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Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: Comics
Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle
When his tiny space-pod crash-lands in East Africa, orphaned Kal-El, last survivor of Krypton, is raised by apes to become the mighty Lord of the Jungle, Tarzan, and is drawn by fate to John Greystoke, heir to fortune and privilege, until both discover their true destiny. A Graphic Novel. Original.
80 pages, Paperback
First published October 9, 2002
1 person is currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Dixon
3,426 books1,029 followersCharles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, perhaps best-known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 25, 2020
Interesting concept but I don't think the story carried it out well. Art was not to my liking also. Between the 2 this is not recommended by me.
July 2, 2023
Me ha gustado bastante el cruce, más de lo que aparentan las tres estrellas. Dixon juega bien con las referencias entre ambos personajes y las remueve para construir la típica historia de origen de otros mundos, sólida y bien ilustrada por Meglia. Su problema es que termina de manera abrupta en una resolución super rápida, una vez se conocen los personajes, y deja con ganas de más. Para que se hagan una idea, casi no hay ni pelea, y eso en estos cruces parece pecado.
October 24, 2009
The idea is cool ( superman's rocket lands in Africa and he is adopted and raised by a tribes of apes), the actual story is pretty weak and the art is horribly cartoony and destroys any chance this story has of being entertaining.
December 5, 2017
This graphic novel confused me.
Two fictional back stories are interwoven but in a way that didn’t grab me or make any sense to me.
Two fictional back stories are interwoven but in a way that didn’t grab me or make any sense to me.
September 30, 2017
This is such a clever mash-up, and such an interesting take on the "What if . . . ?" type story, that I really wish it could have been longer. Reading this for the second time, I was reminded of so many old super hero origin stories that were often only one or two pages long, that would eventually be expanded into a whole issue or a multi-part story.
This condensed feeling of the book did not diminish the enjoyment to be had in seeing these two classic characters brought together. Chuck Dixon's story of the two noble men trying to find where they belong is the perfect way to examine the startling similarities and significant differences between them. Carlos Meglia's cartoon art is a joy to see, and keeps the reader from taking it all too seriously.
It's really a fun ride. It's just over a little too soon.
This condensed feeling of the book did not diminish the enjoyment to be had in seeing these two classic characters brought together. Chuck Dixon's story of the two noble men trying to find where they belong is the perfect way to examine the startling similarities and significant differences between them. Carlos Meglia's cartoon art is a joy to see, and keeps the reader from taking it all too seriously.
It's really a fun ride. It's just over a little too soon.
December 21, 2011
In this Elseworlds tale, young Kal-El is raised in the jungles by an ape family. As the boy gets stronger, he continues to feel shunned by his adoptive family. Meanwhile, Englishman John Greystoke is bored beyond belief at his schooling, jumping at the chance to take an expedition to the untamed continent. Accompanied by reporter Lois Lane, the swapped sons meet in a battle to save the jungle from the princess La. Quirky and humorous, this is a neat little tale that ends with the men adopting their "rightful" places.
October 23, 2023
Not quite what I expected. This book is a case where my expectations could be clouding my enjoyment of this story. I pick up this book from my local library on a whim as I really love Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan character. You add in fan favorite superhero, Superman, and you have a pretty unique combo. I also was surprise see that Chuck Dixon was on writing duties. Dixon is usually great at writing action & adventure yarn. So what could go wrong? Okay, so the story here is not a bad one but the execution is not all that satisfying. I should note that this book is labeled as an "Elseworlds" title. DC Elseworlds books tend to be out of continuity and are really unique takes on the characters we know and love. This is especially important to note as the story we are getting here is a surprising mix on the Superman lore and the myth of Tarzan. Mr. Dixon is writing a what if Superman aka Kal-El of krypton were Tarzan book. I was expecting a more of a Superman meets Tarzan tale. The book drops us into the late 1800s where instead of young Supes rocket crash landing in Kansas it lands in the jungles of East Africa. The young baby alien is adopted by apes and grows to be shun by his the apes and due to his powers does not quite fit in with the human tribes in Africa as well. This is all narrated and told well but the story came across as quite boring in parts as there is no central villain until the end. The so-called villain doesn't have very good set up. She works more as an obstacle than a true fleshed out enemy. This may have been due to Chuck Dixon devoting most of the book to giving us a new take on a Superman being raised as a ape man story. This also led to my other disappointment with the book, there is an obvious lack of Tarzan aka John of Greystoke in this book. I mean by changing the mythos and having John return to the UK with his parents still alive this takes all the excitement out of the new Tarzan take in the book. All we know is that John is suffering from a since of purpose. John wonders around the world searching for this meaning until it finally leads him to Africa. There really just wasn't any action on the Greystoke end of the tale. Even when we get the inclusion of Lois Lane & Jane Porter, they cam across as one note and seemed to be just tossed in the story to give it a little bit of plot & stakes. But the writing was handled well. The dialogue is okay and the characterizations are there, it just needed more excitement and a real antagonist. Lastly the artwork was just to cartoonish for my liking. I was surprise they had Humberto Ramos do the covers as he would have been a great addition on the interior art. Some may think the art was good but it just made the story feel silly. It is sad that this book ended up being just ok for me. My expectation was that we would have gotten a Superman being raised by the Kents in the 1800s and maybe as an explorer or adventurer coming to Africa and meeting Tarzan. More a superhero teamup tale versus the character exploration. But this could be a very much my expectation versus the take we were provided situation. Chuck Dixon is a great superhero writer and highly recommend reading a few other books by him like: Robin: Year One, Batman: Contagion, Batman Knightfall Omnibus 1, or G.I. Joe, Volume 1.
