Tarzan - The Jesse Marsh Years Omnibus - Volume One!

By the time Dell Comics entered the realm of Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs' greatest creation had become a small industry. Tarzan had conquered printed prose with twenty novels in evidence by ERB, and had conquered comic strips under the guidance of talents like Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth. Tarzan was a steady entertainment on the big screen with decades of films on the roster. And there had been Tarzan comics but mostly they were reprints of the strips. When Dell picked up the character and tried it out in the venerable Four Color series they created new stories and featured new artwork by an talent who would be associated with the character for  many years to come -- Jesse Marsh. 

Tarzan debuted at Dell in Four Color #134 in early 1947. The story was written by longtime comic strip scribe Robert Thompson and Marsh drew the Ape Man for the very first time. The story is humdinger as are most all these early Dell outings. They are fitted with enough plot and doings for a small movie feature, and likely that was the idea. "Tarzan and the Devil Ogre" has Tarzan meet a woman looking for her lost father who himself was seeking gold. Tarzan and D'Arnot join the safari to find and rescue this man led by a white hunter who turns out to be untrustworthy. The expedition ends up in forbidden territory in which a savage tribe worships a powerful "ogre". There is death and destruction before Tarzan is able to finally save not only himself but some of his allies. 

Four Color #161 was released later in 1947 and again Thompson and Marsh are the creative team. This time Tarzan and D'Arnot are again helping a father and daughter in a lost safari find their way to the lost city of Tohr. They encounter many dangers but none so ferocious and cruel as the woman who leads the people of Tohr and who uses ancient sacrificial practices to enforce her rule. This one had all the elements one would expect of a Burroughs novel and some hair-raising action to boot. This apparently was an adaptation of a radio script by Thompson. 

Dell decides pretty quickly that Tarzan deserves his own title and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan #1 is on the stands by early 1948. In this story by Thompson featuring more handsome Marsh art Tarzan meets the "White Savages of Vari'". This is another lost civilization of brutish men led for the moment by an evil witch doctor. The rightful queen is a prisoner, but Tarzan soon brings his will to bear and the situation is changed but not without significant violence and conflict. 

The second issue of Tarzan brings on a new writer in the Dell standby Gaylord Dubois. This time it is a young boy seeking his father and Tarzan helps him to do just that. There is still that epic feel to the story and more significant interplay with the animals of the territory. Apes play a big part in this story. The presence of a young lad in the yarn was paving the way for a change in the nature of the stories that Dell planned to tell. Dell also had initiated in the first issue and continued in this one a feature which listed many of the words from "Tarzan's Ape-English" dictionary. These words presented in alphabetical order offer up the names of the creatures along with some very handsome Marsh illustrations. It should be noted that not only the front covers, but the back covers as well of these Tarzan comics featured original art Marsh not repeated in the book. Wonderful stuff, a solid package. 

"The Dwarves of Didona" is the story from the third Tarzan comic and introduces a new family situation for ERB's King of the Jungle. Jane is brought into the story (though never named) and "Boy" makes his first appearance. The family live in the treehouse much as they did in the classic MGM movies and it's a very homespun atmosphere. Dell was intent in their comics to make sure they were producing family-friendly material and the introduction of this kinder and somewhat gentler Tarzan certainly served that desire. Tarzan has to go to a hidden island inhabited by deadly dwarves when his son Boy accidentally ends up there after being carried by witless baboons. 

"Tarzan and the Lone Hunter" introduces the region of Pal-Ul-Don to the pages of Dell's Tarzan universe. This territory of strange people and dinosaurs is very popular in the novels with Tarzan making more than a few excursions to it. Here a lone member of the strange race from the territory comes to Tarzan to seek his help in finding his mate who was chased by outlaws and seemingly escaped but might well be dead. Tarzan obliges. The cover showcases a nigh Eden-like atmosphere for Tarzan and his family. 

"Tarzan and the Men of Greed" is a title that could fit many a jungle yarn starring ERB's King of the Apes. In this instance Tarzan is forced to lead an expedition to the lost city of Opar. Despite the fact the savage men of Opar are all dead along with their queen La, the greedy men run afoul of savage apes who guard the vast treasury of gold. Only Tarzan and his family return. The deadly violence is cleverly hidden by Marsh in his panel designs, but the story makes little secret of what happens to the men. 

