Tarzan is returning to comic books after a sabbatical of several years—just in time to celebrate next year the 100th anniversary of the character’s inaugural appearance in All-Story magazine in October 1912. Writer Arvid Nelson’s version of the Ape Man will be brought to us by Dynamite in December, and Nelson, who confessed to Cliff Biggers at Comic Shop News that he hadn’t read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle tales until quite recently, says he plans to stick to the Burroughs’ version pretty closely. “I was surprised at how far all of the adaptations thus far stray from the original,” Nelson said. “Burroughs’ original concept is actually a lot more interesting than anything that’s been done since. ... [Tarzan’s] true story is so much deeper and more interesting—and that’s what we’re trying to bring to life in Dynamite’s Lord of the Jungle.”
For Nelson, the intriguing aspect of Tarzan is that despite being raised in the jungle by apes, he wants to be part of the human world. “There’s always conflict between his animal instincts and his desire to be ‘civilized.’ For me, that’s what makes him tick.”
The big challenge in adapting a 100-year-old creation is in finding ways to get around the racial stereotyping that prevailed in Burroughs’ world. But “modernizing” is not part of Nelson’s vision.
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