Call Number:

MSS 0631

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1.5 linear foot (2 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0631, Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book collection, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1953-1977 (inclusive)

Form:

Comic books and Science fiction

Abstract:

The Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book collection is an artificial collection of comic books inspired by the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as published by Dell Publishing Co., Marvel Comics Group, DC Comics, Western Publishing Company (Gold Key Comics), and others from 1953 to 1977. The character Tarzan is the primary focus of these comic books; a minority of the comics expand upon Burroughs's series of Mars novels. As examples of other Burroughs-inspired items, the collection also includes two records and a set of trading cards.

American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is known for his science fiction and adventure novels, most especially those featuring Tarzan, a feral child raised by apes in the jungles of Africa. After his death in 1950, Burroughs's many creations have continued to offer inspiration to numerous other writers working in a variety of formats, including film, television, and comic books.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, born September 1, 1875, in Chicago, worked a number of unsuccessful jobs in such varied professions as cattle ranching, the Cavalry, gold dredging and sales, among others, before seeking a career in writing in 1911, while employed as an agent for a pencil sharpener company. His first novel was serialized as

Under the Moons of Mars in All-Story Magazine in 1911, and later published in novel form as A Princess of Mars in 1917. Burroughs is perhaps best known for creating Tarzan, a feral child raised by apes in the jungles of Africa, who first appeared in Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes and went on to feature in twenty-six subsequent novels. In addition to the Tarzan series, Burroughs also wrote a twelve-volume series of science fiction novels set on Mars, as wells as others set on Venus, the Moon, and in Pellucidar, a fictional realm at the center of the earth, along with a number of contemporary dramas, westerns, and historical novels. Burroughs continued to publish extensively throughout his life, also serving as a war correspondent during World War II. He died, of a heart attack, in 1950.

Both during and after his life, Burroughs's creations have provided inspiration for a vast number of comic books, films, television, and other media. Burroughs created extensive imaginary worlds for his novels, populated by a vast array of peoples, species, and technologies, which would be further explored and elaborated through subsequent installments in his series, which in turn afforded ample opportunity for subsequent writers to expand upon his creations in the decades since his death.

A Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Ed. Henry Hardy Heins. Revised ed. West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M. Grant, 1964.Hollow, John, "Edgar Rice Burroughs."Twentieth-Century American Science-Fiction Writers. Ed. David Cowart and Thomas L. Wymer. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 8. Reproduced in Literature Resource Center. Accessed 7 January 2011.Porges, Irwin.Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1975. Standard catalog of comic books. 2nd ed. Iola, WI : Krause Publications, 2003.

The Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book collection is an artificial collection of 1.5 linear feet of comic books based on the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as published by Dell Publishing Co., Marvel Comics Group, DC Comics, Western Publishing Company (Gold Key Comics), and others from 1953 to 1977. The majority of comic books in the collection depict the adventures Tarzan, a feral-child raised by apes in the jungles of Africa. A minority of the comic books present in this collection expand upon Burroughs's series of Mars novels. As examples of other Burroughs-inspired items, the collection also includes two records and a set of trading cards.

Some of the stories within these comic books are direct adaptations of individual novels written by Burroughs, or of particular episodes derived from his novels. Others present original stories featuring and inspired by the characters and environs which Burroughs wrote of during his long literary career.

The collection is arranged in six series, by publisher, with other Tarzan-related material in the final series. It should be noted, though, that some of these series were continued from one publisher to another, albeit under different editorial and artistic staff. Dell Publishing Company’s

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan was acquired by Western Publishing for its Gold Key Comics line. The series was renamed Tarzan of the Apes with issue # 132 and was in turn purchased by DC Comics after the Gold Key Comics line folded; the series continued under the name of Tarzan with issue # 207. Similarly, the Gold Key Comics series Korak Son of Tarzan was also acquired by DC Comics with issue # 46 and was later re-titled to Tarzan Family with issue # 60.

Series I through IV consist of, respectively, comic books published by DC Comics, Dell Publishing Co., Marvel Comics Group, and Western Publishing Group (Gold Key Comics). Series V consists of issued printed by other, miscellaneous publishers. The Marvel Comics series includes a number of issues inspired by Burroughs’ Mars novels; the other series are focused solely on Tarzan and related characters. Series VI, which consists of other Burroughs-related popular culture, contains two records and a set of Tarzan trading cards.