Marvel-ous Mondays: "The Man and the Mangani" by Thomas, J. Buscema, and Mesina

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Marvel's adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar continues in Marvel's Tarzan #8 (October 1977), 'cause ish #7 was a fill-in. Writer Roy Thomas and penciler John Buscema are joined by inker Rudy Mesina. Mesina, a Filipino master with a lush style that (to moi, at least) subtly evokes Alfredo Alcala at times, really gives Big John a different look from what we're used to. Check out "The Man and the Mangani" and let us know what you think of this artistic team...

Cover art by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala

Making a Splash: John Buscema, Lord of the Jungle! (Part One)

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Last Friday Ol' Groove promised to share some sensational John Buscema Tarzan Lord of the Jungle splashes with ya--well, here ya go! Now, Big John stayed on Tarzan's mag from the first ish (March 1977) until ish 18 (August 1978), so Ol' Groove's gonna split 'em up--splashes from issues 1-9, plus the 1977 annual today, issues 10-18 in the near future, fair 'nuff? Don't wanna overload on the sheer wonderment in one sitting now, do we?

Writer/editor Roy Thomas kept a solid stable of inkers for John B.'s pencils: Big John himself on the first two issues, with Tony DeZuniga, Rudy Mesina, Steve Gan, and Alfredo Alcala finishing the rest. Powerful stuff, innit? Notice, too, that many issues had an extra full-page splash. That was to give the U.S. audience their full 17 pages of story (yeah, that's all we got in 77), but with a page that could be dropped for the U.K. audience who only got 16 pages! Crazee, huh?

Making a Splash: Gil Kane, Warlord of Mars!

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Y'know, when Marvel got the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' properties in 1977, seemed they knew exactly what to do with 'em: hand them over to their top writers (and probably biggest ERB fans) Roy Thomas (on Tarzan) and Marv Wolfman (on John Carter), pair them up with their top action-artists John Buscema (on Tarzan) and Gil Kane (on John Carter) and turn them loose!

Today we're gonna focus on Gil Kane's John Carter Warlord of Mars (issues 1-10, March-December 1977). Gil didn't do full pencils all the time, for many issues he did the layouts only, but writer/editor Marv kept some dyn-o-mite inkers around for the finishing chores: Dave Cockrum, Tom Sutton, Rudy Messina, the Tribe, and for most issues Rudy Nebres. These artistic team-ups made for action-packed, splendidly other-worldly pages the oozed with a savage sci-fi vibe that well-suited ERB's second most famous hero! Check out these splashes to see what Ol' Groove means...

And y'know, Ol' Groove just realized I've never done a MaS post on Big John Buscema's Tarzan! Well, tune in next Friday when I fix that sitch! Pax!