Review: Tarzan: The Sunday Comics 1931-33

The first thing that must be said of this collection of Foster's groundbreaking Tarzan  Sunday strips is that it's HUGE.

Paying closer attention to its dimensions while ordering it from Amazon would've spared me the shock of it's arrival on my doorstep. What did I order that was that big, and how much did it cost?!!

While skinny in depth  -- it contains around 100 strips in all -- the book stands 20 inches tall and 15 inches wide. Open it up and it may eclipse your coffee table. I have no idea where or how to shelve it...

All that said, however, the bigness of the book does allow you to immerse yourself in Tarzan's adventures, just as newspaper readers did back in the 1930s. And Foster certainly made use of, and gloried in, the enormous canvas those broadsheets provided.

As comics historian Mark Evanier notes in his introduction, the realization of what was possible on the comics page, and the freedom it provided, became more and more apparent to the artist as he continued working on "Tarzan."

A magazine and calendar illustrator, Foster wasn't crazy about doing comics work at first. He figured it was beneath him. But the money was good. Early on, he doled out some of the work to assistants, adding some of the finishing touches. Readers familiar with his later work on "Prince Valiant" may find the first few months of strips on display here primitive. And they are.

But, once Foster's imagination took hold, and he saw the potential of filling these huge pages with his art, he became more hands-on and more creative. By the end of the book, which features several weeks of strips set in Egypt, the art has become much more detailed, beautiful and grand.

Everywhere, there is Foster's love of the human form -- not just Tarzan in action fighting, swimming, swinging through the jungle, but beautiful women and a variety of supporting characters. There's also the animals and fauna of the jungle, in addition to the wide desert, detailed Egyptian temples and more. His detail, fine brushwork and colors (done himself) combine into gorgeous whole.

For a generation of readers without television and only occasional glimpses of the amazing via the movies, Foster opened up wide fields of the imagination to view.

Through the course of the book, we see the creation both of the comic adventure strip, which paved the way for comic book heroes and storytelling, and the creation of Foster the pioneering comic strip artist.

This was a master artist, the inspiration for Alex Raymond and Milt Caniff, who, in turn, went on to inspire nearly every comic strip and comic book artist since, whether they know it or not.

Comic strips and political cartoons had been around for a while by the time Tarzan landed on the comics page. But adventure strips and realistic art were new. Only Tarzan and the crudely drawn Buck Rogers strip, focused on providing suspense and action rather than laughs.

As Evanier notes, many syndicates and newspaper publishers didn't feel there was a market for a realistically drawn, "serious" strip in the comics section. If Foster hadn't proved them wrong, the comics might not have developed, or developed quite differently.

So, this is a collection of important work and nice to have in print once again, even though I'm not sure where I'll put it now that I've finished reading it.

It should be noted that some online reviewers are disappointed in this edition, published by Dark Horse Comics, saying that NBM did a better job in its 1990s reprints of Foster's "Tarzan" run. I can't make the comparison, having missed those books.

I do wish, however, that Dark Horse had used "flat" rather than glossy paper stock for the strips. I don't like art printed on reflective paper, and prefer something that's closer, but more durable, than the original newsprint.

I also agree with some reviewers that some of the line work and colors are on the murky side. The NBM editions reportedly look better. That said, the quality is still quite good for strips this old and they are very readable. The reproduction seems to improve as Foster's linework and art become more detailed later in the book.

If you're pickier than me, and have the patience and funds to hunt down the NBM versions, you may want to go that route. I'm mainly just happy to have another batch of classic comic strips back in print.

Carson of Venus online comic strip added to official Edgar Rice Burroughs site

The official Edgar Rice Burroughs site recently started publishing a weekly Tarzan strip by longtime comics scribe Roy Thomas and artist Roy Grindberg. For $1.99 monthly, you can keep track of the jungle lord's adventures.

Now, there's an additional bonus strip added on for subscribers: the adventures of Carson of Venus, written by Martin Powell and illustrated by Tom Floyd and Diana Leto.

You can subscribe to the strips here.

Coming up: Tarzan Sunday Strips by Hal Foster from Dark Horse

Out Aug. 13, 2013

120 Pages; HC, 15" x 20"

Beautifully restored and printed at giant size, this first volume in Dark Horse’s comprehensive collections of Hal Foster’s Tarzan Sundays reprints over one hundred strips on high-quality paper and in eye-popping color, replicating their appearance when they were brand new! Featuring historical essays on Tarzan and Foster, this astonishing volume is a must for every collector! Collecting every Tarzan Sunday strip from September 1931 through September 1933!
* From Hal Foster, creator of Prince Valiant!
* Introduction by Mark Evanier!

