For Your Consideration: Dark Horse’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years Omnibus

Robert Greenberger

Robert Greenberger


by Robert Greenberger

Since his debut in 1912, Tarzan has gone on to become one of the handful of characters people know around the world. He has starred in just about every media imaginable and turned Olympic athletes into box office stars, adding his signature jungle yell to the American lexicon. With The Legend of Tarzan due out later this year, it makes sense that publishers will be releasing collections featuring his four-color exploits.

Among the greatest of those was the adaptations crafted by the legendary Joe Kubert. As the licensing deal with Gold Key was nearing its end in 1971, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ company, ERB Inc., was looking for a deal that would continue to generate new material for a hungry international market. When DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino was given a shot at acquiring the license, he went after it, knowing exactly who to hand it to.

“It was as if Kubert had been training all his life fort this project,” wrote his biographer Bill Shelley in Man of Rock.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years Omnibus

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years Omnibus


With Dark Horse Comics now publishing the Ape Man’s adventures in America, they are repackaging and releasing Kubert’s seminal work. Previously, they had collected these over three hardcover archives but now readers can enjoy Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years Omnibus in an affordable trade collection. The volume, due this summer, contains issues #207-235.

“Long a Tarzan fan himself, Kubert leapt at the chance to delineate the (Tarzan) series in 1972 while working at DC Comics, and the results are simply stunning. This is grandly entertaining stuff for both old and new readers alike; a cornucopia of excitement that has not aged a day, collected in an edition that can be reread and savored for years to come,” wrote Publishers Weekly in a previous review of the material.

Picking up the numbering from Gold Key, DC debuted with issue #207 in 1972 as Kubert undertook to adapt Burroughs first novel across four issues. He painstakingly researched all the novels and stories, looking back at how his inspiration, Hal Foster, who first drew the jungle lord’s adventures in 1929, and created a strong introductory work.

Tarzan #212

Tarzan #212


He told The Amazing World of DC Comics at the time, “What I want is the kind of illustration that will engender the same kind of excitement in my readers as it did in me when I was a kid.”

Given the 48-page format at the time, Kubert oversaw reprints of the Foster material to fill out issues. Additionally, given the length of time he needed to produce the stories as writer/artist/editor, he turned to adapting several comic strips, incorporating them with additional art and story such as the two part “Land of the Giants”, largely drawn by Burne Hogarth.

Kubert then did a series of one-off stories culled from Jungle Tales of Tarzan, aided with material from Don Garden and Foster, and one issue penciled by Frank Thorne. Having grounded himself and established his hold on the title, Kubert launched into a five-part adaptation of The Return of Tarzan then let staff editor Carl Gafford adapt a Russ Manning strip from 1970-71 spell him for issue #226.

Tarzan #219

Tarzan #219


Closing out the first volume, Kubert adapted Tarzan and the Lion Men from issues #231-234 and by then the schedule and pace had caught up to him. He began to switch to producing script and layouts and turned to the recently recruited Philippine artists to complete the work starting with Franc Reyes in the final story here.

While the Gold Key art was deemed by ERB as staid and in need of freshening for their international sales, Kubert’s work was hailed in America and dismissed in Europe. There, Russ Manning’s slick, athletic ape man from the comic strips was deemed superior. The American sales for Tarzan, despite the improved storytelling and artwork, declined as newsstand sales faltered during this time. DC let the license lapse and ERB turned to Marvel but the Kubert material continues to remain well-regarded by aficionados of both Tarzan and comic book art.

Kubert’s energy was visible on every page and his raw, realistic artwork made the dangers of life in the jungle plausible. The work stands the test of time and should be experienced in this edition.

Purchase

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years Omnibus

Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.

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