Alter Ego #129

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Roy Thomas’ Tarzanic Comics Fanzine

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No.129 November 2014

THE COMIC ART WORLDS OF

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

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82658 27763

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All art © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

Edited by ROY THOMAS The first and greatest “hero-zine”—ALL-NEW, focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY’S Comic Fandom Archive, and more!

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GOLDEN AGE ARTISTS L.B. COLE AND JAY DISBROW! DISBROW’s memoir of COLE and his work on CAT-MAN, art by BOB FUJITANI, CHARLES QUINLAN, IRWIN HASEN, FCA (Fawcett Collector’s of America) on the two-media career of Captain Video, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, Cat-Man cover

by L.B. COLE!

AVENGERS 50th ANNIVERSARY! WILL MURRAY on the group’s behind-thescenes origin, a look at its first decade with ROY THOMAS, STAN LEE, JACK KIRBY, THE BROTHERS BUSCEMA, TUSKA, ADAMS, COLAN, BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, MERRY MARVEL MARCHING SOCIETY, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, FCA, Golden Age Blue Beetle artist E.C. STONER, unused Avengers cover by DON HECK!

MARC SWAYZE TRIBUTE ISSUE, spotlighting FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America)!

Salutes from Fawcett alumnus C.C. BECK and OTTO BINDER, interview with wife JUNE SWAYZE, a full Phantom Eagle story from Wow Comics, plus interview with 1950s Dell/Western artist MEL KEEFER, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and a SWAYZE Marvel Family cover art from the 1940s!

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ALTER EGO #122

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ALTER EGO #124

X-MEN SALUTE! 1963-69 secrets, rare ‘60s BRAZILIAN X-MEN stories, lost ‘60s XMen “character sheet” by STAN LEE, ROY THOMAS on the 1970s revival, art and artifacts by KIRBY, ROTH, ADAMS, HECK, FRIEDRICH, and BUSCEMA—plus the MMMS fan club story, interview with Golden Age writer ED SILVERMAN, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, and JACK KIRBY’s unused X-Men #10 cover!

GOLDEN AGE JUSTICE SOCIETY ISSUE! Features on JOHN B. WENTWORTH (Johnny Thunder), LEN SANSONE (The Atom), and BERNARD SACHS (All-Star Comics inker), art by CARMINE INFANTINO, BOB OKSNER, HOWARD PURCELL, STAN ASCHMEIER, BEN FLINTON, and H.G. PETER, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more! Cover homage by SHANE FOLEY to a vintage All-Star image by IRWIN HASEN!

Farewell salute to the COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE! TBG/CBG history and remembrances from ALAN LIGHT, MURRAY BISHOFF, MAGGIE THOMPSON, BRENT FRANKENHOFF, “final” CBG columns by MARK EVANIER, TONY ISABELLA, PETER DAVID, FRED HEMBECK, JOHN LUSTIG, classic art by DON NEWTON, MIKE VOSBURG, JACK KIRBY, MIKE NASSER, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

DENNY O’NEIL’s Silver Age career at Marvel, Charlton, and DC—aided and abetted by ADAMS, KALUTA, SEKOWSKY, LEE, GIORDANO, THOMAS, SCHWARTZ, APARO, BOYETTE, DILLIN, SWAN, DITKO, et al. Plus, we begin serializing AMY KISTE NYBERG’s groundbreaking book on the history of the Comics Code, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY and more!

We spotlight HERB TRIMPE’s work on Hulk, Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D., Ghost Rider, Ant-Man, Silver Surfer, War of the Worlds, Ka-Zar, even Phantom Eagle, and featuring THE SEVERIN SIBLINGS, LEE, FRIEDRICH, THOMAS, GRAINGER, BUSCEMA, and others, plus more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s Comics Code history, M. THOMAS INGE on Communism and 1950s comic books, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

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Golden Age “Air Wave” artist LEE HARRIS discussed by his son JONATHAN LEVEY to interviewer RICHARD J. ARNDT, with rarely-seen 1940s art treasures (including mysterious, never-published art of an alternate version of DC’s Tarantula)! Plus more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s exposé on the Comics Code, artist SAL AMENDOLA tells the story of the Academy of Comic Book Arts, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

Second big issue on 3-D COMICS OF THE 1950s! KEN QUATTRO looks at the controversy involving JOE KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, BILL GAINES, and AL FELDSTEIN! Plus more fabulous Captain 3-D by SIMON & KIRBY and MORT MESKIN— 3-D thrills from BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, JAY DISBROW and others— the career of Treasure Chest artist VEE QUINTAL, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

1940s WILL EISNER/”BUSY” ARNOLD letters between the creator of The Spirit and his Quality Comics partner, art and artifacts by FINE, CRANDALL, CUIDERA, CARDY, KOTZKY, BLUM, NORDLING, and others! Plus Golden Age MLJ artist JOHN BULTHIUS, more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s History of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, cover by DANIEL JAMES COX and JASON PAULOS!

CAROL L. TILLEY on Dr. Fredric Wertham’s falsification of his research in the 1950s, featuring art by EVERETT, SHUSTER, PETER, BECK, COSTANZA, WEBB, FELDSTEIN, WILLIAMSON, WOOD, BIRO, and BOB KANE! Plus AMY KISTE NYBERG on the evolution of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLEY, and a new cover by JASON PAULOS and DANIEL JAMES COX!

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Vol. 3, No. 129 / November 2014 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

P.C. Hamerlinck

PLEASE READ THIS:

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Cover Artists

Tom Grindberg, Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum, Joe Kubert, Michael Wm. Kaluta, Jesse Marsh, Russ Manning, & Alan Weiss

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With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash William Aronis Bob Bailey Robert Barrett Alberto Becattini John Caputo Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell Cristian Docolomansky Cerda Sean Clancy Mike Conran Diversions of the Groovy Kind (website) Chuck Dixon Lawrence Dunn Mark Evanier Tom Floyd Shane Foley Henry Franke III Stephan Friedt Nancy Gershwin Janet Gilbert Jennifer T. Go Oscar Gonzales Steven Gordon Grand Comics Database (website) Dan Green Scott Tracy Griffin Tom Grindberg Bill Hillman Rick Hoberg

Sean Howe Jim Kealy Gary Kwapisz Dominique Leonard Rick Leonardi Diana Leto Mark Lewis Salvador López Bob Lubbers Richard A. Lupoff Pablo Marcos Ron Marz Sean Menard Lee Moder Barry Pearl Pegaso (Rodolfo Pérez Garcia) Jay Piscopo Nik Poliwko Irwin Porges Martin Powell Guadalupe Rivera Erik Roman Carolina Sánchez Randy Sargent Olivia Peña Soto William Stout James Sullos Dann Thomas Steven Thompson L. Jamal Walton Ken Webber Cathy Wilbanks Tyler Wilbanks Lynn Woolley

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Edgar Rice Burroughs,

one of the most influential writers who ever lived

Contents Writer/Editorial: From Missouri To Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A history of adaptations of ERB’s work in newspaper comic strips, by Alberto Becattini.

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972) . . 23 Alberto Becattini on ERB in comic books, from United Features through Dell & Gold Key.

ERB—Beyond The Silver Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 ERB comic books from 1972 to the present—examined by Scott Tracy Griffin.

“The Tarzan Art Studio”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

The short, happy life of the ERB, Inc., comic book company, chronicled by Henry Franke III.

ERB—Online! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The birth and development of the ERB, Inc., web comics line, revealed by James Sullos.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Whatever Happened To The Boy Of Tomorrow? (Part 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Michael T. Gilbert presents the conclusion of Shaun Clancy’s interview with William Aronis.

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #189 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

P.C. Hamerlinck presents memories by “Captain Marvel” teammates Otto Binder & C.C. Beck.

On Our Cover: A monumental montage of some classic Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book moments from the 1940s through the 1970s, framing a sensational centerpiece by Tom Grindberg, artist of the current online Tarzan comic strip written by A/E’s ever-pluggin’ editor. From top right, clockwise: Gil Kane’s John Carter of Mars done for Marvel (and inked by Dave Cockrum)… Joe Kubert’s DC Tarzan (Ye Ed’s personal favorite of comic book incarnations of the ape-man)… Michael Wm. Kaluta’s Carson of Venus (likewise for DC)… Jesse Marsh’s Tarzan riding a gryf, from his classic Dell comic work of 1947-65… Russ Manning’s Tarzan and Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion from the Gold Key years of 1965-72… and Alan Weiss’ DC rendition of David Innes battling for his life “at the Earth’s core.” A real murderer’s row of ERB illustrators! [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] Above: One more iconic ERB comic book image to go with all those on our cover—John Buscema’s splash page art, penciled and inked for Marvel’s Tarzan #1 (June 1977), with text by Roy Thomas. Amazingly, although he was a big fan of Hal Foster’s Tarzan comic strip, Buscema felt that after Foster and Kubert had done the character, there wasn’t much left for him to contribute.

Fans begged to differ, even though, after the first two issues, they had to settle for Big John being inked by other hands. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344.

Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices.

Eight-issue subscriptions: $67 US, $85 Canada, $104 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in China. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

2

O

writer/editorial

From Missouri To Mars

ne of any number of reasons I was lucky to grow up in the small town of Jackson, Missouri (1950 census population 3694), is that at that time the local public library had a nearly complete first-edition collection of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Thus, I got to read virtually all of them, and to pore over all that gorgeous artwork, before I reached high school. Well, all but Tarzan of the Apes, which for some reason the library didn’t have; I had to wait another decade or so to read that one.

I was fascinated by ERB’s imagination, even if I soon realized his Tarzan was very different from the Johnny Weissmuller version I had been enjoying at Jackson’s Palace Theatre ever since the age of three, when I’d seen Tarzan’s Desert Mystery and been terrified by that clunky giant spider in the film’s climax. I never felt I had to choose between the movies’ Tarzan and the novels’ Tarzan.

I don’t recall ever seeing the Tarzan newspaper strip back then, and I rarely bought the United Features comic books that reprinted it, since they contained so few pages of the ape-man. But I bought the Dell Tarzan comic after it started coming out when I was about seven (picked up the Jesse Marsh John Carter of Mars issues the first time around, too), and later was enthusiastic about the adaptations drawn by Russ Manning.

When the Burroughs book boom began in the early ’60s, I bought all the Canaveral Press editions as they came out, even if I winced at their Mahlon Blaine art. More to my taste were the later illustrations by Larry Ivie and the erstwhile EC artists. The Ace paperbacks with their Frazetta and Krenkel covers, of course, I devoured.

Naturally, since Joe Kubert was my favorite comic book artist, I followed his early-’70s Tarzan, as well as the other ERB material published by DC. And while it was John Carter I particularly lusted after writing in the latter 1970s when the rights passed to

Marvel, I was still thrilled to become comics’ Tarzan scribe for a time.

I remember Stan Lee asking me to write a several-page proposal suggesting other ERB creations that could become Marvel comics if Tarzan and John Carter, Warlord of Mars took off. I covered all the bases—Carson of Venus, Red Hawk vs. the Moon Men (Gil Kane had set me off about that one), Pellucidar, The Land That Time Forgot, and several others. For a short time after that, I was ERB, Inc., head Marion Burroughs’ favorite person at Marvel because of that paper. Alas, that didn’t last… nor did Marvel’s incarnations of ERB’s heroes meet with any greater sales success than DC’s had, so that the licensing fees soon made continuation of even those two comics unfeasible.

But I’ve always retained my feeling (matching that of the oftquoted Ray Bradbury) that Edgar Rice Burroughs was one of the most important fiction writers of the 20th century… and I’ve long wanted to devote an issue of Alter Ego to his work. Once I began writing one, two, then three online comic strips for ERB, Inc., it was only a matter of time. Not because I have any great vested economic interest in the success of the online strips—I’m just a hired hand, having a ball like several others are—but because, in addition to his own virtues, ERB was a powerful influence on Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (even if “Krypton” is an even better inert gas to use as a name for a piece of alien geography than “Helium”), and because Tarzan rivals the Man of Steel as the greatest pop fantasy creation ever.

The only impossible part was trying to cram the whole thing into one issue! Even Richard A. Lupoff’s announced piece on the Canaveral artists will have to wait, alas, for a future edition.

Bestest,

COMING IN DECEMBER

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM CAPTAIN MARVEL & CO.!

• Classic C.C. BECK Christmas cover featuring some of Fawcett’s greatest Golden Age heroes!

• Special FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America] spectacular! P.C. HAMERLINCK spotlights founder CAPT. BILLY FAWCETT and his family (a photo-album flashback with rare art & Christmas cards)—a C.C. BECK essay, with his unpublished cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #2!—OTTO BINDER’s memoirs—& a 1997 PBS-TV interview with the late great MARC SWAYZE! • DAN BARRY, legendary artist of Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Crime Does Not Pay, Daredevil, Crimebuster, Airboy, The Heap, Johnny Quick, Vigilante, Captain Midnight, et al.— showcased by ALBERTO BECATTINI!

r Fawcett heroes TM & © Shazam hero & most othe

DC Comics.

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The Comic Art Worlds Of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS — Part I

3

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

by Alberto Becattini

A

UTHOR’S INTRODUCTION: It is not easy to synthesize more than 70 years of history in a relatively few pages; however, I have tried to do precisely that for one of the trailblazing characters of American newspaper comic strips—and also, in the second article in this issue, of comic books. This is not so much the story of Tarzan—who existed for more than a decade and a half before he first found his way into a newspaper strip of any kind—but of the creative artists and writers who contributed to his long and glorious career in daily strips and Sunday pages. In various ways, I am indebted to Bob Barrett, Dan Barry, Nick Cardy, John Celardo, Bill Hillman, Bob Lubbers, Sean Menard, Irwin Porges, Mike Royer, William Stout, and Roy Thomas.

Birth Of A Comic Strip An historic meeting took place in Tarzana, California, in 1927.

Edgar Rice Burroughs met with Joseph H. Neebe, founder of Famous Books and Plays, Inc. Neebe thought it was high time that Tarzan, the ape-man hero created by Burroughs in 1912, made his entry into newspaper comic strips. Seeing the potential of the growing comics medium, Burroughs okayed the project, and Neebe approached J. Allen St. John, who had been the major cover artist and illustrator for the Tarzan novels since 1915, to draw the strip. After St. John declined, Neebe’s second choice was Harold Rudolf Foster, a 36-year-old commercial illustrator for the Palenske-Young Studio in

Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan—and many other fantastic worlds and concepts.

Chicago. Cleveland-based writer R.W. Palmer adapted Burroughs’ novel Tarzan of the Apes, and Foster broke his script down into a 10week, 60-strip daily series. It was Foster’s choice to separate the text from the pictures.

Curiously enough, the Tarzan comic strip made its debut not in the U.S.A., but in Britain, where it appeared as early as October 20, 1928, in the weekly magazine Tit Bits, billed as “A Serial Story in Pictures: Tarzan of the Apes.” Each issue ran three strips, through March 1, 1929. Thirteen American newspapers began running the strip, which was produced by FBP and released by the Metropolitan Newspaper Service, on January 7, 1929—an historic date that marked the beginning of the modern adventure strip. As it happened, Dick Calkins and Phil Nowlan’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century started on the very same day. Buck Rogers was a science-fiction strip and, unlike Tarzan, utilized dialogue balloons.

Foster drew those first 60 Tarzan strips with great dedication, carefully researching every element, which was then rendered with formidable brush-strokes, powerful and graceful at the same time.

After concluding his stint with the March 16, 1929, strip, Foster went back to his advertising accounts. Eager to continue the Tarzan daily series, the Metropolitan Newspaper Service found Foster’s successor in its own bullpen. Nebraska-born Rex Hayden Maxon (1892-1982) was supposed to take over the drawing when, after a three-month hiatus, writer R.W. Palmer’s adaptation of the second Tarzan

J. Allen St. John, master illustrator.

Two For Tarzan Two of the most important early Tarzan illustrators were (on left) Clinton Pettee, whose cover for The All Story magazine for Oct. 1912 was the first visualization ever (and a powerful one) of the ape-man… while the work of J. Allen St. John would soon become forever identified with the creations of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as epitomized by his cover painting for the 1927 novel Tarzan and the Golden Lion. [Tarzan art TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

novel, The Return of Tarzan, started on June 10, 1929 (strip #A-1).

Tarzan strip historian Robert R. Barrett has written that: Although Maxon agreed to illustrate The Return of Tarzan, he was finishing up another assignment and couldn’t begin working on Tarzan for a couple of weeks. In order to maintain their schedule, Metropolitan turned to another of their artists, Hugh Hutton, to illustrate the first week of the Tarzan of the Apes sequel.1 Better known as an editorial cartoonist, Hugh McMillen Hutton (1897-1973) actually did only pencil art for the first week of strips (March 18-23, 1929), with Maxon inking them, signing #6 onwards—and working on the first ten weeks for free. As noted by Barrett, Maxon went back over the Hutton strips, “retouching where he thought it was necessary.” 2

Foster Vs. Maxon From the very start of Maxon’s tenure on the strip, Burroughs was unhappy with the drawing, especially the expressions on Tarzan’s face. Nevertheless, as of March 15, 1931, Maxon was also entrusted to draw the Tarzan color Sunday page. His shortcomings were emphasized by the larger panels of the weekly page, and Burroughs’ complaints continued until, in the summer, Neebe reported plans to change artists and mentioned that Metropolitan (now owned by United Features) had contacted Paul Berdanier.

Burroughs, however, wrote that “we consider [Berdanier] to be

worse than Mr. Maxon”3 and suggested that the syndicate get Foster back to do the artwork. Which Metropolitan’s Max Elser did. Foster agreed to take over the Sundays, as he was getting less advertising work at Palenske-Young, which had been hurt by the Great Depression. His first page appeared on September 27, 1931.

In 1933, Foster drew a Tarzan origin page which was sent to those papers that had not initially subscribed to the daily strip. This promotional page was apparently written by George Carlin.

Foster is still considered by many to be the definitive Tarzan artist because of the stunning artwork he provided on the weekly series. He was the first to bring an illustrator’s approach to comics, something perhaps only Alex Raymond was able to match later with Flash Gordon. All in all, he worked on 26 story arcs, written in turn by R.W. Palmer, George Carlin, and Don Garden (with supervision from editorial director William Laas), which included the lengthy “Egyptian Saga” (#89-170, Nov. 20, 1932-June 10, 1934) as well as the memorable “Tarzan and the Vikings” (#221-251, June 2Dec. 29, 1935). Foster did the bulk of the artwork on the Tarzan page until May 2, 1937 (#321), when he quit the series while the novel Tarzan in the City of Gold was being adapted. Along the way, he was sometimes helped on backgrounds and inks by PalenskeYoung colleagues Paul Proehl and William Juhré, and by Charles F. Armstrong, who did all the lettering. When Foster left Tarzan, he was 4½ months ahead of schedule and had been working at the same time on his own strip for King Features Syndicate: Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, which made its debut on Sunday, Feb. 13, 1937.

The Daily Maxon–And Some Juhré, Too Most likely because he was on staff and had a lower rate than Foster, Rex Maxon was retained on the daily Tarzan strip. In fact, Maxon’s would be the longest tenure on the strip. After completing “The Return of Tarzan,” he and R.W. Palmer adapted another Burroughs novel, The Beasts of Tarzan (strips #B1-B84, Aug. 19-Nov. 23, 1929), introduced Jack Clayton (better known as Korak) in “The Son of Tarzan” (#C1-C96, Nov. 25, 1929-Mar. 15, 1930), and came

Master Artist Meets Jungle Master (Left:) A promotional photo of Harold R. Foster (1892-1982) in his studio; on his desk is the Sunday Tarzan strip for Dec. 3, 1933.

(Right:) Tarzan meets Jane in daily strip #44 (1929), part of the initial Foster/R.W. Palmer adaptation of the novel Tarzan of the Apes, as it appeared with two other strips on Oct. 20, 1928, in the British magazine Tit Bits. Unless otherwise noted, all art and photos accompanying this article were provided by author Alberto Becattini. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

5

Maxon The Mighty (Above:) The first daily of “The Return of Tarzan” done for the Tarzan strip by writer R.W. Palmer and artists Hugh M. Hutton and Rex Maxon.

(Left:) Maxon caricatured himself being threatened by the ape-man. This is, in the humble opinion of A/E’s editor, one of Maxon’s best drawings of Tarzan! [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

expressions. He continued to draw the strip when Don Garden took over writing chores as of strip #N121 (Aug. 13, 1934), starting the adaptation of City of Gold, which concluded on 15 Sept. 1934 (#N150). Garden and Maxon then produced another four continuities, until the artist left the strip over a pay dispute after concluding “Tarzan and the Leopard Men” (#R1-R150, Dec. 30, 1935-June 20, 1936).

United Features next entrusted the artwork to William Juhré (1903-1976), who had been occasionally helping Foster on the Sunday page. It was probably Foster who suggested UFS hire his Palenske-Young colleague. Although Juhré drew an approximation of Foster’s style with a competent use of solid blacks and silhouettes, he only managed to work on four continuities, written by Don Garden, from “Tarzan and the Mayan Goddess” to “Tarzan Under Fire” (#S1-V84, June 22, 1936-Jan. 15, 1938). Apparently, the strip began losing money during his tenure—so Maxon was asked to return.

Maxon’s second stint on the Tarzan dailies lasted almost nine years. He and Garden came up with another three adaptations from Burroughs’ novels: Tarzan the Fearless, Tarzan and the Forbidden

up with another eleven adaptations, the last of which was “Tarzan and the City of Gold” (strips #N1-N120, March 26, 1934-Aug. 11, 1934). Since April 25, 1932, the strip had been released by United Feature Syndicate, which had bought Metropolitan Newspaper Service in 1930. (The first Sunday page to bear the “distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.” line under the Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., copyright was released on April 24, 1932.)

Maxon’s style had little or nothing of the illustrative quality of Foster. His Tarzan was initially short-haired, wearing a shoulderdraped leopard skin, and was patently inspired by the look of actor James Pierce in the film Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927). Later on, Maxon would draw Tarzan with longer hair and more savage

Boys Will Be Ape-Boys (Above:) Artist William Juhré and writer Don Garden’s “Tarzan under Fire” story arc featured Dick and Dock, the so-called Tarzan Twins. Panels from the strip for Oct. 20, 1937. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

the strips finally ran out of Burroughs material, they came up with original stories, and the strip was given a new numbering, starting with #1 on Aug. 28, 1939. In addition, at that time the daily strip dropped its original text-below format and adopted the more flexible all-caption style that remained the standard until dialogue balloons were introduced into the strip in 1958. The Garden-Maxon team created such plots as “The Pirates of the Jungle,” “Tarzeela the Wild Girl,” “War in the Jungle,” and “Tarzan against Hitler,” until Nov. 27, 1943 (#1332). At that point, Maxon also assumed the writing chores, starting with a story involving bats flying out of a cave on Nov. 29, 1943 (#1333); he wrote and drew the strip for another four years. Titles included “The Fury of the Volcano,” “The Diabolical Hypnotist,” “The Ivory Hunter,” “The Savage Woman,” “The Sad Gorilla,” “Tarzan and the Lion Cub,” “Tarzan and Norma,” and “Dr. Zee.” During the first half of 1947, there were as many cancellations from subscribers to the daily Tarzan strip as there had been in the entire year of 1946. Nor had Burroughs’ opinion of Maxon’s work changed. In fact, after seeing a week’s worth of strips, he observed: Instead of being titled Tarzan, it should have been called Big Louie. It is not a Tarzan strip. Practically no animals and no jungle. I feel that this work casts such a reflection upon my name and my character that it may work a great deal of harm to both my books and my pictures.4 “Prisoner of the Great Apes” was Maxon’s final strip-story, concluding on Aug. 30, 1947 (#2508). All in all, Maxon had drawn 5,200 Tarzan strips. After being fired by ERB, Inc., and United Features, he went on to draw Turok, Son of Stone and “Young Hawk” for comic books.

The Hogarth Years–Part One

Tarzan Swings Out On Sunday (Above:) The first Tarzan Sunday, for March 15, 1931. Script by Palmer, art by Maxon.

ERB was not impressed—but then, Maxon was being compared with St. John and Foster! [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

City, and Tarzan and the Elephant Men (#W1-Y114, Jan. 17, 1938-Feb. 18, 1939). Next, they adapted to comics the 1936 radio serial Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr (#Z1-Z162, Feb. 20, 1939-Aug. 26, 1939). When

After cutting his eyeteeth as an assistant to Lyman Young on the comic strip Tim Tyler’s Luck and drawing the pirate strip Pieces of Eight for the McNaught Syndicate, the 26-year-old Burne Hogarth (1911-1996) approached United Features. They told him the Tarzan Sunday strip was open and gave him a few Foster originals to study. He

Shadows Over Africa An atmospheric strip by Rex Maxon for Nov. 11, 1934. Script by Don Garden. Reproduced from a scan of the original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

Another Gift Of The Nile Simultaneous with the early years of Maxon’s long run on the daily Tarzan, Hal Foster was turning out such artwork as this page for Sunday, Jan. 8, 1933, from the so-called “Egyptian Saga.” Script by George Carlin. Many fans and comics historians alike consider this sequence the high point of Foster’s Tarzan work, if not of his entire career. A/E’s editor once owned the original art for a key page from it—and has always regretted letting it go. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

prepared a sample and brought it in two weeks later, without signing it. Later, the editor (probably Monte Bourjaily) told him he had shown the page to general manager George Carlin, as if it had been drawn by Foster, and Carlin had okayed it for publication. So Hogarth was chosen, although there were at least another ten competitors, some of whom were on the King Features staff.

