A recent book I picked up is Tarzan of the Funnies by Robert R. Barrett. It was published in 2002 by Mad Kings Publishing and the House of Greystoke.
This is a scholarly work that examines the early period of the Tarzan newspaper strips, both daily and Sundays, from 1929 to 1950. While the book was published at $25, as it’s out of print, most copies I see offered for sale cost three times that. I was lucky to find one at a reasonable cost.
The unfortunate thing is that not all the Tarzan strips have been reprinted in book form, and most aren’t currently available. Titan Books has reprinted the Burne Hogarth years (1937-43; 1947-50). The Alex Raymond dailies (1929) should still be available.
But the dailies and Sundays from artists like Rex Maxon, Alex Raymond, Ruben Moreira, and others are not. Even of the later Sundays by artists like Russ Manning (1967-79), Gil Kane (1979-81), Mike Grell (1981-83), and Gray Morrow (1983-2002), I am only aware of Manning being reprinted, in four volumes, and those are getting hard to find.
This volume focuses on the story behind the strips. What led to the creation of the strip, and how much influence Edgar Rice Burroughs and, later, ERB Inc. had on the strip, including the selection of the artists. Who wrote the strip is often unknown to most people, as we know the artists, but almost never the writers. This book also works to dispel some of the myths around this strip, such as claims that fans hated Rex Maxon’s art and the like.
Overall, this is a great book for either Tarzan fans or comic-strip fans. I just wish this volume were available at a more reasonable price, as the high cost will turn away the more casual fans.
The author is supposed to be working on a follow-up volume, Tarzan on the Air, which will be a history of the Tarzan radio shows, but I have no idea of the state of that. It’s 20 years later, and I only know it hasn’t been published.
I also wish more of these classic Tarzan comic strips would be reprinted. Sadly, it seems their popularity in the U.S. is much less than it is overseas.
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