100 Years of Tarzan

Happy 100th Birthday to Tarzan

Tarzan of the Apes was run as a complete story in the October, 1912 issue of The All-Story magazine and it was enough of a success to create interest in further adventures and a hardcover book deal. The first hardcover was published by McClurg in 1914 and the first edition sold out in three months. And as they are prone to say, the rest is history.

There have been 24 original Tarzan novels and other authorized and unauthorized stories told. Not to mention countless comic books, newspaper comics, movies, television series, and radio presentations, Tarzan is still a popular character the world over.

In his fanzine, FADEAWAY #31 for October-November 2012, Robert Jennings has a terrific article on “Tarzan on the Radio” that tells the story of Burroughs and his creation from his creation as a story to his last radio adventure in 1936. It’s very interesting reading and is distributed through the Southern Amateur Press Alliance (SFPA). Limited copies may still be available from Jennings at 29 Whiting Road, Oxford, MA 01540-2035. Subs are available for $18 for 6 issues.

There are two new books in the Tarzan series from Open Road Media on October 16. They will both be released as ebooks at $7.99 each.

TARZAN: THE GREYSTOKE LEGACY, Andy Briggs, Open Road Media, ebook, $7.99, ISBN: 9781453262931.
In this modernization of the Tarzan story, Jane’s father is an illegal logger in the Congo. It is also a hot bed of poaching activities used to finance the war that is going on.
Tarzan is doing his best to protect his family from the loggers and the poachers when he saves Jane’s life and her adventures begin.
Briggs follows the major plots of the original adventure with the apes, D’Arnot, Kerchank and all the other things you expect to find in a jungle adventure. In this version, Tarzan’s parents were conservationists whose plane went down and they were declared missing.

TARZAN; THE JUNGLE WARRIOR, Andy Briggs, Open Road Media, ebook, $7.99, ISBN: 9781453262948.
In this continuation of the first adventure, we meet Nikolas Rokoff a notorious hunter and poacher who is contracted to find a rare prize that will cause Tarzan to go to any length to return the prize to its home.
Jane and her friends continue to find out about who Tarzan really is and finds there is a reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Lord and Lady Greystoke.
This adventure causes Tarzan to leave the safety of the jungle and go into civilization to accomplish his quest.

Both titles are geared for a younger generation and are filled with plenty of action and adventure that should help a new generation rediscover the magic that was Tarzan and hopefully will seek out the other original stories and find that “sense-a-wonder” I and others found upon reading them for the first time.

Kudos to Andy Briggs and ERB, Inc. for celebrating the centenary with new adventures from an old favorite.