Crandall. United Features called Fiction House asking for the artist’s name—but in the interim Crandall had moved on to Quality Comics, and Moreira was now the regular “Kaänga” artist.

So, on the basis of Crandall’s work, Moreira got the Tarzan page, and drew it for 88 weeks! (According to the unverified story, anyway.)

Hogarth took over the strip as of May 9, 1937 (#322), drawing the final 22 weeks of “Tarzan in the City of Gold” in a style that very much resembled Foster’s. Then, slowly but steadily, he developed his own approach to the strip, progressively giving the ape-man the looks and status of a hyper-muscular mythical hero.

Don Garden’s scripts allowed Hogarth to visualize different peoples and ethnic groups, including the Boers, the Chinese, the Pygmies, the Amazons, and the Barbarians, as well as to face perilous foes like the tyrant Dagga Ramba, and to have beautiful women fall in love with him. (Some sources, including Hogarth himself, attribute the scripts for “Tarzan and the Amazons” in 1939, as well as another two continuities in 1946-47, to veteran cartoonist Charles Plumb [1900-1982], who wrote and drew Ella Cinders for United Features from 1929-49.)

Drago did not obtain the success Hogarth had hoped for, folding after a year, on Nov. 10, 1946. The people at United Features were more than happy to have Hogarth back on the Tarzan Sunday page, which he took over from Moreira as of Aug. 10, 1947 (#857), drawing the last eighteen weeks of “Tarzan on the Isle of Ka-Gor,” first from scripts by Don Garden, and then on his own from Sept.

14, 1947, to Dec. 7, 1947 (#862-874).

As of Oct. 31, 1943 (#660), Hogarth became his own writer, and he came up with such impressive stories as “Tarzan against Kandullah and the Nazis,” “Tarzan against Don Macabre,” and “Tarzan against the GoruBongara Monster.” By now, Hogarth had successfully managed to break the tyranny of the four-tier, twelve-panel page layout by inserting double or quadruple panels that gave his pages more variety. Yet, after completing the script for “Tarzan and the Tartars,” he decided to leave the Tarzan Sunday page to write and draw Drago for the New York Post Syndicate. Hogarth’s last Tarzan page appeared on Nov. 25, 1945 (#768), but another ten weeks of artwork was needed to finish off “Tartars”… so the editors hurriedly began looking around.

Puerto Rican-born artist Amilcar Ruben Moreira (1922-1984) was chosen; nor was it a bad choice, since, although his style was more in the same vein as such photo-realistic artists as Alex Raymond or Dan Barry, he was a solid draftsman. Moreira (who signed himself “Rubimor”) reportedly got the strip by a fluke. If the story is true, someone at United Features came across a Fiction House comic book which included a story featuring a Tarzan lookalike named Kaänga.

Entitled “Master of the Moon-Beasts” and published in Jungle Comics #42 (June 1943), that was in fact the only “Kaänga” story drawn by the excellent Reed Burne Hogarth.

When Tarzan “Burned” Burne Hogarth’s powerful visual storytelling as of May 24, 1942. Script by Don Garden. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

A Case of Mistaken (Jungle Comics) Identity?

(Above:) Reed Crandall’s “Kaänga” splash page from Jungle Comics #42 (June 1943)—apparently the only story he drew of Fiction House’s blond jungle lord. Writer unknown.

(Above right:) Ruben Moirera’s cover for Jungle #44 (Aug. ’43). On the previous page of this issue of A/E, Alberto Becattini repeats a long-standing tale of a Tarzan connection between these two artists—but Robert R. Barrett, in his 2002 study Tarzan of the Funnies, is skeptical about the legend. Wouldn’t it be funny, though, if it were true?

Thanks to the ComicBookPlus website for this pair of scans. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Ruben Moreira.

Thanks to Robert R. Barrett, who printed this photo in his Tarzan of the Funnies (2002).

More From Moreira (Right:) From June 15, 1947—one of the better Sunday pages by Amilcar Ruben Moreira (who signed his name “Rubimor”) in the three-tier format.

Don Garden scripted. Around this time, Moreira also drew a nice “Black Terror” yarn or two for Standard/Nedor, and later he would for years be the artist of the “Impossible—but True”/“Roy Raymond, TV Detective” feature in DC’s Detective Comics. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Barry Nice Work The second strip artist Dan Barry did in conjunction with Burne Hogarth—though of course it bears Hogarth’s byline. Dated Sept. 2, 1947, this strip was shot from the original art. Script by Rob Thompson. [Tarzan strip © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Robert P. Thompson, from Robert Barrett’s Tarzan of the Funnies.

eventually accepted. Hogarth, though, was already having problems doing the Tarzan Sunday page, as he was now very busy with the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (later known as the School of Visual Arts) that he had recently co-founded in Manhattan with Silas H. Rhodes. Deciding he needed a trustworthy assistant, Hogarth hired Dan Barry (1923-1997), who was by then a well-established comic book artist, having lent his talent to such features as “Blue Bolt,” “Airboy,” “Sky Wolf,” “The Heap,” and “Sub-Mariner.”

Dan Barry—And Company

Hogarth initially asked Barry to assist him on the dailies, as of Sept. 1, 1947 (#2509). Most likely, Hogarth did rough pencil layouts, Barry tightened them up, then Hogarth inked them. The excellent Ben Oda (1915-1984) became the strip’s resident letterer. Rob Thompson started his stint by adapting Burroughs’ 1930 novel Tarzan at the Earth’s Core, with the ape-man reaching David Innes and Dr. Abner Perry in Pellucidar aboard a “Mole Machine.”

ERB, Inc., and United Features wanted to revitalize the Tarzan daily strip after letting Rex Maxon’s contract expire, and to return Tarzan to the jungle where he belonged. To start this “new trend,” they hired Robert (Rob) Thompson, who had been the scriptwriter on the Tarzan radio show from 1932-36. As for the artwork, a few artists including Ed Good and Emil Gershwin.

Jesse Marsh tried out, but Photo retrieved United’s first choice was from website of daughter Nancy Burne Hogarth, and he

Although Hogarth continued to supervise the strip, going to Barry’s studio from time to time, his actual contribution seems to have ceased as early as October 13, 1947 (#2545), although the last strip that carries Hogarth’s signature is #2543 (Oct. 10, 1947). Barry then assumed complete art chores on the strip, doing his best to replicate Hogarth’s distinctive inking style for a while. As Barry was also still working for comic books, he soon had to ask several people to either assist or ghost for him on the strip. His younger brother Seymour (born 1928) was his first and best assistant. Sy was an accomplished inker, but he would also do complete art on a

Dan Barry at the drawing board, 1952.

Gershwin.

Gershwin Does Tarzan The June 26, 1948, daily strip, penciled by Emil Gershwin and inked by either Dan or Sy Barry. Script by Rob Thompson. Shot from the original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

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It’s The Barry’s!

Beautiful Dan Barry daily strip for Oct. 13, 1948. Script by Rob Thompson. Shot from the original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

few Tarzan dailies when needed.

After finishing the “Earth’s Core” continuity (on Jan. 31, 1948, #2640) with help from Sy, Dan Barry started drawing the next one, “Tarzan and the Diamond of Ashra”—an adaptation of “Tarzan and the Diamond of Asher,” scripted by Rob Thompson for radio in 1934. Tarzan and a party of six traveled to a lost valley to obtain a hypnotic gem called “The Father of Diamonds” or “The Eye of Rao.” The continuity would last 32 weeks, ending on September 11, 1948 (#2832). Barry actually penciled only the first 13 weeks; most of these strips were inked by John Belfi (1924-1995), who worked full-time at Dan Barry’s studio from 1947-49, also helping him out on his comic book assignments. The Tarzan artwork was then entrusted to Emil Gershwin (1922-1999). Gershwin (who was George and Ira’s first cousin) was a competent artist, but his style was markedly different from Barry’s. Nevertheless, he first assisted Barry, then took over from him (with inking assists from John Belfi).

The third and last Tarzan continuity on that Barry worked was “Tarzan and the Fires of Kohr,” which started on September 13, 1948 (#2833). This time Tarzan joined an expedition which led him and his partners to the secret kingdom of Kohr. This was, in fact, based on Henry Rider Haggard’s novel She. Queen Merala, like Haggard’s Paul Reinman, in a photo that appeared in The Burroughs Bulletin #13 (1962). Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert.

Ayesha, had managed to keep young by worshipping Pahn-Ahluk, goddess of everlasting life (actually, a blue-white column of flame).

Barry apparently penciled and inked most of the sequence’s first nine weeks, providing his best artwork ever on the Tarzan strip.

Then he shared the drawing with Gershwin until Dec. 11, 1948 (#2910), when Gershwin took over, with some inking help from John Belfi. Barry then penciled another week of strips (#2953-2958, Jan. 31 to Feb. 5, 1949) before leaving the strip for good.

Reinman And Cardy The “Fires of Kohr” continuity actually went on until April 9, 1949 (strip #3012), as drawn by Paul Reinman (1910-1988). Better known as a comic book artist, especially on DC’s “Green Lantern,” Reinman drew in a loose style that was poles apart from Barry’s realistic approach. It is hard to understand why United Features, or Hogarth (who was still supervising the strip), had him take over the Tarzan daily. At any rate, he stayed on it for a year, drawing another three complete continuities (“Tarzan and the Slavers,” “White Savages of Vaar,” and “Tarzan and the Leopard Men”) before starting “Tarzan and the City of Gold.”

Shortly before Reinman’s contract was due to expire, Burne Hogarth called Nick Cardy (nee Nicholas Viscardi, 1920-2013), offering him a chance to take over the daily Tarzan. Cardy was an experienced artist who had worked for Will Eisner on the weekly Lady Luck feature in the latter’s newspaper Comic Book Section, aka The Spirit Section, and then on several comic book series such as “Señorita Rio” and “Jane Martin.” Cardy dealt directly with Hogarth rather than with the syndicate. In his own words:

Everybody Loves Reinman?

The daily for May 24, 1949, drawn by Paul Reinman and scripted by Rob Thompson. Shot from the original art. Reinman at this time was best known for his comic book work, especially DC’s “Green Lantern” in the mid-’40s. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

Cardy’s On The Table The April 17, 1950, Tarzan daily, drawn by Nick Viscardi (aka Cardy). Script by Rob Thompson. Cardy would spend much of his later career as an artist for DC Comics, most notably on covers and drawing Aquaman. Repro’d from a scan of the original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

[Hogarth] sent me the scripts and I just sent the dailies in to him…. [W]e may have spoken only two or three times during the period I was working on it. He was handling the whole thing at the time and I believe was writing it as well….

Hogarth gave me a free hand on everything. He just gave me the script and had no remarks or anything about my work. I did a lot of research for the Tarzan daily strip. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of History and I got into the photographic department and these people were showing me photos of certain animals they collected.5

By May 1949, United Features general manager Laurence Rutman had grown dissatisfied with the continuity on the strips, which he defined as “lousy” and “too slow-moving,”6 adding that a new writer was needed. Actually, Rob Thompson continued writing it until May 20, 1950 (#3360), when “Tarzan and the City of Gold” came to an end and Hogarth took over the scripts.

Patterning Tarzan’s face after actor Buster Crabbe, Cardy did a good job, drawing in a combination of pen and sable brush. At the start of his second continuity, “Tarzan and Hard-Luck Harrigan” (Feb. 13, 1950, #3361), he was allowed to sign the strip, but the artwork lost much of its strength because of Tarzan’s humorous stooge, a Gabby Hayes lookalike. Cardy left the strip as of July 22, 1950 (#3414) because he wanted to do more illustration; he had also started drawing the Gang Busters title for DC Comics.

The Hogarth Years—Part Two When Hogarth returned to the Tarzan Sunday page, he did not do so with his tail between his legs. In fact, his new contract with United Features stated that he would manage production on the weekly and daily Tarzan series, and that United would also release his new humor strip, Miracle Jones (which ran weekly from Feb. 15 to Dec. 5, 1948). Hogarth wrote the first continuity himself (“Tarzan on the Isle of Ka-Gor,” Sept. 14 to Dec. 7, 1947, #862-874), keeping the three-tier layout that had been introduced by Rubimor on May 25, 1947 (#846) and drawing in a hyper-kinetic, baroque style that may be said to have been his definitive one.

Hogarth’s involvement with the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and with Miracle Jones forced him to relinquish the scripts to Rob Thompson (“Tarzan and N’Ani,” “Tarzan on the Island of Mua-Ao,” “Tarzan and the Ononoes,” and “Tarzan and the Adventurers”) and then to James Freeman (#1010, July 16, 1950), before writing and drawing the first five weeks of “Tarzan and the Wild Game Hunter” (#1011-1015, July 23 to Aug. 20, 1950).

As for art, Hogarth regularly employed assistants to provide pencil layouts that he would tighten and ink so that the work would look like Burne Hogarth art when he got through with it. John Celardo (1918-2012), who was Nick Cardy in New York’s Central Park, 1947. Courtesy of the main artist on Fiction House’s the late artist, for his “Tarzan” lookalike “Kaänga” from interview in A/E #67.

1946-49, anonymously penciled the Sundays for six months, from May 16 to Nov. 14, 1948 (#897-923). Two students of Hogarth’s at C&I followed. Al Williamson (1931-2010) laid out three pages for him (#924-926, Nov. 21 to Dec. 5, 1948); then Hogarth took Ross Andru (1927-1993) out of the class and asked him to assist on the Tarzan page. Andru apparently contributed until the end of Hogarth’s tenure.

The Lubbers Touch Like Nick Cardy, Bob Lubbers (born 1922) had drawn his best comic book stories for Fiction House from 1942-48 (“Captain Wings,” “Firehair,” “Camilla”). Tarzan was his first newspaper strip. As he recalled in an interview with the present author: Burne Hogarth was quitting Tarzan, and the feature was up for grabs. Raeburn Van Buren, the great magazine illustrator and artist on the Abbie an’ Slats strip, knew of my work, and he managed to convince United Features to hire me along with his son Dick, an aspiring writer, to produce the Tarzan dailies and Sundays. I signed a three-year contract. The dream of a lifetime came true. In fact, I had no real insight into Tarzan’s character, as I had never read a Burroughs book.

To me, Tarzan was only Hal Foster and Johnny Weissmuller, and I strove to get the feel of Foster in my strips. Plenty of action… interplay with jungle animals… colorful backgrounds… and as many exotic girls as Dick’s scripts would allow.7 Lubbers’ Tarzan was not Foster’s sophisticated Lord of the Jungle, nor was it Hogarth’s grim avenger; but he managed to give the ape-man back the charisma he had been missing for quite a while in the dailies. After drawing the last week of the Hogarthscripted “Tarzan and Hard-Luck Harrigan,” which ended on July 29, 1950 (#3420), he went on to draw another 19 complete sequences, all written by Dick Van Buren (1926-1982), who cosigned the strip from May 2, 1951 (#3709) until August 17, 1953

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

13

Young Al Williamson.

A few years after doing layouts for Hogarth, he would become one of the star artists of the EC Comics line.

You Know Me, Al (Left:) Al Williamson’s pencil layouts for the Dec. 5, 1948, Tarzan Sunday page; Hogarth then finished and inked the art in his own style. Script by Rob Thompson. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

(#4375). Among their best stories were “The Duru” (1950), “Tarzan and the Cannibals” (1951), “Tarzan and the Pirates” (1951), “The Foreign Legion” (1953), “Tarzan and the Octopus God” (1953), and “Tarzan and the Insect Men” (1953). As Lubbers recalled: When [Van Buren] wrote exotic females into the scripts, it was a chance to reprise some of the fun of [the] Fiction House cover girls… modified slightly. The stories could never be truly topical, but played in an amorphous, Burroughsian time period. A slight diversion featuring Tarzan as a matador drew oles in South America, bringing many subscribers aboard. The strip had a big following worldwide. But something was missing. As the deadlines came and went, I would drift in and out of the classic Foster interpretation to something unsatisfying from time to time. Oddly enough, Dick’s last stories inspired good drawing again. Especially my final Sunday page sequence.8 Lubbers took over the art on the Tarzan Sunday page as of Aug. 27, 1950 (#1016), drawing the last four pages of “Tarzan and the Wild Game Hunter” from scripts by Hogarth. The next continuity, “The Yellow People of Ambera” (#1020-1030, Sept. 24 to Dec. 3, 1950), was the first of eleven he drew from scripts by Dick Van Buren. The width and color of the weekly series enhanced Lubbers’ rendering, which was particularly effective when he visualized ancient and exotic civilizations as in “Tarzan and the Incas” (1952), “Tarzan and the Mongol Horde” (1953), and “Tarzan and the Egyptians” (1954). The latter story, the twelfth

An Ape-Man’s Best Friend (Right:) Tarzan and Tantor. The Sunday page for Nov. 23, 1947, both written and drawn by Burne Hogarth. Repro’d from NBM/Flying Buttress’ Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan in Color, Vol. 16 (1947-1948), published in 1991. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Hardly “Land-Lubbers” A gorgeous Tarzan Sunday page (for March 29, 1951) by artist Bob Lubbers and writer Dick Van Buren.

Repro’d from a scan of the original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs.]

on which he worked, he left after eleven weeks, with #1197 (Feb. 14, 1954). As for the dailies, the last continuity Lubbers contributed to was “Tarzan and the Ghost.” His last Bob Lubbers at the time he was drawing signed strip was Tarzan. Prior to that, he had been an important #4488 (Dec. 26, artist at Fiction House.

1953), but he continued drawing it for another two weeks until Jan. 9, 1954 (#4500), with John Celardo doing most of the inking.

of the following week. At the start, he drew in an approximation of Lubbers’ style, with lots of cross-hatching. Although his depiction of humans, animals, props, and vegetation was always competent, as time went by his drawing became stiffer and stiffer, lacking the dynamism essential to the strip. The Sunday pages, which he took over on Feb. 21, 1954 (#1198), gave him more leeway and were generally better-looking than the dailies.

Celardo’s Way

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first publication of Tarzan stories, he had Tarzan relate his own origins to his friend Peter Crisp and other interested listeners in the daily strip. “Tarzan Tells His Story” was divided into two parts, from Oct. 7 to Dec.15, 1962 (#7237-7248), and from Feb. 11 to April 11, 1963 (#7345-7356).

Among other things, Celardo brought back Tarzan’s future wife, Jane Porter, who had been missing from the strip for several years.

Like Lubbers, Celardo had been primarily a comic book artist, mainly for Fiction House and Standard Publications, although—as previously noted—he had ghosted several Tarzan Sunday pages for Burne Hogarth. When Lubbers decided to leave, Celardo was chosen by United Features to carry on the artwork on both dailies and Sundays. He started penciling and inking the Tarzan daily strip on January 18, 1954 (#4501), with his signature appearing on it as

Dick Van Buren continued to provide the scripts until Oct. 23, 1958 (daily #6024) and Nov. 16, 1958 (Sunday #1445), respectively, when he was replaced by veteran writer and geographer William LaVarre (1898-1991), who co-signed the strip using the pseudonym “Bill Elliott” from Oct. 25, 1958, to Nov. 25, 1961 (dailies #60256966), and from Nov. 23, 1958, to Nov. 19, 1961 (Sundays #14461602). At that point Celardo began writing the strip as well as drawing it.

In the following sequence, “Krona and the Treasure of Opar”

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

15

From Ape-Man To Leopard Man (Above:) John Celardo’s solid style is seen in the Feb. 15, 1955, daily strip. Script by Dick Van Buren. Their Tarzan strips are currently being reprinted in every issue of Comics Revue magazine. Check it out at www.comicsrevue.com (Below:) The “stiffer” Celardo—May 7, 1967, Sunday page. Script probably by Celardo. Alberto Becattini says the first Tarzan strip with dialogue was daily #6025 (Oct. 25, 1958), written by William LaVarre (aka Bill Elliott). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

(April 12-Aug. 10, 1963, #7397-7500), Tarzan went looking for Jane and ended up in Opar, where he again met the high priestess La. Opar also appeared in the Sunday series (“Invaders in Opar,” Jan. 23 to April 24, 1966, #1820-1833), where Celardo likewise produced his own version of Tarzan and the City of Gold (May 28-Oct. 15, 1967, #1890-1910). He carried on until Dec. 9, 1967 (daily #8856), and Jan. 7, 1968 (Sunday #1922), managing to produce an impressive total of 4350 daily strips and 724 Sunday pages. His was the secondlongest tenure, after Rex Maxon’s, although, unlike Maxon, Celardo drew the strip continuously, both in the daily and weekly version, for nearly 14 years.

Amazing Grace: The Art of Russ Manning Bob Hodes, president of ERB, Inc., was instrumental in enlisting the services of Russ Manning (1929-1981) to replace Celardo.

Hodes, like many others, had much appreciated Manning’s rendering of the ape-man in the comic book stories published by Western Printing, aka Gold Key (see pp. 26). Manning had been a Burroughs and Tarzan fan from childhood; so, to him, writing and drawing the Tarzan newspaper strip was a dream come true.

Manning’s intentions were quite clear from the start. He began his tenure on the dailies (Dec. 11, 1967, #8857) by bringing Tarzan

home and soon reuniting him with wife Jane (whom he saved from Tergash the gorilla) and son Korak. The latter, in particular, had last appeared in the Tarzan newspaper strip in June 1932. Manning (who had also drawn the Korak, Son of Tarzan comic book) featured Tarzan’s son as the sole protagonist of such daily sequences as “Korak’s Story” (Oct. 29, 1969, to Jan. 3, 1970, #9439-9504), “Korak and Pasha Rochi” (Jan. 4 to March 11, 1971, #9817-9874) and “Korak and the White Water Runner” (Aug. 2 to Nov. 20, 1971, #9997-10092).

John Celardo at his drawing board, 1970s.

Manning had already written and drawn several weeks of the Tarzan daily when he produced his first Sunday, for Jan. 14, 1968 (#1923). He started out his weekly series with “Tarzan Returns to the Land of the Ant Men,” a 23-week sequence in which Tarzan again met the diminutive people created by Burroughs, accompanied by Cyril Richardson and Marlene Channing. Korak appeared towards the end of this sequence (June 9, 1968, #1944), then had a leading role in a few sequences, among which “Korak and the River of Time” (Feb. 15 to May 31, 1970, #2032-2047) stands

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Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

Manning The Oars Of The Tarzan Ship Of State Three stunning Tarzan dailies written and drawn by Russ Manning, for Sept. 9-10, 1968. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

out. Jane had to wait until May 25, 1969 (#1994), to appear in the Sundays, but Manning had her tell about her first meeting with the ape-man in “How Tarzan Met Jane” (Dec. 7, 1969 to Feb. 8, 1970, #2022-2031). True to the Burroughs mystique, Manning brought Tarzan back to Opar, Pal-ul-Don, and Pellucidar, creating such supporting characters as Chulai (dailies, 1968-71) and re-introducing others like Dagga Ramba (Sunday, Oct. 6, 1968, #1961) and Paul D’Arnot (Sunday, July 12, 1970, #2053).

In the Sundays, Manning was free to experiment with layout within the three-tier page frame, making masterful use of double and quadruple panels.

His drawing was simply perfect; nothing was out of place, or unnecessary. It was an admirable blend of clean storytelling, power, and grace. Whereas, in the dailies, he complemented his elegant draftsmanship with a balanced use of Ben Day, in the Sundays he embellished his slender figures and unobtrusive backgrounds with a wise and tasteful use of color. Since writing and drawing a seven-day strip was a hard task, Manning employed assistants over the years. The first one, of whom only the first name, “Joe,” is known, was a friend of Manning’s who lived in Orange County and who assisted on backgrounds. Mike Royer (born 1941), who had been assisting Manning on his comic book stories since 1965, was helping out on the Sundays from the start, but he also tightened Manning’s pencils and inked them on the dailies from Jan. 1968 until July 1971. William Stout (born 1949) helped out on the dailies from July 1971 to July 1972, and on the Sundays, off and on, from 1971-75. Rick Hoberg (born 1952) and Dave Stevens (1955-2008) both contributed to the Sundays during 1975-77. The Filipino artist Alex Niño (born 1940) also inked three Sundays for Manning in the mid-’70s.

Russ Manning working on a Tarzan Sunday. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The daily strip was discontinued as of July 29, 1972 (#M308), after the conclusion of a beautiful 216-day sequence entitled “Tarzan Returns to the Earth’s Core.”

