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Tarzan: The Beckoning
The ageless couple, Tarzan and his beautiful wife Jane, have been living in America, fighting the illegal ivory trade to stop the slaughter of elephants...but a they're soon drawn back to Africa, entangled in a dangerous web that threatens their long lives! Beginning in California and climaxing in a mythical jungle utopia, Thomas Yeates's The Beckoning is an action-packed supernatural saga, collected here in its entirety for the first time.
208 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2016
About the author
Tom Yeates
126 books6 followersThomas Yeates is an American comic strip and comic book artist best known for illustrating the comic strips Prince Valiant and Zorro and for working on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 13, 2018
Starts off with a plot about the ivory trade that somehow morphs into a story about the witch doctor who gave Tarzan endless life backstabbing those he's previously helped to get more of the root that allows himself to stay young. The plot was all over the place and didn't always make sense. It was weird seeing a Tarzan story that took place in modern times. Still a decent story that builds off the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.
October 6, 2016
Very good Tarzan story. Good art and plot. Nice entertaining read. Recommended
January 28, 2018
An earthshaking tale in pictures and script!
I will put a “Spoiler Alert” here. What I share will not give away the true adventure in the book, but there are those who will thank me for the spoiler alert. Read on at your own peril!
In one of the original Tarzan stories by his creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, it is mentioned that Tarzan saved the life of a witch doctor. In gratitude, the witch doctor put Tarzan through a process that would make him forever young. In another story, Tarzan and Jane are treated with a certain drug along with a native couple, which will do basically the same thing.
In this graphic novel, Tarzan and Jane are incognito, because they are both over 100 years old. To alleviate suspicion, they have changed names several times and are considered to be dead.
However, in the African jungle, the witch doctor that treated Tarzan has begun to age after at least two centuries of life. He needs more of the herb he used for the ceremony, but it is in a place where he can no longer go. Thus he needs Tarzan to open the way.
Then there is the illegal ivory trade. The ban on the trade hasn’t kept poachers from gunning elephants down and cutting out the tusks with chainsaws. Tarzan can smell the difference between new ivory—now banned in most of the world—and older ivory, taken while the trade was still legal. He can even tell which elephant has lost its life because many of them were his friends.
With Tarzan smashing the ivory trade wherever he can, one of the ringleaders hires a man to kill Tarzan and wipe out the Waziri tribe, Tarzan’s friends. The witch doctor meanwhile has cast a spell on Tarzan that will make him flee back to Africa, thus unknowingly sending him straight into the hit man’s path.
Adventure in the jungle, in lost civilizations, bloody fighting, and deep mystery all lie in the pages of this graphic novel. Jane traces Tarzan to the jungle, where she ends up with her own adventure. The final showdown brings Tarzan and Jane back together; enemies vanquished.
This is a Tarzan adventure I think Edgar Rice Burroughs would approve of. I give this amazing story five stars.
Quoth the Raven…
I will put a “Spoiler Alert” here. What I share will not give away the true adventure in the book, but there are those who will thank me for the spoiler alert. Read on at your own peril!
In one of the original Tarzan stories by his creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, it is mentioned that Tarzan saved the life of a witch doctor. In gratitude, the witch doctor put Tarzan through a process that would make him forever young. In another story, Tarzan and Jane are treated with a certain drug along with a native couple, which will do basically the same thing.
In this graphic novel, Tarzan and Jane are incognito, because they are both over 100 years old. To alleviate suspicion, they have changed names several times and are considered to be dead.
However, in the African jungle, the witch doctor that treated Tarzan has begun to age after at least two centuries of life. He needs more of the herb he used for the ceremony, but it is in a place where he can no longer go. Thus he needs Tarzan to open the way.
Then there is the illegal ivory trade. The ban on the trade hasn’t kept poachers from gunning elephants down and cutting out the tusks with chainsaws. Tarzan can smell the difference between new ivory—now banned in most of the world—and older ivory, taken while the trade was still legal. He can even tell which elephant has lost its life because many of them were his friends.
With Tarzan smashing the ivory trade wherever he can, one of the ringleaders hires a man to kill Tarzan and wipe out the Waziri tribe, Tarzan’s friends. The witch doctor meanwhile has cast a spell on Tarzan that will make him flee back to Africa, thus unknowingly sending him straight into the hit man’s path.
Adventure in the jungle, in lost civilizations, bloody fighting, and deep mystery all lie in the pages of this graphic novel. Jane traces Tarzan to the jungle, where she ends up with her own adventure. The final showdown brings Tarzan and Jane back together; enemies vanquished.
This is a Tarzan adventure I think Edgar Rice Burroughs would approve of. I give this amazing story five stars.
