Coming This Summer

Cover art by Mike Wolfer and Ceci de la Cruz.

It's been a long time since I last updated this site. It's not because I haven't been working on things. I'm simply trying to not announce stuff that isn't complete or have a concrete print date anymore. Too many times I've announced projects that I was working on, only to never have them materialize.

I've written two Edgar Rice Burroughs-based comics for American Mythology Productions - Carson of Venus #1 and The Moon Maid #1. The two books make up the first two chapters in American Mythology's "Fear On Four Worlds" ERB crossover event (tying in with their existing Land That Time Forgot and Pellucidar books), and if sales warrant, they will be followed up by new miniseries. Carson is scheduled for June, and Moon Maid for July.

Cover art by Mike Wolfer and Ceci de la Cruz.

If you can, PLEASE pre-order these from your local comics shop - otherwise, they may not stock them. Diamond Order Code for Carson of Venus is APR181254 for the Main Cover and APR181255 for the Cyrus Mesarcia variant cover.

Hopefully, sales on these will justify American Mythology following them up with new miniseries. I hope so, because I'd really like to write them (and could use the work!). In particular, I've already got some great ideas (I think) for a Carson Of Venus miniseries...

Wednesday Cover: The Lost Continent

This week, we've got another terrific Frank Frazetta cover - this time for an Ace paperback edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction novel, The Lost Continent (a/k/a Beyond Thirty). Enjoy!

Adventures On Other Worlds

My birthday was earlier this week, and I was fortunate to receive a little cash as gifts from various family members. As I usually do around my birthday & Christmas time, I decided to pick up a few graphic novels. This year, my focus was almost entirely on the interplanetary adventure genre.

I ordered two John Carter Of Mars comics collections from Dark Horse Comics. The first of these, Weird Worlds, collects all of the Carter stories published by DC Comics in the early 1970s, while the other volume presents nearly the entire run of Marvel Comics' series from the latter half of that decade. The Marvel John Carter, Warlord Of Mars book was one of my favorite comic book series of all time (along with their Star Wars series of the same vintage), and I've long wanted a square-bound collection of those Barsoomian chronicles for my bookshelf.

The other two trade paperbacks I sprung for were from Dynamite Comics, a company that I've had mixed feelings about in the past. Exploiting the public domain status of Burroughs' early novels, they've been publishing their own Carter comics for the past few years. I've never read any of their Mars books, but I took a chance on Warriors Of Mars because I was intrigued by the premise. In this book they've dusted off Edwin Arnold's Gullivar Jones (protagonist of Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, a Martian adventure novel published more than a decade before Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess Of Mars), and introduced him to John Carter's milieu. Scholars have long noted the similarites between Arnold's novel and Burroughs' subsequent Martian tales, so I'm intrigued by the idea of seeing the two works/characters combined.

I also picked up the collection of their Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist miniseries, because I've read that the Alex Ross-plotted tale incorporates a lot of story elements from the 1980 Flash Gordon movie and the 1979 Filmation animated television feature. I happen to like both of those versions, and I know that Ross is a huge Flash fan, so I'm curious to see how that series turned out.

With luck, most of these books will be here by the weekend! 

Wednesday Cover: Bomba!

Having just finished the first volume of Monogram Bomba The Jungle Boy movies on DVD from Warner Archive (review at DVD Late Show soon), I'm still in a jungle adventure mode. So, this week, I've got the cover of DC Comics' Bomba The Jungle Boy #5, published in 1968. The Grand Comic Database credits Jack Sparling with this striking cover illustration.

The B-Movie Jungle

I received the new Bomba The Jungle Boy manufactured-on-demand DVD collection from Warner Archives yesterday. I've watched the first four of the six films in the set, and while I'll be posting a real review over on my DVD Late Show site early next week, I wanted to mention here how much I'm enjoying these Monogram B-movies.