It then went into reprints, starting with strip #2509, a situation that has existed ever since. Manning was now free to devote himself entirely to the Sunday series, which he carried on for another seven years. He had Tarzan or Korak visit the City of Xuja, Pal-ul-Don, and Pellucidar again, and on one occasion he co-credited friend Gino Pentassuglia with the story idea on the sequence “Return to Castra Sanguinarius” (March 17 to Nov. 3, 1974, #2245-2278), wherein the ape-man was enslaved by ancient Romans. Manning’s last Sunday story was “Tarzan and the Games of Ibizzia,” which ran from February 4 to June 24, 1979 (#2499-2519). It was co-written by Manning and Mike Royer, who had been steadily helping on the Sundays since 1977. Actually, the last two Sundays were drawn and inked by Royer over Manning’s tissue roughs. Royer was given a co-credit on the very last one.

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

Other Teams For The Ape-Man When Manning announced that he would leave Tarzan to write and draw the Star Wars newspaper strip, United Features executives found it convenient to entrust the Sunday page to a wellestablished writer-artist team. In fact, Archie Goodwin (1937-1998) and Gil Kane (nee Eli Katz, 1926-2000) had previously worked together on Star Hawks, a science-fiction strip released by the NEA syndicate–which since 1976 had been, like United Features, part of the same organization, United Media. Kane’s graphic approach to Tarzan was more stylized than Manning’s, and he basically adapted the strip to his own dynamic way of drawing. All in all, he did a very good job, producing six sequences from “The Runaway” (July 1 to Sept. 9, 1979, #2520-2530) to “The Super Race” (Nov. 9, 1980, to Feb. 1, 1981, #2591-2603).

After Goodwin and Kane’s contract expired, United Features decided to rerun old Sunday pages for a while. They condensed Burne Hogarth’s 1948, 51-week sequence “Tarzan on the Island of Mua-Ao” into a 23-week one, with a new ending obtained by pasting together bits of pages #920-947. The new version lasted from Feb. 8 to July 12, 1981.

As of Aug. 19, 1981 (numbered #2605, as #2604 was erroneously skipped), the Tarzan Sunday page acquired a new writer/artist.

Mike Grell (born 1947) had already proven his ability as a one-man team in comic books, especially with DC Comics’ Burroughs-influ-

17

enced The Warlord (1975-80). In a bold style reminiscent of that of legendary comic book artist Neal Adams, Grell produced the Tarzan Sunday for 1½ years, starting out by taking Tarzan back to Opar, then to Pal-ul-Don; but he also tried to modernize the strip by creating such sequences as “Space War” (Aug. 29, 1982, to Nov. 14, 1982, #2663-2674), in which the ape-man prevented a jungle conflict between American and Russian troops over a crashed U.S. experimental aircraft. Grell produced the strip until Feb. 27, 1983 (#2689), although during his tenure some pages were ghosted by Frank Bolle (Sept. 13 and 20, 1981, #2613-2614) and drawn by Tom Yeates (Feb. 13, 1983, #2687—the names “Serpico/Combs” also appear on this page).

Come To Morrow Dwight Graydon (Gray) Morrow (1934-2001) was a veteran artist and illustrator who had drawn comic books as well as newspaper strips for nearly 30 years when he was assigned the Tarzan Sunday strip. His first page appeared on March 6, 1983, opening an 8-week sequence called “The Most Dangerous Prey,” which may have been written by Morrow himself. (In fact, Slaughter, the big game hunter who appears in the sequence, was a Morrow lookalike.) The Indiana-born artist’s photo-realistic approach was made up of elegant figures and a masterful use of silhouettes, Ben Day, and color. By the second continuity, “The Treasure of Opar” (May 1 to July 17, 1983, #2698-2709), the page

Go To The Ant Man… Tarzan, Jane, and Joiper the ant man in the Sept. 21, 1975, Sunday written and drawn by Russ Manning. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

18

Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

Up A Lazy River…

Feb. 10, 1980, Sunday page by writer Archie Goodwin and artist Gil Kane. They opted to go with rectangular word balloons as well as rectangular captions. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

was co-signed by writer Don Kraar (born 1950), who was to be the main and best scripter on the series until Aug. 13, 1995 (#3339). Kraar and Morrow alternated Archie Goodwin, noted writer and editor for such classic plots as “Back to Pellucidar” Warren Publications, DC, (1987) and “Return to the Land That Time Marvel, et al.

Forgot” (1989), “The Return of La” (1991), and “The Panther Men of Pal-ul-Don” (1993), with other up-to-date ones as “Yakuza” (1986), “A Jungle of Concrete and Steel” (1987), and “City of Lights, City of Darkness” (1989), which had the ape-man in civvies. Kraar concluded his stint writing a long two-part continuity set in Pellucidar and Barsoom, before Mark-Wayne Harris took over the writing. Harris scripted two sequences, “The Mangani beyond the Veil” (Aug. 20 to Nov. 19, 1995, #3340-3353) and “Children of the Wing” (March 17 to June 9, 1996, #3370-3382). Jerry Prosser came up with “Tarzan and the Spirit of Mokele” (Nov. 26, 1995, to March 10, 1996, #33543369). Then Scott Tracy Griffin (born 1965), one of the best Burroughs essayists, wrote “La’s Plight” (June 16 to Sept. 8, 1996, #3383-3395) before Mark Kneece (born 1969) penned his first continuity, “The Mangani Peril” (Sept. 15, 1996, to Jan. 12, 1997, #33963413). Kneece would write another four, the last of which was “The Contest” (Aug. 20 to Nov. 26, 2000, #3601-3615). Brian McDonald only wrote one sequence, “The Gorilla Camp Raiders” (Aug. 17 to November 16, 1997, #3444-3457), as did Anthony Zumpano with “Tarzan’s Trip to New York” (Nov. 23, 1997, to March 8, 1998, #3458-3473). Allan Gross became the new writer as of Feb. 7, 1999

(#3521), working on six continuities until July 8, 2001 (#3647).

Gray Morrow was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the late 1990s, and by the Gil Kane, year 2000 the illness’ effects showed up in his celebrated for his drawing, which appeared at times to be more art on DC’s 1960s and more simplified and awkward. As of July Green Lantern and 15, 2001 (#3648), Morrow began a sequence 1970s Amazing titled “The Capture of Tarzan,” which was Spider-Man. written by Alex Simmons. Six weeks later, on Aug. 19 (#3652—#3653 was erroneously skipped the following week), the continuity concluded after Morrow had been fired by United Features. Unable to draw because of the tremors in his hands and needing to rely on his wife Pocho to take care of him, Morrow took his own life on the morning of November 6, 2001.

One More Year Alex Simmons continued to write the Tarzan page, and AfricanAmerican artist Eric Battle (born 1975) was called in. Having previously drawn for super-hero comic books, Battle brought in a more explicit, physical approach, drawing a long-haired Tarzan who looked very much like Conan the Barbarian. The Simmons-Battle team produced only two continuities, “Deadly Games” (Aug. 26 to Dec. 30, 2001, #3654-3672) and “Day of the Hunter” (January 6 to May 19, 2002, #3673-3692), before United Features decided to [Continued on p. 21]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

19

Mike Grell, dynamic comic book writer/artist.

O Far, Opar (Left:) Grell’s Sunday page for July 19, 1981.

He wrote as well as drew the strip during his tenure. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Frank Bolle, veteran comic book artist. He was interviewed in Alter Ego #86.

The Ghosts Of Tarzan (Above:) The Sept. 20, 1981, Tarzan Sunday page ghosted by Frank Bolle during the Grell period.

Script by Mike Grell.

(Left:) Tom Yeates ghosted the Feb.13, 1983, Sunday page for Grell. Scripter uncertain. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Tom Yeates, who would go on to write and draw a number of Tarzan comic books for Dark Horse.

20

Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

Days Of Ape Lang Syne (Above:) Tarzan meets his old friend Akut the gorilla in the Dec. 23, 1983, Sunday page written by Don Kraar and drawn (and lettered) by Gray Morrow. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

(Right:) Don Kraar, writer (on left), and Gray Morrow, in a line portrait drawn by the longtime comics artist. [© Estate of Gray Morrow.]

Tarzan The Savage (Above:) The aggressive-looking Tarzan drawn by Eric Battle and written by Alex Simmons… for Sept. 2, 2002. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Alex Simmons, writer for DC, Archie, etc.

Eric Battle has drawn numerous comics and covers for DC, Marvel, et al.

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Funnies!

[Continued from p. 18]

discontinue the Tarzan Sundays—which then went into reprints, starting with Goodwin and Kane’s strip for July 1, 1979 (#2520).

Although United Media was dissolved in June, 2010, the Tarzan dailies and Sundays continue being reprinted online at univeersaluclick.com and gocomics.com.

P.S.: John Carter, Warlord Of Newsprint Shortly after the Tarzan daily strip was launched in 1929, a newspaper version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ other great hero, John Carter of Mars, was planned. There were a few false starts (at one time, a set of daily newspaper strips based on Burroughs’ 1914 novel Warlord of Mars was tentatively drawn by Austin Briggs9), until in the fall of 1941 United Features and ERB, Inc., agreed on a John Carter of Mars Sunday page. The chosen artist was John Coleman Burroughs (1913-1979), Edgar’s youngest son, who had already drawn “John Carter” for Dell Publishing’s comic book, The Funnies (see pp. 33 ff.).

The John Carter Sunday page, which employed narrative and dialogue captions in the style of the Tarzan strip, started in The Chicago Sun on Dec. 7, 1941. Initially, it adapted A Princess of Mars (1917), but then departed from the novel’s plot at the request of United Features’ editors, who wanted more action in the strip.

John’s wife, Jane Ralston Burroughs (1913-2002), contributed to the artwork, besides serving as a model for Dejah Thoris. As she later declared: My facial features were drawn and I posed in a swim suit and Martian harness for the body proportions and positions.

Never has it been known that I also drew all of the backgrounds and buildings, did all of the coloring and all of the lettering, and very much enjoyed the project.10

The Comic Strips Go To Mars (Right:) Early John Carter of Mars tryout strips by John Coleman Burroughs. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

John Coleman Burroughs, son of ERB—and illustrator of several of his father’s books.

21

John Coleman Burroughs gave his best on the strip, but the timing was wrong. Wartime paper shortages limited its appearance to a dearth of papers, and it was eventually cancelled on April 18, 1943, with page #72.

Notes For Part I 1 Robert Barrett, Tarzan of the Funnies, Holt, Michigan: Mad Kings Publishing, Sept. 2002.

2 Ibid.

3 Edgar Rice Burroughs, letter of Aug. 5, 1931, to United Features Syndicate.

4 Edgar Rice Burroughs, letter of June 16, 1947, to United Features Syndicate.

5 Sean Menard and Nick Cardy, Nick Cardy: Comic Strips, Toronto: Frecklebean Press, 2007.

6 Lawrence Rutman, memo to Edgar Rice Burroughs dated May 10, 1949.

7 Alberto Becattini, “Interview with Bob Lubbers,” in Comic Book Marketplace, Vol. 3 #90, April 2002.

8 Alberto Becattini (ed.), “The Good Girl Art of Bob Lubbers,” in Glamour International Magazine #26, Florence: Glamour International Productions, 2001.

9 Four of these strips appeared in Burroughs Bulletin #72 (Fall 2007).

10 Jane Ralston Burroughs, letter to the Burroughs Bulletin, reprinted in Bill Hillman’s John Coleman Burroughs Biography.

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Adaptations Of ERB’s Work In Newspaper Comic Strips

“Mars Ain’t The Kind Of Place To Raise Your Kids…”

(Above:) John Carter of Mars Sunday page for June 9, 1942, written and drawn by John Coleman Burroughs.

The lady in costume in the circa-1942 photo is Jane Ralston Burroughs, wife of JCB and his model for Dejah Thoris.

(Below:) Burroughs’ page for Feb 28, 1943. Reproduced from original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs.]

The Comic Art Worlds Of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS — Part II

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Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

by Alberto Becattini

I

Tarzan The Reprinted

n 1929, just a few months after the first sixty Tarzan dailies by Harold L. Foster had been released in U.S. newspapers, the book publisher Grosset & Dunlap reprinted those strips in The Illustrated Tarzan Book No. 1. It is therefore considered the first Tarzan comic book, although it was in fact a black-&-white hardcover. Foster also did the original illustration that was featured on both the cover and the dust jacket. While that book was reprinted in 1934, Foster’s strips also reappeared in Saalfield Publishing’s Tarzan of the Apes to Color #988 (1933) and in Whitman’s Tarzan of the Apes – The Big Little Cartoon Book #744 (1933).

The Lord of the Jungle made his first four-color comic book appearance in 1936, as one of the stars in United Features’ Tip Top Comics from its very first issue, which came out with an April cover-date. The monthly comic magazine reprinted Tarzan Sunday pages by Foster (#1-40 and #44-50), Rex Maxon (#41-43), and Burne Hogarth (#57, 59, & 62). Bob Lubbers’ daily strips, reframed and colored, began appearing in #189 (Nov.-Dec. 1954), by which time Tip Top had become a bi-monthly. As of #211 (Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958), Tip Top Comics was published by Dell/Western, and Tarzan concluded its tenure in that comic with its final issue, #225 (MayJuly 1961).

Comics on Parade was another United Features comic that counted Tarzan among its stars. Foster’s strips made their debut in #1 (April 1938), and daily reprints kept running until Tarzan left the comic with #29 (Aug. 1940), after the conclusion of the reprint of Rex Maxon’s adaptation of The Return of Tarzan. One issue of Single Series (#20) was published the same year, featuring 64 pages of Foster’s strip reprints from 1932-33 that had already appeared in Tip Top Comics #1-13.

Dell Comics had since shown interest in Tarzan, and in 1938 it published “Tarzan of the Apes… and the Hidden Treasure,” a 6page text/illustration story in Famous Feature Stories #1. The illustrations were most likely the work of Henry E. Vallely. Several 3page text-plus-illustration stories followed in issues #38-43 (JuneSept. 1939) of Popular Comics. More “Tarzan” text/illustration stories were then featured in Crackajack Funnies #15-36 (Sept. 1939June 1941). Some of the illustrations look like the work of Bill Ely. In 1939, Dell also issued a new reprint of Foster’s dailies in the 72page, black-&-white Large Feature Comic #5, titled “Tarzan of the

Tarzan—Graphic Like A Novel Hal Foster’s cover for The Illustrated Tarzan Book No.1 (1929). All art and photos accompanying this article, unless otherwise noted, have been supplied by Alberto Becattini. Foster’s Tarzan comic strip work was entirely reprinted in hardcover form a couple of decades back by NBM/Flying Buttress. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs.]

Apes.” Each page featured one strip by Foster and an additional illustration by Henry E. Vallely, who also drew 10 full-page chapter drawings.

As of July 1941, reprints of Burne Hogarth’s Tarzan Sundays began appearing in Sparkler Comics, another monthly (and later bimonthly) comic published by United Features. The ape-man was in every issue from #1 to # 86 (March-April 1949).

During 1945-46, the U.S. Army giveaway comic book Jeep Comics, published by R. B. Leffingwell & Co., featured Tarzan Sunday page reprints among its contents.

Tarzan The Original ERB, Inc., and the Whitman Publishing Company (a subsidiary of Western Printing and Lithographing Company) had been collaborating since 1934, issuing Big Little Books and Better Little Books devoted to Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. Producing comic books together with Dell Publishing, Western had also hosted Tarzan reprints in Large Feature Comics, as previously mentioned. By mid1946, three original Tarzan one-shots were scheduled to appear in the Four Color Comics series, with Eleanor Packer doing the editing at Western’s Los Angeles office. In a letter dated May 7, 1946, Burroughs’ secretary Cyril Ralph Rothmund wrote to Western that: [W]e were successful in securing a writer for [Packer] by the name of Rob Thompson, who has written our Tarzan phonograph album scripts we have produced for Decca Records, as well as several of our Tarzan radio serials. He knows Tarzan, is not occupied with anything else at the present, and so he can swing right into the job.

24

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

The Return of Tarzan—In More Ways Than One! (Above left & center:) Tarzan made his color comic book debut in reprints in United Features’ Tip Top Comics #3 (July 1936)—and his recycled comic strip adventures would soon be appearing concurrently in UF’s Comics on Parade #17 (Aug. 1939). On the cover of the latter he rescues Li’l Abner and company from being stuck in the mud. The Tip Top cover is a blown-up detail from a Foster panel, while the Comics on Parade covers were drawn by United Features staff artists, imitating the styles of the various artists whose characters were depicted.

(Above right:) UF’s Single Series #20 (1940), on whose pseudo-Foster cover Tarzan faced a lion, was a reprint of a reprint—spotlighting stories from the strip previously re-presented in Tip Top Comics! [Tarzan © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; other art © the respective copyright holders]

Henry E. Vallely, in his 20s. Photo courtesy of granddaughter Pamela Joy McMorrow and fellow Vallely collector John Pansmith. Thanks to Alberto B. and Jim Kealy.

The Big Vallely Henry E. Vallely drew the chapter drawings (above center) for Dell’s Tarzan-starring Large Feature Comic #5 (1939). Above is the cover for the latter, whose artist is unidentified; Alberto Becattini thinks it was probably a United Features staff artist “aping” Hal Foster. | [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

25

Jesse Marsh working on a Tarzan portrait at his drawing table.

Photo taken by Camille Cazedessus for his fanzine ERB-dom. Thanks to Robert Barrett.

Tarzan Swings Solo (Art clockwise from above left:) A John Coleman Burroughs tryout page for “Tarzan and the Devil Ogre,” the story slated for Four Color Comics #134 (Feb. 1947).

Jesse Marsh’s cover and splash page (on the inside front cover, hence the two-color effect) for Dell/Western’s Four Color #134, the first original “Tarzan” comic book. Script by Rob Thompson. Marsh’s “Tarzan” comic book work has been reprinted in eleven volumes by Dark Horse Comics. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The 50-page adventure, “Tarzan and the Devil Ogre,” appeared in issue #134 (Feb. 1947) of Four Color Comics. Although John Coleman Burroughs had drawn some tryout pages, the artwork had been eventually assigned to Jesse Marsh (1907-1966), who had previously been a Disney animator and story man, which gave him a tremendous sense of staging. Marsh drew in an approximation of the Milton Caniff-Noel Sickles chiaroscuro style, and from the start he showed his talent at rendering atmospheric backgrounds. His depiction of the human figure, though, was sometimes too simplistic for many readers. Another Four Color issue (#161, Aug. 1947) followed, featuring “Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr,” a comicbook adaptation by the Thompson/Marsh team of the 1936 radio serial. That was enough to convince Western’s executives and art director Tom McKimson that the time was ripe for a regular Tarzan comic. Tarzan #1 was on the newsstands with a Jan.-Feb. 1948 cover date, sporting the 32-page Thompson/Marsh story “The White Savages of Vari.” The long-running “Tarzan’s Ape-English Dictionary” one-pager also began, with illustrations by Marsh and text by Gaylord B. Du Bois (1899-1993), who took over the “Tarzan” story writing from Thompson as of #2 (“The Captives of Thunder Valley,” March-April 1948) after Thompson was asked by

United Features to script the Tarzan newspaper strip.

Du Bois and Marsh produced an impressive number of “Tarzan” stories over a 16-year period. Their work appeared in every single Tarzan issue until December 1964 (#147). Together, they re-introduced Jane and Boy, Tarzan’s adoptive son from the movies, in issue #3 (May-June 1948), and involved the ape-man in many a thrilling adventure. The best ones were those that led the Lord of the Jungle to lost cities or had him meet with strange peoples, such as “The Valley of the Monsters” (1949), “The Lost Legion” (1950), “Tarzan Returns to the City of Gold” (1951), and “The Beasts of Pal-ul-Don” (1954).

Du Bois and Marsh also did the bulk of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan’s Jungle Annual, seven issues of which appeared from 195258. Here, too, there were memorable stories such as “Tarzan Returns to Opar” (1952) and “Tarzan Defends the Walls of Cathne” (1955). The Tarzan Annuals also featured shorter stories and single pages drawn by such artists as Tony Sgroi, Tony DiPaola (aka Tony Paolo), Nat Edson, and Russ Manning. The latter drew the “Boy” solo stories in #3, 4, 6, & 7 and a “Jane” solo story in #6. The Tarzan

26

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

“Big News for Tarzan fans!,” an illustrated ad announced in that very same issue. The time was ripe for the Tarzan comic book to feature adaptations of Burroughs’ novels, and the following issue (#155, cover-dated Dec. 1965 but sold on the newsstands as of Oct. 28) had Du Bois and Manning retelling the origin of the ape-man in a 24-page adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes that was in no way inferior to Hal Foster’s 1929 daily-strip version. Du Bois Gaylord Du Bois as a and Manning masterfully adapted another nine young man.

Burroughs novels: The Return of Tarzan (#156), The Beasts of Tarzan (#157), The Son of Tarzan (#158, in which Jack Clayton, aka Korak, made his first comic-book appearance), Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (#159-161), Tarzan the Untamed (#163-164), Tarzan the Terrible (#166-167), Tarzan and the Golden Lion (#172-173), Tarzan and the Ant Men (#174-175), and Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (#176-177).

Actually, Manning, lured away by ERB, Inc., and United Features to produce the Tarzan newspaper comic strip, left the series before completing the latter story, so Western had Nat Edson

Africa—The Black-&-White Continent (Above:) This original-art page by Jesse Marsh shows his masterful use of the light-and-shade technique. Script by Gaylord Du Bois. Issue number uncertain. [Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Annual more or less resurfaced as Tarzan’s Jungle World in November 1959 (Dell Giant #25). Another two issues followed in 1960 and 1961, entitled Tarzan King of the Jungle; he was likewise included in the Dell Giant series #37 and 51. Again, Du Bois and Marsh created most stories, with Tony DiPaola, Sparky Moore, Tony Sgroi, and John Ushler on fillers.

After Dell and Western parted company in mid-1962 and Western’s comics adopted the Gold Key imprint, things did not immediately change for Tarzan. DuBois and Marsh continued to produce the main “Tarzan” story in each issue from #132-147.

(With #138, the comic was retitled Tarzan of the Apes.)

In mid-1965, the 59-year-old Marsh retired to devote himself to painting, giving a chance to a lifetime Burroughs fan to make his dream come true. Russ Manning had started working for Western in mid-1952, and among other things he had been doing a few short “Tarzan” and “Boy” stories for the Tarzan comic since 1954, drawing Tarzan’s and Boy’s faces in Jesse Marsh’s style. Ten years later, he became the main artist on the title. The first issue for which Manning did complete art was #154 (Nov. 1965), with two stories that were probably intended for Marsh. The big differences were that Manning brought a straightforward, realistic approach to the series, and that, unlike Marsh, he was allowed to sign his stories.

Manning Up! (Above:) The jungle lord and La, High Priestess of Opar, in Russ Manning’s adaptation (art & script) of Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, from Tarzan of the Apes #159 (Aug. 1966), in the era after Dell and Western parted company, and the latter published comics under its Gold Key imprint. Script

by Du Bois. Manning’s Tarzan comic book work is currently being collected in hardcover form by Dark Horse Books. See photo of Manning on p. 16. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

27

and Mike Royer draw its final pages. In #169-170, four stories from Burroughs’ book Jungle Tales of Tarzan were adapted, with art by Italian draughtsman Alberto Giolitti (1923-1993), who even managed to sign one story.

In order to give Manning time to draw the abovementioned adaptations, during 1966-67 Western devoted a few issues of Tarzan of the Apes to “Tarzan T.V. Adventures,” with stories inspired by the 57episode, 1966-68 TV series starring Ron Ely as the apeman and Manuel Padilla Jr. as young Jai. These issues were written by the ubiquitous Gaylord Du Bois and drawn by Doug Wildey (#162), Dan Spiegle (#165), and Alberto Giolitti (#168 Dan Spiegle. & #171).

Tarzan The Televised Dan Spiegle drew Tarzan in the likeness of his 1960s TV portrayer Ron Ely in Tarzan #165 (March 1967). At this time, the comic had reverted to using photographed covers again, as it had done for a time in the 1950s. Script by Du Bois. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Having lost Manning’s services, Western played for time by reprinting the Tarzan of the Apes adaptation in #178 (August 1968). “Tarzan at the Earth’s Core” (#179-181) was the first sequence of issues to be drawn by Doug Wildey (1922-1994), an excellent draftsman whose photo-realistic style proved perfect to visualize Pellucidar with its prehistoric inhabitants and creatures.

Wildey also drew “Tarzan the Invincible” (#182-183), “Tarzan Triumphant” (#184-185), and “Tarzan and the City of Gold” (#186187) before leaving the ape-man.

Next, Western entrusted Tarzan to Paul Norris (1914-2007), who had recently drawn several issues of Magnus – Robot Fighter. Since Norris was concurrently producing the Brick Bradford newspaper strip for King Features (and had been since 1952), he was allowed to just pencil the Tarzan adaptations, with Mike Royer inking them and trying to give them a “Manning touch.” A journeyman artist, Norris drew “Tarzan’s Quest” (#188-189), “Tarzan and the Forbidden City” (#190-191), “Tarzan and the Foreign Legion” (#192-193), “Tarzan and the Lost Empire” (#194-195), and “Tarzan and the Lion Man (#206). Royer did complete art on another adaptation, “Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins” (#196).