February 20, 2022
Okay... this story has SOOOOOO much going against it to not even be funny.
One, DC kinda did the Superman as Tarzan story already, during that year with the Elseworld themed annuals. Yeah, that one didn't have any of the trademarked characters in it. But it did have 'the ship landing in the jungle' thing and being raised by animals. Granted, that one was a hodge of both Tarzan and The Jungle Book, but this mini-series felt like a retread of that.
On top of that-- by adding the Tarzan characters in... and trying to give them equal time... it made us feel we didn't get a very good picture of who these characters were in their new context. The whole thing seemed very rushed.
And finally you have Meglia's art. There are ways to make a serious story with cartoonish art work. You can use it underscore the creepiness of it all. But here, it is jarring and it doesn't match the tone of the story... and it threw me out of the story. Really, this is a case where you could have had the same story, same script but different artist and saved the whole thing. I'm not saying every Tarzan comic has to look like Joe Kubert, Russ Manning or Thomas Yeates or anything... but the style use here doesn't work for me... at least for Tarzan.
One, DC kinda did the Superman as Tarzan story already, during that year with the Elseworld themed annuals. Yeah, that one didn't have any of the trademarked characters in it. But it did have 'the ship landing in the jungle' thing and being raised by animals. Granted, that one was a hodge of both Tarzan and The Jungle Book, but this mini-series felt like a retread of that.
On top of that-- by adding the Tarzan characters in... and trying to give them equal time... it made us feel we didn't get a very good picture of who these characters were in their new context. The whole thing seemed very rushed.
And finally you have Meglia's art. There are ways to make a serious story with cartoonish art work. You can use it underscore the creepiness of it all. But here, it is jarring and it doesn't match the tone of the story... and it threw me out of the story. Really, this is a case where you could have had the same story, same script but different artist and saved the whole thing. I'm not saying every Tarzan comic has to look like Joe Kubert, Russ Manning or Thomas Yeates or anything... but the style use here doesn't work for me... at least for Tarzan.
August 17, 2023
I do love a good Elseworlds story. Sadly this is not one of them. I generally like unusual art styles that other people hate, but the art here is truly hideous, and reason enough to skip this story. That specific early 00's Latin American faux-manga style is a pretty difficult sell in any comic, but it's especially egregious and out of place in this ostensibly Victorian tale. The tone is so wonky, and the text is clearly not written for this art style. Not only is it a bad Tarzan story, it's also a bad Superman story. Not even bad in an entertaining way either. Those kinds of Elseworlds exist (DK2 anyone?). This isn't that, it's just...lame. I know for a fact Chuck Dixon can do much better than this, but he clearly didn't give much of a shit, and neither should you.
April 30, 2018
Pensé que sería un completo fiasco, pero lo disfrute en ciertas partes.
May 10, 2019
A good entry into the world of what if. Superman meets Tarzan.
September 23, 2020
The intertwined tale of two guys trying to find their place in the world.
June 4, 2023
It's not the best and most unusual take on these characters. However, I think Chuck Dixon wanted the readers to be surprised, not bad. However, it's not great either.
March 30, 2025
Super-Homem & Tarzan - Filhos da Selva (Pandora Books)
September 12, 2015
This should have been a slam-dunk. I love Tarzan the way a trekkie loves Star Trek or a Star Wars geek loves that franchise, it's my favorite alternate/mythical universe. I also adore Superman. I've never understood people who think he's too square-jawed and clean-cut. That's what I love about him, plus I like my men strong and powerful. So, the crossover between the two should have hit all the right notes, but this didn't do it for me.
First of all, the art was primitive and chaotic. In many scenes, I couldn't figure out what was going on in the pictures and had to rely on the sparse text to make sense of it all. It definitely suffers from the same problem that plagues all modern comics, it relies on the pictures to tell the story. That's bad enough when the pictures are done well, it's just frustrating when the pictures are subpar. I thought the choices in portraying Lois Lane and Jane Porter especially problematic since they both looked like caricatures rather than characters.