"Tarzan and the Outlaws of Pal-ul-Don" brings back the strange territory. This time Tarzan and Boy head there, crossing a desert and some forbidding snowy peaks to enter the land of roaming Triceratops and Sabre-tooth Tigers. They are seeking to rescue Jane who has been kidnapped by the aforementioned outlaws. Tarzan enlists of the help of his many allies in the land he rescues Jane from the clutches of the criminals. Boy is along every step of the way. 

In "Tarzan in The Valley of the Monsters" Boy and a friend Dombie launch a balloon which haplessly floats into a strange valley filled with dinosaurs. Tarzan and Dombie's Dad used a plane to try and catch up to the boys but all of them end up crashed in the deadly valley. They find allies in people who live among the dinosaurs but when they are able to at least escape the valley enshrouded by a volcanic cloud. 

"Tarzan and The White Pygmies" picks up right after the last issue as Tarzan and Boy and their allies try to walk back home. They encounter a tribe of pygmies who are having difficulties with giant buzzards. Tarzan devises a scheme to help them help themselves in that regard. One note is that Morris Gollub takes on the cover duties with this issue creating an Eden-like image of Tarzan and assorted wild creatures. Gollub will create the next several covers. 

"Tarzan and the Men of A -Lur" has the King of the Jungle involved in an uprising in Pal-Ul-Don between various important cities and their leaders. Tarzan calls upon his allies in that strange dinosaur-laden land to help. He also makes effective use of an enormous elephant that travels into the region. The Ape-English Dictionary nears its alphabetical end and is reduced to a single inside cover page. The other is used for a subscription ad for the comic. 

"Tarzan and the Treasure of the Bolgani" is a truly strange tale in which Tarzan combats a city full of intelligent gorillas (Gorilla Grodd anyone?). These hostile apes enslave human beings to work for them by shrinking them in a strange device. Tarzan though while small retains his strength and becomes less vulnerable to weapons. He is able to lead a revolt against these strange creatures. 

"Tarzan and the Sable Lion" begins with Tarzan battling and then to some extent taming a ferocious lion. Then he discovers that a village has been captured by slavers and just by chance so have Jane and Boy. Collecting what allies he can from the wild he goes to free the captives and wreak some hard justice on the slavers themselves. 

"Tarzan and the Price of Peace" is all about love. Tarzan stumbles across a forlorn lover who tells Tarzan how he cannot afford to win the hand of the girl who loves him also. Tarzan intervenes and arranges for the couple to escape their village. As they are doing this they encounter more slavers and free the captives. Then all of these displaced people find a home on an isolated island when Tarzan is able to negotiate a peace with the existing tribe of Mangani. 

Things change up with the thirteenth issue. Mo Gollub has move on from cover duties. Instead, a photo of Lex Barker the then current film Tarzan is used alongside the faithful Cheeta. Some Jesse Mash drawings help fill out the space. This shift was probably seen as wise to move more comics, but it's a shame since the covers produced by Marsh and later Gollub had been handsome indeed. This approach will be used for all of the remaining covers in this collection. There are two stories in this comic. The first is "The Knight of Lyonesse" and has Tarzan stumble across a young knight from the usual lost city who is hot to kill a Saracen and take his beard to win his honey. Tarzan saves the knight from baboons and helps him get his trophy without bloodshed when they break up a gang of slavers. This story reveals that La of Opar is not dead as had been reported in an earlier comic story. In "The Ape Hunter" Tarzan must stop a brazen American who wants to kill apes for sport. He of course doesn't get his way. The last remant of the Ape-English Dictionary appears on the inside cover of this issue. 

Again, there are two stories, which will become standard. "The Lost Legion" is yet another lost civilization in the classic ERB tradition. This time it's Romans who have a city and are living much as they did long ago. Tarzan and D'Arnot with Boy tagging along are flying to map the Monster Valley they'd found some few issues before and crash, then are captured by an evil king. But soon they are able to ally with the rightful ruler and the tyrant is pitched out. "The Flying Chief" has some young folks in an airplane run afoul of a scheming tribal chief who wants to fly a plane. He does so but it turns out poorly for him when Tarzan gets involved. A new feature called "Jungle World" shows up, this again illustrated by Marsh. 