“I Could A Tale Unfold…”

Alberto Giolitti’s version of one of ERB’s stories from Jungle Tales of Tarzan, adapted in Tarzan #169 (July 1967). Script by Du Bois. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

As of issue #197 (Dec. 1970), adaptations were temporarily replaced by original yarns, likewise written by Du Bois and drawn by Norris, with inks by Royer (#197-201 and #203), Tony DiPaola (#205), and Norris himself (#206). Issue #202 reprinted Manning’s “Descent into the Past” from #154, besides featuring a new “Tarzan” 5pager drawn by Royer. #206 (Feb. 1972) was Gold Key/Western’s final issue, before the Tarzan comic book franchise was taken over

by DC Comics.

Alberto Giolitti, 1970s self-portrait. [© Alberto Giolitti.]

28

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

A few “Tarzan” stories by Du Bois, Marsh, and Manning were reprinted by Western in two issues of the pocket-sized series Golden Comics Digest, but these also included original stories.

Issue #4 (Aug. 1969) featured two “Jungle Tales of Tarzan”: “Tarzan Rescues the Moon” and “The Nightmare,” both drawn

by Bill Lignante (born 1925), who was more accustomed to drawing the Bengal jungle in stories starring “The Phantom.” For GCD #9 (March 1970), Dan Spiegle drew the two-part “Tarzan and the City under the Sands.” Spiegle also did 37 full-page illustrations for “Jungle Tales of Tarzan,” a text story by Du Bois that appeared in Tarzan of the Apes Story Digest Magazine #1 (June 1970).

March Of Tarzan From 1952-1970, Western Printing’s Tarzan led a parallel life in 19 issues of the longestrunning giveaway comic ever, March of Comics, officially published by K. K. Publications (yet another Western imprint) since 1946 and distributed in shops and department stores throughout the country. By the time the apeman began being featured in it, March of Comics was half the size of an average comic

Doug Wildey.

Go Quest, Young Man! Art by Paul Norris (pencils) and former Manning assistant Mike Royer (inks) from Tarzan #188 (Oct. 1969). Script by Du Bois. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Paul Norris in the 1940s.

Nkima Knows Best!

Doug Wildey’s convincing rendering in the adaptation of Tarzan the Invincible in Tarzan #182 (Feb. 1969). Script by Du Bois. For some reason, the name of Tarzan’s monkey companion was spelled with an apostrophe in the comic book. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Mike Royer, framed by Jack Kirby characters he inked for DC, then Marvel in the 1970s.

[Orion, Mr. Miracle, Sandman art © DC Comics; Devil Dinosaur art © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

book, turned on its side. From 1960 onwards, issues read upright but were smaller than regular comic books. The first “Tarzan” issue was #82 (1952), which featured a story written by Du Bois and drawn by Bob McLeod, who also provided the artwork for #98 (1953). Issue #114 (June 1954) was graced by Russ Manning’s art on “The Horns of Kudu.” After a Jesse Marsh story had appeared in #125 (Feb. 1955), Manning came back with a 28-page adventure, “The Master Dyer of the Kikuyu,” in #144 (June 1956).

Marsh then drew #155, 185, 204, 223, 240, 252, 262, & 272 (195665). Other artists who had not usually dealt with the Lord of the Jungle had a chance to draw his stories for the giveaway series.

John Ushler (1901-1993) did art for #172 (1958); Nat Edson (19092001) tried his hand at #286 (1966); the Mexican artist Sealtiel Alatriste (1918-2008) drew #332 (June 1969); and Dan Spiegle’s art graced the last “Tarzan” issue in the series (#342, 1970).

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

29

Tarzan Of The Covers One of the outstanding features of Dell/Western’s Tarzan comic books was their covers. The two Four Color issues, as well as the first 12 issues of the regular series, had line-drawn covers, first by Jesse Marsh, and then by Morris Gollub (1910-1984), another former Disney animator who had joined the Western Printing ranks in 1946. Gollub was an excellent painter, besides being a very good comic artist; so, after a four-year period during which photographs of actor Lex Barker (who played the ape-man in five movies from 1949-53) were used, Gollub provided stunning cover paintings from issue #55 (April 1954) through #79 (April 1956).

Photos of actor Gordon Scott, who was in six Tarzan movies from 1955-60, were then featured before painted covers were restored, alternately produced by Gollub and George Wilson (1921-1999).

The former also painted all the covers to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan Jungle Annual (1952-58), for the three “Tarzan” issues in the Dell Giant series (1959-61), and for two issues of the March of Comics giveaway (1956 and 1961).

Wilson, whose paintings were definitely more photo-realistic than Gollub’s, did his first Tarzan cover for issue #111 (March-April 1959) and remained the title’s principal cover artist until Gold Key’s last issue appeared (#206, Feb. 1972). (Gollub provided cover paintings for issues #139, 150, and 186.) Wilson also painted covers for some of the “Tarzan” issues in March of Comics, including #252 (1963) and for Tarzan of the Apes Story Digest Magazine #1 (June 1970).

A Comic For Korak Starting in January 1964, Tarzan’s son Korak appeared in his own bi-monthly comic book title published by Western Printing under the Gold Key imprint. As with Tarzan of the Apes, the Korak, Son of Tarzan comic was scripted by Gaylord Du Bois; the artwork was initially entrusted to Russ Manning (with inking help from

Tarzan For Free!

(Above:) Tarzan drawn by Mexican artist Sealtiel Alatriste for the department-store giveaway March of Comics #332 (June 1969). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Mike Arens, Tony DiPaola, Guillermo Cardoso, and Mike Royer).

Korak’s mate, Meriem, was missing from these stories, in which Tarzan’s son was accompanied by Pahkut the gorilla. Du Bois’ highly original plots supplied Korak with several adversaries, as well as with fascinating if often unreliable female characters.

Manning left the series as of #11 (Nov. 1965), and the next two issues were drawn (and signed) by the excellent Warren Tufts (1925-1982). Tufts also drew most of Korak’s heads in #14 (with Mike Arens doing the main artwork) and #15 (with Doug Wildey).

Issues #16 (set in pre-historic Pal-ul-Don), 17, and 18 were drawn

by Nat Edson. The same artist then penciled The Living Fire (#19, Oct. 1967), an interesting story that was patently inspired by H. Rider Haggard’s famous novel She (1886-87). Mike Arens (19151976) drew #20, before Russ Manning came back to illustrate (with

Give Me Mo Tarzan!

(Above:) Morris (“Mo”) Gollub did both line drawings and paintings for Tarzan covers over the years. (Left to right:) Tarzan #8 (March-April 1949)…

Tarzan #61 (Oct. 1954)… and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan’s Jungle Annual #4 (1955). Gollub’s covers for the latter series usually featured wildlife scenes rather than Tarzan himself. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

30

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

Signs Of The Times Dan Spiegle (whose portrait was seen on p. 27) was one of the few artists allowed to sign their stories in the Gold Key comics. Seen here is the final panel from Korak, Son of Tarzan #36 (July 1970). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

One such was “Brothers of the Spear,” which ran continuously in Tarzan from #25-156 and again in issues #158, 160, and 161, spanning 15 years from 1951-1966. One of the first interracial comic book series ever, “Brothers of the Spear” starred Natongo, the son of a Zulu chieftain, and his white stepbrother Dan-El. Both were kings by right, and the first two years of the series saw them fighting to win back their thrones. The strip was the brainchild of writer Gaylord Du Bois, and the artwork was initially entrusted to Jesse Marsh, but as of issue #39 (Dec. 1952) it was taken over by Russ Manning, who distinguished himself for his elegant, smooth drawing within the limitations of 4- to 6-page stories. When DC Comics took over the Tarzan comic in 1972, Western decided to give “Brothers of the Spear” its own title, which ran (first under Dell, then Gold Key, and finally Whitman) through early 1982.

Quit Your Lion!

George Wilson’s cover painting for Tarzan #161 (Oct. 1966). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Mike Royer’s help) issue #21 (Feb. 1968), which featured a peculiar science-fiction yarn, “The Alien Jungle.” The artwork in #22 was done by Italian artist Alberto Giolitti, although Korak’s heads were drawn by Royer. Richard Thomas “Sparky” Moore (born 1925) illustrated the following issue, before the dependable Dan Spiegle became the regular artist from #24 (Aug. 1968) to #45 (Jan. 1972), which was the last issue published by Western.

As was customary with Dell and Gold Key comics, the Korak covers sported great paintings by Morris Gollub (#17, 9, 10, & #44) and George Wilson (#13-43 & #45).

At the same time Western launched the Brothers of the Spear comic book, a Sunday newspaper strip of the same series seemed about to materialize, though it eventually didn’t. William Stout, who was then assisting Manning on the Tarzan daily strip, declared (on the occasion of the June 11, 1999, Russ Manning Tribute Panel at the San Diego Comic-Con) that: [Manning] was also contacted about doing the Brothers of the Spear Sunday strip, and he turned that over to me. He did layouts and then I did the penciling and inking. He was

Jungle Back-ups It was customary for comic books published by Dell/Western Printing to feature shorter back-up strips, which were usually copyrighted by Western, alongside the stories starring the title character. These strips were usually just unimportant fillers, but there were exceptions.

A Korak Shot (Left:) Morris Gollub’s cover painting for Korak, Son of Tarzan #1 (Jan. 1964). (Above:) Russ Manning art from that issue, in which Korak the Killer goes off with Pahkut while Tarzan and (a dark-haired) Jane observe them.

Script by Gaylord Du Bois. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

31

was Meru, a blonde jungle girl who was accompanied by Toto the black panther, Chui the leopard, and Munya the chimp. Written by—who else?—Gaylord Du Bois, the series was drawn by Tom Massey (of Tim Tyler’s Luck fame), Nat Edson, and Dan Spiegle.

Korak, Son of Tarzan also had its junglebased back-up strips. “Jon of the Kalahari” featured Dr. Jon Van Kamp, who sought to learn how the vanishing race of the bushmen in the Kalahari desert could be saved from extinction. It appeared in issues #1-15 (1964Warren Tufts, 1963.

66), with text by Gaylord Du Bois and art by Jesse Marsh, except for the story in #6 which was possibly drawn by Mexican artist Guillermo (Bill) Cardoso.

“Mabu, Jungle Boy” had a longer run, featuring in issues #15-45 (1966-72). Du Bois once again provided the copy, with Nat Edson and then Tom Massey doing the artwork.

The Son Also Rises Warren Tufts’ powerful artwork from Korak, Son of Tarzan #12 (March 1966). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

horrified that it looked like my stuff. He thought I was going to turn around and do it in his style, and I thought he was giving me the job so that I could have my own Sunday strip.

But that wasn’t the way it was.

When “Brothers of the Spear” temporarily disappeared from Tarzan of the Apes in 1966, it was replaced by another jungle backup strip, “Leopard Girl,” beginning in #162 (Dec. 1966) and appearing in nearly every issue until July 1970 (#193). Leopard Girl

O Brothers, Wherefore Art Thou?

The Tarzan back-up strip “Brothers of the Spear” eventually became a hit comic book on its own. (Above:) Jesse Marsh’s original version from Tarzan #37 (Dec. 1951)… and (right) Russ Manning’s from #129 (March-April 1962).

Scripts by Gaylord Du Bois. [© the respective copyright holders.]

After Western lost its “Tarzan” franchise to DC Comics, managing editor Chase Craig came up with another Tarzan-like title, The Jungle Twins, which ran for 17 issues from April 1972 to Nov. 1975. The white-skinned twins were Tono and Kono (their names actually appeared on the cover, but not in the indicia), adopted sons of an African chief who had found them on a crashed airplane while his wife was nursing their firstborn, Bakali. As he had done with “Brothers of the Spear,” writer Gaylord Du Bois concocted a nice mix of racial integration and adventure, even getting a byline as of issue #14. Paul Norris, who had previously been drawing Tarzan, provided the interior artwork, George Wilson the covers. An 18th issue of The Jungle Twins came out with a Whitman label in May 1982. Except for a new cover by Dan Spiegle, it was a reprint of #1. [NOTE: See art from the previous several back-up features on p. 33.]

Tarzan The Unauthorized While Western Printing was continuing to publish Tarzan of the Apes and Korak, Son of Tarzan under the Gold Key imprint, a second U.S. publisher unexpectedly came out with a newsstand Tarzan comic book—Charlton Comics of Derby, Connecticut. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Being already in possession of a short piece written

by Stephan Friedt about the unauthorized Jungle Tales of Tarzan comic published in 1964-65 by Charlton Comics, we have decided to let that be covered in a Friedt-written addendum which begins on the next page.

Then, it’ll be back to our main text for ERB’s non-Tarzanic heroes in comic books:]

32

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

Addendum:

Jungle Tales of Charlton (1964-65)

I

by Stephan Friedt t all started in 1962….

Jack Biblio and Jack Tannen, owners of New York’s Biblio & Tannen Antiquarian Bookstore, had a hunch that the (then) 27-year span of copyright had lapsed on many of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories. They established a publishing house called Canaveral Press, named after the NASA space center. They began reprinting ERB books with illustrations by artists to whom they gained access, soon including Reed Crandall, Roy Krenkel, and Frank Frazetta.

They eventually came to terms with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and published a number of previously unpublished ERB manuscripts as true First Editions.

Meanwhile, Ace Books, under the editorship of Donald Wollheim, launched a series of paperbacks with At the Earth’s Core, also intended to capitalize on supposed “public domain” status.

Not to be left behind, Ballantine Books approached ERB, Inc., and secured the rights to the entire line of ERB material still under copyright.

In the world of comic books, Western Publishing, first under the Dell imprint and later as Gold Key, continued steadily along, publishing authorized issues of the comic book Tarzan, and even added the title Korak, Son of Tarzan.

Over at Charlton, the powers-that-be were hearing about Canaveral’s success with ERB “public domain” material and Gold Key’s success with Korak, and were watching Marvel and DC storm the market with super-heroes. Editor Pat Masulli decided to try the waters with “public domain” material. “Knowing” that several of the Tarzan novels were in that category, he brought in writer Joe Gill to adapt the stories and teamed him with skilled artist Sam Glanzman… and Jungle Tales of Tarzan was born. The first issue was dated Dec. 1964. To further slap Gold Key and their “authorized” stories in the face, Masulli wrote in the introduction of #1: The true flavor of Tarzan as created by Mr. Burroughs has rarely been tasted in comic books. We intend to change that.

We intend to be as true to the original as possible. We pledge ourselves to a series of comics that will thrill and

Tarzan’s Derby, Connecticut, Adventure Charlton’s Tarzan—counterclockwise from above: Some of Sam Glanzman’s artwork for the company’s Jungle Tales of Tarzan #1 (Dec. 1964); script by Joe Gill… editor Pat Massulli’s cover for that issue... and cover art by Dick Giordano & Rocke Mastroserio for Jungle Tales of Tarzan #3 (May 1965).

All the “Tarzan”-related material from the series’ four issues was reprinted

by Dark Horse in the 2013 hardcover volume The Unauthorized Tarzan. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

inspired, delight and entrance, as did the original masterworks.

The reports seem to show that Charlton’s issues sold well, at least well enough for the series to continue publishing for almost a year. And there is no argument that the creative team of Masulli, Gill, and Glanzman held to their pledge. The adaptations went unrivaled until years later when the stories were again adapted with art by Russ Manning, Joe Kubert, and John Buscema (for Western, DC, and Marvel, which held the rights at different times).

Whatever the status of stories and books that Charlton chose to consider as being in the public domain, Western Publishing (Gold Key) and ERB, Inc., successfully argued in court that “Tarzan” was a corporate trademark of ERB, Inc., and that therefore Charlton had infringed on their rights. That meant that, even if one could reprint the stories (a point the Tarzana, California, company was unwilling to concede), one could not use the name “Tarzan” in the title of any such publication. Records show that ERB, Inc., officially registered “Tarzan” and several variations as corporate trademarks in the late 1970s, which laid the basis for their eventual injunction against recent unauthorized series such as those published by Dynamite, though those disputes have recently been settled.

For its part, in 1965, Charlton agreed to stop the series after issue #4, and all copies and artwork were ordered to be destroyed.

Any search of Internet sales sites will show you that many issues made it into public ownership off the newsstands.

One positive result of all this was that it may have helped prompt Western (Gold Key) to turn the reins of the monthly Tarzan book over to Russ Manning; and, starting in 1965, we were treated to some of the first authorized adaptations of the Tarzan stories that included the eye-pleasing art of Russ Manning. Another is that, a year or so back, Dark Horse reprinted the Charlton “Tarzan” stories in the hardcover volume The Unauthorized Tarzan.

Stephan Friedt is, among other accomplishments, an indexer for the Grand Comics Database.

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

33

Getting Your Back Up The other back-ups mentioned on p. 31 (clockwise from above): “Leopard Girl,” drawn by Tom Massey for Tarzan #174 (Feb. 1968)… a black-&-white “Jon of the Kalahari” page by Jesse Marsh for Korak, Son of Tarzan #11 (Nov. 1965)… and a Paul Norris splash page from The Jungle Twins #1 (April 1972). Scripts by Du Bois. [© the respective copyright holders.]

John Carter, Warlord In Four Colors

“Aren’t You A Bit Short For A Thark?”

A Flash Gordon-inspired “John Carter of Mars” comic book page drawn by Jim Gary for Dell’s The Funnies #36 (Nov. 1939). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Backing up to pre-World War II days: Edgar Rice Burroughs’ most important science-fiction hero made it to the comic books two years before he appeared in a newspaper strip. Faithfully adapted from ERB’s novels, “John Carter of Mars” made its debut in Dell Publishing’s The Funnies #30 (April 1939). Artwork was by Jim Gary (1905-1975), who drew the first four episodes, swiping various poses from Alex Ramond’s Flash Gordon. When Gary left Western to write and draw Zane Grey’s King of the Royal Mounted comic strip for King Features, “John Carter” was taken over by ERB’s son, John Coleman Burroughs, who illustrated the remaining episodes in #34-56 (Aug. 1939 to June 1941). Curiously enough, during Gary’s tenure, Carter’s hair was blond, while ERB had created him as dark-haired. Gary also drew the blond Carter on the cover to issue #35 (Sept. 1939), whereas JCB drew the covers to #36 & 37 (Oct. & Nov. 1939). The cover art for #40 (Feb. [Continued on p. 36]

34

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

Here Comes The Son! (Above:) John Carter was drawn on the cover of Dell’s The Funnies #36 (Nov. 1939) by ERB’s son and sometime illustrator, John Coleman Burroughs.

(Right:) One of JCB’s interior “John Carter of Mars” pages, this one from issue #54 (May 1941). See p. 21 for a photo of the artist. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The Dark Side Of Mars John Coleman Burroughs’ unpublished “John Carter of Mars” pages, intended for The Funnies #57 & 58. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

What? No Big Little Book?

The younger Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars” covers for a couple of 1940 miniatures: Dell’s Fast-Action Story and Whitman’s Better Little Book #1402. The latter shows the small-sized publication’s full spine, as well, and is printed from the original art. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

An Earlier Rover On Mars (Above:) Jesse Marsh’s cover for Dell’s Four Color Comics #375 (Feb. 1952), the first issue starring “John Carter of Mars.”

(Right:) Carter and Dejah Thoris drawn by Marsh (and written by Gaylord Du Bois) for the second issue of that series, Four Color #488 (Aug. 1953). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

35

36

Tarzan’s First First Four Decades In Four Colors

At The Comic’s Core Originals exist for nine John Coleman Burroughs-drawn “David Innes of Pellucidar” pages. Seen here are the first two and the final one—and don’t we wish we had room to reprint the other six, as well! Incidentally, the splash page is different from the one that actually appeared in Hi-Spot Comics #2. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

[Continued from p. 33]

1940) may be the work of Bill Ely.

In 1940 Dell published a 194-page Fast-Action Story pocket-sized book with a new cover by John Coleman Burroughs, as well as black-&-white illustrations which adapted the art from The Funnies #30-39. That same year, Whitman issued a 432-page Better Little Book (#1402) featuring an original story which would eventually appear in the Jan. 1941 issue of Amazing Stories science-fiction pulp magazine as John Carter and the Giant of Mars. John Coleman Burroughs drew the cover for the Whitman book, as well as the 209 interior black-&-white illustrations.

Publishing under the Dell imprint, Western Printing brought back “John Carter of Mars” in its one-shot series Four Color Comics.

The first issue devoted to the interplanetary hero, #375 (Feb. 1952), featured the 32-page story “The Prisoner of the Tharks,” written by Paul S. Newman (1924-1999) and drawn by Jesse Marsh. Two more Martian Four Color issues followed. Issue #437 (Nov. 1952) presented “The Black Pirates of Omean,” and #488 (Aug. 1953) had “Tyrant of the North.” Both these stories were drawn by Marsh and written by Philip Evans (1909-1989). Later, now sporting a Gold Key label, Western reprinted those one-shots in a three-issue John Carter of Mars comic that appeared from April to July 1964.

Edgar Rice Burroughs In The Comic Books (1929-1972)

37

Whack-A-Mole (Above:) John Coleman Burroughs’ cover for Hawley’s Hi-Spot Comics #2 (Nov. 1940), featuring Dave Innes and the Mole Machine. (Right:) The first page of “David Innes of Pellucidar” by ERB’s son for that same issue. The script may be by JCB, as well. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

David Innes–Interrupted In 1940 John Coleman Burroughs prepared a 32-page “Dave Innes of Pellucidar” comics adaptation. The first 12 pages appeared in Hi-Spot Comics #2 (Nov. 1940), a one-shot comic issued

by Hawley, a publishing outfit connected to Whitman and Dell.

True to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1914 fantasy novel At the Earth’s Core, this first episode featured David (Dave) Innes and Prof.

Abner Perry travelling aboard a huge Mole Machine and eventually reaching the center of the Earth. Yet Dave had barely managed to defend Perry and himself from the attacks of fierce beasts and wild men when the story was abruptly interrupted.

Born in Florence, Italy, Alberto Becattini is a high school teacher of English who has been writing about comics, illustration, and animation for four decades. He has been a regular contributor to Italian Disney publications since 1992, and has also written for Alter Ego, Comic Book Marketplace, and Walt’s People, among others. An indexer for the Grand Comics Database and the I.N.D.U.C.K.S. project, he has written books about Milton Caniff, Floyd Gottfredson, Bob Lubbers, Alex Raymond, Romano Scarpa, and Alex Toth. He also writes about his favorite authors and strips on his blog at http://alberto-s-pages.webnode.it/blog/.

Alberto Becattini.

Tarzan™ & © 2012 ERB, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

John Coleman Burroughs also drew David Innes and the Mole Machine on the cover of the 1940 comic book, but the remaining 20 pages had to wait another 28 years before being published by Greystoke Press in a 56-page booklet, along with John Coleman Burroughs’ preliminary sketches.

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No room for a “re:” section this issue—but here is Shane Foley’s dynamic depiction of two of our miraculous “maskots,” in the style of John Buscema’s drawings for the 1st and 2nd issues of Marvel’s Tarzan (1977). Colors by Randy Sargent. [Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly; created by Biljo White.

Alter Ego hero TM & © Roy & Dann Thomas; costumed designed by Ron Harris.]

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The Comic Art Worlds Of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS — Part III

39

ERB Beyond The Silver Age Burroughs Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

by Scott Tracy Griffin

A

DC Ascends

s the 1970s dawned, two giants battled for supremacy in the comics jungle. Longtime fan-favorite DC comics, home of a super-hero pantheon that included Batman and Superman, was dogged by upstart Marvel, whose editorial team had injected a grittier, more real-life humanity into its characters, among them Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and The Incredible Hulk.

As the two companies’ super-hero comics began to dominate the spinner racks, siphoning sales from other genres (including funny animals, Westerns, and pulp-magazine hero holdouts), it was natural that the best of the licensed properties would migrate to the ascendant rivals.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Incorporated (ERB, Inc.), the family business overseeing the licenses of Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars, and a variety of pulp heroes, was unhappy with its

(Above:) Robert M. Hodes, president of ERB, Inc., 1966-1976.

Photo scanned from the fanzine ERB-dom #22 (date uncertain)

by Mike Conran; thanks to Henry Franke III.

(Above:) Joe Kubert. This photo originally appeared in Comics Interview magazine in the 1980s.

relationship with Western Publishing and its Gold Key imprint.

Sales of the two Burroughs titles, Tarzan of the Apes and Korak Son of Tarzan, were losing ground; too, Western wasn’t producing enough pages to keep up with a hungry foreign market, a vital source of revenue for ERB, Inc. The corporation retained copyright on the Gold Key material, which was then resold overseas for foreignlanguage comics.

However, the 24 Tarzan novels accounted for only about 30% of the late author’s output, and the company desired to elevate its other properties to the decades-long high profile Tarzan enjoyed.

