Collects comics issues 1-9.
Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Cezar Razek
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
This comic gathers up many of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ heroes, and some villains, too.
Jason Gridley invented the Gridley wave through which people can communicate between planets and lost worlds. He was invited to speak at a gathering of scientists but is kidnapped instead. He manages to escape on an alien spaceship and crashlands near Tarzan’s home. Tarzan and his wife Jane are friends of Jason. He tells them that a villain from another world kidnapped him and is now going to take over several worlds when he uses the Gridley wave as a weapon. Jason wants to stop him and of course, Tarzan and Jane want to help. While the alien ship is repaired, Tarzan gathers up a crew of heroes. They’re about to embark on a momentous journey.
The cast is huge: 18 people from various ERB’s books are on the crew. I was familiar with Tarzan, his wife Jane, and his son Korak, and also with Ulysses Paxton from “The Master Mind of Mars” in addition to Jason Gridley. Unfortunately, as is usual with a large cast of characters, most of them are just faces in the crowd. I didn’t know most of them but I also didn’t get to know them during this story. The main hero is Tarzan and of course our narrator Jason Gridley. John Carter and Dejah Thoris appear about halfway through. The story takes us to many of ERB’s worlds, such as Caspak, Pellucidar, and eventually Barsoom.
The crew has originally five women who have been updated to modern times. Jane and Mariam, Korak’s wife, are good with guns and fight alongside the men. The others are Victoria Custer, Virginia Maxon, and Shannon Burke. The other men are Billy Byrne, the Bridge, the Oskaloosa Kid, Barney Custer, Jim Stone, Townsend Harper, Johnny la Fitte, and the Rider. All seem to be seasoned adventurers.
We get a little bit of interaction between the characters and even jealousy because La of Opar joins the crew. She’s the ruler of Opar and is convinced that Tarzan is her mate.
The artwork is good but sometimes it’s hard to tell the characters apart.
This was a fun romp but I think it could have worked better with fewer characters.