Quoth the Raven…
December 16, 2018
I am only two chapters in but I want to say some things before I forget. Burroughs wrote Tarzan the Terrible, Yeates wrote Tarzan the Woke. Really? Really. Tarzan the vegetarian. Tarzan the terrorist [not kidding]. Tarzan with a man bun [okay, now I am kidding but he does sport a ponytail at times]. For the record, Tarzan learned early on, as a matter of survival, that short hair [that cannot reach his eyes from top, back or sides] was the way to go. Do none of these artists even read the original material?
Jane starts out ... well, different.. Leaping barriers, saving damsels in distress, being completely out of character after Tarzan has an episode [like a drug flashback]. You know, a regular '90s American woman [this was written in the early 1990s].
More to follow as I read more.
I was initially put off by the artwork, particular a couple of the early close-ups of Tarzan [he looked Mayan or something strange-not the English lord of the jungle... but, for the most part the artwork is superb. Especially action sequences. If only the writing was as good.
Tarzan the vegetarian cheats [why be a vegetarian at all, Tarzan is an omnivore]. Another problem a have is the witchcraft angle- in the book it is real, and Tarzan is even seeking a witch doctor/witch to help him. Burroughs' Tarzan laughs at this superstitious tommyrot, as well he should and one of his least respected foes are witchers.
The book ends rather abruptly and, I may add, anticlimactically but not before taking potshots at oil companies, meat-eaters, civilization, Tarzan movies and other assorted non-pc straw-men.
Jane starts out ... well, different.. Leaping barriers, saving damsels in distress, being completely out of character after Tarzan has an episode [like a drug flashback]. You know, a regular '90s American woman [this was written in the early 1990s].
More to follow as I read more.
I was initially put off by the artwork, particular a couple of the early close-ups of Tarzan [he looked Mayan or something strange-not the English lord of the jungle... but, for the most part the artwork is superb. Especially action sequences. If only the writing was as good.
Tarzan the vegetarian cheats [why be a vegetarian at all, Tarzan is an omnivore]. Another problem a have is the witchcraft angle- in the book it is real, and Tarzan is even seeking a witch doctor/witch to help him. Burroughs' Tarzan laughs at this superstitious tommyrot, as well he should and one of his least respected foes are witchers.
The book ends rather abruptly and, I may add, anticlimactically but not before taking potshots at oil companies, meat-eaters, civilization, Tarzan movies and other assorted non-pc straw-men.
January 2, 2026
Yeates has created an interesting tale that draws upon Tarzan lore in such a way that shows he is quite familiar with ERB's (Edgar Rice Burroughs) work. He includes such elements as the Waziri Tribe, mentions of Opar, Tarzan's immortality, and even the son of One Punch Mullargan, who appears in a short Tarzan tale near the end of ERB's writing career.
Jane is portrayed as a bit of a flake who has become enamored with a vegetarian movement that is fighting to end the ivory trade. She writes glowing letters to Tarzan from France about how she has found her people and her meaning in life. This may or may not track with the reader's previous perception of Jane.
Tarzan becomes involved in fighting the ivory trade as well, and this tracks with ERB's writing, because he is known to be a friend to tantor the elephant.
All in all, I wasn't certain about how some of the characters were portrayed, but I did find the art excellent and the story intriguing enough that I enjoyed it despite having a few reservations.
Jane is portrayed as a bit of a flake who has become enamored with a vegetarian movement that is fighting to end the ivory trade. She writes glowing letters to Tarzan from France about how she has found her people and her meaning in life. This may or may not track with the reader's previous perception of Jane.
Tarzan becomes involved in fighting the ivory trade as well, and this tracks with ERB's writing, because he is known to be a friend to tantor the elephant.
All in all, I wasn't certain about how some of the characters were portrayed, but I did find the art excellent and the story intriguing enough that I enjoyed it despite having a few reservations.
January 17, 2022
Story is solid combining themes of fight against ivory trade as well as a bit of African mysticism. But this is mainly Tom Yeates opus ,beautifully drawn with very epic almost Rambo like action scenes at times.
June 24, 2017
Great beginning with wonderful surprises at the end of each chapter .... unfortunately loses its charm towards the end.
June 20, 2018
Until i saw Thomas Yeates' Jane i thought Dave Stevens and Mike Grell drew the most beautiful women in comic books
July 20, 2024
Boring, the story keeps changing just very boring storylines and the artwork wasn't pretty at all.
November 15, 2016
via NYPL - I really do like Thomas Yeates artwork, so no complaints there. Storywise, however, there's not much to recommend here. The pacing is leaden, the characterization scant, and the plot scattered all over the place. A couple interesting themes peak through, but none of them are fully realized in any way.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews