Named after my former Fanzine and APA column est. 1994,"The Issue At Hand"! This Blog offers "The Universe of Things that Interest Me" – Now just a click away!
Comics, DVDs, Animation, Classic TV, and occasionally more. Please enjoy your visit! Blog est. 2008.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Adventures in Comic-Boxing: How Bambi SHOULD Have Turned Out!
(Sigh!) If only Bambi and his mother were jungle denizens, rather than of the forest variety!
...Love the cover anyway!
From TARZAN #127(Dell Comics, Cover Date: November-December, 1961) - Painted Cover by the great George Wilson.
OK, that's gotta be my favorite depiction of Tarzan ever! There's a worthy activity for an ape-raised white guy! Wonder what kind of (beautifully painted!) antelope-like creature that is? And is it a creature that truly does live in the jungle? Don't such critters usually inhabit grasslands? One thinks of the lion being called the "king of the jungle," while lions actually live on the savanna. The panther should be "king/queen of the jungle," cf. The Jungle Book.
“OK, that's gotta be my favorite depiction of Tarzan ever!”
I completely agree, Elaine, and that’s why I was compelled – despite epic “horrific business”, and a (hopefully temporary) waning interest in this thing as a whole (more on this in a future post… maybe) – to put this up!
And, as for why Tarzan makes his TIAH debut with this post, there are various reasons to be discussed at another time, but I’ve found that a first reading of the Tarzan comics (of which I’ve done quite a bit of late) is much like first reading Donald Duck comics – or Popeye comics, or even Casper comics! The comics themselves are WORLDS BETTER than the different characters’ appearances in popular media!
As Donald is much more than throwing tantrums at Chip ‘n’ Dale or bugs and bears, Popeye is much more than competing with Bluto for Olive Oyl in every conceivable setting except those in which he could actually appear as a sailor, and Casper is much more than inadvertently scaring people in his quest for friends, finding and rescuing a friend, only to have no friends the next time we see him – Tarzan is much more than swinging on vines with monkeys. Only thing is that I discovered *this* difference in the last few months. …Better (VERY) late than never, I suppose!
And, during that journey of discovery, I found that (in what used to be a letter column) no less an industry figure than the great Denny O’Neil, who revitalized Batman after ‘60s Bat-Mania had faded, felt similarly about the Lord of the Jungle – until some colleagues handed him some of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original books, and he experienced the same epiphany as I had with the comics… many of which directly adapt Burroughs’ stories.
And so “Torcivia Meets Tarzan”, and it looks like “(“Casablanca” tribute alert)” the beginning of a beautiful friendship! …A friendship even Casper might be envious of!
There are some artists who have such a distinctive style that one can tell their work a mile away. George Wilson was one such artist. An artist of today whose work similarly stands out to me is Alex Ross.
George Wilson was DEFINITELY such an artist! Another stellar talent that made Gold Key and Dell so special!
George Wilson did MAGNIFICENT paintings on a wide variety of properties – from Tarzan, to Twilight Zone, to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and so many more – proving beyond doubt his great, nay AMAZING, range as a painter!
But Alex Ross has an EXTRA QUALITY to his work, an almost startling realism that some have tried to copy but never quite succeed.
Mark Spears is an example of one who clearly TRIES to “ape” ( Tarzan pun intended) Alex Ross but does not succeed. Yes, he manages a similar degree of the aforementioned “startling realism” but, as this cover shows, his characters are hyper-realistic… but also oddly ugly – especially Bandit! Jonny's face even looks plasticized! SPACE QUEST is a rare occasion where I passed on the “A” cover (Spears) for all four issues of the series because of that!
Opting instead for the “B” covers by Joshua Middleton! While not painted, his covers represent the characters as they SHOULD BE! …As would both George Wilson and Alex Ross, each in their own special way!
You should be able to see both covers at either link. Let me know what you think!