While clearly shot on a shoestring budget, and a bit too leisurely-paced for their brief running times, I think these compare rather favorably to the Tarzan films that Sol Lesser was producing at the same time; they're clearly cheaper, but not much cheaper than the Lex Barker Tarzan entries. Johnny Sheffield, while still decidedly boy-ish of face, has a remarkably impressive adult physique worthy of a jungle man, and appears to be doing a surprising number of his own stunts.

In these first four films - Bomba The Jungle Boy, Bomba On Panther Island, Lost Volcano, and The Hidden City - there's a reasonable variety to the storylines, even if they do manage to include almost every convention (or cliché) of the jungle adventure film - and we wouldn't want it any other way. (Haven't seen anyone trapped in quicksand yet, though.)

I'm definitely looking forward to spinning the last couple films in Volume One, and hope that Volume Two will be coming soon.

Wednesday Cover: The Fantastic Jongor!

Robert Moore Williams' dinosaur-riding jungle man, Jongor of Lost Land, battles a centaur on this Fantastic Adventures cover. The cover art illustrates a scene from The Return of Jongor, the middle installment of Williams' pulp trilogy. I've got these adventures in paperback (with Frazetta covers), but it was cool to stumble upon this scan during one of my recent Google safaris...

Bomba, The Jungle Boy

This week, Warner Archive released the first volume of Bomba, The Jungle Boy films on DVD. The films, based on a children's book series published in the 1920s, were produced by the Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures starting in 1949 as a vehicle for youthful actor Johnny Sheffield, who had just completed his tenure as "Boy" in the Tarzan films produced by MGM and RKO. As Bomba, Sheffield was able to remain in the jungle spotlight for a few more years (until 1955!), in much the same manner as his on-screen father figure, Johnny Weismuller, who moved on to make a series of low-budget Jungle Jim B-movies for Columbia, post-Tarzan.

I've never seen any of the Bomba films, but I love old Hollywood backlot jungle adventures, and look forward to checking these out. This first volume contains six features: Bomba The Jungle Boy, Bomba on Panther Island, The Lost Volcano, The Hidden City, The Lion Hunters, and Elephant Stampede. With luck, I'll be reviewing these for my DVD Late Show site.

Wednesday Covers: JUNGLE ADVENTURES

In 1971, publisher Sol Brodsky's Skywald Comics published three double-sized issues of Jungle Adventures, which reprinted a number of Golden Age jungle hero comics featuring such luminaries as Jo-Jo, Taanda, Rulah The Jungle Girl, and the original Sheena. But each issue also included a new adventure of a new savage hero: the crimson-maned Zangar - presumably created by artist Jack Katz, although the great Gardner Fox is credited for scripting the first issue. I have the first Zangar adventure above, and would like to get the other two.

I always found Katz's artwork interesting, appealing and a bit eccentric. A few years after working on this comic, he would create one of the very first independent comics (as we know the term today), a very personal, 24-issue science fiction epic called The First Kingdom, which he would write and draw for over a decade. I've only seen tantalizing excerpts from that series, and I keep hoping that IDW or some other publisher will get the rights to reprint it in a collected format.

King Of The Jungle

The best thing about my birthday this Summer was that between the generosity of my wife and my mother-in-law (hey, Cathy!), I was able to finally get all of the Lex Barker and Gordon Scott Tarzan films for my collection. Since these particular titles were issued by Warner Archive as manufactured-on-demand product, the prices were somewhat steeper than your average DVD. There also weren't many options out there for buying them used (one way I manage to keep building my video library is by buying things second-hand and as cheap as possible, when possible). This meant that I hadn't been able to pick them up before. But now I have them!

