My first two Tarzan comics were Tarzan #223 (the final chapter of Joe Kubert’s adaptation of “The Return of Tarzan”) and DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #19. Shortly thereafter I acquired the two DC Treasury Editions which reprinted Kubert’s adaptations of “Tarzan of the Apes” and “The Return of Tarzan” in their entirety. It’s pretty safe (and not entirely inaccurate) to say they pretty much blew me away. Joe Kubert’s entire run on Tarzan is available in three handsome Dark Horse Archives, but DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #19 is one of those few comics I lost track of over the years and I have no idea what became of it, but when I came across a reading copy last week, I snatched it up. It’s been a good 30 years since I last read it, and although the details of it were still locked within the depths of my memory, I hadn’t accessed them in so long I needed to re-read the comic book itself in order to free them. I remember that the stories flowed seamlessly one into another, and although I knew at the time they were reprinted, I know now they were reformatted from Russ Manning’s 1969 comic strip continuity. This comic showed me an alternate version of La and the Beastmen of Opar than the one Joe Kubert presented, retold Tarzan’s origin from Jane’s point of view, and added words such as “haven” and “scythe” to my nine-year-old vocabulary. As the cover blurb proclaimed: “100 ACTION PACKED PAGES OF STORY AND ART FROM COVER TO COVER.” The “BIGGEST BARGAIN IN COMICS! ONLY 50 CENTS”? I’ll say!

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  • In my earlier reply to the Commander's blog I stated that Joe Kubert was the artist in regards to war comics. I could say much the same thing regarding his Tarzan work. I never much cared for the various comic strip/comic book adaptions of the Lord of the Jungle because they all seemed a bit too slick and refined. Not so with Kubert - his rough edged rendering was an excellent fit for the Tarzan adventures.
  • Russ Manning is slick and refined, and Joe Kubert is rough edged, yet both work for me. On the other hand, it was those two DC treasury editions that "pretty much blew me away," so I'm not going to argue with you too much. I thinking just the other day that, whereas many may associate Joe Kubert with Sgt. Rock or Hawkman or Tor or Enemy Ace, I will always and forever think of his Tarzan first and foremost among the body of his work.
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