Oh, wait! The Joshua Middleton link shows only his cover, but is part of the entire index that I did for the issue! If you want to see the kind of detail I put into these things, check out the whole index!
I agree that Middleton's cover is much better than Spears's, though neither captures the true spirit of the characters, in my opinion. Seeing redesigns and "fresh and modern" takes like this is what makes me think Charles Schulz and Hergé were right to request that no new "Peanuts" or "Tintin" entries be made after their respective deaths.
Thank you, Sergio, for your kind words on the index!
As you can probably guess, this is what I strive for in all the GCD indexing work that I do, as well as with this Blog, my comics translating and dialoguing, etc.
“You succinctly give the reader a clear sense of what to expect from the book, without any spoilers!”
That is EXACTLY what I intended to do! Nice to hear that I succeeded!
My pet peeves are missing information (of which I’ve filled in plenty since 2019) and worse - synopses or notes with SPOILERS! That is unforgivable! If you READ (past tense) the book, you KNOW what happened. If you did not (as is often the case with me – looking up creator credits and any other possible noteworthy items before reading a comic for the first time), the story is … (at best) “compromised”, and (at worst) completely ruined!
I will not do that to people, and have gone as far as to actually remove spoilers that have been entered by others when I run across them, and rewrite them in a spoiler-free way! My editor there supports this, BTW!
Just for the record, my favorite aspect of this is not the “facts ‘n’ figures” nor is it the “nuts ‘n’ bolts” but the copiously detailed NOTES, where I tell you why I liked a given story and point out things to look for! …But NO spoilers (not always easy to do, but I manage!)
And the creation of TITLES where there are none existing! You can tell when a title is created by an indexer because [IT IS IN BRACKETS LIKE THESE] as the cover and main story were in the Space Quest index! Given how much I enjoy creating titles for my new translations of existing stories, you KNOW I’ll never miss the chance to do this!
And, while yes, Middleton may not be Alex Toth (Space Ghost) or Doug Wildey (Jonny Quest), he best captures what the characters should look like! Neither hyper-realistic, nor distorted as so many tend to do these days.
As for Schulz and Hergé, BRAVO for them! If not, we would be seeing Charlie Brown and Tintin in anime-style right now! (SHUDDER!)
OK, that's gotta be my favorite depiction of Tarzan ever! There's a worthy activity for an ape-raised white guy! Wonder what kind of (beautifully painted!) antelope-like creature that is? And is it a creature that truly does live in the jungle? Don't such critters usually inhabit grasslands? One thinks of the lion being called the "king of the jungle," while lions actually live on the savanna. The panther should be "king/queen of the jungle," cf. The Jungle Book.
ReplyDeleteElaine (you write):
ReplyDelete“OK, that's gotta be my favorite depiction of Tarzan ever!”
I completely agree, Elaine, and that’s why I was compelled – despite epic “horrific business”, and a (hopefully temporary) waning interest in this thing as a whole (more on this in a future post… maybe) – to put this up!
And, as for why Tarzan makes his TIAH debut with this post, there are various reasons to be discussed at another time, but I’ve found that a first reading of the Tarzan comics (of which I’ve done quite a bit of late) is much like first reading Donald Duck comics – or Popeye comics, or even Casper comics! The comics themselves are WORLDS BETTER than the different characters’ appearances in popular media!
As Donald is much more than throwing tantrums at Chip ‘n’ Dale or bugs and bears, Popeye is much more than competing with Bluto for Olive Oyl in every conceivable setting except those in which he could actually appear as a sailor, and Casper is much more than inadvertently scaring people in his quest for friends, finding and rescuing a friend, only to have no friends the next time we see him – Tarzan is much more than swinging on vines with monkeys. Only thing is that I discovered *this* difference in the last few months. …Better (VERY) late than never, I suppose!
And, during that journey of discovery, I found that (in what used to be a letter column) no less an industry figure than the great Denny O’Neil, who revitalized Batman after ‘60s Bat-Mania had faded, felt similarly about the Lord of the Jungle – until some colleagues handed him some of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original books, and he experienced the same epiphany as I had with the comics… many of which directly adapt Burroughs’ stories.