Between Beauty And The Beast-Man Because all of Kubert’s Tarzan work has been collected in three beautiful hardcover volumes by Dark Horse, we’ve visually emphasized the various other DC/ERB series—though you’ll find several Kubert covers in this chapter. Here, the ape-man finds himself facing the “beast-man” and his mate Balza in the final chapter of Kubert’s adaptation of Burroughs’ novel Tarzan and the Lion Man, from the 100-page Tarzan #234 (Dec. 1974-Jan. 1975). Thanks to Bob Bailey. More DC Tarzan art can be found in A/E #116, our Kubert tribute issue.[© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Robert M. Hodes, Vice-President of ERB, Inc., mulled the idea of establishing the company’s own comicspublishing concern, but realized that obtaining domestic distribution on

40

ERB Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

That Lucky Old Son Kubert’s cover for Korak, Son of Tarzan #46 (May-June 1972), which likewise continued the Gold Key numbering… and Frank Thorne’s splash page for the issue’s lead tale, scripted by Len Wein. Thanks to Bob Bailey for the latter scan. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

inaugurating its Tarzan with #207, a 52-page debut dated April 1972. (The words “of the Apes” were added to the logo, but they were never an official part of the title.)

Frank Thorne in the 1980s, after he’d traded in his ERB connection for first Red Sonja, then his own heroine, Gita of Alizar.

par with established companies was an imposing hurdle. He met with DC publisher Carmine Infantino, who was receptive to the challenge of bringing Burroughs’ lesser-known heroes to a new generation of illustration enthusiasts.

Len Wein.

Thanks to Sean Howe.

Infantino insisted that Joe Kubert, best known as the illustrator of “Sgt. Rock,” “Hawkman,” and the caveman “Tor,” was the ideal man to re-launch the Tarzan comics brand. After reviewing samples of Kubert’s work, Hodes agreed.

Kubert leapt at the chance, immersing himself in Burroughs’ original novels and the Hal Foster newspaper strips of the 1930s, which had been Kubert’s introduction to the character and an artistic influence. Kubert determined to give the ape-man his due, and was given the creative rein to do so.

The result was a splashy, dynamic re-telling of the Tarzan myth.

Where Russ Manning’s Burroughs adaptations for Gold Key were initially constrained to 24 pages in one issue, Kubert had 100 pages spread across four issues to unspool his account of the novel Tarzan of the Apes. Like Manning, his work became an instant classic, reprinted in an oversized $1 DC Limited Collectors’ Edition the following year (and more recently in the hardbound Dark Horse Archives series). DC retained the Gold Key numbering system,

Next, after several stand-alone adventures among apes, poachers, and jungle potentates (including adaptations of three of Burroughs’ Jungle Tales of Tarzan), Kubert re-told the origin’s sequel, The Return of Tarzan, in 90 pages over five issues; this story was also released as a Limited Collectors’ Edition. Kubert’s tenure as writer and artist continued through an adaptation of Burroughs’ novel Tarzan and the Lion Man in #231-234, punctuated by occasional reprints of newspaper strips by Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, and Manning to ease the workload.

Not only was Kubert’s Tarzan lithe and animal-like (“muscled more like Apollo than like Hercules” in Burroughs’ words), but the character retained a diffidence to civilization that reflected the novelist’s vision. This was no jungle cop, eager to help the hapless; like Burroughs’ Tarzan, Kubert’s ape-man was willing to let civilized interlopers suffer the consequences of their actions in the monthly morality plays.

DC didn’t rest on the ape-man’s laurels, however; the acquisition of the Burroughs license included an ambitious rollout of the author’s other pioneering creations. One month after Tarzan’s appearance came the DC debut of Korak, Son of Tarzan (with issue #46). Kubert served as editor and cover artist, with Frank Thorne illustrating Len Wein’s scripts. The series took Korak to Opar and Pal-ul-don in traditional Burroughsian adventures before Kubert assumed scripting duties for a new approach. A brief recount of Korak’s origin in #49 began a cycle of Korak as a wandering Odysseus, pursuing his lost love Meriem across a landscape populated with mystical beings that drew more on classical myth than Burroughs for inspiration. Throughout his travels, Korak,

Beyond The Silver Age

Murphy Anderson.

Alan Lee Weiss.

Traveling Clockwise On Weird Worlds Editor Kubert also drew the cover of Weird Worlds #1 (Aug.-Sept. 1972), on which Tarzan (who doesn’t appear in a story inside) seems to be “presenting” John Carter of Mars and David Innes of Pellucidar. The prefix “Edgar Rice Burroughs’” was not a part of the official title.

directed by the whims of capricious gods above, encountered threats such as gladiators, a Cyclops, and a Circean sorceress. Artist Murphy Anderson took over for issues #52-56, after which the title went on hiatus.

Murphy Anderson drew the first installment of “John Carter of Mars” beginning in Tarzan #207, with a script by Marv Wolfman— though Kubert reportedly did some rewriting of it. Later the feature emigrated to Weird Worlds. Wolfman’s photo is seen on p. 56.

Alan Lee Weiss drew the first episode of “Pellucidar – World at the Earth’s Core” in Weird Worlds #1; script by Len Wein. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

DC revived other Burroughsian heroes, as well. An adaptation of John Carter’s origin novel A Princess of Mars premiered as a back-up in the oversized Tarzan of the Apes title (#207-209), drawn by Murphy Anderson (Gray Morrow substituted for one issue), from Marv Wolfman’s script; an adaptation of At the Earth’s Core, written by Len Wein with art by Alan Weiss introduced readers to the inner world of Pellucidar. Perhaps the high point of these was the second Korak backup, the inaugural picturization of Pirates of Venus, the first of four novels featuring interplanetary adventurer Carson Napier, exquisitely drawn by newcomer Michael Wm. Kaluta from Wein’s storyline.

In August, “John Carter” and “Pellucidar” moved to their own title, Weird Worlds. Following the departure of “John Carter” as Tarzan’s backup, Wolfman scripted six episodes of an original continuity featuring Tangor, the hero of Burroughs’ final interplanetary novel, Beyond the Farthest Star, drawn by Dan Green (#213215), Howard Chaykin (#216), and Murphy Anderson (#217-218).

After seven issues, Weird Worlds dropped the Burroughs titles in favor of featuring Chaykin’s science-fantasy creation “Ironwolf”; the magazine was cancelled shortly afterward.

Despite its creative success, the Tarzan title experienced the vagaries of DC’s fluctuating marketing strategy. After debuting in comics offering 52 pages of story for a quarter, Tarzan and Korak dropped to 24 pages of story for 20¢, and the re-titled Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (#230) was increased to 100 pages for 60¢. The Korak title was cancelled, and stories of Tarzan’s son moved to the oversized Tarzan, along with recycled Manning newspaper strips and a host of reprints with no connection to Burroughs, including “Detective Chimp,” “Congo Bill,” and “Rex the Wonder Dog.” Following Kubert’s Lion Man adaptation, Tarzan resumed publication in a smaller format with #236, offering 18 pages of story for 25¢. Kubert remained as the cover artist and editor, providing scripts and layouts; in a cost-cutting move, the finished-art chores were sent to artists overseas. Throughout this phase, illustrations

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ERB Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

were provided by Franc Reyes and Rudy Florese, and by Nestor Redondo’s studio, a Southeast Asian version of Neal Adams’ Crusty Bunkers team. This cycle saw the first comics adaptation of Burroughs’ final Tarzan novel, featuring the stories “Tarzan and the Castaways” (#240-243), “Tarzan and the Jungle Murders” (#245-246), and “Tarzan and the Champion” (#248-249). Korak regained his Michael Wm. Kaluta, own title, with Florese illustrating; after three early 1970s. issues, #60 was re-titled Tarzan Family, a Burroughs-anthology title to feature original stories and reprints of the second-string heroes of the author’s pantheon, including John Carter, Carson Napier, David Innes, and Tangor of Poloda. (NOTE: When the original film copies of the “Carson of Venus” stories were inadvertently destroyed, the strips were recolored for their Tarzan Family reprinting, with the alien Venusian foliage rendered a Dan Green in the mid-’70s, in a photo pose for fellow artist Jeffrey Jones—probably for one of the latter’s paintings of Robert E. Howard’s hero Solomon Kane.

Thanks to Dan and to Bob Bailey.

Wrong-Way Carson!

(Above:) Maybe ERB was just having a private joke with his readers—or with himself—when he had Carson Napier launch himself in a rocket aimed at Mars… and wind up on Venus. Michael Wm. Kaluta cut his eyeteeth on this series that began in Korak, Son of Tarzan #46.

Script by Len Wein. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

100-Page Super Spectacular!

Beyond The Farthest Series The events of ERB’s last series hero, Tangor, in Beyond the Farthest Star, begin in a World War II dogfight—then jump to a planet in a far-flung solar system. Art by Dan Green, script by Marv Wolfman, from DC’s Tarzan #213 (Oct. 1972). Thanks to Stephan Friedt. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

(Right:) Kubert’s cover for Tarzan #230 (AprilMay 1974); the phrase “Lord of the Jungle” never actually became part of the official title. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Beyond The Silver Age

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of Venus,” 9 “Pellucidar,” and 7 “Beyond the Farthest Star.”

Jose Luis GarciaLopez.

Untamed Melody (Left:) Tarzan #250 (June 1976) launched the adaptation of Tarzan the Untamed, one of Burroughs’ most celebrated novels. Cover penciled by Jose Luis GarciaLopez and inked

by Ricardo Villagran (& the Nestor Redondo studio). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Unknown to many ERB and Tarzan enthusiasts, in the mid-1970s, dissatisfaction with sales of the DC product led to a short-lived attempt by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., to establish its own publishing company. This period will be covered in the next article in this issue, beginning on p. 51. When that noble effort failed, ERB, Inc., contacted the new top dog in U.S. comic book sales….]

Warlords Of Marvel After several months of fruitless searching, comics fans eager for their Burroughs fix were doubly rewarded with the June 1977 appearances of Marvel’s Tarzan #1 and John Carter, Warlord of Mars #1. Having experienced success with their Conan the Barbarian title, which adapted Robert E. Howard’s pulp character into comic book format, Marvel’s bullpen was ready to tackle Burroughs.

Based on their productive Conan collaboration, writer/editor Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema were the natural choice for Tarzan. Thomas would have preferred to relate the adventures of John Carter, but didn’t have the heart for a tug-of-war with his friend and colleague Marv Wolfman for the title. As for Wolfman, his previous experiences writing the Warlord of Mars had been unsatisfying to him: DC had no sooner launched the character than the creative brass had ordered him to wrap up his storyline;

more traditional earthly green.) Discrete projects, such as a 100page DC Super-Spectacular and a DC Digest, both reprinting Manning’s newspaper strips, were published, as well.

DC’s jumbled publishing plan left readers unsure as to which titles would deliver each month, and at what price.

Correspondents complained about the copious reprints, which detracted from the Burroughs material.

Finally, the title seemed to regain its momentum with the publication of #250, which initiated an adaptation of Tarzan the Untamed.

The intent was to present this story and its sequel, Tarzan the Terrible, in six issues apiece through #261. Terrible, which sees Tarzan pursuing an abducted Jane to the lost land of Pal-ul-don, a realm populated with dinosaurs and prehistoric men, is among Burroughs’ most beloved novels. The new creative team of editor Joe Orlando, scripter Gerry Conway, and lead artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez were up to the task of presenting a vivid, faithful adaptation, featuring Tarzan covers that achieved new levels of lurid savagery.

It was, unfortunately, too little, too late. Marvel had surpassed DC as the top comics company, and ERB, Inc. signed a contract with Marvel in September 1976. With DC’s Tarzan not renewed, the Untamed-Terrible storyline abruptly concluded with the mad Xujan king releasing a carnivorous gryf on Tarzan, who prevailed and rescued Jane. The final two issues reprinted early Kubert stories, ending with #258 in February 1977.

Over a five-year period, DC had published a memorable collection of stories in 53 Tarzan comics and 14 Korak. The tally for the back-up stories: 13 “John Carter” episodes, 12 “Carson

All In The Family

Sal Amendola in recent years.

(Above:) With Weird Worlds #4, newcomer Sal Amendola became the artist of “John Carter, Warlord of Mars,” working in concert with writer Marv Wolfman. Seen above is the splash page from Weird Worlds #6 (July-Aug. 1973). Thanks to Bob Bailey. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs.]

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ERB Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

Dave Cockrum

Marvel Goes To Mars (Above left:) Dave Cockrum, who’d recently helped jump-start the revived X-Men, didn’t feel he was fast enough to pencil a monthly comic, but he drew this cover for FOOM #20 to show what a Cockrum-illustrated Barsoom series might have looked like. (Above right:) He also inked Gil Kane’s powerful pencils for John Carter, Warlord of Mars #1 (June 1977); script by Marv Wolfman. Photos of Kane and Wolfman are on view elsewhere in this issue. Marvel has reprinted its entire John Carter run in a hardcover color omnibus volume. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

each episode was thought to be the last, resulting in the hero lurching toward a variety of unsatisfying conclusions.

Wolfman had then briefly worked with artist Dave Cockrum on a “John Carter” story for ERB, Inc. [see p. 51 in this issue of A/ E], which was aborted when the contract with Marvel was signed. Finally given free rein to craft Carter’s course for Marvel, Wolfman chose Gil Kane as artist, since his preferred illustrator, Dave Cockrum, was unable to meet the monthly production schedule. Cockrum did the design work to remain faithful to the source material, and inked Kane’s first issue. In succeeding issues, Kane’s rough layouts were polished by Rudy Nebres and others.

Having just finished adapting Princess and parts of Gods of Mars and A Fighting Man of Mars for DC, Wolfman this time spun an original tale, firmly grounded in Burroughs’ canon. Set in a decade-long gap in the chronology of Princess, the 10-chapter “Air Pirates of Mars” raced across Barsoom, exploring the consequences of Carter’s disruption of the planet’s political balance, with the villain The Great One providing a global threat. Wolfman retained Carter’s first-person narration from Burroughs’ novels, allowing the reader to inhabit the Warlord’s floppytop buccaneer boots (a wardrobe choice a bit more heroic than the sandals Burroughs described) as he battled his way across the planet in pursuit of Frank Miller, a few Princess Dejah Thoris and her abductors. years later.

Miller Time The soon-to-be-legendary Frank Miller’s second job in pro comics was illustrating a tale of Tars Tarkas in Marvel’s John Carter, Warlord of Mars #18 (Nov. 1978), assisted by inker Bob McLeod. Script by Chris Claremont. Thanks to Barry Pearl & John Caputo. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Beyond The Silver Age

But How Often Does An Annual Come Out On Barsoom?

Ernie Chan’s cover for John Carter, Warlord of Mars Annual #2 (1978). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Ernie Chan. Photo courtesy of Mark Evanier.

Two one-shots (including the story of Carter and Thoris’ meeting, adapted from Princess, which Cockrum penciled) and a three-part zombie adventure followed, as did an Annual adapted from the first part of Llana of Gathol. In late 1978, Wolfman stepped down to focus on other titles and to give Burroughs fan Chris Claremont (The Uncanny X-Men) a shot at scripting the title.

Claremont took over with #16-27, the 12-part “Master Assassin of Mars.” Ernie Colón and Michael Vosburg penciled, with a revolving group of inkers, including Ricardo Villamonte. With John Carter believed murdered in the story’s debut issue, Dejah Thoris and Tars Tarkas assumed center stage. One of the series’ high points came in #18, which was Frank Miller’s second professional assignment. Miller won the job—a solo tale of Tars Tarkas battling to retain his title of Jeddak (Emperor) of Thark—based on a thenunpublished “Captain Marvel” story that had included a Thark among a group of aliens in a sly homage to Burroughs.

(That "CM" tale eventually saw print in Marvel Spotlight, Vol. 2, #8, for Sept. 1980.)

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The second Annual, written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by Ernie Chan, was loosely based on the Bantoom sequence of Burroughs’ Chessmen of Mars, with a dash of Master Mind of Mars included. The third Annual featured Carter beset by Amazons in an original story by Claremont, drawn by Alan Weiss and Tony DeZuniga. The final novel adaptation was a short five-page filler story in #15, narrating the Barsoom creation story from Gods of Mars, as retold by Ras Thavas in Synthetic Men of Mars.

Back in Africa, Thomas and Buscema began Marvel’s Tarzan with a serialization of the novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, which contained elements of the quintessential Tarzan tale, featuring an amnesiac Tarzan among the apes, Jane in peril, greedy Arab slavers,

Roy Thomas, riding an African elephant in 1994—the same year he and his wife went on a two-week photo safari in Kenya that was his favorite vacation ever. The Thomases also own a donkey named Edgar Rice Burro.

Photo by Dann T.

Opar For The Course John Buscema, as per his Famous Cartoonists trading card in the 1980s.

Thanks to Dewey Cassell. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Marvel’s Tarzan #1 (June 1977) began a multi-part adaptation of ERB’s novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar.

Editor/scripter Roy Thomas had artist John Buscema draw the cover scene as an homage to Clinton Pettee’s Oct. 1912 All-Story cover, which was seen on p. 3. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for the cover scan, and to the Diversions of the Groovy Kind website for the splash page of issue #2 (July ’77). Incidentally, the phrase “Lord of the Jungle” was never part of the official indicia title. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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ERB Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

Tony DeZuniga, in later years.

Steve Gan.

Tarzan The Adapted (Left:) Marvel’s version of La and the Oparians, from Tarzan #4 (Sept. 1977), with rough pencils by John Buscema and inks/finishing by Tony DeZuniga, a favorite inker of JB’s; script by Roy Thomas.

(Right:) This introductory page set the plate for the remainder of Marvel’s Tarzan Annual #1 (1977), which adapted two stories from ERB’s book Jungle Tales of Tarzan. Filipino artist Steve Gan proved to be an excellent inker for John Buscema here, as he had been on Conan the Barbarian.

Script by Roy Thomas. Both scans retrieved from the Diversions of the Groovy Kind website. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

mercenary treasure-hunters, the noble Waziri tribe, and the return of La, High Priestess of the lost city of Opar and a rival (in her own mind) for Tarzan’s affections.

Thomas’ intent was to adapt the Tarzan novels before moving into original material; as with Burroughs’ work, the setting was period, but “timeless.” Unwilling to invoke comparisons to the recent Kubert stories, Thomas avoided the first two Tarzan novels, providing a brief recap of the jungle lord’s origin in issue #2.

Buscema inked his own pencils in the first two issues, with Tony DeZuniga, Rudy Mesina, Steve Gan, and Alfredo Alcala later contributing.

As the Jewels of Opar storyline unspooled, Thomas found it necessary to script some one-shots for filler material, and turned to Burroughs’ Jungle Tales of Tarzan collection of short stories. This eventually brought an unexpected phone call from Marion Burroughs—who had assumed control of ERB, Inc., following Hodes’ departure—irate that Thomas was adapting the same material that had just been released as a graphic novel by Burne Hogarth, in a follow-up to his Tarzan of the Apes, published in 1972

by Watson-Guptill. Incensed at Marion Burroughs’ allusion that his and Buscema’s adaptation of the same material (as was Marvel’s contractual right) amounted to plagiarism, Thomas quit the title in frustration. David Anthony Kraft, a longtime Burroughs fan, took over the editorial and story-plotting chores with #15; Buscema handed the art chores over to his brother Sal with #19.

Although a planned adaptation of Tarzan at the Earth’s Core was announced in the letters page of #18, Marvel was not permitted to

utilize David Innes, hero of the Pellucidar stories, so a new tale, “Blood Money and Human Bondage,” was scripted by Kraft. The story’s opening issues were reminiscent of Tarzan the Invincible, with a disparate group of mercenaries seeking the treasure of Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab (a character inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional author of the Necronomicon), leader of a band of Bedouin slavers. The parties make their way to Pellucidar, with Bill Mantlo assuming scripting duties with #20, wherein Tarzan faces prehistoric beasts, pirates, and death cultists in a race to the Land of the Awful Shadow and a mysterious sonic weapon reminiscent of Russ Manning’s storylines. A Marvel-owned creation, Alhazred would later pop up to battle Marvel’s mutant Wolverine, as the villain’s storyline diverged from his Lovecraftian origins.

Back To The Earth’s Core John Buscema (pencils) and Bob McLeod (inks) provided the cover for the beginning of Tarzan’s return to Pellucidar in Tarzan #18 (Nov. 1978). [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Beyond The Silver Age

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Carter publishing project without producing the proposed mini-series for Warlord of Mars, the third novel of the initial John Carter trilogy.

Tarzan In Malibu After an eight-year newsstand drought following Marvel’s Greystoke-related adaptation, Tarzan reappeared in Malibu Comics’ five-issue mini-series Tarzan the Warrior, which debuted March 19, 1992. Scripted by Mark Wheatley and drawn by Neil Vokes and Marc Hempel, the unconventional storyline had Tarzan and Jane crossing through a time portal into another reality, where they battled shape-shifting aliens and befriended a tribe of yeti (mangani), leading the latter to their promised land. The first issue offered a flipbook cover by British artist Simon Bisley (Heavy Metal) that featured Tarzan in a civilized, albeit menacing persona, standing in a trench coat in front of sports car, surrounded by mobster apes; the illustration was also released as a promotional poster.

Tarzan’s Malibu Adventure Marc Hempel provided dramatic covers for Malibu’s Tarzan the Warrior #1 & #3 (March & June 1992). The latter seems almost a throwback to all those Fiction House covers in which the distressed, inadequately clad heroine is in the foreground, with the jungle hero relegated to the background. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Upon his return from Pellucidar in #24, Tarzan embarked on a more conventional adventure, being kidnapped by animal trappers for display in New York. The story combined elements of the sinking of the Titanic, King Kong, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Prohibition Era speakeasies, culminating in a blackmail plot and shipwreck off the West Coast of Africa reminiscent of the plotline of The Return of Tarzan.

After two years, ERB, Inc., balked at renewing the contract, agreeing only to a brief extension to allow the ongoing storylines to conclude with Tarzan #29 and John Carter #28. Claremont and artist Carmine Infantino (who, ironically, had been the editorial director under whom DC Comics had acquired the ERB titles in 1972) recycled the unused art for a two-issue “John Carter” story into Star Wars #53-54, while a Sal Buscema illustration for an unreleased Tarzan issue was repurposed in Battlestar Galactica #18, with Apollo bounding through the trees like Tarzan, thanks to his “gymnastics training.”

In 1984, Marvel released a two-issue Tarzan limited series adapting the first part of Tarzan of the Apes, scripted by Mark Evanier and illustrated by Dan Spiegle, in conjunction with the release of the Warner Bros. feature film Greystoke, The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. The two comics were combined for release in the magazine-sized Marvel Super Special #29. Marvel had previously adapted the 1975 Amicus film The Land That Time Forgot in Marvel Movie Premiere #1 (Sept. 1975), scripted by Marv Wolfman, with black-&-white art by Sonny Trinidad and a color cover by Nick Cardy.

Marvel would have one last shot at Burroughs’ novels when Walt Disney studios released the long-anticipated feature film John Carter in 2012. A four-issue prequel mini-series, World of Mars, written by Peter David, illustrated by Luke Ross and Ulises Arreola, was followed by five-issue adaptations of A Princess of Mars (scripted by Roger Langridge, with art by Filipe Andrade Sunny Cho) and Gods of Mars (scripted by Sam Humphries, with art by Ramón Pérez and Jordie Bellaire). The film’s commercial under-performance resulted in the cancellation of Marvel’s John

The series was the brainchild of Danish comics editor Henning Kure, whose résumé included adapting U.S. comics

by DC and Marvel for publication by the Swedish firm Semic. Kure opened negotiations for a Tarzan series in 1986, but the project spent years in dormancy before Semic won the option to produce material in English for the American market, to be translated for European editions by Semic.

Kure’s ambitious vision was to take Burroughs’ savage character from the fantasy Africa of the novels and update the setting to appeal to modern sensibilities. Kure proposed 43 stories, each spanning multiple issues, that would see Tarzan cross paths with Carl Jung, John F. Kennedy, Captain Nemo, the Loch Ness monster, and invading Barsoomians. “Easter eggs” hinting at Kure’s decades-long story arc were sprinkled throughout Warrior.

Kure’s choice for American distributor was Dark Horse Comics, but negotiations with founder Mike Richardson collapsed when the latter insisted that Dark Horse retain editorial control.

Wheatley recommended Malibu Comics, and a deal was brokered.

Tarzan: The Beckoning, a seven-issue showcase for Thomas Yeates’ art, was to be the first series published, but production on the story lagged. Kure chose Tarzan the Warrior as Malibu’s debut series. In a 2014 email, Warrior scripter Wheatley recalls:

Simon Bisley.