Unlike the Barker films, most of which were new to me whole or in part, I'm more familiar with most of the Scott Ape Man movies. I taped many of them off of AMC back in the 90s, when that was still a "classic movie" channel. My favorites are the last two films that Scott starred in (and the first two produced by Sy Weintraub), 1959's Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (with Anthony Quayle & Sean Connery among the villains) and 1960's Tarzan The Magnificent (with Jock Mahoney and John Carradine as the bad guys). Unlike most of the Tarzan movies up to that point (specifically excluding MGM's first two films with Weismuller in the role), these last two Gordon Scott vehicles were written for adults and were shot, in large part, on location in Africa. Scott plays the Lord Of The Jungle role with intelligence and a no-nonsense, moral conviction/ badass attitude that works astoundingly well, and Cheetah is all but absent from both of these installments, so there's none of the usual pandering chimpanzee antics.

They're terrific, grown-up adventure films, and I'm grateful to have widescreen copies in my DVD collection at last. My only disappointment is that the bean counters at Warners didn't authorize digital restorations of the movies; they all looked pretty beat-up. I wish these short-sighted, short-term profit-motivated corporations realized the inherent artistic and historical value of these films (and genre movies, in general) and invested in prolonging the existence of these pop culture artifacts. The restorations would pay for themselves over time.

Anyway, I'm pretty much where I want to be now, as far as my Tarzan DVD collection goes. I still have a few titles to get (the last two Mike Henry films and a couple of the early silents, for example), but I'll pick them up eventually....

Back To The Jungle!

My wonderful wife surprised me today with an early birthday present of the Lex Barker Tarzan Collection from Warner Archive. Barker was Johnny Weismuller's direct successor at RKO for producer Sol Lesser, and the films themselves are very much in the mold of the producer's earlier RKO entries. Still, the classically handsome, intelligent-looking Barker makes a very fine ape-man, and the movies continue to be great, old-fashioned, Saturday matinee material.

My favorite Tarzan films still tend to be the ones produced by Sy Weintraub in the late 50s/60s (specifically Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, Tarzan the Magnificent, Tarzan And The Valley Of Gold), but these are a lot of fun, too, and I'm thrilled to finally have them in my library.

Wednesday Cover: A Princess Of Mars

I first collected Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars paperbacks in the early 80s, when Ballantine/Del Rey issued the series with gorgeous, colorful cover art by Michael Whelan. This is the cover to the first volume in the series, A Princess Of Mars, and it's one of my favorites. A lot of fantastic artists have visualized Burroughs' Barsoom over the years, including masters like Frazetta and Roy Krenkel, but I find that I keep going back to Whelan's interpretation. I just love the way he sees Mars and its wonders.

On a related note, Brandi and I went to see Andrew Stanton's John Carter last night. Saw it in 3-D because it was the most convenient showing, time-wise. Overall, I was pleased with it and look forward to watching it again on Blu-ray when it comes out. The effects were extremely good (I had no problem believing that the CGI Tharks were actual, living characters), and Taylor Kitsch was better than I expected as Carter.

As for the most important character - considering that it's impractical to travel back in time and bring 1976 Caroline Munro to the present to play Dejah Thoris, I am quite satisfied with the actual casting of  the lovely Miss Lynn Collins, who did a fine job as The Princess of Mars.

I have a few quibbles with the changes and alterations made to the story, but really, it was a terrific movie, and should be raking in money like nobody's business - but we were virtually alone in the theater. It's a shame.

Some people just refuse to have fun, I guess.

Ron Ely TARZAN Coming to DVD!

The Sy Weitraub-produced Tarzan television series, which aired from 1966 through 1968 and starred the athletic Ron Ely in the title role, has long been desired on home video by fans and collectors of Edgar Rice Burroughs' legendary Lord of the Jungle. Well, Warner Archive has announced that the first season of this show - packaged in two 4-disc, 16-episode volumes - will finally be available next week.