"Tarzan and the Cave Men" reintroduces La of Opar. This time she is on the verge of being sacrificed by the males of the society but Tarzan saves her. With nowhere to go, Tazan recommends Pal-Ul-Don and off they head riding atop Tantor. When they get this land of dinosaurs they are waylaid by a caveman who captures La and takes her back to his village. There is a struggle for her attentions but Tarzan brings an end to that and La seems to have a found another place she can rule. "Tarzan and the Hunter's Reward" is another variation on the classic Romeo and Juliet theme with two young lovers frustrated by their culture. Tarzan helps bring about a happier ending. 

The sixteenth and final issue from 1950 in this immense collection starts off with "Tarzan and the Beasts of Armor" Tarzan is flying to the Valley of Monsters and Boy sneaks aboard the plane. They end up fighting some mighty dinosaurs and saving a man from Pal-Ul-Don who tells them that his city has been taken over by white gangsters. Tarzan and Boy join the fellow and they head to the lost territory where Tarzan uses his wits and muscles to defeat the criminals. Then it's back to the plane and home. "Tarzan and the Giant Eland" is the last story in this collection and true to its title Tarzan finds and tames a giant eland which proves handy when he must save a native girl from ritual sacrifice. 

I was much surprised by the nature of these tales. They were much more willing to engage ERB's mythology of Africa than I expected. Pal-Ul-Don and Opar are key parts of many of these stories, especially the former. I chagrined when the series suggested La was most likely dead and pleased as punch when she turned up for two more appearances. The use of Jane and Boy following the template of the movies was smart as well by DuBois and Marsh. It made the series familiar to young fans who came to the comic by way of the movies. And the use of ERB's mythic landscape supplied the same flush of familiarity for fans of the novels. These Dell Comics did a great job of making these Tarzan comics accessible to all fans of Tarzan.

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Remember Madame Maintenace!

Above is the buxom star of Will Eisner's PS :The Preventative Maintenance Monthly which he crafted for the U.S. Army for many years following the end of The Spirit comic strip. Eisner attempted to teach fundamental and likely dull lessons about equipment upkeep to potentially disinterested troops by having aforementioned lessons taught by a tempting female by the name of Sgt. Connie Rodd. 

She's apparently inspired by Lauren Bacall. She was originally created for the WWII wartime Army Motors Magazine but shifted of to PS later during the outbreak of the Korean War. It's woefully sexist to use an attractive well-endowed woman as the comic character spokesman for such things, but likely all too effective. Here a link with much more Connie on display.  And here is another. And here is some history on Eisner's work for the Army. 

It's Memorial Day in the United States. Remember those who have given the ultimate for causes I hope still have meaning in the modern world. 

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Hogarth's Jungle Tales Of Tarzan!

Burne Hogarth had already fashioned a stunning adaptation of the first half of the first novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs about his most famous creation Tarzan of the Apes. We encountered Tarzan's parents and were witness to their sufferings and we followed Tarzan as he grew to manhood in the loving care of his ape mother Kala. We saw him defeat the deadly Kerchak and become King of the Apes and then the story ended. There was no civilization, there was no taking Tarzan back to his ancestral home in England. The Tarzan Hogarth presented was the noble savage of a lush colorful jungle. 

He picks up that saga with adaptations of four of the Jungle Tales of Tarzan as written by ERB in the sixth volume of the long-running series. ERB had taken a break from the ongoing saga of his Ape Man to give another peak at his savage upbringing and Hogarth takes full advantage of those whimsical yet still deadly stories to create his most stunning Tarzan art yet. There are four stories. 

The first is "Tarzan's First Love" in which we find a Tarzan still missing his ape mother Kala seeking some tender companionship. He is attracted to an ape named Teeka but his considers himself very ugly and doubts his chances of winning her attentions. He competes for those attentions with a young ape named Taug. After saving Teeka's life she gives him some of her long-sought attention but then Taug is captured by humans and Tarzan goes to save his rival. He realizes the differences between himself and his peers is too great for romance. 

