Obscure Adventures in Geek and Nerd Culture

For the first tale in the now-largely canonised Tarzan: The New Adventures, Tom Grindberg designed an ugly-cute Tarzan on a mishmash of Jesse Marsh and John Coleman Burroughs, and then Benito Gallego came along with a somehow Jujutsu Kaisen/Baki/Devilman Crybaby level Tarzan more unattractive than even Baki the Grappler. Even after the ERB Universe line launched in 2019, Chris Peuler made a Jesse Marsh-Mac Raboy crossbreed, the most accurate take of the ERBU canon Tarzan by far. Rather tellingly, Kory Fuhrman and Joe Jusko are amongst the few other artists who actually blend them properly for official Tarzan works.  This why Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc’s own ERB Universe and its original canon prefer these otherwise different styles being blended into something else. It makes sense with many of the oldies being the preceding ‘godparent’ styles to most of the newer ones. Jesse Marsh (both first two ever Tarzan covers for Dell Comics and later comics for Dell Comics and Gold Key) + Barb...

Dear dad, please be warned that the ERB Universe is a Sasural Simar Ka meets Evangelion prototype on steroids. That means I have proven that Edgar Rice Burroughs was a rather egregiously bad writer who could still succeed. He’s basically the Stephanie Meyer of his time! Holy shit dad, I’m telling you that the huge and hulking canon Tarzan is a part of a mind screwy multiverse. No wonder why I’m tired of having an archive panic of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ own Tarzan books.  Also, as much as I used to like the Edgar Rice Burroughs Books more often, I think even the more sensible veteran fans would be put off by the fact that the ERB universe is not only developing too slowly (thanks to all the senseless debates around both Jane Porter and especially Korak), but also has begun to imitate Dragon Ball somehow. I’m also thinking that ERB Inc. is just sitting on green space babe money as always. That being said, it’s becoming pretty obvious to me and other Tarzan fans (we’re mostly Disney’s ...

Welcome back, fans of 90s cool!  Well, thank goodness Wolf Larson’s in ERB Inc. He’s such a smart, creative businessman that he’s moved on from medium-low tv budget acting. Wolf’s a promoted fanboy of Tarzan after all. That’s because he must’ve watched the 1960s show with Ron Ely as a kid, decades before playing a 90s Tarzan variant raised by gorillas. Thankfully his own take on Tarzan can speak normally, but usually acts somewhat like a gorilla because as a young child, he survived a terrible plane crash that killed his birth parents. Tellingly, the 1990s French-Canadian Tarzan show, though flawed but decent, does have great moments and is a spiritual predecessor to Disney’s Tarzan because it’s got Thomas Yeates-esque writing. Comic writer-artist Thomas Yeates himself must’ve watched the Ron Ely show too when he was young!  It’s a more optimistic and humorous take on the edgier but more nuanced 1960s show with Ron Ely, which is aimed at a young adult to new adult audienc...

You can see that there are a lot of actors which have inspired a lot of more contemporary Tarzan designs throughout the years. 1960s-70s Charles Bronson, Steven Hill and Peter Cullen must’ve had heads and bodies full of Frank Frazetta vibes. Although Charles Bronson himself had a head which is otherwise more similar to that of Joe Kubert’s Tor, they might’ve inspired the most famous parts of Frank Frazetta’s design portfolio, which meant that Frank Frazetta’s Tarzan designs had come of age in the mid-late 1960s.  Aside from Horst Buchholz and Steve Reeves, who had prettier faces, it’s almost certain that the insanely dorky Gordon Scott who was in fact another muscly real life model for Russ Manning’s influential Tarzan design in his Gold Key Comics years. Nonetheless, his takes on both Daily and Sunday comic strip Tarzans are usually modelled on Kalman Szkalak, Frank Zane and Stellan Skarsgard.  Joe Kubert has had a pretty strong array of designs to choose from. To make things...