My personal memories of this show are dim. I was too young to have watched it when it originally aired, but when I was a kid around eight or nine years old, WLBZ Channel 2 in Bangor aired it for a year or so on weekday afternoons. Unfortunately, in those days, we couldn't always get that channel to tune in all the way down in Belgrade. So, when I'd get home from school, I'd watch the reruns of the George Reeves Adventures Of Superman and the Adam West Batman that ran back-to-back on a channel that we did get, and then, when those were over, I'd struggle with the antenna for a while to see if I could catch the broadcast signal from Bangor.

Usually, I couldn't tune in anything but snow and a faint, static-riddled audio. Every once in a while, though, when the atmospheric conditions were just right, I could snag it. On those rare and glorious occasions,  I'd round out my TV superhero afternoons with an episode of Tarzan.

As I said above, I don't remember much about the show, but I absolutely do remember that terrific title sequence above, especially the shot of Tarzan atop those spectacular waterfalls.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get my hands on those DVDs.... and maybe Warner Archive will get around to releasing the Filmation Tarzan cartoon series from the 70s one of these days!

Wednesday Covers: Frazetta's JONGOR

The Return Of Jongor

Jongor Fights Back

As I mentioned here not long ago, I recently purchased the three Popular Press paperback editions of  Robert Moore Williams' "Jongor" novels. I just finished the first book, and thought it was terrific jungle pulp, with an intriguing Tarzan knock-off. Jongor swings in Lost Land, a prehistoric jungle valley somewhere deep in the Australian Outback, where he rides dinosaurs and battles the monkeymen of the lost continent of Mu. Fun stuff.

Even better are the cover illustrations by the legendary Frank Frazetta. Here are two of the three - sans obscuring cover type (I couldn't find a "clean" copy of the first cover). I love these paintings - both compositions are classic Frazetta.

Enjoy!

Jongor Of Lost Land Fights Back

Years ago, when I first read Richard Lupoff's book, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Master of Adventure, I found myself not only determined to read every ERB story I could find, but also intrigued by the Burroughs "imitators" that Lupoff discussed in one of the later chapters. Among those imitators, I remember Lupoff writing about Robert Moore Williams and his Tarzan-esque character, "Jongor."

The Jongor stories appeared in the pulp magazine Fantastic Adventures, back in the 1940s, and were reprinted in three paperbacks by Popular Library in 1970, graced with a triptych of evocative Frank Frazetta covers. I found the second of these, The Return of Jongor in a used bookstore a few years ago, but, as I recently noted here, I dislike reading series fiction out of order, so it remains unread.

While on my online book safari last week, the one where I found and purchased Star Barbarian, I decided to see if I could find the other two Jongor books at affordable prices. As it turned out, I could, so, in a few weeks, I'll have more vintage jungle pulp to add to my reading pile.

It looks like Moore also wrote some sword & planet novels about a character called "Zanthar." If I enjoy the Jongor books as much as I hope to, maybe I'll try and track down those adventures, as well.

Gordon Scott's Tarzan on DVD!

At last! Gordon Scott's Tarzan swings onto DVD!

Having recently made available the five Lex Barker Tarzan titles, the Warner Archives online store is now offering all six Gordon Scott Tarzan films on burn-to-order DVDs.

These are not available in retail stores nor sites like Amazon, are a bit pricey and feature no extras, but at least they're in their proper aspect ratios (I can't wait to see Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and Tarzan the Magnificent in widescreen!). As with the Lex Barker titles, they go for $19.99 a pop, though you can buy them in a set for a better price (roughly $10 each). Here's the link.

Man, I really wish I had some money!!! There are now nearly two dozen titles offered through the Warners Archive program that I'm dying to get! Aside from the eleven Tarzan films, there's Gene Roddenberry's 70s sci-fi pilots Genesis 2 and Planet Earth, Doc Savage, Man of Bronze, Captain Sindbad, The Bermuda Depths, Captain Nemo & the Underwater City, and the pilot film for The Man from Atlantis.

New Tarzan DVDs!

