Dark Horse Comics/Boom! Studios 2016
Written by David Walker & Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Fernando Dagnino
Coloured by Sandra Molina
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Early twentieth-century British colonialists have rebuilt the slave trade around the intelligent apes that raised Tarzan in the jungles of Africa. Now Tarzan and his adoptive brother Caesar fight back to free the apes—but discover that man and ape will have to unite if the surface world is to survive.
First of all I’m completely enamoured with this series already. The whole concept of it has been amazing represented. Tarzan was indeed found by apes but those apes were from the future, the Planet of the Apes and raised alongside Milo, who now goes by Caesar, thus changing the course of two legendary franchises and making it completely believable. When Tarzan’s cousin came to Africa and found him he killed his foster father and began to enslave those Apes as he saw fit. Now war between human and Ape reigns unchecked. Oh and last issue there was one more surprise that we saw and that’s another time displaced set of creatures that shouldn’t exist in this time either.
The writing and characterisation here is utterly fantastic. David and Tim make one heck of a team here. What they are able to bring to the table is charming and genius in it’s execution. I love the idea of Tarzan being a man living in London and longing to go back to his jungle home. His cousin the kind of man who believes god granted him the right to enslave lesser races than humans and is the cause of his ire. Then to see what’s happening at Tarzan’s home with his foster brother and their people we see their frustration at having to fight for their freedom. The parallels and differences are beautifully showcased.
What Fernando is doing with the interiors here is inspiring. His use of page layouts with the angles, perspective and the absolute stellar use of backgrounds here really does visually tell the story as effectively as the words do. With Sandra’s colours I’m in love with what we see from them here. The attention to detail here is incredible to see and all the emotions, tone and feel of what we need to experience shines through perfectly.
I love the way the story progresses here. Last issue was saw a split between the beginning and the full on segregation stuff so that we’re back to a point where we get to see how that segregation gets to take place it’s fascinating. That Tarzan would rather side with his Ape family instead of his biological one speaks volumes for me. The pacing is extremely well done and the look at the way things are unfolding alongside the characterisation really leaves a very good impression.
Once again Dark Horse and Boom! Have found a way to create a crossover from to franchises that logically should fit but shouldn’t at the same time totally does. I can’t believe that these days of unimaginable crossovers happen and cooperation between companies means we get some of the best possible storytelling around!