volume that reflects not just productivity but genuine range.

Du Bois is best remembered for his long tenure writing Tarzan, which he handled continuously from 1946 to 1971. That commitment to Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle hero suited him naturally: he was an avid outdoorsman with a genuine feel for wild settings, and that sensibility carried across his work in Westerns, jungle adventure, and animal-centered comics. Among his other notable credits were The Lone Ranger and the Korak spinoff title. Beyond licensed properties, he created original features for Western Publishing, including "Captain Venture: Beneath the Sea," "Leopard Girl," and "Two Against the Jungle," demonstrating that his imagination extended well beyond adaptation work.

He also wrote Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels, making his body of work unusually broad for a comics writer of his era. Though he worked largely behind the scenes — as was typical for comics craftsmen of his generation — the sheer consistency and scale of his output left a durable mark on mid-century American adventure storytelling.