volume 7 1937-1938

série: Tarzan Sunday Pages
dessinateur / scénariste: Hogarth Burne
éditeur: Flying Buttress EO 1994
genre: Aventure
classement: biblio1
date: 1994
format: cartonné avec jaquette
état: TBE
valeur: 30 €
critère: ***
remarques: seventh volume edited by NBM/Flying Buttress
(NBM being America's first publisher of graphic novels since 1976,
located at New York with imprints such as Flying Buttress Classics
Library, Amerotica, Eurotica and ComicsLit) under the supervision
of Bill Blackbeard out of a sery of 18 volumes,
all being accurate reproduction of the Sunday Pages
in their full colour and in full size, each volume has about 52 pages,

n.b. the sources of these Sunday pages are mainly
from the Los Angeles Times and from the Milwaukee Journal
edited by UFS (United Features Syndicate)



volume 7 1937-1938 from
19.9.1937 (341) to 11.9.1938 (392) = 52 pages drawn by Burne Hogarth,
based on the novel of Edgar Rice Burroughs, with dust jacket

Tarzan lands in the unusual reversed situation of having to defend
white settlers against the wiles of an unscrupulous tribe
led by the roguish Ishtak who falsely "sells" land to them
with treacherous ulterior motives
the volume includes following episodes (number of pages):
- Tarzan in the City of Gold part three: 3
- Tarzan and the Boers part one: 34
- Tarzan and the Chinese part one: 15

1/ introduction by Bill Blackbeard
"Tarzan à la mode de Hogarth" (1911-1996)
- Hogarth with his graphic dynamics was one of the most original
and inventive cartoonist, similarly to Foster, Hogarth avoided however
the use of word ballons in the comic strips reducing dialogue
of any kind to a bare minimum, however story colour and action
were to such an intense degree that one had rarely to pause
for reading much of anything revelling in bizarre alien architecture,
monsters and other incredible jungle creatures
- the first strip produced by Hogarth was "Ivy Hammanhaw" in 1929,
then "pieces of eight" (about the pirate Blackbeard!) in 1934 at McNaught
and when Foster quitted his job in 1937,
Hogarth was selected out of many candidates
- in 1944, Hogarth started his own creation "Drago"
(a kind of Zorro story in Argentina) which however worked to his disadvantage;
in 1945 Hogarth stopped drawing Tarzan and Ruben Moreira (Rubimor)
stepped in Tarzan's strips as a third-rate comic artist,
he was a disaster (however it might have been a planned disaster
>> see above introduction for more details)
- 1947, after the failure of Drago, Hogarth restarted his work with Tarzan,
but already in 1948 he realized a new own strip entitled
"Miracle Jones" = an old-style slapstick comic
(slapstick = low comedy of the roughest kind);
Hogarth stopped Tarzan definitively in 1950

2/ the story
city of gold part three: the jungle forces have finally smashed
the modern army and this time Flint could not escape his fate;
leaving accidently the realm of gold unnoticed,
Tarzan meets in the jungle the cabin of his birth once more,
then Tarzan rescues his foster ape-people from the black cannibals
= the Mbonga's tribesmen who have captured Taug,
poster-brother ape of Tarzan

Tarzan succeeds in liberating Taug and taking as booty two
of the cannibals who are to be sacrificed on the dum dum altar
>> p. 349 but this time Tarzan does not share this brutal orgy,
however he was too wise to attempt to impose his own code
upon the brute instincts of the apes

Tarzan makes a visit to his brave Waziri's warriors where he receives
the visit of the messenger of Ishtak, chief of a far south tribe
who is asking for help against white invaders,
meeting of Tarzan with Ishtak and with the Boers
during which the treachery of Ishtak is revealed,
battle on the veldt where the warriors of Ishtak are defeated
>> p. 351 the trekkers called boers = true pioneers
>> p. 354 the gravest error than Tarzan ever made
(again!) to let Ishtak go away unscathed


Jan van Boeren, chief of the Boers decides to remain in the land
despite the danger of Ishtak's savage warriors but Annitje,
his adoptive daughter is filled with terror and starts to flirt with Tarzan
>> p. 361 there can be no love affaires with Tarzan
>> p. 367 Ishtak the villain = a typical face drawn in Hogarth's style

new onslaught of Ishtak's warriors on van Boeren's home,
the savage men are repelled again but this time they have received
modern rifles from the white traitor Henrik Smit
and are becoming a greater menace,
therefore Tarzan and the Boers build a fortified town,
Annitje's hatred towards Tarzan by rallying Henrik the traitor,
but Tarzan and his friend in a final battle defeat Ishtak
who finds also his fate, peace is restored with Ishtak's successor
>> p. 368 Annitje, the foster-child

on his way home, Tarzan discovers a mysterious lost civilization
guarded by two walls with inbetween a barrier of beasts being mammoth lions!
>> p. 378 the Chinese wall in the jungle of Africa
>> p. 380 the loin-cloth of Tarzan has changed:
in a looser way and of different colour

as an intruder Tarzan is captured and presented
in front of the emperor Sat Sun Tai
and as a stranger Tarzan must die by force of the law,
but Tarzan is saved by princess Luling, daughter of Sat Sun Tai
who wants his father to adopt Tarzan as her foster-brother,
so that Tarzan should no longer be a stranger
>> p. 383 the pretty princess Luling

later on, the city is attacked by some bandits called "the horsemen of doom",
the Chinese are afraid and do not wish to fight but
>> p. 386 Tarzan inspires strength and courage to the civilized men,
however despite their efforts, they are taken prisoners by the bandits
>> p. 387 Tarzan is sentenced to death by Chang-Loon,
chief of the bandits, but Tarzan is saved by a pack of lions
charging the bandits who despatch themselves very quickly,
however a new menace is arising: Hiyedo, the barbarian war-lord
and his black warriors Aiyus
>> p. 390 even to safe his life, Tarzan never lies
>> p. 391 the birth of the explosive powder
>> p. 392 Tarzan is nominated chief of the Chinese army
to fight against Hiyedo's savage warriors

>> a very good volume with the excellent artscraft of Hogarth,
beautifully coloured, any resemblance with Foster's style is now gone
and in this first episode with the Boears and the Chinese,
Hogarth's style becomes more personified (especially pages 346-355
and 378-390 whose colour are well painted

n.b. Hogarth starts now to make use of strips of different size,
in this volume he has presented some strips on full page width
and also bringing more details on the background ;
to notice: the beautiful sensuous face of the Chinese princess
being part of a superb volume cover
also to notice: the cover shown now a blue colour tendency
instead of the previous green one

P.S. Tarzan and the Boers part one is presented
with the title "Tarzan trahi" in the edition Hachette

couvertures:
Copyright 2008 - 2023 G. Rudolf