volume 5 1935-1936

série: Tarzan Sunday Pages
dessinateur / scénariste: Foster Harold
éditeur: Flying Buttress EO 1993
genre: Aventure
classement: biblio1
date: 1993
format: cartonné avec jaquette
état: TBE
valeur: 30 €
critère: **
remarques: fifth volume edited by NBM/Flying Buttress
(NBM being America's first publisher of graphic novels since 1976,
located at New York with imprints such as Flying Buttress Classics
Library, Amerotica, Eurotica and ComicsLit) under the supervision
of Bill Blackbeard out of a sery of 18 volumes,
all being accurate reproduction of the Sunday Pages
in their full colour and in full size, each volume has about 52 pages,

n.b. the sources of these Sunday pages are mainly
from the Los Angeles Times and from the Milwaukee Journal
edited by UFS (United Features Syndicate)


volume 5 1935-1936 with dust jacket from
22.9.1935 (237) to 13.9.1936 (288)
= 52 pages drawn by Hal Foster based
on the novel of Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan's adventure with the lost viking civilization
concludes with the rescue of Sigreda, later Tarzan encounters
the villainous and scheming Jim Gorrey who deceitfully takes control
of the wealthy city of Balakan by gaining the favors
of the beautiful princess Nakonia, Tarzan faces a serious challenge
to undo his clever machinations

the volume includes following episodes (number of pages):
- Tarzan and the Vikings part two: 15
- Tarzan and the Killers: 19
- Tarzan in the City of Gold part one: 18

1/ introduction by Bill Blackbeard
- the inception date of the comic strip art
has been defined 1896 with the publication
of the Yellow Kid drawn by Richard Outcault

- reminding the weird practice of some editors to change
(or shorten) authors' novels without mentioning it
or taking the responsability of these actions;
this applies also the film and television and of course
to comic strips in which a great number of small workers
(and not only the main author) are involved and should also benefit
of the whole actuality enjoyed by the comic strips, therefore
this implies the significance of the signature on the strips
(a good example is made by Hergé who did not want
to share his signature with other artists for Tintin)

- this can also be the case with Foster's Tarzan strips
as mentioned from an active Tarzan strip artist: George Evans
who sent a letter in that connection related to volume 2 of Tarzan
in which Rex Maxon is said to be an awful artist but it was
quite possible that the scriptwriter or even the syndicates
may have had some responsability in this failure
and this brings again the question of the signature
of the artist/author on the comic page:
is he to take over the full responsability? (but some authors
expressed their disagreement by altering their signature)
and if we want to praise a strip, how do we realistically
distribute the compliments?
- apart of the author Burroughs, possibly Charlie Plumb
was the scriptwriter of Foster's Tarzan and Rob Thompson
the one of Hogarth but anyway both graphic artists
would change the scripts to suit their own artistic vision

2/ the story
after his victory in the sea-battle against the viking Erik the Red,
Tarzan leaves for the jungle of the cannibals (the lion-people)
to rescue princess Sigreda and soon arrives in their village
to find out that Sigreda is to be sacrificed to Simba the lion,
Tarzan however is trapped by Mengo chief of the cannibals
>> p. 240 cannibals can sometimes be also cute!

Tarzan is condemned to death by fighting many lions at the same time
but he succeeds this trial and incites the lions to charge the cannibals,
Mengo is killed by the lions and Tarzan escapes with Sigreda
>> p. 245 to 247 the fight of Tarzan against the lions

Sigreda believes now that Tarzan is in love with her
and makes him prince of the vikings in order to marry him
>> p. 248 prince Tarzan
>> p. 248 to 251 Tarzan first comes to grip with Sigreda
but finally she accepts Tarzan's decision not to stay with her
and let him go, whereas Sybil prefers to remain with the vikings,
so Tarzan returned to the jungle with Bohgdu the ape
>> p. 252/253 but in Bohgdu's tribe,
Tarzan has to fight Kon-Gah, the giant-ape,
the combat will be interrupted by the killer Gorrey
>> p. 252 5-1-1936 entitled "the killers" being Flint and Gorrey
which is the beginning of the new story "Tarzan and
the city of gold" which will last during 3 volumes
>> p. 254 first encounter with the villains Jim Gorrey and Rufus Flint
who are leading a safari for Dick Dartly and his fiancé Gloria Flint,
being the daughter of Rufus Flint

looking for a treasure, Gorrey will get rid of Dick
but using fear, Tarzan shall stop his evil activities,
as his plan fails, Gorrey managed to kidnap Gloria as an hostage
while getting hold of the treasure map
>> p. 257 the machin-gun as part of the safari!

during the trail, Gloria is taken captive by
the savage apes of Kon Gah, she is saved
by Tarzan whose will is now to destroy Gorrey
or be destroyed himself, however before he can stop Gorrey,
Tarzan has to rescue his friends
Dick and Gloria from a terrible tropical storm
>> p. 263 to 267 Tarzan's struggle against nature's mighty forces

after being rescued, Dick and Gloria take leave of Tarzan
by rejoining civilization while Tarzan continues on the trail of Gorrey,
on his poursuit, Tarzan meets Rufus Flint who also wants to go
with Tarzan on poursuit of Gorrey but Flint reveals himself
to be a treacherous man,
meanwhile, Gorrey - by curious circumstances of fate -
saves the life of princess Nakonia of the realm of Taanor
who becomes Gorrey's ally and when Tarzan with Flint arrive
at Balakan, capital of Taanor,
the golden realm of the lions and city of gold,
Gorrey demands Nakonia to kill them with her lions,
Tarzan takes refuge in the jungle and on a next occasion
he slips into the golden city to arrest Gorrey,
but it is Tarzan who is arrested and by breaking the law
is condemned to die by Lethor, the killer-lion
unexpectedly, Tarzan succeeds in taming Lethor
which becomes its faithful lion friend

afraid of Tarzan, Gorrey runs away after having raided
the gold stores of Taanor,
but he is stopped by Flint who commands him to return
to the city of gold to get more gold;
with a royal black sheep hungry of power, the two villains
conceive now a plan consisting in marrying Gorrey with Nakonia
(the law allows him this because he has saved her life)
and by doing this and tricking king Dalkon, father of Nakonia,
the two get control of the city of gold,

Tarzan however will stop their activities and flees with Nakonia
into the jungle where Tarzan creates with some resistants
a secret society called "the swords of freedom" in order
to fight Flint and Gorrey who now dispose of the army of Taanor
>> p. 278/279 the fight against Lethor
>> p. 279 like a great shaggy dog,
Lethor the lion licked his benefactor's face

n.b. the lions are quite expressively drawn by Foster
(to compare with the lions drawn by Burne Hogarth)
>> see in that connection first drawings of lions
by Hogarth in volume 6


couvertures:
Copyright 2008 - 2024 G. Rudolf