Below is the full statement from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. President Jim Sullos regarding the syndication ending of the Tarzan comic strip as released to The Daily Cartoonist.
From Jim Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.:
Tarzan has proven to be a timeless character, maintaining his perennial qualities of strength, courage, protector of wildlife and the environment, and defender of those in need, even as he adapts to the changing world. Every generation has its Tarzan, and its own way of experiencing the ape-man’s adventures, and this generation is no different. Tarzan sprang to life from the pages of a pulp magazine over 100 years ago, and soon after became a worldwide best-seller in book publishing. With the rise of silent films, he became an international star on the big screen, the world’s first superhero; when the “talkies” arrived in the theaters, Tarzan came and conquered. Next were the newspaper strips and comic books, and later 2D video games, and most recently a 3D virtual reality video game where players can “become” Tarzan themselves. Whenever the entertainment media develops its next innovation, there is Tarzan.
We are extremely proud of Tarzan’s 92-year run in the print newspaper strips, which is a testament to his enduring nature. As forms of media change over the years, Tarzan adapts as he always has and as we have always anticipated. Therefore, nearly a decade ago, we transitioned the Tarzan comic strips to our robust online comics program at edgarriceburroughs.com/comics, where we have enlisted a creative team of major industry talents such as Roy Thomas and Thomas Grindberg to continue the legendary ape-man’s all-new exploits. These webcomics are the direct continuation of the print Tarzan newspaper strips, with the first online strip of “THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN” being labeled #3693, picking up the numbering sequence uninterrupted from the last original Tarzan Sunday newspaper strip in 2002. Dark Horse Comics will be publishing graphic novel collections of both “THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN” and another of our Tarzan online comic strips, “TARZAN OF THE APES: A CLASSIC ADAPTATION,” by Roy Thomas, Pablo Marcos, and Oscar Gonzales. In addition to these two Tarzan comics, our online program also includes 24 more storylines adapted from among the 80+ books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and a number of these webcomics are also available in the Spanish language. Tarzan continues to thrive in the twenty-first century, adapting as he always has, with new online comics as well as video games, novels, merchandise, and other exciting entertainment media projects that are in development.
Tarzan © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
The good news for comic strip fans is that the long-rumored Dark Horse collections of the Thomas/Grindberg, et. al. Tarzan webcomic may soon be seeing the light of day!
For all Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ news, comics and otherwise, check their site.