Hal Foster up close: Tarzan art

Click the images to see up-close images of Hal Foster's stunning line work on his Tarzan Sunday comic strip.

IDW to collect Russ Manning Tarzan comic strips

Oooh, this is good news! IDW Publishing is teasing a new series of books collecting Russ Manning's run on the Tarzan newspaper strip. The first volume will be out in May.

I'm reading Dark Horse's new collection of Manning's Tarzan comics for Gold Key (so great!) right now. I'll need this one, too!

Original Tarzan art by Reed Crandall

Korak Son of Tarzan with Russ Manning art coming from Dark Horse

Out in March:


Korak, Son of Tarzan Archives Volume 1
Gaylord DuBois (W), Russ Manning (A), and Mo Gollub (Cover)
On sale May 1
FC, 192 pages
HC, 7" x 10"
The son of the jungle lord gets his own title, in spinoff from longtime Tarzan writer Gaylord DuBois and fan-favorite artist Russ Manning! In the first of two volumes collecting Manning’s complete run on the series, Tarzan and Jane’s son Boy takes the name Korak—in the language of the apes, “The Killer”—and, alongside his chimpanzee sidekick Pahkut, begins to carve out his own legend among the creatures of Africa. Collecting Korak, Son of Tarzan #1–#6, from Gold Key!
• Foreword by Steve Rude.

Preview Tarzan: The Russ Manning Years Vol. 1, out today!

Dark Horse Comics offers a preview of "Tarzan: The Russ Manning Years Vol. 1" here.

The hardcover collection includes Manning-illustrated adaptations of Tarzan of the Apes, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, and Tarzan the Untamed.

You can order the book now for $27.42 from Amazon.

Pop culture roundup: Gore Vidal on Tarzan; Bob Dylan's new LP; the Man from Krypton

Author Gore Vidal died earlier this week and, though famed for his great intellect, was never too high falutin' to enjoy some of the great pop cultural pleasures of life, such as Tarzan. Here's an essay Vidal penned, which details how the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs fired his youthful imagination.

When I was growing up, I read all twenty-three Tarzan books, as well as the ten Mars books. My own inner storytelling mechanism was vivid. At any one time, I had at least three serials going as well as a number of old faithful reruns. I used Burroughs as a source of raw material. When he went to the center of the earth a la Jules Verne (much too fancy a writer for one’s taste), I immediately worked up a thirteen-part series, with myself as lead, and various friends as guest stars. Sometimes I used the master’s material, but more often I adapted it freely to suit myself. One’s daydreams intended to be Tarzanish post-puberty (physical strength and freedom) and Martian post-puberty (exotic worlds and subtle combinaziones to be worked out). After adolescence, if one’s life is sufficiently interesting, the desire to tell oneself stories diminishes. My last serial ran into sponsor trouble when I was in the Second World War and was never renewed.

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Bob Dylan shares some details on his new album, Tempest, which is out in September.

The title track is a nearly 14-minute depiction of the Titanic disaster. Numerous folk and gospel songs gave accounts of the event, including the Carter Family's "The Titanic," which Dylan drew from. "I was just fooling with that one night," he says. "I liked that melody – I liked it a lot. 'Maybe I'm gonna appropriate this melody.' But where would I go with it?" Elements of Dylan's vision of the Titanic are familiar – historical figures, the inescapable finality. But it's not all grounded in fact: The ship's decks are places of madness ("Brother rose up against brother. They fought and slaughtered each other"), and even Leonardo DiCaprio appears. ("Yeah, Leo," says Dylan. "I don't think the song would be the same without him. Or the movie.") "People are going to say, 'Well, it's not very truthful,' " says Dylan. "But a songwriter doesn't care about what's truthful. What he cares about is what should've happened, what could've happened. That's its own kind of truth. It's like people who read Shakespeare plays, but they never see a Shakespeare play. I think they just use his name."

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Kid Robson remembers the "Man from Krypton" storyline from early Superman comics. I also miss the days when comics creators could subtly readjust a character's status quo without conjuring up some sort of "big event" to do so.

