Unforgettable Tarzan Covers

I have to pimp out the site Golden Age Comic Book Stories today. Earlier this month they did a post that really hit home with me. In said post they put up the novel covers for the Tarzan re-releases that came out in the late 70s. I discovered in the early 1980s. They came in gift form from my brother to my father over many Christmas and birthdays. Over the years the ownership of them fell to me. The images on the books opened my eyes to how diverse, sexy and magical the world of Tarzan really was. Before that my vision of him was mostly sculpted by the Greystoke movie and various cartoons. Back then, I was amazed to see him fighting dinosaurs, sea monsters and even Roman style warriors. There are few images I can recall that really sticking with me and influencing through out my life as much as these covers did.

These were windows into dark prehistoric worlds, filled with deep jungles, unknown dangers, grand adventures and sexy warriors. They Embodied the very essence of what I am sure Burroughs envisioned Tarzans world to be in his mind. If anything, they were like looking at a living pictures of a 1930's Lost Word all contained within the images boarders. I would sit in my parents room during a storm and just flip through the images and come up with stories.
Of course images as intense as these were only found on the covers themselves. I couldn't find stuff like this on TV, or in any of the comics I could find at the time. Still, that was still more then enough to transport my mind into this raw world of early 20th century adventure and romance, without even reading a page. (Which I of course did as I got older.)
Here are some of my favorite covers from the series, to check them all out follow the link below. :D The blog is really amazing and I recommend taking some time to explore it all.

All art by Boris Vallejo and Neal Adams.

Tarzan fighting the mighty triceratops by Boris Vallejo

What appears to be clouds is actually land masses.
Tarzan is having a wardrobe malfunction here. :P

Even at a young age I recognized some very homoerotic undertones in this pictures. Something that begs exploring I think.

I love how this images setting is feels closed in by the background. It's like this little preserved capsule from the dawn of time. The light gently flowing from the middle top, the waterfall, the color tones, all just so captivating. When I was a kid I thought the deer was an animal akin to the dawn horse.

The Tarzan Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs 

http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.ca/2011/04/tarzan-series-by-edgar-rice-burroughs.html

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