"The Capture of Tarzan" is just that, a story about how Tarzan is captured in a pit designed to capture Tantor the elephant. He is taken to the village of savage cannibals and escapes by dint of his own wits and strengths with some timely help from the grateful Tantor. The savage battles between Tantor and the natives supply some of the powerful pages in this album. 

"The God of  Tarzan" has the young Ape Man consider for the first time abstract concepts of a potential deity. He attempts in his naive way to find "God" in the Moon and among the animals but finally after much soul-searching and no small use of his burgeoning imagination comes to grasp that "God" is that which is good. But then he is confused when he tries to account for the deadly and loathsome Histah the snake. Hogarth's drawings of Histah in this story are magnificent. 

"Nightmare" showcases some of Tarzan's first dreams, dreams turned to terrible nightmares when he steals and eats some contaminated elephant meat from natives. Sick to his stomach and burning with fever Tarzan dreams of a lion which can climb into the highest branches, a giant buzzard that can catch and fly off with a full-grown man, and a deadly snake with the head of a man. He finally realizes these are not real but then he is confronted by a Gorilla, and it takes him a few moments to realize this threat is no nightmare. 

These pages are all in black and white and reproduction in the Dark Horse reprint is superb. This is Hogarth's finest Tarzan work to my eye, lush and robust and filled with the magical wonder he brought to the Ape Man in his best moments. Hogarth's Tarzan never leaves the jungle, but then why should he. 

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The Once And Future Tarzan!

The Once and Future Tarzan is a bizarre adventure for our friendly neighborhood Ape Man. The future referenced is apocalyptic. Modern society has broken down and crumbled around the edges. The reasons are at once mysterious and obvious. Too much interference with the natural order finally reached a tipping point and suddenly people ain't so fertile anymore. 
 

In the ruins of what once was still lives Tarzan and his wife Jane. They are three hundred years old and have become the stuff of legends. These legends live in a collapsed London in which Tarzan and Jane tend to hidden habitats protecting sundry species from extinction. They are assisted by loyal folks who likely don't know the secret both Tarzan and Jane carry, that they are from the time before the collapse. 

Into this scenario appear a matriarchal society of warrior women who seek Tarzan and find John Clayton who promises to lead them to their prize. Also on hand are men who still seek to control the natural world and turn it to profit. These men seek Tarzan to get the secret of "eternal life". The saga begins in England but soon a ragtag band are headed to Africa, but the way there is extremely dangerous due to an impossibly large storm which continually rages in the ocean. We begin to learn some of the secrets of this world, but slowly as this makeshift quest unfolds. 

All fifteen chapters are written by Al Gordon. The first three chapters were drawn magnificently by Tom Yeates. The later chapters were all rendered by Bo Hampton. These chaps have styles which, while not identical, do cohere. The chapters appeared in issues of the revived series Dark Horse Presents. The first three chapters were collected many years ago and more recently the whole saga was collected. 

This is a story which requires patience in the reading. The reader is put in the place of many of the characters and stays in the dark about critical details about how this strange sad world came to be. One aspect of the storytelling which I found remarkable is how the romance of Tarzan and Jane is communicated so effectively. Jane is a remarkably capable character in her own right and the story of a marriage which is centuries old is fascinating. This one is worth the time. 

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Groo Meets Tarzan!

I buy very few new comics these days, preferring to spend money and time on vintage collections of comics from years gone by. But when I saw Groo Meets Tarzan advertised I knew I would be getting it. I held off picking up the individual issues, preferring to wait for the inevitable trade. The small wait was worth it. Once again Serio Aragones and writer Mark Evanier have turned in a fascinating story about the world's most incompetent sword-wielding barbarian. 

The Groo duo are joined this time not only by regular letter Stan Sakai and colorist Tom Luth but by Thomas Yeates. Yeates drew the parts of the story starring Tarzan just in the same way that he did for the earlier offbeat dust up between Groo and Conan the Barbarian. This kind of work requires a great deal of planning but when it works as well as it does in these issues it's well worth the effort and the price of admission. Be careful reading below as I've included many spoilers. 

SPOILERS BEGINNETH!

