Kubert!

Back when DC had the rights to Tarzan, the incredible Joe Kubert delivered some fantastic art to the series, in which he was usually penciller, inker, and letterer, the colors being done by Tatjana Wood and the plots, at least in the story arcs below, being adapted from Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ original novels of the same title. These pages are nothing short of magnificent. I will add that Kubert also did a better than usual job of translating Burroughs’ world, including a good reflection through the art itself of his prose, into the comics medium. 

From “The Origins of Tarzan”
From “Tarzan and the Lion Man: Part 2”
(Note: Tarzan is impersonating an actor, Stanley Obroski, who, ironically, was in turn chosen for his strong resemblance to Lord Greystoke to star in a film about Tarzan.)

I confess to avoiding my usual practice of using small clips. I couldn’t bear to slice up such works of art, so I instead chose to present these glorious pages whole. If you like what you see, Dark Horse has now reissued Kubert’s Tarzan work here and perhaps elsewhere as well. (I own copies of the original issues as well as the digital, and I promise every page is just as wonderful)