Blending out the unknown real origins of famous Tarzan designs

In order for comic artists and illustrators to blend with each other regardless of gender, we can finally see the stylistic evolution of various Tarzan designs in comics, animation and artworks from the 1960s onward. 

P.J. Monahan + Marion Senones = Burne Hogarth 

Although Burne Hogarth’s art style was largely self taught, he did have major indirect influences in both P.J. Monahan and the French globetrotter Marion Senones, which resulted in his classical yet very dynamic art style having a strong French influence even into the 1970s. 

Neysa McMein + Alex Blum = Roy Krenkel

Roy Krenkel’s art is derived from both the realistic bodies of Neysa McMein and the blustering inks of Alex Blum.

Ethel Hays + Hal Foster = Russ Manning

Though Rex Maxon, Alex Raymond and Mac Raboy were Russ Manning’s first direct influences, both Hal Foster and Ethel Hays might’ve led him to develop an art style more dynamic than both, while leaning towards a relaxed NorCal sensibility. Then again, as their styles are all different, with Ethel Hays’ flappers being somewhat leggier looking, the only things that they all fully share in common are prominent, glittering eyes.

Mead Schaeffer + Lotte Laserstein = Tony DeZuniga 

Tony DeZuniga’s art style not only has origins in both Brandywine School and New Objectivity illustrations, but also blends them with flashy Pinoy sensibilities, suggesting that Mead Schaeffer and Lotte Laserstein were amongst his biggest influences.

Rex Maxon + Katherine Milhous = Joe Kubert

Do note that although Hal Foster was Joe Kubert’s first direct influence, the unexpected truth is that both Rex Maxon and Katherine Milhous might’ve led him to develop his own art style by improving on the best of both, which meant that whilst the semi-stylised yet realistic bodies and heads were from Rex Maxon, the sass was indeed from Katherine Milhous. This meant that they’ve made a much bigger impact on Joe Kubert.  

Martha Sawyers + Milton Caniff = Frank Frazetta 

Although Hal Foster was Frank’s first directly major influence, the king of fantasy art combined the otherwise rather tame dynamism of Milton Caniff with Martha Sawyers’ realistically rustic paints, which implied that he instead owed more of his rather macho art style to both artists simultaneously. 

William Juhre + Dale Messick = Jeff Jones

Jeff Jones indirectly combined the bodies and heads of both William Juhre and Dale Messick, which led to his art style maintain a notably strong comic strip influence as a result. 

Jesse Marsh + Barbara Schwinn Jordan = John Buscema

Though Big Hairy John began with smatters of Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and the great Alex Raymond, his art style is somehow more different than either one, and yet leans not only towards a more Hollywood outlook, but also closer to both hokey SoCal inking techniques and early postwar fashion illustrations. This means it actually has origins in both the blocky, knotty art of Jesse Marsh and the paintings of Barbara Schwinn Jordan. So, it’s perhaps more certain that their rather different art styles birthed his own, more SoCal and yet somewhat bigger than life art style. 

Gladys Parker + Mac Raboy = Neal Adams 

Given that both Neal Adams and Joe Kubert became lifelong friends later on, it’s pretty much certain that the king of Batman artworks would also be a family man like the older artist. That being said, both the ailing Gladys Parker and Mac Raboy impacted much longer on Neal’s art style than any other artist beforehand. 

Alex Raymond + Hilda Terry = Bo Hampton 

Though his first major influence was Frank Frazetta, Bo Hampton would combine Hilda Terry’s dizzy, manic and jivey style with Alex Raymond’s relative machismo, leading to the beginnings of his own style. 

Tarpé Mills + Edd Cartier = Mike Grell

Mike Grell is both a veteran Neal Adams fan and a Joe Kubert adjacent successor who has long combined Tarpé Mills’ slinky bodies with Edd Cartier’s cramped movements. 

Jackie Ormes + John Celardo = Thomas Yeates 

Thomas Yeates must’ve watched Ron Ely’s Tarzan tv show when he was a boy, which is why his Tarzan designs originated with a strong Russ Manning influence. However, even without knowing each other, Jackie Ormes and John Celardo must’ve led him to mishmash their heads and bodies with their inks, and so the rest is history. Even as a Kubert School alum, Thomas Yeates is perhaps the most Celardo-like of them all in terms of body type representation. 

Jack Lehti + Genevieve Asse = Klaus Janson 

Ruth Atkinson + Nick Cardy = Lee Weeks 

Lee Weeks’ art style is a mishmash of Nick Cardy and Ruth Atkinson in both bodies and heads, yet the inking style is more likely a modernisation of Jack Lehti’s own.

Paul Norris + Liliane Funcken = John Totleben 

Although more of an arty guy, hatching and stippling comic artist John Totleben attended the Joe Kubert school decades ago, so that he combined Paul Norris’ inks and Joe Kubert’s kinetic style with Lilian Funcken’s hatching techniques.  

Bob Lubbers + Carmen Barbara = Rafael Kayanan 

Although Neal Adams, Frank Frazetta and Joe Kubert were earlier and yet more direct influences, Carmen Barbara’s feminine bodies and Bob Lubbers’s brilliant adult humour remain the biggest known influences of Rafael Kayanan’s ugly cute art style. 

Dan Barry + Nadine Forster = Mark Wheatley 

While also influenced partly by both Dan Barry for the inks and Russ Manning for the body styles, Mark Wheatley’s bulky, hulking and somewhat ugly Tarzan also has a notably strong yet gloomy Franco-Belgian influence in the late Nadine Forster, who otherwise drew lots of children’s comics in the French language. 

Ramona Fradon + Russ Manning  = Tom Grindberg 

Although Neal Adams and Frank Frazetta are his more direct influences, Tom Grindberg’s fanservice ridden and perhaps even bodacious art style shows a strong influence of both the pioneering Ramona Fradon and Russ Manning. 

Chiaki Fujii + Gil Kane = Mark Schultz 

Although Frank Frazetta and Roy Krenkel were the first major influences for Mark Schultz, Chiaki Fuji was already dying of life-shortening health conditions when Mark himself began his career, so he had to combine their art styles with Gil Kane’s together. 

Lily Renee + Frank Frazetta = Joe Jusko 

Although Joe Jusko’s style still shows a strong similarity to the styles of both Sal and John Buscema, Spiky Joe himself has clearly been so inspired by Lily Renee and Frank Frazetta that he blended Frank’s and Lily’s bodies with his photorealistic painting style.