TARZAN: THE NEW ADVENTURES - Roy Thomas


 If any of my local Sunday newspapers printed a color comic like this ... Tarzan: The New Adventures, written by comic author/legend Roy Thomas, then I'd be a subscriber in a heartbeat! But while the format of all the installments in this book look very much like a Sunday color comic, these adventures were only available to subscribers to the Edgar Rice Burroughs website - until now.

Roy Thomas is a really top-notch comics writer and his adaptability really amazes me.  Writing in this Sunday newspaper format is very different from plotting and writing in the other comic formats.  It is much more limited and probably really hard to build a continuing story and create some rising action in the half-page story. There are times when I'd flip a page and think "That's it?", but in this book compilation it's important to look at the entire story and not just each segment.

In his introduction, Thomas mentions that it was artist Tom Grindberg who approached him to write this strip. Their format seems unusual to me, and make me admire the writing work even more.  Roy would prepare a general plot, Grindberg would draw the strips and then Roy would go back and add the dialog later.

I liked the inclusion of Greek mythology in the first story. The moment I saw this I raised an eyebrow in a bit of disbelief, but it worked and I didn't question it after that initial reaction.

Tom Grindberg's art is fantastic!  It is really reminiscent of Frank Frazetta's comic work and Hal Foster's Prince Valiant.

The second story in the book is illustrated by Benito Gallego. Gallego is a talented artist, but the difference was marked because Grindberg's art was so strong.  

The second story was also a bit more fantastical - hard to believe since we had ancient Greece in the first one. 

I've never been a big Tarzan fan, but I really enjoyed the stories and the art in this collection.  It's listed as a Volume 1 and I'm already excited to see Volume 2.

Looking for a good book? Tarzan: The New Adventures by Roy Thomas with art by Tom Grindberg and Benito Gallego is an exciting collection of Sunday comic strip-style stories by some of the best creators in comics.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Tarzan: The New Adventures

author: Roy Thomas

artists: Tom Grindberg & Benito Gallego

publisher: Dark Horse Books

ISBN: 150671806X

hardcover, 108 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more