Random Happenstance

I didn't want to call this post 'Gorilla My Dreams,' but there wasn't much choice.


From Tarzan Annual #1, "Tarzan's First Love" Adapted from Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs, written by Roy Thomas, art by John Buscema and Steve Gan.

I'm not a huge Tarzan fan by any means. I remember reading the first book as a kid, and that was pretty much it. I loved (and still do) the John Carter, Warlord of Mars stuff, but Tarzan I could take or leave. It's been years, but the problem may have been the forward or annotation or something pseudo-scholarly to the effect of how in the unlikely event of a child being raised by apes, said child wouldn't grow up to be king of the apes, but would be a shambling shell of a man. A man that would probably not have any qualms about eating apemeat or, um, loving an ape. Wherever I read that, that little tidbit of information, whether true or not, would pretty much hold down my further suspension of disbelief on Tarzan, and kick it in the kidneys.

It would be like rereading A Princess of Mars with a professor giving a running commentary in the other ear about how teleportation is impossible, Mars couldn't support an atmosphere, four-armed creatures are evolutionarily unlikely, etc.

That said, my first thought reading the first story in this issue? I was mildly surprised this was able to get through the old Comics Code, frankly. A man in love with a gorilla almost seems likely to raise more eyebrows today...

That, and John Buscema could draw, no doubt about that. Tarzan looks a bit too much like Conan in a couple of panels, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing either.

Comics Should Be Good is in the middle of "Ape-ril," a month long (maybe) look at comics' greatest apes, gorillas, monkeys, baboons, and assorted primates. Want to know a little secret? I hate apes. Hate 'em. Ever since I saw Beneath the Planet of the Apes as a very little kid. I remember sitting there, shell-shocked, as Nova, then Brent, then Taylor, and finally the whole frickin' planet went down; furrow-browed and hating apes with every ounce of my tiny being.

It's yet another reason why the Tim Burton remake was so awful: I was aching to see humans finally rise up against their simian oppressors and at long last kick ape tail...apes don't have tails, do they? Anyway, the humans didn't, the movie sucked, and I really do hate every ape I see. Could be a long month.