Edgar Rice Burroughs was born exactly one hundred and fifty years ago today. While being a scion of a moderately wealthy family, he lived the life of a working man until he became a wildly successful author. He wrote adventures for the working man. Because of that, he became an American icon and his legacy lives on over a century after his birth.
Read MoreWhen Edgar Rice Burroughs incorporated himself and his creations in 1923, he blazed a trail for the thousands of other authors who have followed his example in the hundred years since.
Read MoreJohn Taliaferro has given us the living, breathing Edgar Rice Burroughs and shown us what a wonderful writer he was. He shows ERB as a courageous and admirable man, a patriot and a family man. Tarzan Forever is also a good book for anyone who wants to understand the pulps and how they produced the finest American stories.
Read MoreAbout four months ago, I wrote a blog entry regarding 'pastiches' in the De Campian sense. There were several interesting comments on that post. While I thought I laid out my basic attitude toward pastiches fairly well, there are certainly various angles that I didn't cover.
Read MoreToday marks the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of Hal Foster’s birth. Who was Hal Foster? Just the main artistic influence on Frank Frazetta, Joe Kubert and John Buscema. Also, Foster was a big influence on Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Wm. Kaluta, Alfredo Alcala, Rudy Nebres and Gary Gianni. His overall impact on adventure comic art—especially in the realm of heroic fantasy—is literally incalculable.
Read MoreJoe Kubert passed on ten years ago today. An absolute legend in the comic book industry, Kubert's career spanned an astounding seventy-five years. Joe was one of the few comics giants to be admitted to various comic book halls of fame as a writer, artist and inker. In Comic Book Valhalla, Joe Kubert sits at the high table.
Read MoreAdmired by everyone from Frank Miller to Neil Gaiman, Neal Adams brought a ferocity, dynamism and grimness to his art not often seen then or now.
Read MoreTarzan and the Jewels of Opar created the template for the era of 'classic' Tarzan novels to come. Its publication was momentous at the time and—many decades later—that novel was my real intro to the world of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs and much, much more.
Read MoreI just found out that Neal Adams turned eighty years old last week. I’m short on time but respects must be paid and props must be given. Neal Adams revolutionized the look of comics in the 1960s. He went on to create some of the coolest renditions of Tarzan and Conan ever…and he didn’t stop there.
Read MoreFrank Frazetta created ground-breaking art for the Canaveral Press edition of Tarzan and the Castaways, but Canaveral didn’t publish all of it…
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