Number 1056


Jungle déjà vu


A standard plot of a Tarzan comic book, written by Gaylord Dubois and drawn by Jesse Marsh, had Tarzan involved in a rescue, a prehistoric valley, and/or some lost civilization. Lost world stories were very popular, and Tarzan stories often used that theme.

This story from Tarzan #19, 1951, fits into a couple of the above categories. It feels like we've read it before, but that's all right. I like lost world stories, I like dinosaurs in Tarzan stories, I like stories where he rescues beautiful girls.*

I also like to look at Jesse Marsh's art. Two late, great comic artists, Alex Toth and Russ Manning, admired Marsh greatly, even though their styles were poles apart from his. They liked his storytelling ability, and when you study Marsh’s pages he kept the action moving.
















*Tarzan would not take advantage of a helpless female, no matter how attractive. He was married to Jane, after all. But while he was out adventuring Jane was home, a long ways away. It didn't matter because, like the heroes of the melodramas of a bygone time, Tarzan "had the strength of ten because his heart was pure." Unlike Timon the tricky in "Tarzan and the Thipdar," Tarzan would never dream of taking another man's woman.