Tarzan: A Modern Perspective Artist Simon Bisley’s flipbook cover art for Malibu’s debut, Tarzan the Warrior #1 (March 19, 1992) was later released as a promotional poster. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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ERB Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

I was working on other projects as well. It was a very busy time. Insight [Studios, Wheatley’s company] was also doing production work for Marvel, DC, Malibu, and a number of other publishers. So I had my hands full…. It was frustrating, I wanted to illustrate my story—but time was tight. I came to envy the time that Tom had had to work on The Beckoning. But then we found out that Tom’s The Beckoning story was running very late and Warrior had to be rushed into place. So the best, fastest, and most Tarzan: A Reckoning dependable artist we had Malibu’s Tarzan: The Beckoning #1 (Nov. was Neil Vokes. And he got 20, 1992) began Thomas Yeates’ sevenmy dream gig! I did do part storyline, which took the ape-man layouts for the story, at and his mate from the streets of San Henning’s request. Things Francisco to another lost city—this time, got even more rushed Rmoahal—where they battled ivory poachers, mercenaries, and an atavistic when, after we had been lost race. Yeates also painted the series’ working on an approved covers. See photo of the artist/writer on plot for a 4-issue Warrior p. 19. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] series, ERB, Inc., came back to us as we were starting the final issue, #4, and told us that the conclusion we had set up in the story was now in conflict with some other project they were working on. I was told to come up with another ending that was entirely different than the one we had in mind. The deadline for the 4th issue was ticking away and we suddenly had no ending. Henning helped solve the problem by assigning us an additional issue. So we did an all-action issue #4 while we all brainstormed how to use the same set-ups in the series to pay off a new ending in the 5th issue. All of this took Marc Hempel out of the equation and Neil stepped in to do his own inking. The amazing thing is how well it all hangs together after all the distractions.

Warrior was followed by the three-part Tarzan: Loves, Lies, and the Lost City, scripted by Henning Kure, with art by Peter Snejbjerg and Teddy Kristiansen. Like Warrior #1, the first issue, an oversized 64 pages, featured a flipbook cover.

Kure, realizing that American comics distributors would respond if familiar names were attached to the project, commissioned backup stories to give the artistic collaborators a chance to showcase their work. Snejbjerg illustrated “The Scar,” penned by Walt Simonson, which detailed the story of Tarzan’s forehead scar (which Kure’s designs rendered as a version of Burroughs’ colophon, or “doo-dad,” a symbol that appeared on the spine of his novels), while Kristiansen retold the Jungle Tale of Teeka in “Tarzan’s First Love,” scripted by Matt Wagner. The lead story saw Tarzan and Jane racing to Opar to rescue the granddaughter of old friends Wayne Colt and Zora Drinov, whom Tarzan met in the novel Tarzan the Invincible.

Finally, Yeates’ Tarzan: The Beckoning appeared, in which Loc, the African Trickster-god, lures Tarzan and Jane to Africa to open an

interdimensional portal to the lost city of Rmoahal. Tarzan and Jane’s quest is complicated by ivory poachers, the mercenary Punchy Mullargan, and the Atmu, atavistic savages from ancient Atlantis.

Yeates, a charter member of Joe Kubert’s illustration school, skillfully incorporated scenes of Tarzan’s youth (drawn for a proposed comic adaptation of the film Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes) into The Beckoning as flashbacks. The arc’s conclusion in April 1993 ended Malibu’s run. The score: 15 comics in 13 months, and sheaves of unpublished material in various states of completion.

A Dark Horse Takes the Lead When Malibu’s Tarzan run concluded, Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Comics stepped in to acquire the license. His intent was to return to Burroughs’ novels for inspiration, casting Tarzan in a more traditional milieu.

The company, which specializes in creator-owned and licensed properties, launched its Burroughs franchise by releasing Tarzan: The Lost Adventure, based on Burroughs’ final Tarzan manuscript, an 83-page fragment, now completed by horror author Joe Lansdale. The story sees Tarzan, Nkima, and Jad-bal-ja entwined between good-guy Professor Eugene Hanson and his daughter Jean, and the usual band of unsavory renegades, as they race to find the lost city of Ur. The book was initially released in four monthly neo-pulps, from January to April 1995, with covers by Arthur Suydam and interior illustrations by Thomas Yeates, Charles Vess, Gary Gianni, and Michael Wm. Kaluta, and was later issued in hardback and mass-market paperback.

This was followed in June by the publication of a holdover from Malibu, titled Tarzan: A Tale of Mugambi, by writer Darko Macan and illustrator Igor Kordey. In January 1996, two four-issue mini-series launched: the self-explanatory Tarzan Versus Predator at the Earth’s Core, written

by Walter Simonson and illustrated by Lee Weeks; and Tarzan/John Carter Warlords of Mars, a crossover intended to familiarize audiences with Burroughs’ Barsoom hero, written

by Bruce Jones with an assist by Simon Revelstroke (aka John Pocsik) and illustrated

by Bret Blevins, Ricardo Villagran, and Mike Manley. Blevins’ creature designs, offering beasts that were all fang and claw, were a series high point.

Tarzan, Lord Of Barsoom Tarzan and John Carter had a close encounter in Dark Horse’s four-part Warlords of Mars miniseries, with cover and interior art for #1 (Jan. 1996) by Bret Blevins. ERB fans had been longing to see such a team-up for decades, especially since the elusive, unauthorized Tarzan on Mars novel was written by “John Bloodstone.” [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Beyond The Silver Age

These mini-series were followed by the launch of the regular Tarzan title, which ran for 20 issues. The first storyline, in #1-6, featured a sequel to the Barsoom storyline set in Africa, reuniting Tarzan with Jane and Paul D’Arnot as they sought the source of an otherworldly plague. Bruce Jones scripted, with pencils

by Christopher Schenck, Yeates on inks, and Suydam covers.

“Legion of Hate,” penned

by Tarzan Sunday strip author Allan Gross, with pencils and covers by Schenck, and inks by George Freeman, saw Tarzan return Tarzan Rides A Dark Horse to the Amazon tribes of Arthur Suydam painted the covers for the Tarzan the Magnificent to first six issues of Dark Horse’s regular defeat a Nazi menace in Tarzan title. Issue #1 was cover-dated issues #7-10. A trilogy of July 1996. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] two-issue monster tales spanned #11-16, with Tarzan facing off against the Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein’s monster, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a Lovern Kindzierski storyline illustrated by Stan Manoukian and Vince Roucher, with two covers each by Bernie Wrightson, Michael Wm. Kaluta, and Mark Schultz. The series ended on a high note, with “Tarzan vs. the Moon Men” in #17-20, written by Timothy Truman, penciled by Yeates, inked by Al Williamson, with covers by John Totleben. The narrative saw Tarzan and Korak traversing the dimensional portal of Oo’s cave into a dystopian future ruled by invading Kalkar Moon Men and their hideous henchmen, the Va-gas; the ape-men team up to defeat the lunar menace.

49

written and illustrated by Yeates (with scripting by Steve Bissette for the third tale), saw Tarzan journeying across the land having the sort of unintentional adventures Burroughs once scripted for his heroes.

Due to their pre-existing option on the Tarzan license, Dark Horse was chosen to publish Disney’s Tarzan in summer 1999, a two-issue mini-series, adapted from the animated feature film by Greg Ehrbar with art by Mario Cortes.

A pair of high-concept stories followed.

Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the The Myth Of The Eternal Return Catwoman, #1-4, released in Thomas Yeates’ three-part adaptation of 1999 and written by Ron The Return of Tarzan (cover art to #1, Marz, illustrated by Igor April 1997, by John Totleben), offered a Kordey, with covers by Dave faithful interpretation of Burroughs’ Dorman, paired the ape-man second Tarzan novel for Dark Horse. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] and the Dark Knight in a pulpish tale. Superman/ Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle, #1-3, in 2001, was written by Chuck Dixon, illustrated by Carlos Meglia, with covers by Humberto Ramos. This “Elseworlds” storyline offered an alternative history where a certain alien spacecraft crashed into the African jungle rather than the Midwest, with the infant adopted by apes as “Argo-

The demise of the monthly series did not signal the end of the ape-man’s adventures at Dark Horse.

The Return of Tarzan #1-3 appeared in 1997, featuring a faithful adaptation of the latter half of Burroughs’ second Tarzan novel, with story and art by Yeates and covers by Totleben. This series expanded upon the original two-page episodes that appeared in the comics industry trade publication Previews in 1995-96 to tease the forthcoming Dark Horse Tarzan series.

The series offered one of the most faithful comics adaptations of a Burroughs novel.

In 1998, comic fans were reintroduced to the character Carson of Venus in a three part black-&white story spanning Dark Horse Presents #133-135, written by Darko Macan with Peter Doherty art. This was followed by Tarzan/Carson of Venus, #1-4, “The Loveking” by Macan and illustrator Igor Kordey.

Writer Allan Gross returned with a four-part tale, Tarzan: The Savage Heart, in 1999. Former Tarzan Sunday strip artist Mike Grell illustrated, with assistance by Schenck on issues #3-4, a storyline that took a disconsolate Tarzan, believing Jane to be dead, back to Pellucidar. Tarzan’s inner-world saga continued in a trio of tales in Dark Horse Presents #143. The stories,

Tarzan Meets Everybody!

(Left:) In Dark Horse’s Tarzan #11-16, the ape-man encountered the Phantom of the Opera, the Frankenstein Monster, and Edward Hyde. Those issues were collected in the volume Tarzan: Le Monstre, behind this cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

(Right:) Dark Horse’s Tarzan #18 (Jan. 1998) was one of four issues that sent the jungle lord into the future to battle the Lunarian invaders from Burroughs’ novel The Moon Maid, with a creative team of Timothy Truman, Thomas Yeates, Al Williamson, and cover artist John Totleben. The series was collected under the title Tarzan vs. the Moon Men. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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ERB Comic Books From 1972 To The Present

Like We Said: Tarzan Meets Everybody!

(Far left:) Dark Horse published a series of cross-over tales, including the four-part Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-Woman, with cover art by Dave Dorman. Issue #1 was dated Sept. 1999.

(Near left:) This was followed up by Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle, with covers by Humberto Ramos. Shown is the cover of the third issue, dated Oct. 2002. [Superman & Batman TM & © DC Comics; Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

zan” (fire-skin) and growing to discover his powers in a distinctly different environment than that offered

by Metropolis—though he crosses paths with Lois Lane, Jane Porter, and a certain Lord Greystoke in that African jungle Between these series appeared Tarzan: Rivers of Blood, #1-4, in 1999-2000; like A Tale of Mugambi, it was a holdover from the Malibu era, written by Neven Anticevic and Igor Kordey, illustrated

by Kordey. Only four of the planned eight issues were published before the miniseries was cancelled.

Tarzan Tomorrow (Above:) The 2012 one-shot The Once and Future Tarzan, with covers and interior art by Thomas Yeates, points the way to the Tarzan of tomorrow—as well as of today and yesterday.

Combine this with Dark Horse’s ambitious reprint schedule (11 volumes to date of Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years, the three volumes of Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years, The Unauthorized Tarzan [with the Charlton stories], and the first volume or two of Tarzan: The Russ Manning Years), and you have to wonder—can re-presentations of the Marvel and Malibu Tarzan yarns be far behind? [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Dark Horse’s Burroughs publishing in the succeeding decade was restricted to Archival editions reprinting the Tarzan comic book work of Joe Kubert, Jesse Marsh, and Russ Manning.

In 2012, Dark Horse marked the ape-man’s centennial anniversary with the release of “The Once and Future Tarzan,” scripted by Alan Gordon, with concept and art by Yeates, serialized in Dark Horse Presents #8-10 (vol. 2, #165-167) and republished in the oneshot The Once and Future Tarzan with tweaks to the final chapter and two additional pages. This story takes the eternally youthful Tarzan into a future England decimated by climate change; future books are planned by the creative team.

Any Planets Left To Conquer?

Tarzan and Carson Napier team up to slay a Tongzan in the stories collected as Tarzan/Carson of Venus. Script by Darko Macan; art by Peter Doherty. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Scott Tracy Griffin.

Scott Tracy Griffin is the author of Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration (Titan Books, 2012), the only authorized commemorative visual history of American author Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famed ape-man.

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The Comic Art Worlds Of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS — Part IV

“The Tarzan Art Studio”

The Short Happy Life Of The ERB, Inc., Comic Book Company

by Henry G. Franke III

E

dgar Rice Burroughs’ novels experienced a renaissance in publishing in the early 1960s, with paperback book editions selling at phenomenal numbers for the rest of the decade and into the 1970s. The reinvigorated ERB, Inc., headquartered in Tarzana, California, hired a new general manager, Robert M. (Bob) Hodes, in 1966 to better market the company’s properties, with Tarzan its centerpiece. A key part of Hodes’ business strategy was to revitalize the graphical interpretations of the ape-man, starting with the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and then on to comic books.

When Western Publishing ended its partnership with Dell Comics and established Gold Key Comics, they continued on with their license from ERB, Inc., to publish Tarzan comic books.

Starting in late 1963, Russ Manning, a fan-favorite artist at Western for his work on the Tarzan Vs. Tarzan science-fiction comic Magnus – As Henry Franke reveals in this surprising behind-the-scenes article: European audiences that had reveled in artist Robot Fighter, helmed the new title Russ Manning’s (and writer Gaylord DuBois’) version of the climactic scene in ERB’s novel Tarzan of the Apes in Korak, Son of Tarzan; and in 1965 he which the young jungle lord rescues Jane Porter from the great ape Terkoz (above left) did not exactly embrace took over the flagship Tarzan of the artist/writer Joe Kubert’s (above right) rendition of the same event—and not just because there’d been less than a Apes title from his long-time decade between the two adaptations. From Gold Key’s Tarzan #155 (Dec. 1965) and DC’s Tarzan #209 (June 1972). mentor Jesse Marsh, due to Both stories can be found these days in beautiful hardcover reprint volumes from Dark Horse. [© Edgar Rice Marsh’s failing health. Manning’s Burroughs, Inc.] Tarzan quickly set the standard for With the loss of Manning, Gold Key tried out other artists on the comic book readers around the world, as these four-color stories Korak and Tarzan titles, but with limited success. At the end of 1971, were reprinted in dozens of overseas comic books. While Gold Hodes decided to transfer the license for their U.S. comic books Key’s Tarzan titles were bestsellers in the U.S., foreign sales of from Gold Key to DC Comics. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: See previous reprints meant major profits. article.] His aim with DC was to reach more mature audiences with Hodes first targeted the long-running Tarzan newspaper strip, stories faithful to ERB’s own storytelling, and to add titles from distributed in the U.S. by United Feature Syndicate. By the midERB’s canon beyond just the Tarzan novels. Joe Kubert was the 1960s, the daily and Sunday strips were showing serious wear. The editor of the DC titles and personally took on writing and illusnumber of newspapers carrying them in the U.S. had dropped trating the “Tarzan” stories. substantially. Again, it was foreign sales, either in newspapers or as What Hodes didn’t expect was the backlash in overseas markets reprints in comic books, that kept the UFS strips profitable. over Kubert’s interpretation of Tarzan. Writer Mark Evanier, who Manning was interested in taking over the daily and Sunday would later play a major role in ERB, Inc.’s, overseas comic book newspaper strips as writer and artist. Hodes concurred, believing production, explained several reasons for this. The demand for that not only would Manning create stories much closer to ERB’s “Tarzan” stories in foreign comics was substantial, but Kubert was own vision of the ape-man, but his name and artistic style would producing a quite limited number of stories. At the time, most help boost sales with the introduction of the artist most in demand overseas comics were reprinting Manning from Gold Key stories overseas. Manning’s first Tarzan daily appeared on December 11, and the newspaper strips, and supplementing these with locally 1967, and his first Sunday on January 14, 1968; he soon left Gold produced material that imitated Manning’s style. Kubert’s form Key to concentrate on the newspaper comics. was significantly different from Manning’s and didn’t fit in. It did

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The Short Happy Life Of The ERB, Inc., Comic Book Company

not help that Kubert was adapting the original ERB novels that Manning had done, just a few years before. Kubert’s work simply did not sell well in foreign reprints. DC’s Korak was even less accepted, which was a major concern, since “Korak” stories sold as well as or better than those of his sire. “Korak” stories by Manning, and later by Dan Spiegle, were the standard, and DC interpreted the son of Tarzan very differently. What readers in Europe, Latin America, and Asia wanted was Manning’s Tarzan.

This dilemma only reinforced the importance of a major new project Hodes had begun with Manning that promised to expand Tarzan into deluxe comics publishing overseas. Hodes had spent extensive time in Europe working with ERB, Inc.’s, major licensees, and had learned of the unique graphic album format. These comic albums often featured extended stories or linked short pieces, printed on high-quality paper and published as oversized hardcover or softcover books. In 1972, Manning agreed to create four 48-page Tarzan albums, along with covers, title pages, and coloring, in the space of a year. Hodes decided this would essentially be an in-house effort, with Manning overseeing all creative and front-end production. Hodes was the de facto editor and coordinated co-production overseas with their primary distributors. Scandinavia, France, and England were first, following by Italy, Spain, and Brazil. To ease the increased workload expected of Manning, the daily Tarzan strip was ended in the summer of 1972.

Manning lived and worked only 70 miles from the offices of ERB, Inc., and could easily confer with Hodes, as he had done in the past. Manning would also take advantage of the talent of his young assistants on the Tarzan strip, Mike Royer (who had started with him at Gold Key) and Bill Stout.

But confusion over specific publishing formats and the extra work required to meet the standards of high-quality printing threw production significantly off-schedule. It took eight months to deliver the first album, Tarzan in the Land That Time Forgot, to ERB, Inc., in April 1973. Published in different languages in Europe, it wasn’t produced in England until a year and a half after the initiation of the project. This would be the only one of the four Tarzan albums to be printed in English in Manning’s lifetime (the latter two have never been published in English or in the U.S.). Manning eventually completed Tarzan and the Pool of Time, Tarzan and the Beastmaster, and Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar between 1973 and 1975.

ERB, Inc., had made substantial investments of its own money to make the album project a success, but sales and the number of publishers dropped with each volume. Kubert’s Tarzan continued to have a negative impact on overall comic book sales overseas, and this included the deluxe albums.

Nonetheless, Hodes remained committed to the albums. An article about ERB, Inc., in the Feb. 15, 1975, issue of Forbes magazine reported that 250 newspapers throughout the world carried the Tarzan strips, while three million copies of Tarzan comic books, in 16 languages, sold worldwide each month. Bob Hodes acknowledged that “The greatest thing that’s happened to the company in recent times is the comic book revival. Comics now account for the most significant part of our revenues.” Whether primarily hyperbole or pure fact, the significance of the comic strips and comic books to Hodes is clear.

Hodes saw the 1975 Edgar Rice Burroughs centennial, marking

Let’s Wait For The Album!

(Top center:) Russ Manning, on right, and Bill Stout, one of his young assistants in the 1970s. (Above:) Tarzan arrives in Caspak, in the 1973 “album” Tarzan in the Land That Time Forgot, as written and drawn by Manning for the European market. Repro’d from the 1996 Dark Horse single-volume reprint of that tale and Tarzan and the Pool of Time. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

the 100th anniversary of ERB’s 1875 birth, as a major opportunity to market all things Burroughs, which would include rescuing the albums. Learning his lesson from the attempt at in-house production and expecting major new projects, Hodes expanded the corporation’s team to include a publicity division, a marketing division, and a graphics arm. The latter was helmed by Bern Wolf, president of Animedia Productions in North Hollywood, a company that created animation and art design for commercials and industrial projects. Wolf had started out in animation in the 1930s with Fleischer Studios and had worked with Disney in the 1950s.

To expand the market for the albums, Hodes decided to add additional titles. Evanier recalls the meeting led by Hodes at Animedia in early summer of 1975, where details on the album expansion were initially developed. In the late 1975 issue of Tarzan Drum Beat, ERB, Inc.’s marketing newsletter, they announced the formation of their “Tarzan Art Studio” on June 1, 1975: “For the first time, ERB, Inc., will have the capability of producing its own high quality comic albums, assuring complete fidelity to the original characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.” Besides Wolf heading the production unit, ERB, Inc., named Russ Manning as creative consultant and Hodes as editor-in-chief. The original slate of artists and writers included Manning, Alex Toth, Mike Royer,

“The Tarzan Art Studio”

53

Take A Flyer on Tarzan!

(Clockwise from above:) Manning art for a flyer heralding the projected mid-1970s ERB comic book company. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] A mid-1970s photo of writer Mark Evanier, on left, and artist Dan Spiegle.

Together, they were tapped to handle virtually all of the “Korak” material for the new company. Also pictured is a black-&-white Korak image by Spiegle.

[Korak TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] Artist Rick Hoberg, around the time he was part of the Tarzan Art Studio, at a 1970s San Diego Comic-Con art show. Thanks to Rick for the self-ID! Dave Stevens, photo via the Internet.

This “Tarzan” page which appeared in the Dutch magazine Tarzan Van de Apen #12231 (sorry—no date supplied) is likely a product of this period, since, although Manning is listed as editor and artist, the script is by West Coast writer William Rotsler, and Dave Stevens and Danny Bulanadi are acknowledged for their art help. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] Thanks to Henry Franke III for all images in this montage. We’re sorry that space doesn’t allow us to include photos of all the other talents who were, at one time or another, intended to produce material for the ERB comics company.

Marija Miletic, Don Glut, Mark Evanier, Dan Spiegle, and Richard Kyle. Despite the challenges faced over the previous three years, the ambitious plan was: “First year’s production will be for four color Tarzan albums, two color Korak albums, and four black-andwhite Jane albums. The latter, entirely new in concept, will include stories of all the fabulous women of ERB’s science fantasy worlds, together with Jane, Tarzan’s mate.”

Despite the label of “art studio,” there was no physical location or single operation that resembled a studio. Editors, writers, and artists were virtual teams normally brought together by mail and phone calls for individual projects. The closest thing to a space where creators worked together was Manning’s studio at his home, and this was primarily for the newspaper strip. The creative talent worked out of their homes or their own studios as work-for-hire.

Evanier had already scripted the first Korak album and Royer the first Jane album when Hodes put a sudden halt to the albums.

He had reassessed the entire effort based on what was most in demand and most profitable overseas. As Evanier noted, the standard format for comic books in Europe was based on two 15page stories and two pages of ads. Comic book stories in the U.S. simply did not conform to this page-length requirement.

Hodes met in the fall of 1975 with ERB, Inc.’s, overseas comics publishers at the Schlosshotel Kronberg in Germany, where it was decided that all “Tarzan” and “Korak” artwork to be published outside the U.S. would originate with the ERB, Inc., “art studio in Tarzana,” as Hodes continued to call it.

The new plan was for two teams to create comic book stories in the 15-page format. Manning served as editor for the “Tarzan” stories, while Evanier was the editor overseeing development of the “Korak” tales. Covers would also be devoted to some of these stories, available to foreign publishers to serve as book covers or posters. Any coloring was created by the particular publisher.

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The Short Happy Life Of The ERB, Inc., Comic Book Company

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Presents…

These scans supplied by Henry Franke give a taste of material produced by the ERB, Inc., comic book company during its brief half-life during the mid-1970s. Scripters unidentified.

(Clockwise from far left:) Apparently a Russ Manning page, or else one highly imitative of his style done by his assistants, from a “Tarzan” tale titled “The Return of Captain Nemo.” Henry tells us this story was apparently split between two issues of the Dutch publication Tarzan Classic, the Manning cover of one of which is depicted at far left.

Animedia would package the stories for overseas distribution.

Manning would occasionally write and draw stories, but in large part would rely on others to script, pencil, and ink the “Tarzan” tales.

Besides using his newspaper strip assistants (Dave Stevens and Mike Royer), Manning would enlist talent that could come close to his own artistic style. Writers were Bill Rotsler, Don Glut, and Dennis Palumbo, and artists included Danny Bulanadi, Bill Wray, Rick Hoberg, Will Meugniot, Pete Hoffman, and Mike Ploog.

Evanier, on the other hand, would script all of the “Korak” stories, while Dan Spiegle drew most of them. Doug Wildey, Bill Ziegler, Rick Hoppe, Pat Boyette, and Meugniot also illustrated “Korak.” Later, for “Tarzan,” Evanier brought on Alex Niño for one-time work. Creators ranged from older hands to those taking on their first professional jobs.

Evanier related the story of meeting Alex Niño, newly arrived in the U.S., at Animedia as a possible artist. Hodes and Wolf had been discussing the idea of a “Tiny Tarz” series similar to Peanuts in approach. Without being asked, Niño sketched out ideas that very evening, but the concept died early on.

In the 1976 issue of Tarzan Drum Beat, ERB, Inc., reported that they were “turning out four complete comic books each month.

Publication of the new material is not scheduled until September, but the high quality of the first pages has already had an impact: David Kaye’s Byblos Publications of London has signed to produce England’s first weekly Tarzan magazine.” Based on this increased activity, the corporation was also planning to expand facilities and augment staff, another report that never came to pass.

By this time, Manning was leaving the project after less than a year, apparently due to differences with Hodes, a desire to concentrate more on the Sunday strip and reduce the pressure of deadlines, and a wish to put more time into activities in support of

These panels of Tarzan in the desert, drawn by Dave Stevens and Mike Royer, appeared in Byblos Publications’ Tarzan Weekly #6 in 1977, after that new British magazine began to print the work originally produced for the ERB, Inc., company.

Will Meugniot and Dave Stevens teamed up on this page from a (neverpublished?) “Tarzan” story, in which the ape-man escapes a watery grave.

Alas, we have only mediocre scans from this story, which force us to reproduce it painfully small. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

his local community. Hodes asked Evanier to take the lead for both the “Tarzan” and “Korak” stories, with the young writer inheriting “Tarzan” material originally begun under Manning, but soon moving on to new stories for both series.

A critical challenge was in meeting demand. The British weekly comic book, in particular, needed more stories than were being created in the U.S. But even before most of these stories saw print, Hodes, continually looking out for more profitable outlets, was already changing his plans for comic books, returning to an idea he had in the early 1970s: taking over publication of ERB comic books in the U.S. With sales of the DC comic books dropping and DC shifting to fewer ERB titles, Hodes thought it was time to make his move, diverting his “art studio” from overseas work to production of comics for the U.S. market.

“The Tarzan Art Studio”

Tarzan And Son—Every Week!

Much of the material produced for the ERB comics company wound up in the British company Byblos Publications’ Tarzan Weekly, beginning with its first issue, dated June 11, 1977.

Artists uncertain.

Thanks to Henry Franke III. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Until this would become a reality, English readers could only see the 15-page ERB, Inc.-produced stories in the Byblos comic books published in England, with 20 issues of Tarzan Weekly (June to Oct. 1977), followed by just five issues of Tarzan Monthly (late 1977 to early 1978). Ironically, the editors of these titles regularly cut the 15-page stories into two parts across two issues, certainly to encourage loyal readers, but doubtlessly irking many of them.

Despite the very short life of the “art studio” project itself, these stories were printed in numerous editions throughout Europe in other languages in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, alongside reprints of Manning’s newspaper strips and even DC and Marvel material.

55

Burroughs called Evanier and asked if he would be interested in restarting the overseas project. Although busy with other work, Evanier called members of the former team to gauge their interest, and found that there was little enthusiasm.

And so ended an endeavor that had morphed over time to try to best meet the demands of overseas markets with the hope of substantial profits, but had never quite reached its full potential.

Within a year, Wolf had shut down Animedia because he wanted to return to creating animation as an artist, not overseeing its production as a manager.

In 1980, Manning passed away at 52, a victim of cancer, although he had stayed with the Tarzan Sunday strip until 1979.

The Marion Kind In 1976 Marion Burroughs, wife of Hulbert Burroughs, became president of ERB, Inc. This 1945 photo detail (later ones than 1945-46 proved impossible to find) is from Irwin Porges’ 1975 biography Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

While only a few of the writers and artists had worked on more than a handful of stories, ERB, Inc.’s, projects had employed both new and mature talent, thanks to the concentration of talent in the Los Angeles area due to the production there of motion pictures, TV shows, and animated series. All the personnel involved moved on to greater success, underscoring the creative talent brought together more by chance than design, including emerging artists Bill Stout, Dave Stevens, Danny Bulanadi, Bill Wray, Rick Hoberg, Will Meugniot, Rick Hoppe, and Alex Niño. The result was some excellent storytelling in graphic albums and comic stories featuring Tarzan and Korak, almost none of which has yet been reprinted in the U.S.

In early 1976, ERB, Inc.’s, “comic book company” was preparing to publish three titles for the U.S. market: Tarzan and Korak, to be immediately followed

by John Carter of Mars, based on the success of the first two. But this effort abruptly came to an end. Bob Hodes was let go, and Marion Burroughs, wife of ERB’s eldest son, Hulbert, assumed the helm of ERB, Inc., in August 1976.

The investment of internal resources by ERB, Inc., to create its own products was deemed too risky. Instead, the license for ERB comic books was passed to Marvel Comics.

But there was one last gasp. Six months after ending in-house comic book story production, Marion Burroughs had a change of heart after seeing the overseas reaction to the Marvel work.

Besides their concerns over the style of art and story, foreign publishers wanted new stories and not more adaptations of the original novels, which Marvel had decided to pursue. Marion

Tarzan Once A Month The cover of Byblos’ revamped Tarzan Monthly #1 (1977)—and an exciting story page therefrom. We’re not certain of the artist and writer—but the Manning-influenced interior art style was almost definitely produced by some of his former assistants. And doesn’t that blonde on the cover look like a nod to Sheena, Queen of the Jungle? Thanks to Henry Franke III. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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The Short Happy Life Of The ERB, Inc., Comic Book Company

Alex Niño, circa the 1970s.

Marv Wolfman in the ’70s.

Ghosts Of Mars (Above:) This double-page spread drawn by Alex Niño (from a Marv Wolfman synopsis) first saw print in Marvel’s FOOM Magazine #20 (Winter 1978). In the Aug. 2006 issue of his Burroughs Newsbeat Special #2, James Van Hise printed a transcription of a panel discussion titled “Mars in the Media” at the 2002 ERB Chain of Friendship gathering in Tarzana, CA, moderated by Scott Tracy Griffin with panel members Wolfman, Ted Elliott, and Charles Edward Pogue.

Marv said of the ERB “art studio”: “Burroughs, Inc., was going to do Tarzan and all the Burroughs material in comic book form for Europe and I was hired to do John Carter for them. I wrote my first story and Alex Niño drew it, and it was really beautiful… and just before they decided to go to press with any of that, Marvel made an offer and they decided not to publish the material themselves but (I think they realized how expensive it was to do comics at the time)… gave the license to Marvel….” Thanks to Henry Franke.

[Art © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The Burroughs Bibliophiles is a non-profit literary society, founded in 1960 and devoted to studying and promoting interest in the works, creations, and life of Edgar Rice Burroughs. It continues to publish The Burroughs Bulletin journal, the only authorized ERB fanzine, approved by Burroughs himself in 1947, and The Gridley Wave newsletter.

The Bibliophiles has area chapters throughout the United States, counts members from around the world, and sponsors the annual fan gathering, the Dum-Dum.

Henry Franke III was the official editor of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Amateur Press Association (ERBapa) from 1994-96. In 2010 he assumed the duties of editor and treasurer of The Burroughs Bibliophiles, a nonprofit literary society devoted to the life and works of ERB. Its journal, The Burroughs Bulletin, is the only publication on ERB approved by Burroughs himself, in 1947. Franke is also contributing editor for the IDW Publishing/Library of American Comics series reprinting Russ Manning’s Tarzan daily and Sunday newspaper comic strips. He served in the U.S. Army from 1977 to 2009.

Visit www.BurroughsBibliophiles.com or e-mail BurroughsBibliophiles@gmail.com for more information.

Henry wishes to thank Laurence Dunn for scans of the Byblos Tarzan Weekly and Tarzan Monthly comic books… Ken Webber for information on the Tarzan graphic albums… and Mark Evanier for information on the Tarzan Henry Franke III. and Korak comic book series.

A 2008 (passport) photo.

The Comic Art Worlds Of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS — Part V

57

ERB – Online!

(Above:) Sketch by Tom Grindberg. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The Birth And Development Of The Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Web Comics Line

by James Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

W

hen Tom Grindberg contacted me in the fall of 2010 to see if Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. was interested in reviving the Tarzan Sunday comic strip, I really liked the idea, but knew we would have to do a lot of work on our new corporate website infrastructure to accommodate it. The history of the Tarzan Sunday strip was rich; it had debuted in 1929 as a pioneer in weekly comic strips and had become immensely popular. It ran weekly all the way to 2002, an incredibly long run.

Jungle Tales Of Thomas And Grindberg (Below:) The second published online strip of The New Adventures of Tarzan, by scripter Roy Thomas and artist/colorist Tom Grindberg. From the outset, the team decided they’d treat the storylines as if they were doing a new addition to ERB’s Tarzan novels, so this first story—“Tarzan and the Scions of Troy”—will run for at least 50 installments. The lads count nothing as being canonical Tarzan lore unless it appeared in Burroughs’ novels. The strip commences not long after the last of the ERB-scribed Tarzan adventures of the late 1940s—and includes such classic Tarzanic characters and themes as Lady Jane, Paul D’Arnot, Nkima the monkey, La of Opar, the “Bolgani” gorilla-men, and a war between two time-lost groupings… hopefully with an original twist or three, as well. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Tom Grindberg. Since drawing for the British weeklies 2000 A.D. and Judge Dredd in the late 1980s, he has illustrated numerous comics for both DC and Marvel, including tales of Superman, Batman, The Silver Surfer, Conan the Barbarian, et al. Before Tarzan, he and Roy Thomas had collaborated at DC Comics on issues of All-Star Squadron and Secret Origins.

To purchase Grindberg’s original art, contact Tom via Facebook or grindbergtom@yahoo.com.

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The Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Web Comics Line

Geronimo!

The War Chief, strip #19. The young Apache hero, Shoz-Dijiji, essays a rescue of the captured Geronimo. Script by Martin Powell, art & colors by Nik Poliwko. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

This would be an exciting opportunity to see new, original artwork and storylines being created again, and new online Web comics seemed to be the right venue for this.

ERB, Inc., has had a fan website at www.erbzine.com since the mid-’90s, run by our stellar webmaster, Bill Hillman, that totals over 10,000 pages and includes a wealth of historical and topical information not found anywhere else in the world covering the life of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) and all of his literary creations contained in his 70 novels and approximately 40 short stories. We were just beginning to develop our corporate site for our upcoming 2012 Centennial for both Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter of Mars, and at that point additionally developing an online weekly comic strip seemed like quite a challenge.

Tom sent me some samples of his ideas for a new Tarzan comic strip. Wow! I was overwhelmed with the quality of his artwork, and it became clear to me that this was something we needed to pursue. Tom told me he had asked Roy Thomas to be the writer, and Roy had said yes. I knew Roy was the editor of the comicshistory magazine Alter Ego, but I hadn’t focused on how extensive his background was in professional comics, including writing and editing for Stan Lee at Marvel and even being the company’s editor-in-chief at one time. Now I realized what a dream team this would be to revive our Tarzan Sunday comic strip. And, after several conversations with Roy, I realized he was well versed not only in the Tarzan novels, but in many other ERB series.

Now the work began. We labored feverishly to get our new website ready for comic strip display and subscriptions. And on October 10, 2012, at www.edgarriceburroughs.com/comics/, we launched a New Adventures of Tarzan online comic strip at a modest price of $1.99 per month (and have just lately added an annual fee option for $21.99). Our hardcore fans were very pleased with this launch and signed up right away.

This announcement also caught the attention of other artists and writers. I got a call from Martin Powell, a comics writer with extensive experience. With the new Tarzan strip up and running, he asked if we would be interested in other ERB stories becoming online strips. We talked a long time about all the many unique literary adventures (about 25-30) that ERB created, and he was familiar with most of them. As we talked, it became clear that many could be adapted to a weekly continuity comic strip format.

And what excited me was the prospect of giving visualization to so many of ERB’s creations that no one had ever seen before.

Martin Powell has written comics for various publishers, including DC, Disney, and others. His credits include the Sherlock Holmes/Dracula graphic novel Scarlet by Gaslight, The Spider Chronicles, The Phantom Chronicles, et al.

Nik Poliwko is a comic book artist who has also worked in computer animation, including the original Batman: The Animated Series. He has drawn for AC Comics, Vortex, et al., and has illustrated “Tarzan and the Native Boy” for the Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics graphic novel Jungle Tales of Tarzan.

Martin had a particular interest in the “Carson of Venus” series, The Eternal Savage, The Cave Girl, and The War Chief.

Those were all great stories. The War Chief is said by some to be ERB’s very best novel, because he personally experienced life among the Apaches in 1895 while with the U.S. Calvary and stationed at Fort Grant, Arizona. And yet, no one had seen any pictures or artwork of The War Chief except covers of several book editions. Now this colorful story is being adapted in full color for all to see. Martin brought in artists Tom Floyd, Diana Leto, Steve Gordon, and Nik Poliwko, each with his/her own style and each very talented. This was a pivotal development, as all of these strips were launched in 2013, because it meant that ERB, Inc., had decided to definitely expand its web comic program beyond Tarzan and to introduce many more people to the rich content that only the mind of Edgar Rice Burroughs could have imagined.

As the program gained momentum, artist Tom Lyle called me and indicated he wanted to draw Pellucidar (At the Earth’s Core), and he brought in Chuck Dixon to write it. Tom ultimately could not stay with the strip due to other commitments, but Chuck jumped right in and wrote a full 6 months of weekly adventures before we ever launched the strip! Chuck brought in artist Gary Kwapisz to draw it, which was a great addition to our growing set of writers and artists. While many of these new online strips follow ERB’s books closely, some, like Pellucidar, jump right into new material, even 15 years into the storyline, creating a very interesting adventure story.

During this time, I had been having additional discussions with Roy Thomas about the overall appeal of the comic strips program.

While New Adventures of Tarzan was very popular, it seemed we were missing the original story and needed to add it to commemorate it into this new online web comic program. He was eager to write such an online strip, if he could do it storyline by storyline the way ERB wrote it. This was music to my ears, because that was exactly what I wanted to see happen. Roy brought in artist Pablo Marcos, a Peruvian artist with an extensive career in New York comics, including previously working with Roy on Conan the Barbarian and other series. The strip was launched as Tarzan of the Apes - A Classic Adaptation. Every week I read the strip I learn something about the original novel, because Roy has such an intimate knowledge of everything ERB put in it and he can bring this complex story to us in dramatic fashion with just a few words added to colorful panels each week.

[Continued on p. 61]

ERB – Online

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Marcos Times Two!

Pablo Marcos was a comic strip artist in Peru in the 1960s before moving to the U.S. and working for Warren, Skywald, then Marvel and DC. He has drawn Superman, Batman, Conan the Barbarian, Morbius the Living Vampire— you name it! He was noted in the ’70s for drawing for Marvel’s black-&-white horror comics, particularly Tales of the Zombie.

To acquire original ERB art

by Pablo, e-mail contact@pablomarcosart.com or go to www.pablomarcosart.com

Gorilla My Dreams—And Nightmares!

A very young Tarzan emerges from his dead father’s jungle cabin—to find himself face to face with a fighting-mad specimen of Bolgani, the gorilla, in a famous scene from the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, as adapted by writer Roy Thomas and artist Pablo Marcos, with lettering and coloring by Oscar Gonzales. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Snack Time!

Marcos & Gonzales also supply the art, lettering, and coloring for the Martin Powell-written adaptation of ERB’s The Land That Time Forgot, a different approach to a dinosaurinfested world than Pellucidar.

Here, World War I-era hero Bowen Tyler finds he’s just been moved considerably lower on the food chain. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Three ERB Worlds Sample panels from Martin Powell’s other three ERB online strips, illustrated by a trio of talents [art © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]: Tom Floyd was a Texas oilfield roustabout, among many other things, before becoming a graphic designer for a PBS station, working on Reading Rainbow, American Experience, et al. He has drawn comics for Elite, Eternity, Moonstone, and Marvel, and in 2010 received the Burroughs Bibliophiles Golden Lion Award for his illustrations for new Bison Books editions of ERB works. He also writes and illustrates another online comic, Captain Spectre and the Lightning Legion.

(Above:) Carson of Venus, drawn by Tom Floyd, colored by Diana Leto.

Diana Leto is an illustrator, designer, and colorist. Over the past decade she has made a name for herself creating art for clients such as Jim Henson Agency, Sesame Street, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Comics, and Warner Bros. Her artwork is prominently featured in the all-ages graphic novel The Halloween Legion.

(Above:) Cave Girl, drawn and colored by Diana Leto.

Steven Gordon is an artist and director in animation, best known for his work with film director Ralph Bakshi (Lord of the Rings, American Pop, Fire and Ice, Cool World) and on TV/video series such as X-Men Evolution, Ultimate Avengers, Wolverine and The X-Men, Stan Lee Presents: The Condor, et al. He has been nominated for an Annie (animation) Award.

(Left:) The Eternal Savage, drawn by Steven Gordon.

ERB – Online

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Marz—And Mars!

(Above:) Ron Marz, longtime comics scripter especially known for his work on Marvel’s Silver Surfer and DC’s Green Lantern, as well as for independent creations, is the writer of two ERB, Inc., online strips: The Mucker and Korak the Killer.

Killer Abs (Above:) Korak the Killer, introduced in ERB’s novel The Son of Tarzan, is definitely all grown up now— and very much his own man. Art by Rick Leonardi, with colors by Neeraj Menon and lettering by Troy Peteri. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] (Left:) Lee Moder, though relatively new to comics, has already racked up acclaimed work for Archaia Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, Image Comics, Kickstart Comics, Top Cow, and Visionary Comics.

Mucking About (Right:) The Mucker, one of Burroughs’ most offbeat creations, is drawn by Lee Moder.

Here’s his dramatic introduction into the feature, in the very first strip. Colors by Meeraj Menon, lettering by Troy Peteri. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

A Confederate Officer Goes To Mars (Below:) John Carter (the small nude Earthman riding behind a Thark on the back of a thoat—can you see him?) enters his first Martian city in this panel from the ninth installment of John Carter, Warlord of Mars, one of the newest additions to ERB, Inc.’s, line of Web comics. The established Mexican artist who signs himself “Pegaso” pencils the strip, heading a team composed of inker Salvador López, background artist Guadalupe Rivera, colorist Carolina Sánchez, and letterer Olivia Peña. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

[Continued from p. 58] Pablo Marcos’ arrival was immediately noticed by Martin Powell, who thought Pablo would be perfect for the next strip he wanted to write: The Land That Time Forgot. After seeing Pablo’s work on Tarzan of the Apes, I couldn’t agree more. And Pablo was very anxious to contribute to this additional strip.

Earlier, I had been introduced to writer Ron Marz by artist Joe Jusko at a San Diego Comic-Con. As we further developed our Web

(Above:) Rick Leonardi’s first published comics artwork appeared in Thor #303 (Jan. 1981), but he’s been busy this past nigh-quarter-century, with work for Marvel (Spider-Man 2099, Cloak and Dagger, et al.) and DC (Nightwing, Batgirl, etc.), as well as for various independents.

comic strip program in 2014, Ron indicated an interest in joining in on the fun. He has been writing comics for decades and credits ERB as a big influence on his becoming a writer. His interest was in both The Mucker and Korak, and he had artists in mind to do

Rodolfo Pérez Garcia (“Pegaso”) has been drawing professionally since age 17, beginning with such features as Turok and Mexico’s El Hombre Invisible and Blue Demon.

He is currently part of the team that produces El Libro Vaquero, a series that has thrived in Mexico for 36 years; he also does storyboards and teaches illustration and painting. The pen name “Pegaso” is a fusion of his own last name and that of his wife, Olivia Peña Soto, who is also an illustrator.

To purchase original John Carter art, e-mail logralo@gmail.com

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The Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Web Comics Line

Chuck Dixon, noted for his work on Eclipse’s Airboy & DC’s “Batman.”

The At-The-Earth’s-Corps A “splash panel” from the first strip of the ERB, Inc. Pellucidar series, as written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Gary Kwapisz. This feature is a continuation of Burroughs’ series that began with the novel At the Earth’s Core. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

them. I’ve always wanted to see The Mucker become a comic strip.

Billy Byrne was such a colorful guy, rough and ready for anything.

He was the one anti-hero in all of ERB’s creations. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I first saw artist Lee Moder’s rendition of The Mucker, I knew we had another great comic strip to add to our growing gallery. We also decided Korak the Killer was the right title for a strip starring Jack, son of Tarzan. Artist Rick Leonardi came in and added his special interpretation of Korak to much acclaim.

While The Mucker is following that book as written, Korak the Killer is its own special adventure.

What followed next was one of our crowning achievements. We had licensed the comic book rights to Marvel Entertainment in connection with Disney’s movie spectacular John Carter. Once we decided to expand our online comics beyond Tarzan and began adding so many new and exciting strips, an obvious omission was John Carter of Mars. We approached Marvel, which held the rights for Disney, to see if we could get special permissions to start a John Carter strip. This led to lengthy discussions, and ERB, Inc., eventually repurchased the comic rights from Marvel. At that point, we were in a position to launch a John Carter line of comic books as well as comic strips. This was a triple win. We settled our litigation with Dynamite Entertainment, licensed Dynamite to publish new John Carter comic books, and launched a brand new John Carter, Warlord of Mars online comic strip.

Roy Thomas had expressed a particular interest in such a strip soon after he and Tom Grindberg had launched their Tarzan, and we were delighted to have him write another, and very important, strip for us. Roy brought in the artist Pegaso (Rodolfo Perez Garcia) from Mexico City. Pegaso has a whole team of profes-

sionals working on the strip, and the quality of that joint effort shows throughout the strip. This also gave us the opportunity to feature this strip in Spanish. For the first time we adopted a foreign language component to our online web comic program. And other strips may soon follow in Spanish.

After absorbing this major development, we finally had a chance to step back to evaluate our progress. As we stopped to review the full eleven strips we now had up and running, we knew we had to make a decision about the future: Round this out to an even dozen and stop, or go forward and put up all the strips we could to fully commemorate ERB’s incredible contribution to adventure literature throughout his writing career. Our Board of Directors, which includes family representation, Gary Kwapisz, decided we should honor his legacy and who drew a mean move forward to bring to current generaConan the tions a visual display of the creative imagiBarbarian for nation of a writer who so influenced later Marvel in the 1980s. science fiction adventures, such as Flash Gordon, Superman, Star Wars, and Avatar, and influenced the chosen career of so many young people who drew their inspiration from ERB’s novels. As Ray Bradbury said: “More careers were influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs than any other writer in history.”

As I write this article, The Monster Men is scheduled to become our next web comic strip, to round out our comic gallery to an even dozen. Tom Simmons will be the writer, with Erik Roman as penciler, Cristian Docolomansky Cerda as inker, and L. Jamal Walton the colorist and letterer. And after that, we will consider other popular ERB storylines, such as The Moon Men, Beyond the Farthest Star, The Lost Continent (aka Beyond Thirty), The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw, The Outlaw of Torn, The Mad King, The Girl from Hollywood, and several others. As our program continues, stay tuned for more ground breaking developments….

James J. Sullos, Jr., is the President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., owner of the copyrights and trademarks related to the literary creations of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950). He assumed that office in May 2008, and has served on the Board of Directors since 1994. Before that, he served as the outside accountant for the company.

Mr. Sullos was previously a partner in the Long Jim Sullos.

Beach, California, accounting firm of Windes, Inc., and retired after 30 years as a partner. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Occidental College and a Masters in Business Administration degree from Columbia University.

To sample and/or subscribe to the full EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, INC., line of web comics for only $1.99 per month or $21.99 per year, check out: www.edgarriceburroughs.com/comics/. The website currently features twelve mostly-weekly comic strips, all in full color, with new sequences constantly being added.

SPECIAL NOTE: The following six pages feature examples of the first dozen ERB, Inc., web comics, in several cases sequences specifically chosen by the writer and/or artist. All are © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

ERB – Online

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ERB – Online

65

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ERB – Online

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Superboys (Above:) Wayne Boring penciled and Stan Kaye inked this classic Superboy #1 cover (March 1949). [© DC Comics.]

(Right:) Young William Aronis holds his trophy at the New York World’s Fair, 1940.

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Whatever Happened To The Boy of Tomorrow?

(Part 2)

by Michael T. Gilbert

L

ast issue, we presented a fascinating interview with Bill Aronis (rhymes with Adonis!). Currently in his late 80s, Bill won the title of Superboy as part of a Superman Day contest at the 1940 New York World’s Fair. This time, Shaun Clancy concludes his interview with Mr. Aronis, discussing Bill’s visit with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster back in ’40!

William Aronis Interview 11/11/13

by Shaun Clancy Transcription by Steven Thompson SHAUN CLANCY: Did you have a regimen of diet? Are you a vegetarian?

WILLIAM ARONIS: No, I like to eat; but my wife, she’s kind of a dietician, I guess.

SC: Any broken bones?

ARONIS: I fell about 9 years ago in my back yard, dislocated my shoulder but its okay now. I never had a broken bone.

SC: Can you tell me what your workout regimen was? Was it twice a week? Was it every day?

ARONIS: We had a club, called the [unintelligible] Weightlifting Club. John Davis used to work out at our club from time to time, and we produced Dave Sheppard. I started him weightlifting, and he became world champion. But unfortunately, he died a few years ago. I don’t know why, what happened to him.

Strike A Pose!

This Photoshopped photo shows how Bill might have looked wearing his namesake’s famous costume. [Superboy TM & © 2014 DC Comics.]

SC: What about your joints… the cartilage on the joints and such?

ARONIS: I’m okay. I’ve got that stiffness that comes with old age.

Still working on it, cutting trees down and things like that. I have a handicapped wife, and I don’t have any time to work out because she needs my almost constant attention.

SC: Well, at 87 it’s fine to be okay. When did you stop entering contests?

ARONIS: I was still entering local contests when I was 70 years old. But they had to be nearby, because I couldn’t travel very far because I was taking care of the wife.