Then there was what happened to Tarzan himself. He becomes a broody aristocrat, even referred to as a Lord Byron type. That's not Tarzan, and I had no interest in seeing John Clayton being raised in civilization. On the other hand, the idea of Superman being raised by Kala was interesting, but the cool part of Tarzan is the special powers he gains because he is raised by apes. Supes already had powers that exceeded those he could get from that kind of upbringing, so it was just a case of gilding the lily. Finally, Superman is who he is because of Clark Kent. Take away the influence of the Kents and how does he develop a moral center that makes him the boy scout that I know and love.
Somehow I ended up with two copies of this sad book, a testament to how much hope I had for it. It's too bad that I wasted money on it, not once, but twice.
First of all, the art was primitive and chaotic. In many scenes, I couldn't figure out what was going on in the pictures and had to rely on the sparse text to make sense of it all. It definitely suffers from the same problem that plagues all modern comics, it relies on the pictures to tell the story. That's bad enough when the pictures are done well, it's just frustrating when the pictures are subpar. I thought the choices in portraying Lois Lane and Jane Porter especially problematic since they both looked like caricatures rather than characters.
Then there was what happened to Tarzan himself. He becomes a broody aristocrat, even referred to as a Lord Byron type. That's not Tarzan, and I had no interest in seeing John Clayton being raised in civilization. On the other hand, the idea of Superman being raised by Kala was interesting, but the cool part of Tarzan is the special powers he gains because he is raised by apes. Supes already had powers that exceeded those he could get from that kind of upbringing, so it was just a case of gilding the lily. Finally, Superman is who he is because of Clark Kent. Take away the influence of the Kents and how does he develop a moral center that makes him the boy scout that I know and love.
Somehow I ended up with two copies of this sad book, a testament to how much hope I had for it. It's too bad that I wasted money on it, not once, but twice.
September 12, 2016
Awful, boring story with some of the worst art I've seen published by a major publisher.
December 2, 2016
SPOILERS! SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!
Boring and weak. I was so bored by the time the zeppelin went down in flames. Yes there is a zeppelin going down in flames - still bored out of my mind.
Thoughts about character?
Supermans character has even less character than the Tarzan from the old movies. At least that Tarzan said something to Jane before Jane went "mmmmm meat"
Lois is weak and really not enjoyable. I always pictured her strong and independent. But here!? She's just staring at Supes and just goes. "Mmmm I'm sure he likes his meat raw. Yum yum." (thankfully! Not an actually dialog in the comic)
There is no conversation between these two and Lois just comes of as unpleasant. Maybe I would have liked her more if the characters where developed.
Also why did they have to drag in the real Tarzan and Jane? That just made me want to read the books than even continue reading this .... well in short a piece of sh$t.
Boring and weak. I was so bored by the time the zeppelin went down in flames. Yes there is a zeppelin going down in flames - still bored out of my mind.
Thoughts about character?
Supermans character has even less character than the Tarzan from the old movies. At least that Tarzan said something to Jane before Jane went "mmmmm meat"
Lois is weak and really not enjoyable. I always pictured her strong and independent. But here!? She's just staring at Supes and just goes. "Mmmm I'm sure he likes his meat raw. Yum yum." (thankfully! Not an actually dialog in the comic)
There is no conversation between these two and Lois just comes of as unpleasant. Maybe I would have liked her more if the characters where developed.
Also why did they have to drag in the real Tarzan and Jane? That just made me want to read the books than even continue reading this .... well in short a piece of sh$t.
January 4, 2024
I love the era this was set in, as it adds to the mysterious and dark atmosphere, like a good Hellboy story. The old air of adventure, like in The Mummy franchise, is ripe. I anticipated Tarzan and Superman ripping through the jungle together, sons of the jungle, but they actually spent no time together. I'd love to see more from this series that goes into different adventures with the sons and their women: like Lord Greystoke in the American Southwestern wild frontier, or the Atlantean descendants, or an ancient Roman city in Africa, to name a few.
Want to read
August 27, 2011De nuevo buenos autores a precio bajísimo. La premisa parece un tanto boluda, pero ya veremos...
June 12, 2021
I enjoyed this Elseworlds book. I do wish that Dixon had just run with Superman by Kala rather than trying to keep both Kal-el and Greystoke in the same story. Nevertheless it is a quick, fun read.
April 12, 2018
Edición argentina que aparentemente reentapa en un libro la miniserie previamente publicada en dos.
November 26, 2024
Un elseworld que junta y entrecruza las vidas de Superman y Tarzán.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews