Tarzan – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Dave Stevens — Inking A Legend

January 29, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Tarzan Weekly (UK) #3, June 25, 1977

The late Dave Stevens was among the many talented artists to work on the short-lived Tarzan Weekly (UK) in 1977.

Editor Russ Manning employed friends and current and former assistants alike in the execution of the ERB-themed stories.

Other talented hands included Bill Stout, Mike Royer, Danny Bulandi, an Mike Ploog to name a few.

Sometimes the credits are a little murky, as I confirmed a few months ago With Bill Stout at SDCC. Often, an artist would pick up whatever page was closet to deadline, and pencil, ink, or both and then switch. All depending on schedule, and who was in the studio. But this page has been confirmed as Stevens — and even though its very early professional work, you can see it.

The young Stevens (about 20 at the time) was already working with Manning when Russ started editing the Tarzan series. He had assisted on the Tarzan comic strip and would ultimately pitch in on Star Wars strip as well.

Fun Fact:

2022 is the 40th anniversary of the Rocketeer, Stevens best known work, and (rightly) a legend among comic art enthusiasts.

But you already knew that part.

*Dave Stevens later jungle work evolves into a different focus.*

Russ Manning — Tarzan, Revisited

January 27, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

“Tarzan In Savage Pellucidar,” Graphic Novel, 1975

This beautiful Russ Manning splash page has never been published in the US, or in English at all, for that matter.

A foreign publisher hired Manning and his team to create a series of graphic albums for the European markets in the mid 70s. Manning, having beautifully illustrated the Tarzan comic strips, as well as some of the Gold Key comics, was a perfect choice.

A few years back, Dark Horse reprinted two of those graphic albums, but I assume sales were not significant to continue. (Unless it simply fell through the cracks. Not a likely scenario, but it does happen occasionally.)

Another original art page from this story appeared in auction last year, and it too is a beauty.

I would really love to see the whole thing. I haven’t been able to find a foreign edition. But I will, eventually. Trust me on this.

*Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar appeared in many languages — except, strangely, in English.*

*From the dept. of nearly naked women and trippy 70s posters: Neal Adams art for Warp precedes Russ Manning’s poster for Tarzan by a few years. Phantasmagorical indeed.*

Joe Kubert — Tarzan, Unvarnished

January 25, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Tarzan #234, January 1975

2022 is the 110^th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle icon, Tarzan.

This year has at least two-other important Tarzan-related anniversaries:

The first is 1932, the release year of the first Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan feature film. Tarzan existed on screen prior to the Weissmuller film, of course, but his 12 features likely did more to enshrine the character in the popular imagination than any other media representation.

The second is 1972, the year DC took over the comic book license from Gold Key and re-established Tarzan as a savage lord of the Jungle. Joe Kubert’s comic art work on the character was the first that took the sheen of the character and returned him to his literary roots.

Long before “reboot” became part of the pop culture vocabulary, Kubert’s Tarzan was a stunning new look for comic book readers.

DC, as part its licensing deal, had to provide all the original art to the Burroughs estate. It’s still there in the archives, in excellent condition, and we used it to create three beautiful Artist’s Editions volume at IDW.

Ultimately, thought, this means that Kubert Tarzan pages are among the rarest of the last 50 years. With the exception of a handful, none of them have ever been offered on the open market.

Joe originally gifted this splash, part of a DPS, to a friend.

I happened to see it the day it the day it came up for sale, and despite a lofty price, I acquired it then and there.

I knew I wouldn’t likely see another one.

Typically, Kubert’s full double-page spreads from this period could be broken up without ruining the art.

*Three different Tarzan anniversaries in 2022: DC’s Tarzan celebrates its 50th, Weissmuller’s film series celebrates its 90th, and the character himself celebrates his 110th.*

The final issue of Gold Key’s Tarzan series is almost as far from Kubert’s interpretation as The Batman 1966 TV series is from Christopher Nolan’s. Coincidentally, that issue also featured an adaptation of “Tarzan and the lion man.”

Russ Manning — The Last Command

December 16, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Daily Comic Strip, June 16, 1980

At first glance, Russ Manning’s clean art style is an unusual choice for Star Wars. The saga (the original film specifically) is a bit rough around the edges, with scorch marks, dusty landscapes, dirty uniforms, and beat-up droids.

Manning, best know for his beautiful art on Tarzan and Magnus Robot Fighter, is anything but.

His work is crisp and polished. Magnus lives on Earth 4000 AD, a world populated by handsome men and gorgeous woman inhabiting a shiny futuristic city. The battle against the sentient robots? Terminator this is definitely not.

But, Russ’ imagination and enjoyment for Star Wars is obvious on these strips.

Even if the stories themselves, like those in Marvel comics, were often “B” level because they weren’t permitted to do very much with actual film-related plots, his storytelling and renderings provided more than enough visual interest to keep the strips engaging.

This specific example, which features most of the Star Wars main cast, comes at the conclusion of Russ’ penultimate story. He died of cancer too young at 52, a few months after this strip was published.

Had he lived, I’m certain he would have come back to Star Wars at some point.

After all, he created a city-covered planet, very much like Coruscant, years before George Lucas did. In fact, when Magnus debuted, George Lucas was still a teen who, among other interests, had a passion for comic book art.

Wait a minute… (*)

*Dark Horse colored and reprinted the strips as comic books in the Classics series. Marvel has since reprinted those versions as well.*

*A little bit of Manning’s love for Tarzan appears in a Star Wars Sunday strip.*

*Russ Manning referred to Magnus Robot Fighter as his Tarzan of the future.*

*Ok, Lucas (definitively) and Manning (likely) were influenced by Fritz Lang’s ground-breaking film Metropolis, and this is just a fun coincidence. But still.