Burne Hogarth: Original art for Tarzan Sunday comics page

Original comic art: Russ Manning's Tarzan

Beautiful Russ Manning art for a Tarzan comics cover.

Tarzan 1966 live-action series with Ron Ely out soon from Warner Archives

Warner Archives has announced two "made to order" DVDs sets collecting the 1960S "Tarzan" TV series starring Ron Ely. They are available from Amazon by clicking the links below.

Tarzan: Season One Part One:

Premiering on NBC in 1966, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ immortal creation, Tarzan, took to the nation’s TV screens for the first time. Still in the capable hands of producer Sy Weintraub, the TV Tarzan (Ron Ely) continued the more recent (and more authentic) interpretation of Lord Greystoke as a sophisticated, articulate jungle adventurer as seen in the Tarzan films of Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry. Also carried over from the big screen was young actor Manuel Padilla (Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, Tarzan and the Great River), now playing the jungle lord’s kid sidekick alongside Cheetah, the simian one. The first half of his inaugural season finds Tarzan rescuing seeing-eye lions, endangered leopards, and pampered princes while battling man-eaters, despots and deadly arachnids in this 4-Disc, 15-Episode collection. Guest stars include former Tarzan Jock Mahoney, Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols, Woody Strode, and Russ Tamblyn. 

Tarzan: Season One Part Two:

 Ron Ely continues his memorable run as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan in the second half of his first season. This 16-Episode, 4-Disc collection sees the Lord of the Jungle and his stalwart second bananas, Jai the jungle boy (Manuel Padilla) and Cheetah the chimp, facing off against some of their most formidable challenges alongside a bevy of powerhouse performer guest stars. Stage and screen legend Julie Harris makes her first appearance as the imperiled, imperious missionary Charity Jones and Maurice Evans makes his memorable debut as Sir Basil Bertram. And the action continues to heat up with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, phantom dinosaurs and more fantastic jungle menaces. Adding their talents to the drama and the dangers are Susan Oliver, Chips Rafferty, Gia Scala, Sally Kellerman and Jack Elam.

Trailer for Tarzan documentary

Via Michael May's Adventureblog:

"Tarzan: Lord of the Louisiana Jungle" tells the story of the first Tarzan film, made in 1918, It premieres April 13 in Morgan City, La., where the original film was produced. More info on future screenings on the documentary's Facebook page.

Tarzan movie trilogy in the works

Craig Brewer, director of "Hustle and Flow" and "Black Snake Moan," is reportedly set to write and a direct a trio of Tarzan films.

Classic Tarzan paperback covers

Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents a great selection of Tarzan paperback art by Neal Adams and Boris Vallejo. I always liked this one by Adams:

Young Tarzan by Roy Thomas and John Buscema

I either forgot or missed this, because I was a reader of Marvel Comics' Pizazz kids magazine as a kid. Along with stories TV, films and music of the time -- all geared to a middle school and under audience -- the mag also featured Star Wars comics and this.

"Boy" from Tarzan films dies

Johnny Scheffield, who played Tarzan's sidekick "Boy," opposite Weismuller has died at age 79 after falling out a  tree in his backyard (I'm not making this up), reports Variety. Scheffield also starred in several "Bomba, the Jungle Boy" films.

Vintage Tarzan paperback book covers

Vintage promo still: Tarzan

Best Tarzan Sites on the Web

Tarzan of the Internet
Info on Tarzan books; images of book covers and movie posters; complete list of Tarzan films from the 1920s to today with cast, crew infomration and plot summaries (via Internet Movie Database); alphatbetical list of all characters in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels; Burroughs dictionary; images from Tarzan comic strips and more.

Tarzan Online Museum
Information and cover images from Tarzan books and comics.

Tangor's ERB Mania!
Nice collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs resources with special sections dedicated to Tarzan, John Carter, etc., essays, biographical information and more.

ERBville - The Home of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Public Domain Stories
ERB's Tarzan and other works are gradually falling into the public domain. As they do, they're collected in PDF format here. A great way to track down out-of-print and hard-to-find works.

The Burroughs Bibliophiles
Dedicated to all aspects of Burroughs' published works.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.
Official site for the estate of Tarzan's late author.

Tarzan of the Comics
Nice guide, with lots of pictures, to Tarzan's appearances in comics over the decades.

Strange Excursions: The Dream Vaults of Opar
A collection of essays on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs.