The Art of Tarzan: Illustrators Special Edition S15 (magazine review).

To me, Tarzan is a bit old-world. We know a lot more about African wildlife these days, and we know the likes of lions and alligators attack humans when they infringe on their territory. A modern-day Tarzan would probably work more with nature than against it.

As Peter Richardson’s opening article shows, writer Edgar Rice Burroughs protagonist was born off a news report of castaways ‘going ape’ or native in 1912 and a desire to make money from writing stories equal to or better than the existing pulps at the time. Tarzan was in the right place at the right time, making his mark and entering an industry. This contained newspaper strips, drawing in some of the best artistic talents for a time, until the artists realised they didn’t get any money from foreign sales. It is not surprising that comic books were attracted, and Tarzan has appeared in DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and several others. People are attracted to a man in a loincloth as the king of the jungle, even if they don’t question how he stays warm at night.

The majority of this ‘Illustrators Special Edition’ is devoted to Joe Jusko, as interviewed by Bill Stout. I’m surprised it was named after Tarzan. There’s a lot of samples of his other work, including his ‘John Carter of Mars’ covers. Jusko is also mostly self-taught, and reading how he learned from his mistakes is instructive in keeping on practicing and resolving the problems with your work. I never saw him working with oils, and it’s confirmed here that, like me, he uses Liquidtex paints, which dry quickly.

It’s rather interesting seeing his technique for painting and masking fluid covering figures as he works from the background up. As Jusko points out, he is self-taught. To some extent, so am I, although I did learn early on to not draw the same thing many times over and integrate my colour schemes when I paint. Even so, it’s still a learning curve.

At the back of the book, editor Peter Richardson apologises for the absence of a feature on John Watkiss because they weren’t able to get clearance from Disney in time to show his art, hence the extended Jusko piece.

Back to our regular programme, as Bill Stout has a look at the career of Russ Manning (1929–1981). This is especially true as Stout started his career, as many others did, working for Manning as assistants. Although Manning’s work is primarily known for his Tarzan art, he also did ‘Magnus, Robot Fighter’ and the ‘Star Wars’ newspaper strip. His line economy ensured he didn’t have to white-out corrections.

Finally, we are shown the art of Czech artist Zdenék Burlan (1902-1981) kept at the front of the ERB Estate in Tarzana, showing the life of Tarzan in black and white paintings. Each of them here is given a full page. If you’re aware of the Tarzan legend, you should recognise some of these scenes. I can understand why they have the originals there. They might not be in colour, but their raw aspects are immensely strong.

I do think the extensive interview with Joe Jusko will be the turning point if you haven’t bought this book so far simply for the variety of art.

GF Willmetts

March 2024

(pub: The Book Palace, 2023. 130 page illustrated squarebound magazine. Price: £30.00 (UK), $38.99 (US) via Bud Plant. ISBN: 978-1-913548-19-3. ISSN: 2052-6520)

check out website: www.bookpalace.com and www.illustratorsquarterly.com