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dantastic's review
3.0
So in the early 1960s, a few Tarzan stories fell into public domain and Charlton declared open season, launching Jungle Tales of Tarzan and working on a Tarzan newspaper strip in secret before ERB's lawyers showed up and pulled the plug.
So how were they? Pretty good and they outsold the Gold Key Tarzan book, leading to Jesse Marsh getting the axe and Russ Manning taking the helm.
Joe Gill, workhorse Charlton writer, adapted the ERB stories and Sam Glanzman did the art on three issues while Bill Montes and Ernie Bache did the final issue. Glanzman's Tarzan isn't as gritty as Joe Kubert's or as slick as Russ Manning's but he gets the job done. I prefer original works to adapted stories but the Gill-Glanzman outings still entertain. I wasn't very impressed by Montes and Bache but their more open style couldn't follow Glanzman's gritty savage Tarzan.
It's a fun book but The Unauthorized Tarzan has more value as a curiosity and piece of comics history to me than it does as a reading experience. Three out of five stars.
So how were they? Pretty good and they outsold the Gold Key Tarzan book, leading to Jesse Marsh getting the axe and Russ Manning taking the helm.
Joe Gill, workhorse Charlton writer, adapted the ERB stories and Sam Glanzman did the art on three issues while Bill Montes and Ernie Bache did the final issue. Glanzman's Tarzan isn't as gritty as Joe Kubert's or as slick as Russ Manning's but he gets the job done. I prefer original works to adapted stories but the Gill-Glanzman outings still entertain. I wasn't very impressed by Montes and Bache but their more open style couldn't follow Glanzman's gritty savage Tarzan.
It's a fun book but The Unauthorized Tarzan has more value as a curiosity and piece of comics history to me than it does as a reading experience. Three out of five stars.
rickklaw's review
4.0
Believing the character had fallen into public domain, Charlton Comics published Jungle Tales of Tarzan in 1964. The four issues, written by Joe Gill with the first three drawn by Sam Glanzman and the final by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, adapted short stories from the Burroughs collection of the same name. The series proved very popular, often outselling the authorized, Gold Key comics, but after four issues, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. forced its cancellation and demanded all the issues pulped. The excellent Glanzman art delivered a less mature and more savage version of Tarzan than previous incarnations. Sadly the amateurish Montes/Bache work mar an otherwise outstanding series.
After acquiring Charlton's properties in 1986, Roger Broughton wanted to collect the never-before-reprinted comic and began a quest to find Glanzman and the original art. After several delays and missteps, his wishes came to fruition this year with The Unauthorized Tarzan. Broughton recounts the whole intriguing tale in the foreword and historical essays in this volume. He also reveals the secrets behind the unpublished Gill-Glanzman daily strip, complete with the first week's finished strips.
After acquiring Charlton's properties in 1986, Roger Broughton wanted to collect the never-before-reprinted comic and began a quest to find Glanzman and the original art. After several delays and missteps, his wishes came to fruition this year with The Unauthorized Tarzan. Broughton recounts the whole intriguing tale in the foreword and historical essays in this volume. He also reveals the secrets behind the unpublished Gill-Glanzman daily strip, complete with the first week's finished strips.
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