In the debut issue we are treated to a trio of narratives which will run alongside one another for most of the series save when a few of them intersect. The first narrative is set in the modern world and features Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier at Comic-Con. Sergio wants to do a crossover between Tarzan and Groo and Evanier is reluctant. There are the usual gags about fanboy behavior at Comic-Con and even a few cameos from the likes of Magnor and Rainbow. Them we meet Tarzan who is troubled by slavers who are in his territory practicing their vile industry. This part of the tale has a deadly serious to it and I worried at first if the differences in tone were going to cohere. The third narrative follows Groo and his constant companion Rufferto as they are literally eating their way from village to village and creating panic as food reserves are depleted. Meanwhile Sergio and Mark go to the Chula Vista Jungle Safari Land, a park of ill repute where Sergio is overcome with his reseach for the proposed Tarzan book and gets lost in the park. 

As the narratives continue, Sergio tries to survive in the park as his hero Tarzan might've done. Tarzan for his part is still scheming an effective way to counter the slavers who are immense in number. And the villagers in Groo's world hatch a plan to send him into a mysterious mountain pass from which no one has ever returned. While Sergio goes feral, and Mark goes back to the Convention, Groo finds himself in the world of Tarzan, a landscape that bewilders him more than usual. 

Sergio's troubles continue and Mark eventually grows concerned enough to go back to look for him (after his many panels have been conducted). Amazingly Tarzan and Groo meet and then work together (more or less) to battle the slavers. Tarzan says he needs an army to defeat the slavers totally and Groo says he knows where to get one. Mark heads back to the safari park with a woman from California Animal Rights and Environmental Rescue to find Sergio. Sergio's phone has been swallowed by a hippo by the way. Tarzan goes to warn natives of the threat of the slavers and Groo heads back to his land to find help. 

In the rousing finale Groo successfully gets help from villagers too afraid of him and his appetite to say no, while Tarzan uses disguise to mislead the slavers for a time. Sergio's woes in the park continue as he joins an employee and impersonates a crocodile. Groo surprisingly is successful in getting his army back to Tarzan's world and the offbeat looking warriors prove effective in the battle. It's also a delightful artistic endeavor as the two styles are blended quite effectively. The search for Sergio intensifies when nearly all of Comic-Comes to the safari park to help rescue him, which they do. Groo leads his villagers back to Groo-world through the cavern passes while the slavers escape Tarzan and follow. The villagers get home as does Groo but the slavers end up in the exceedingly dangerous world of Pal-Ul-Don where they are set upon by hungry dinosaurs -- a fitting end. The pass to Groo-world is cut off for all time (for now) and Tarzan heads home, thankful for the help...he thinks.

SPOILERS ENDETH! 

This volume also contains some one-page Rufferto gags as well as all the original covers (see above) for the series. This one was even more fun than I expected. Groo was more effective than I expected, though most of that was dumb luck. The artwork though is the main reason to seek this one out. Yeates as always draws a realistic but compelling Tarzan and Sergio Aragones is a force of nature filling pages with details that will delight for days. And many of Evanier's jokes were funny too. 

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Tarzan's New York Adventure -1942!

Tarzan's New York Adventure is the final MGM Tarzan movie. After a decade with the character, the studio and the cast seem to have wearied of the project. This last movie starring Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane was something of an appeasement to her since it allowed her to dress in civilized up town fashion for much of the movie. The formula for the stories was well established by this time and can be seen here despite the abrupt changes of setting. 

The Tarzan clan (Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Johnny Sheffield) is again living happily on the little Eden hidden atop the mysterious Mutia Escarpment when a plane load of lion hunters arrives. The crew is made up of Manchester Montford (Chill Wills), a well-meaning circus man who is kindly to the Tarzan family by and large, Jimmy Shields (Paul Kelly) the pilot of the expediton, also a man of seeming integrity, and Buck Rand (Charles Bickford) the obligatory villain of this story. The trio soon encounter Tarzan who tells them to get out immediately. They ignore him and go about gathering up lions and such for the circus back in America. Boy meanwhile ignores Tarzan's warnings and goes to see the plane which fascinates him. The men see what magnificent control over elephants Boy has and want him for their show, at least Rand does, but Shields says no. Boy saves Montford from a deadly lion and then the Jacuni tribe appears to kill the expedition. Running for their lives the men make for the plane and Boy yells for Tarzan. Tarzan and Jane swing to his rescue but are seemingly killed when they fall together from the trees into a field which is set afire. Boy and the men leave the escarpment for civilization. 