And so “Torcivia Meets Tarzan”, and it looks like “(“Casablanca” tribute alert)” the beginning of a beautiful friendship! …A friendship even Casper might be envious of!
There are some artists who have such a distinctive style that one can tell their work a mile away. George Wilson was one such artist. An artist of today whose work similarly stands out to me is Alex Ross.
ReplyDeleteSergio:
ReplyDeleteGeorge Wilson was DEFINITELY such an artist! Another stellar talent that made Gold Key and Dell so special!
George Wilson did MAGNIFICENT paintings on a wide variety of properties – from Tarzan, to Twilight Zone, to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and so many more – proving beyond doubt his great, nay AMAZING, range as a painter!
But Alex Ross has an EXTRA QUALITY to his work, an almost startling realism that some have tried to copy but never quite succeed.
Mark Spears is an example of one who clearly TRIES to “ape” ( Tarzan pun intended) Alex Ross but does not succeed. Yes, he manages a similar degree of the aforementioned “startling realism” but, as this cover shows, his characters are hyper-realistic… but also oddly ugly – especially Bandit! Jonny's face even looks plasticized! SPACE QUEST is a rare occasion where I passed on the “A” cover (Spears) for all four issues of the series because of that!
Opting instead for the “B” covers by Joshua Middleton! While not painted, his covers represent the characters as they SHOULD BE! …As would both George Wilson and Alex Ross, each in their own special way!
You should be able to see both covers at either link. Let me know what you think!
Oh, wait! The Joshua Middleton link shows only his cover, but is part of the entire index that I did for the issue! If you want to see the kind of detail I put into these things, check out the whole index!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Middleton's cover is much better than Spears's, though neither captures the true spirit of the characters, in my opinion. Seeing redesigns and "fresh and modern" takes like this is what makes me think Charles Schulz and Hergé were right to request that no new "Peanuts" or "Tintin" entries be made after their respective deaths.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the index, as always. You succinctly give the reader a clear sense of what to expect from the book, without any spoilers!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sergio, for your kind words on the index!
ReplyDeleteAs you can probably guess, this is what I strive for in all the GCD indexing work that I do, as well as with this Blog, my comics translating and dialoguing, etc.
“You succinctly give the reader a clear sense of what to expect from the book, without any spoilers!”
That is EXACTLY what I intended to do! Nice to hear that I succeeded!
My pet peeves are missing information (of which I’ve filled in plenty since 2019) and worse - synopses or notes with SPOILERS! That is unforgivable! If you READ (past tense) the book, you KNOW what happened. If you did not (as is often the case with me – looking up creator credits and any other possible noteworthy items before reading a comic for the first time), the story is … (at best) “compromised”, and (at worst) completely ruined!
I will not do that to people, and have gone as far as to actually remove spoilers that have been entered by others when I run across them, and rewrite them in a spoiler-free way! My editor there supports this, BTW!
Just for the record, my favorite aspect of this is not the “facts ‘n’ figures” nor is it the “nuts ‘n’ bolts” but the copiously detailed NOTES, where I tell you why I liked a given story and point out things to look for! …But NO spoilers (not always easy to do, but I manage!)
And the creation of TITLES where there are none existing! You can tell when a title is created by an indexer because [IT IS IN BRACKETS LIKE THESE] as the cover and main story were in the Space Quest index! Given how much I enjoy creating titles for my new translations of existing stories, you KNOW I’ll never miss the chance to do this!
And, while yes, Middleton may not be Alex Toth (Space Ghost) or Doug Wildey (Jonny Quest), he best captures what the characters should look like! Neither hyper-realistic, nor distorted as so many tend to do these days.
As for Schulz and Hergé, BRAVO for them! If not, we would be seeing Charlie Brown and Tintin in anime-style right now! (SHUDDER!)