Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years, Vol. 2

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: Comics #Kubert 2

by Joe Kubert

A stunning, five-part adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Return of Tarzan highlights this archival collection, which reprints Joe Kubert's Tarzan comics, issues #215 through #224. With color restoration based off of Tatjana Wood's original colors, this beautiful hardcover is a must-have for fans of pulse-pounding adventure tales and students of the graphic narrative. Writing, drawing and editing a monthly Tarzan comic-book series in the 1970s, Joe Kubert was able to illustrate the adventures of his childhood hero and produce some of the most engaging pages of his career. The Joe Kubert Years Volume 2, also includes "Death is My Brother," "The Renegades," "The Black Queen" and other dynamic stories inspired by Burroughs' classic books.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Adventure, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Africa

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2006

About the author

Joe Kubert was a Jewish-American comic book artist who went on to found the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. His sons, Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert, have themselves become successful comic-book artists.

Kubert's other creations include the comic books Tor, Son of Sinbad, and Viking Prince, and, with writer Robin Moore, the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret.

Kubert was inducted into the Harvey Awards' Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997, and Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years Volulme 2 collects Tarzan 215-224.

I'm officially a Russ Manning guy but Joe Kubert's Tarzan is also great. Apart from one issue being the reworking of a Hal Foster story and Frank Thorne doing pencils on another issue, Kubert does the writing, pencilling, and inks on everything.

This volume adapts the Return of Tarzan novel plus original stories Death is my Brother, The Renegades, The Trophy, and other tales.

Kubert's Tarzan feels like a barely tamed savage, dirty and ready to fight. I love Manning's Tarzan but he feels like a much more civilized ape man. Anyway, Kubert's jungle feels like a rough place, as does his Opar. As with the previous volume, Kubert shows his talents in every panel, with authentic looking foliage and animals.

Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years, Vol. 2 is a wonderfully illustrated collection of adventure tales by one of the masters of his era. Four out of five stars.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of Joe Kubert's Tarzan stories are a tiny step down from the first, but represent a definite shift in focus. Instead of Tarzan getting into scraps in the jungle against various animals the majority of the stories in this volume are about Tarzan's struggle with humans. Instead of fighting lions and apes, Tarzan travels around the world and fights corrupt nobles and secret tribes hidden away from the world. There's a running theme that "civilization" is worse than the jungle, as the humans trade away the honour and shows of strength that govern ape tribes for diplomacy, lying, and back-stabbing schemes. It's a good angle to take with Tarzan and I'm glad Kubert decided to explore it but it lacks the same punch as the first volume. Kubert's humans are great, but don't have the same grand majesty of lions and crocodiles. Still, this volume is more focused and has some bigger over-arching stories that make it more satisfying to read at once instead of the one-shots of the first volume.

[Quinell Hajari · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Joe Kubert magic in this one. An excellent adaptation of The Return of Tarzan!!!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kubert continues building a visual version of Tarzan's world that feels like the place Burroughs created. That's especially clear in Kubert's adaptation of The Return of Tarzan that's collected in this volume, but even the non-Burroughs stories feel canonical thanks to Kubert's love and faithfulness for the character and setting.

There's still no consistent continuity through the series, but as I discovered in Vol 1, it works great as an anthology that hops between various periods in Tarzan's life.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death as a part of life is a truism often avoided in contemporary literature. A hero without qualm operating under strong principles. A shame we have to go back over a hundred years to find a story more indicative of the values and actions that established mankind as a sometimes admirable species. Straight forward plots. We always know who the good guy is and who the bad guys are. Good illustrations.

[Hamza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is just as good as the first, if not better, but I guess I'm still not an enormous Tarzan fan like Joe Kubert was. His art and storytelling abilities are still great, even when adapting the original Burroughs novels, but I wouldn't say this is essential comic reading or anything. It's really good, but not classic to me, if that makes sense.

[Shawn Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read these some 40+ years ago, it's nice to see just how well they've held up. I know Kubert is revered more for his war comics, but for me it's Hawkman & Tarzan. Oooh, now there's a team up!

[Ajesh George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Main highlight of this book is the Tarzan Novel - Return of Tarzan which has been captured in 5 parts . The story has been recreated without losing much of the flow . The other single stories are OK

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Tarzan #215-224. Tarzan lives in the jungles of Africa and is reunited with Jane. This collection contains random Tarzan adventures and an adaptation of The Return of Tarzan. Kubert's Tarzan is the classic interpretation of the character and if you like the Tarzan stories, you would like the comic. The individual stories are good, but the adaptation of a full length story like The Return of Tarzan issues did help give the title direction.

[Bubba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume two is more outlandish...Tarzan gets into all manner of scrapes in darkest Africa. He also learns French and English, travels in Europe and America. He duels in Paris, discovers the City of Gold, and deals out some jungle justice. best of the volumes.

[Me · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not any better, hate Tarzan maybe even more...

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ditto.

[Alucard]

I love Joe Kubert's illustrations and the way he draws Jane is the way I draw Catherine, so I need to add this to my collection by very early 2011.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

via NYPL - stories are fun, if predictable, adventure fare. Joe Kubert's a superlative artist, and his visceral illustrations and impeccable storytelling are perfect on every page.

[Bitey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fight, Hidden City, Damsel In Distress, Fight- rinse, repeat.