SC: When you mentioned that you met Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, was that the same weekend as the World’s Fair event, or did they schedule you to come by their offices?

ARONIS: It must have been within that week. I really don’t remember. They showed me how they made the cartoons and things like that, and they showed me that file cabinet. I remember them pulling it out, showing me a whole bunch of 8 by 20s... I guess they were photos or drawings, something like that. Like I said, after that I never saw them again.

SC: When you went to meet them, were your parents with you?

The Winnahs!

Another photo of Superman Day winners Bill and Maureen. [© the respective copyright holders.]

ARONIS: No, I went by myself. For some reason or other, my parents didn’t take much interest in it. I think I went during the day, and they both worked.

SC: Did you read comics at that time? Or at all?

Whatever Happened To The Boy Of Tomorrow (Part 2)

ARONIS: I didn’t read them as a habit. But the Superman comic, on the back, had a coupon to enter the contest. Have you ever seen that?

SC: Yes, I have seen that.

ARONIS: If you could make a picture and send it to me I’d like to see it.

SC: Sure. I have a flyer for the Superman event, too. So that’s what made you want to do this contest? You read it in a comic book, decided, “I wanna try this” and you went. Did you have to pay to go?

ARONIS: No! Everything was free.

SC: Do you remember anything about the event itself?

ARONIS: No. I remember getting on the train. I lived in Astoria, which was only about 20 miles from the Fair, and that’s it. Do you know where LaGaurdia Field is now? It’s a short distance from the World’s Fair grounds. Remember Shea Stadium?

SC: Of course.

ARONIS: Well, that all used to be swamp when we were kids, and we used to swim in the swamp. [Shaun laughs] The World’s Fair was held on Flushing Meadows. It’s a waterlogged area.

SC: Did you meet the actor dressed up as Superman?

ARONIS: No, I don’t think we ever met him.

SC: The Macy’s Parade? You never saw the Macy’s Parade?

ARONIS: Well, I’ve been to several Macy’s Parades. We took our children.

SC: Right. But not that day. Not that weekend. Okay. I’ll make you a copy of this video I have. It’s about 9 or 10 minutes. It’s not out there for sale, but I’ll send it to you and I’d love to hear your reaction to this event.

Maybe there’s something that’ll spark a memory for you. There was also a Superman puppet show. There was an elephant ride with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster… and of course Charles Atlas is there on Superman Day. I want to re-look and see if he’s actually there handing out the awards. Was Charles Atlas there when the award ceremony happened?

ARONIS: Yeah, he’s the one that picked me out. They were up on this pavilion thing, a round one, like a bandstand, and he picked me out. I could tell he was the actual person doing the judging.

The other people, they didn’t know anything about physical culture.

Young Clark!

Jeffrey Silver played a young Clark Kent in the 1952 Adventures of Superman TV pilot, “Superman on Earth!”

Francis Morris did the honors as Sarah Kent. [© DC Comics.]

71

Was he alone, or did he have other people involved with his company there? Did you go to his office?

ARONIS: When I went to his office, it was just a dinky little office with a desk, about 12 by 12.

SC: He was already dead when I joined in ’84 or ’83.

I sent away for it. I still have mine. It’s just isometrics, where you’re pulling against your own muscles. That’s what his whole basis was. That course hasn’t changed. The pictures of him are from the 1920s and ‘30s... so it’s a course that’s regurgitated over and over again.

ARONIS: He used to go to Coney Island on what they called Bay 15, which was Coney Island’s Muscle Beach. I never saw him there, myself, but I learned from other Superboy On TV Sort Of! people that he used to go We finally got to see a live Superboy in there before my time. costume when Johnny Rockwell donned the Something else I have to super suit for a 1961 TV pilot. Unfortunately, tell you... the Charles the show wasn’t picked up and a Superboy TV Atlas company is still in show didn’t hit the small screen until 1988. business in New Jersey Oddly enough, in the first episode of the 1952 and, about three or four Adventures of Superman TV series, Jor-El was years ago... I don’t know played by another Rockwell, Robert Rockwell how they found me, but (no relation to Johnny). Like father, like son! they contacted me. They [© DC Comics.] asked me a bunch of questions and they talked me into sending them the pictures that I’m telling you about, and after that I’ve never heard from them again.

SC: [laughs] Everybody’s trying to look for you now, huh?

ARONIS: They’re trying to capitalize on me. I never get anything, and right now we need it.

SC: Well, would you ever sell the trophy? The Superman trophy?

ARONIS: [laughs] Who would I sell ‘em to?

SC: Did he give you any advice on working out?

SC: The Superman Day trophy has got to be some type of collectible, even broken. I’m sure it’s worth something.

ARONIS: No, no advice. He just wanted to sell me his course. [laughs]

SC: If you want me to check into it, I can.

SC: Geez!

ARONIS: I never thought of that.

ARONIS: I’ll have to ask my children if they want my leftover stuff. I doubt they will.

SC: You never had any more involvement with Superman after this event? There was nothing else?

ARONIS: No. No more. You know, our oldest son is a retired Green Beret. He’s 63 years old. Our daughter died. We raised her

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Pumping Iron!

Bill competed in the 1947 Senior Nationals. [© 2014 Bill Aronis]

two children. Our youngest son is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

SC: Wow. And your wife is still with us? I just talked to her, didn’t I? ARONIS: Yeah, my wife is still living. She used to be a professional photographer. She used to photograph the opera singers at Carnegie Hall, but that’s all gone now. It’s in the past.

SC: Do you have anything else to add before I get off the phone and start e-mailing you? Perhaps my e-mails will bring back some memories.

ARONIS: You know what? When we moved on this street, we lived right in front of a cornfield, and when we first moved in, we were the youngest people on the block. Today, we are the oldest.

All the people on the block are about 1/3 our age. We say hello as we go down the street, but we don’t know anybody.

SC: I was in that area just two weeks ago. I went to Patterson, New Jersey, and Greenwich and Waterbury, Connecticut. I was all around that whole area doing research. I wish I’d gotten this magazine a little earlier. I would have loved to have met you there. If anything comes to mind, please contact me. I’d love to see what the trophy looks like, and I’m sure there’s a market for it if you ever want to sell it.

ARONIS: Oh, my God! I wanna thank you for making me feel good.

Pumping Iron Too! Clark does some weightlifting on the cover of Adventure Comics #103 (April 1946), whose art is attributed to Joe Shuster (pencils) and Stan Kaye (inks). Starting with this issue, the “Superboy” cover feature migrated from More Fun Comics to Adventure, where it enjoyed a decades-long run. [© DC Comics].

SC: No problem! [looking through some materials] Here’s [the Superman Day ad].

Still not sure where it originally appeared. Looks comic book-sized, though. Found it in the book The DC

Vault. [NOTE FROM TRANSCRIBER STEPHEN THOMPSON: The interesting thing here is that, unlike other contemporary mentions of the contest, this one actually does separate the athletic games from the Superboy and Supergirl Contest! You could sign up for one or the other or both.

This explains how Bill was not involved in the athletics and yet still won.]

ARONIS: I never saw this pamphlet.

Superboy Meets Supergirl!

There was a Superboy #5 (Nov. 1949) introduced a costumed gal coupon on the named Supergirl. She wasn’t really super, but she back of the comic sure was cute! Cover by John Sikila. [© DC Comics.] book and I sent it in. When I got to the fair, I saw the field games in progress and did not enter. I went to the pavilion and waited until things started; when my name was called, I stepped forward. I was not aware of any age requirements.

I heard a woman yelling but did not know what it was about. I know nothing of an interview except our pictures being taken.

Nobody asked me about my age. After the excitement was over, I was alone and went home. Sometime later I met Atlas, and later Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. I never received any royalties of any kind except the trophy.

THE END

Postscript Bill mentions hearing “a woman yelling.” An article in The New York Times the next day described how “a crowd of 3000” cheered on thirty finalists, half boys and half girls. They also noted a minor controversy in which one 13-year-old contestant’s mother complained that Bill, at 15, was too old to compete. By the stated rules, Bill actually was a bit over the age limit, but fortunately for him, the judges (consisting of Ray Middleton, Frank Buck, Morris Gest, and Charles Atlas) stood by their decision.

Those interested in reading more about Superman day can check out the Superman through the Ages website at: http://theages.ac/fortress/supermanday/ Shaun’s interview was inspired by a message Bill sent to the site. In June 2006 Bill wrote: Sir,

Are you aware that at the 1939 [sic] Worlds Fair held at Flushing Meadows, Queens in NYC there was a contest sponsored by ‘Super Man’ comics to select a ‘Super Boy & Girl’.

Whatever Happened To The Boy Of Tomorrow (Part 2)

73

There was an entry coupon on the back of the comic book.

I won the boys event and Maureen Reynolds won the girls. The judges were some notable people but Charles Atlas really was the deciding judge.

I still have the trophy and photo taken of us. Also a photo appeared of us in the NY Times paper.

After the event I visited the office of Superman comics and met the authors. I lived in Astoria, Queens, at the time and I believe Maureen lived in Manhattan. Thought you would like to know.

Thanks Bill Aronis Kingston, NY

The Superman website noted that Mr. Aronis went on become a competitive weightlifter. As recently as 1996 he was still competing, and actually came in third in the World Masters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After winning the Superboy trophy, Bill later had another brush with fame during a weightlifting contest: “I lifted in 1947, the same night Steve Reeves won Mr. America.

There was a tie for the Mr. America, so there was a re-judge.

Reeves won. The other guy was just as good but very short and not as handsome. I did not lift my best. It was in June and it was very hot. I lifted about 30 lbs. below my best. Reeves went to Hollywood later, then to European movies. He died young at 76 in 2000.”

Reeves of course gained fame through two Hercules movies in

Weight, Weight, Don’t Tell Me! Bill in his weightlifting heyday. Courtesy of William Aronis. [© the respective copyright holders.]

the late ’50s. Not a bad guy to compete with! Our thanks to Shaun Clancy, Bill Aronis, Steven Thompson, and the Superman through the Ages website.

Till next time...

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a registered trademark of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D'Oro Entertainment, Inc.

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BOOKS

TM

C o l l e c t o r

#189 October 2012

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; other art © 2014 Jay Piscopo.]

76

So this book isn’t a novel or movie-material. Is it a book of philosophy? No. Is it a book about writers? No—(except me). A book of science? No. Then, for goodness sake, what is it? How can I classify it?

Art ©2014 Mark Lewis

I dunno. I give up. It’s just a—book! Anyway, I warned you in the beginning that it was going to turn out like this… just ramblings through the untracked wilderness of my mind. This isn’t even a true autobiography, which the title seems to suggest. They aren’t actual memoirs. At least, not the kind where a man in his ripeness of years looks back melodiously on a long and fruitful life, and records for posterity the highlights of his career.

Part X

O

Abridged & Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

tto Oscar Binder (1911-1974), the prolific science-fiction and comic book writer renowned for authoring over half of the Marvel Family saga for Fawcett Publications, wrote the book Memoirs of a Nobody in 1948 at the age of 37, during what was arguably the most imaginative period within the repertoire of Captain Marvel stories.

Aside from intermittent details about himself, Binder’s capricious chronicle resembles very little in the way of anything that is indeed autobiographical. Unearthed several years ago from Binder’s file materials at Texas A&M University, Memoirs is self-described by its author as “ramblings through the untracked wilderness of my mind.” Binder’s potpourri of stray philosophical beliefs, pet peeves, theories, and anecdotes were written in freewheeling fashion and devoid of any charted course— other than allowing his mind to flow with no restricting parameters. The abridged and edited manuscript—serialized here within the pages of FCA—will nonetheless provide glimpses into the idiosyncratic and fanciful mind of Otto O. Binder.

In this 10th excerpt, Otto endeavors to evaluate his Memoirs thus far in a chapter he entitled “The Great ‘What-Is-It?’ Mystery.”

—P.C. Hamerlinck.

Come to think of it, you don’t know much of my past at all, do you? Shall I tell you? Silence is consent, so…

I was born. 1911. I walked in due time. I talked in due time. I went to school. I grew up. I went through high school and two years of college. I had three jobs. The Great Depression came along.

No job. I wrote fiction. My brother Earl and I began to collaborate together, as Eando (E. and O.) Binder. We began to sell stories. My brother left writing for a more secure job. I sashayed from Chicago to New York. I wore down the editors and sold more stories. I got married. I bought a house. And here I am.

Those are my memoirs, all of them. That’s settled. That still leaves me in a hole as to what this book is, but maybe I’ll figure it out by the end. Oh yes, it will have an end. I promise you. May lightning strike me dead if it doesn’t.

You know, they say the best-written memoirs are those in which the pronoun “I” seldom appears. That a writer of such should go ruthlessly through his manuscript and strike out all the “I’s,”

A

t this point (somewhere around the middle), perhaps it is time for me to sit back and assess this book. What is it turning out to be? So far, I must confess, it is neither fish nor fowl. It isn’t animal, mineral, or vegetable. What is it? I give you 300 guesses.

If you can come up with an answer, I’ll be much obliged. Is this book entertaining and humorous? Strike that question off the record, quick. Is this book informative?

That’s it! I informed you that neurotics, for instance, run the world. Wait… as I remember, I reversed my position to where non-neurotics run the world. That made the amount of information cancel out to zero. No, this is not an informative book, either.

Is this book a novel? No, obviously not. In fact, I have come to the gleeful conclusion already that this is one book that Hollywood can’t make a picture out of! They just can’t. It has no plot, no story, no start or finish, no nothing. Even the mastermind book-twisters of Hollywood can’t by any stretch of imagination make a picture out of this. What a triumph that is! Isn’t it great?

This is one book they can’t buy, and pay a half million for, and turn into a picture. The joke is sure on them.

I Love A Mystery As Otto O. Binder attempted to unravel the mystery of his own Memoirs, he also wrote many mysterious comic book stories such as “Captain Marvel Jr. and the Lemming Mystery” (CM Jr. #57, Jan. 1948); art by Bud Thompson. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Memoirs Of A Nobody—Part 10

77

“me’s,” and “mine’s”—can you just picture the foregoing with all the “I’s” taken out? What would be left? And suddenly, the answer stares me starkly in the face…

This book is about me!

I catch on quick. Yes, leave us face it. That’s the sum total of it all. My soul laid bare. My mind dissected. My thoughts strung out like clothes on a line. My ruminations and cogitations and ponderations and indigestions served up with all the subtleness and nicety of a blow on the chin.

Okay, that’s it. Enough said. Now that we understand each other, let’s go on. That is, I’m going on. Oh dash it, there’s that “I” again. So this writer is going on. Yours truly has more to say, take it or leave it, and no hard feelings. This humble soul feels he must continue, come hell or high water, till he has reached the back cover of the book. That’s the only real goal your reporter has in mind.

See? I can do it! I can write without “I’s”! I—uh—er—oh well, I tried.

So as I was saying… come to think of it, I wasn’t saying anything. Let’s start a new chapter. This one sort of ran itself into the mud.

Next: CONFUCIUS SAY…

A Captain Marvel “Preunion”?

In this Memoirs installment, Otto Binder actually ventures down a biographical boulevard (briefly), noting his early days of fiction when he wrote in unison with his brother Earl under the pseudonym “Eando Binder.” The Binders’ “The Elixir of Death” appeared in the March 1937 edition of Weird Tales; cover art by Margaret Brundage.

The issue also featured “The Werewolf Snarls” by another future “Captain Marvel” writer, Manly Wade Wellman. [© the respective copyright holders.]

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78

“Captain Marvel And The Haunted House” A Page-By-Page Analysis

by C.C. Beck Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

[As a one-shot forerunner to Captain Marvel Adventures, Fawcett Publications published in the summer of 1940 Special Edition Comics—a solo-book experimentation in reaction to the Captain’s growing popularity after his debut in Whiz Comics earlier that same year. SEC featured four new straight-adventure tales—the second one involving the mystery of a cursed, ghost-haunted house after the death of its millionaire owner. In 1985, Captain Marvel’s co-creator and chief artist C.C. Beck looked back to critique the chilling adventure he had codrawn 45 years prior. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

“C

aptain Marvel and the Haunted House” appeared in Special Edition Comics. The story was typical of the early material featuring Captain Marvel and his other self, Billy Batson. There are many panels of narrative copy in the pages, but there are no eye-blasting scenes of violence, slaughter, and grotesque nonsense of the sort seen in other comic books of the time (and in many of today’s comics).

Bill Parker wrote the story and Pete Costanza and I produced the art. Pete supplied most of the striking backgrounds that gave the story its visual appeal… while I laid out the pages and drew all the figures. It was one of the earliest stories that Pete and I worked

on together. Whenever we collaborated on a story it always came out better than when we did things separately, and we had a great time working together when we did.

Although Captain Marvel appeared in the title splash on page 1, he does not actually emerge in the story until page 13… and Billy Batson is not seen until page 4. In those days we didn’t force our readers to accept an artist’s view of how a story should be told, but left as much as possible to the writer.

The second page contains some very interesting scenes (drawn mostly by Costanza) that build up the mood of the story now unfolding. The artwork conveys details not described in the copy but implied.

On the third page, the excitement starts to increase and the action picks up speed … and on the following page a revolver is fired, marking the story’s first act of violence.

By the fifth page Billy is now in the story and gets himself involved in the action. The fourth panel is quite impressive, not at all a conventional “action shot” as commonly understood.

The action increases on page 6, but it’s still not very violent. The

Now You See Him… The opening title panel to “Captain Marvel and the Haunted House” (Special Edition Comics #1, Summer 1940). The Big Red Cheese wouldn’t show up again until page 13. Script by Bill Parker; art by C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

“Captain Marvel And The Haunted House”

79

around—but it worked back in the old days!

The action rises again on page 11: Billy is seized, escapes, and runs through shadowy but distinct surroundings. On the next page, the suspense hits a highenough point of the story where Billy finally has to call on Captain Marvel.

For Pete’s Sake Beck valued his time working with Costanza. As he pointed out about this particular panel that appeared halfway through the story, his working partner’s knowledge of structural design and establishing surroundings kept Captain Marvel’s adventures from coming across as overly “cartoony.” [Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

last panel helps to augment the mystery of the story. The following page contains more action, the mystery intensifies, and things get more and more exciting. At page 8 there is still no Captain Marvel in the story; Billy doesn’t need him yet. We all knew that ushering a powerful hero into a story prematurely would bring things to an end too quickly.

The central panel on page 9 is a fine example of Pete Costanza’s work. Pete knew a lot more about architecture and settings than I did and he kept my work from being too “cartoony.”

We’re now over halfway through the story (page 10) and Captain Marvel still hasn’t appeared yet. There are not too many comic book publishers today that would allow this kind of stalling

There’s plenty of action now on page 13, but it’s not overdone—no violent perspectives, no distorted bodies. The subsequent page reveals that Captain Marvel wasn’t invulnerable yet—that came later. He also couldn’t fly yet, either.

On page 15 Captain Marvel displays some of his powers, but sparingly. If the reader wants to imagine that he’s flying on the page’s second panel, that’s fine—but I didn’t show Captain Marvel flying. By repeating the setting shown on page 11, the contrast between Billy and Marvel is made visible.

Captain Marvel catches the crooks on page 16, but he doesn’t beat them up just to show off his power. He was interesting enough in those days without acting like a demented flying avenger or an impossible weirdo zooming around in a flapping cape.

Part of the mystery of the haunted house is solved by Captain Marvel on page 17, but a major portion to the story remains. On the succeeding page, the central panel shows Captain Marvel lifting a building, which is quite a feat but necessary to the plot. He didn’t lift it with one finger and fly away with it, as he might do in

The Goblins Will Get You If You Don’t Watch Out!

Look Before You Leap… Leap Before You Fly

As the suspense builds, Billy Batson is apprehended by the house’s “ghost” on Page 11. Beck said they tried not to have Billy call on Captain Marvel too soon … but it’s clearly almost time to say the word. [Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

Beck points out that, when this story was published during the first year of Captain Marvel’s existence, the hero wasn’t flying just yet. In this panel from page 14, what may look like flying is actually one mighty leap.

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

80

Moving Day Early on, not every feat was a piece of cake for Captain Marvel to perform, such as lifting the building on page 18. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

today’s stories.

On the final page, with his work done, Captain Marvel disappears and Billy takes over and brings the story to a close. As a reporter, Billy could talk to the reader as if speaking over the radio.

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Comic books in which the costumed hero himself speaks to the readers always seemed to me to take some of the magic out of the stories. It is too much like seeing a famous actor without his makeup and acting like anyone else— or stupider.

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #64

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“When Comics Were Fun!” HEMBECK cover and gallery, Plastic Man, Blue Devil, Marvel’s Star Comics imprint, VALENTINO’s normalman, Bronze Age’s goofiest Superman stories, and the Batman/Dick Tracy team-up you didn’t see! Featuring MAX ALLAN COLLINS, PARIS CULLINS, RAMONA FRADON, ALAN KUPPERBERG, MISHKIN & COHN, STEVE SKEATES, JOE STATON, CURT SWAN, and more!

“Weird Issue!” Batman’s Weirdest TeamUps, ORLANDO’s Weird Adventure Comics, Weird War Tales, Weird Mystery Tales, DITKO’s Shade the Changing Man and Stalker, CHAYKIN’s Iron Wolf, CRUMB’s Weirdo, and STARLIN and WRIGHTSON’s The Weird! Featuring JIM APARO, LUIS DOMINGUEZ, MICHAEL FLEISHER, BOB HANEY, PAUL LEVITZ, and more. Batman and Deadman cover by ALAN CRADDOCK.

“Charlton Action Heroes in the Bronze Age!” DAVE GIBBONS on Charlton’s WATCHMEN connection, LEN WEIN and PARIS CULLINS’ Blue Beetle, CARY BATES and PAT BRODERICK’s Captain Atom, Peacemaker, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, and a look at Blockbuster Weekly! Featuring MIKE COLLINS, GIORDANO, KUPPERBERG, ALAN MOORE, PAT MORISI, ALEX ROSS, and more. Cover by AL MILGROM.

“Flash and Green Lantern in the Bronze Age” (crossover with ALTER EGO #132)! In-depth spotlights of their 1970s and 1980s adventures, MARK WAID’s look at the Flash/GL team, and PAUL KUPPERBERG’s Lost GL Fillins. Bonus: DC’s New York Office Memories, and an interview with the winner of the 1979 Wonder Woman Contest. With BARR, BATES, GIBBONS, GRELL, INFANTINO, WEIN, and more. Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ.

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #65

ALTER EGO #131

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SUPER-SOLDIERS! We declassify Captain America, Fighting American, Sgt. Fury, The Losers, Pvt. Strong, Boy Commandos, and a tribute to Simon & Kirby! PLUS: a Kirby interview about Captain America, MARK EVANIER and other columnists, key 1940s’50s events in Kirby’s career, unseen pencils and unused art from OMAC, SILVER STAR, CAPTAIN AMERICA (in the 1960s AND ‘70s), the LOSERS, & more! KIRBY cover!

ANYTHING GOES (AGAIN)! Another potpourri issue with a comparison of Jack Kirby’s work vs. the design genius of ALEX TOTH, a lengthy Kirby interview, a look at Kirby’s work with WALLY WOOD, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, unseen and unused Kirby art from JIMMY OLSEN, KAMANDI, MARVELMANIA, Jack’s COMIC STRIP & ANIMATION WORK, and more!

GERRY CONWAY interviewed about his work as star Marvel/DC writer in the early ‘70s (from the creation of The Punisher to the death of Gwen Stacy) with art by ROMITA, COLAN, KANE, PLOOG, BUSCEMA, MORROW, TUSKA, ADAMS, SEKOWSKY, the SEVERINS, and others!

Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more!

75 YEARS of THE FLASH and GREEN LANTERN (a crossover with BACK ISSUE #80)! INFANTINO, KANE, KUBERT, ELIAS, LAMPERT, HIBBARD, NODELL, HASEN, TOTH, REINMAN, SEKOWSKY, Golden Age JSA and Dr. Mid-Nite artist ARTHUR PEDDY’s stepson interviewed, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more!

Gentleman JIM MOONEY gets a featurelength spotlight, in an in-depth interview conducted by DR. JEFF McLAUGHLIN— never before published! Featuring plenty of rare and unseen MOONEY ART from Batman & Robin, Supergirl, Spider-Man, Legion of Super-Heroes, Tommy Tomorrow, and others! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

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MIKE ALLRED and BOB BURDEN cover and interviews, “Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman” cartoonist DAVID BOSWELL interviewed, a chat with RICH BUCKLER, SR. about everything from Deathlok to a new career as surrealistic painter; Tales of the Zombie artist PABLO MARCOS speaks; Israeli cartoonist RUTU MODAN; plus an extensive essay on European Humor Comics!

DAVE DORMAN demonstrates his painting techniques for sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book cover, LeSEAN THOMAS (character designer and co-director of The Boondocks and Black Dynamite: The Animated Series) gives advice on today’s animation industry, new columnist JERRY ORDWAY shows his working process, plus more Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.

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