As a follow-up to my recent post where I lamented that there weren't more Tarzan films available on DVD, well, today I discovered that the five jungle lord movies starring Lex Barker – Tarzan And The She-Devil, Tarzan And The Slave Girl, Tarzan's Magic Fountain, Tarzan's Peril, and Tarzan's Savage Fury – have been released on DVD by Warner Brothers.

Sort of.

They are only available from the Warner Archive Collection online store, and burned to order. Apparently the studio decided that the audience wasn't large enough for a standard commercial release, and chosen to only make them available in this format. They're available for $14.95 each, or as a complete set for $49.95 (obviously the better deal).

There are some other interesting treasures in there, too, like George Pal's Doc Savage, Man of Bronze (starring TV Tarzan Ron Ely), and Captain Sindbad, starring Guy Williams (one Sinbad flick I don't yet have!). There's a bunch of obscure titles in various genres, including crime, romance and horror. They even have the bizarre 1979 TV movie, The Bermuda Depths, the memory of which has haunted me for years and which, until a year ago, I thought I had just imagined. I certainly never thought it would ever be released on home video.

I haven't bought anything from the Warner Archive yet, but, obviously, I'm going to have to eventually. I really like the Lex Barker Tarzans, and I simply have to see The Bermuda Depths again!

Regarding Tarzan

In the comments to the Tarzan comic book cover I posted yesterday, several people expressed little familiarity with the many Tarzan films made over the years, which surprised me. When I was growing up, even here, in the wilds of rural Maine, with only three television stations, Tarzan flicks (and the Ron Ely teleseries) were a staple of local broadcasting.

Admittedly, they're not shown much these days, and except for the Johnny Weismuller flix from MGM and RKO, most of the ape man's cinematic efforts are unavailable on DVD. (There are a few of the cheaper, independent Tarzan movies – ones that have fallen into the Public Domain – on disc, but they're not among the better ones, unfortunately. Oh yeah, the Bo Derek one is on DVD, too...)

Me, while I adore the Weismuller Tarzans (and Tarzan And His Mate is among the best – maybe the best – jungle adventures ever filmed) I'm also a huge fan of the later films from the Sixties.

Beginning with 59's Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (a bold title, but it lives up to it) with Gordon Scott and continuing through the two Jock Mahoney films and three Mike Henry vehicles, the last seven Jungle King movies from producer Sy Weintraub, are pretty much my favorite film interpretations of Edgar Rice Burroughs' signature character. Though updated to then-contemporary times, they actually portray the character much closer to the Burroughs novels than the any of the earlier films.

Tarzan is portrayed as literate and articulate, he travels the world, and can adapt quickly to any dangerous situation or environment. These films dropped the cinematic baggage that had built up over the years (Jane, Boy, etc.) and were pretty much balls-out adventure films with a badass in a loincloth. The best, IMO, are Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959), Tarzan The Magnificent (1960) – both starring Scott and surprisingly adult in nature – and Tarzan And The Valley of Gold (1966). Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963), is very good, too, though I find it uncomfortable to watch; star Jock Mahoney was ill during filming, and he literally wastes away as the movie goes on. Fine Tarzan adventure, though.

If you're interested in the history of the cinematic ape man, the best online resource I've found is the late Matt Winan's Tarzan Movie Guide website. He passed away in 2008, but the site is maintained by friends, and it's incredibly comprehensive.

Now... if Warners would just get around to releasing the Lex Barker Tarzan films on DVD...

Wednesday Cover: Tarzan

My favorite movie ape man, Gordon Scott, graces this photo cover for Dell's Tarzan #92.

It can only be one thing – Prehistoric!

In the Seventies, producer John Dark and director Kevin Connor made a series of fantasy adventure movies based on and/or inspired by the works of pulp writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. These films (all starring beefy TV cowboy Doug McClure) were The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, At The Earth's Core and Warlords of Atlantis.

The other night, I re-watched The People That Time Forgot.