Tarzan and Jane recover and soon enough head off for civilization to get Boy back. They find that thanks to gold they can maneuver quite well in society and led by Jane the duo head off to New York to get their son back. After a confrontation with Rand and his partner Colonel Ralph Sergeant (Cy Kendall) the two are forced to go to court to try and establish their right to Boy. The hearing goes well until Jane admits Boy was found and is not their natural son and a frustrated Tarzan violently puts an end to the proceedings. Jane admits that her civilized way has failed and Tarzan then leaves police custody and leads them on a wild jaunt across the face of New York City, eventually diving off the Brooklyn Bridge. He heads to the circus to find and Boy and confront the villains. Meanwhile Jane assisted by Jimmy Shields and his girl Connie Beach head to the circus too. Montford tries to keep the villains from making off with Boy but is killed for his trouble. Tarzan arrives and after a furious battle in which he enlists the aid of the circus elephants the villains are seemingly killed in a car crash. The story ends quickly as the court ignores Tarzan's escapades for the most part and the movie closes with the happy Tarzan family again swimming in their jungle paradise one more time.

This is one of the better Tarzan movies as putting the Ape Man into a new environment adds some variety and better establishes his unusual nature. Weissmuller also seems to play Tarzan a tad more sophisticated in this one, though sadly he stills speaks in that miserable broken English. Weissmuller's Tarzan is different in the MGM movies. In the first two he's quite the raw native, a man full of passion and energy, but in the later ones he becomes more childlike. In all of them though, he demonstrates a keen understanding of human nature and is able to size up the people he meets quickly. This movie alas has quite a bit of Cheetah who mugs for the camera in typical style. There is an extended scene where Cheetah plays with make-up and whatnot. It's perhaps good for the kiddies, but I weary of this stuff quite quickly. This movie also has some more racial stereotypes as Mantan Moreland has a few scenes playing up the black man as naive idiot. Tarzan also calls a porter a "Jacuni", making it seem that he sees all black men as the same. Given his acute understanding of people, this is a distressing slip. Chill Wills as Montford is a great character who doesn't get enough to do. As with all the characters who seem to show sympathy for the Tarzan family, he gets killed, so justifying the demise of the villains. It's a predictable part of the show, but I hoped this time it might be altered a bit.

 

The definite highlight of this movie is Tarzan's rampage across New York. Climbing buildings is fun and I especially liked when he threw the lawyer (Charles Lane) into the jury box. There is a ferocious quality in Weissmuller's portrayal here that is effective. But sadly too, Weissmuller is at the limit of his physical skills. He looks great in his tailored suit, but in the just the loin cloth he is beginning to lose his youthful trim. This is a very entertaining final MGM effort. RKO studios will take over the franchise and keep Weissmuller and Sheffield aboard, but O'Sullivan says good-bye in this one. It's been a wild and interesting decade of jungle adventures indeed.

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Tarzan - The Black Edition by Vallejo!

(Apparently, Neal Adams also produced a painting for Tarzan and the Ant Men. I must say his is superior in drama to Vallejo's below.)

When Ballantine contracted with Neal Adams to do a gallery of new Tarzan covers for their paperback reprints of ERB's classic hero, they apparently also contracted with Boris Vallejo to do the same thing. What happened is that we have two of the great artists of the time doing Tarzan covers at the same time. I'll be blunt and say that I don't like Vallejo's covers nearly as well. In fact most of Vallejo's work leaves me a bit cold. He is often compared to Frank Frazetta, who clearly insipred him, but Vallejo is all about surfaces while Frazetta and to some extent Adams are all about interiors. They capture a feeling, a mood, a notion while Boris Vallejo merely illustrates and paints brawny men and voluputous women in motion. There's something missing. That said, these covers are still fairly early in his career and he hadn't lost that certain something that first made him a so interesting. Later though that little bit of magic gets lost as an obsession with the human form overwhelms all else. Rip Off