There's nothing at all cute about a housecat the size of a house. Man's relationship with domesticated pets is strictly based on dominance, and that's a function of relative size. Domestic cats are only cute because they're non-threatening. If Bengal tigers were as small as housecats, we could have domesticated them, and then they'd be 'cute'. No doubt if you owned some sort of pygmy tyrannosaurus that wouldn't grow any bigger than a housecat and raised it from a hatchling, THAT could conceivably be seen as cute, too.
Kona may be less charismatic than Tarzan, but I wouldn't say he's any less heroic -- maybe not quite the thinker that Tarzan is (but then Tarzan can read). Kona's actually a bit more realistic than Tarzan. KONA (the comic book) represents some of Sam Glanzman's best work, and his longest sustained run on any series character outside of the war comics genre. Kona might also be the longest continuous-running original caveman character outside of Alley Oop. I don't really count The Flintstones, since they're native to another medium.