People, American International Pictures' sequel to the Amicus Studios-produced The Land That Time Forgot, was released in the Summer of 1977. A square-jawed aviator played by Patrick Wayne, son of John, and star of the same year's Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger, leads an expedition to the prehistoric island of Caprona in search of adventurer Doug McClure, still marooned there after the events of the previous film. The expedition consists of Wayne, his mechanic (Shane Rimmer; The Spy Who Loved Me), a female reporter (Sarah Douglas; Superman 2), and a paleontologist (character actor Thorley Walters). After their biplane is forced down by an attacking pterodactyl, the adventurers discover a beautiful cavegirl (the gorgeous Dana Gillespie, below) who eventually leads them to Skull Mountain and the evil, samurai-like Nagas who have McClure locked away in their skeleton-strewn dungeon.

People is a full-blooded, old-fashioned Saturday matinee adventure, with vicious cavemen, clunky dinosaurs, an evil Tor Johnson lookalike, volcanic eruptions, swordplay and plenty of heroic deering-do. As in Sinbad, Wayne makes an acceptable, if not particularly charismatic, hero, while Douglas, an underrated actress who's appeared in tons of fantasy films, makes the most of her spunky girl reporter role. Gillespie provides the eye-candy, and Walters and Rimmer provide solid support. McClure, who shows up late in the film, looks a little tired of these cut-rate lost world epics, but acquits himself adequately.

The production design and special effects have a charming, nostalgic cheesiness about them, with obvious matte paintings, miniatures and mechanical monsters adding to the cliffhanging fun. Although primitive by today's high-tech standards, I'll take this kind of hand-crafted filmmaking over today's CGI-dominated 3D toons any day. The photography is magnificent, making good use of the rugged, prehistoric-looking locations, and the score by John Scott is rousing, if a bit sparse.

The Land That Time Forgot and People That Time Forgot were released as a double feature DVD by MGM Home Video some years ago as part of their marvelous, consumer-friendly "Midnight Movies" line, and might still be available from some retailers. The disc is bare-bones – just the two movies and their theatrical trailers – but the widescreen transfers are beautiful.

Gordon Scott, R.I.P.

My favorite Tarzan movie of all is probably Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, the one where they dropped Jane, Boy and the "Me Tarzan" schtick, and made Tarzan a true bad-ass again.

When Tarzan drops Cheetah off at the treehouse, says, "Don't wait up," and heads off after a boatload of brutal, heavily armed criminals (including Sean Connery) carrying only a longbow and a knife... well, that's the beginning of one of the best adventure flicks of all time.

Gordon Scott – the Greatest Tarzan – has passed away.

According to friends, Scott passed away the morning of April 30th in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Gordon had been hospitalized for several months recovering from heart valve surgery. Unfortunately, following the surgery he suffered complications and was kept in ICU. Just recently the complications reoccurred and he physically fought to remove his IV whenever he could, choosing not to prolong his life.

Ironically, he died just a day short of the anniversary of the death of his close friend and fellow Hercules, Steve Reeves.

He was 80 years old, and the father of five... and reportedly died penniless.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Born Gordon M. Werschkull in Portland, Oregon, Gordon Scott was raised in Oregon and attended the University of Oregon for one year. Upon leaving school he went into the United States Army and was honorably discharged in 1947. He then worked at a variety of jobs until 1953, when he was spotted by a talent agent while working as a lifeguard at the Las Vegas Sahara Hotel. Due in part to his muscular frame and 6'3" height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan. He was also a friend of Hercules star Steve Reeves, and collaborated with him as Remus to Reeves' Romulus in Duel of the Titans (1961).

Scott also played Hercules in a couple low-budget productions during the mid-1960s. His final film appearance was in The Tramplers, filmed in 1966, released in the U. S. in 1968. Scott was married to actress Vera Miles from 1954 to 1959. For the last two decades of his life, he was a popular guest at film conventions and autograph shows.

Farewell, Gordon.

That's two Tarzans lost to us just this year.