In 1928, commercial illustrator Hal Foster began drawing a 60-part black-and-white newspaper comic adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes. Initially rejected by American newspapers, the strip debuted in England, where it was met with great enthusiasm. By the time U.S. newspapers expressed interest in publishing the work, Foster himself had lost interest. It was only in 1931, during the hardships of the Great Depression and with the need to support his family, that he agreed to produce Tarzan as a full-page color Sunday comic. Foster later referred to the poorly paid assignment as “a mess of pottage.”

That “mess of pottage” sustained Foster and his family for the next seven years, during which Tarzan became one of the most popular Sunday comics in America. Newspapers complained about the strip’s violence — Burroughs responded that Tarzan’s popularity stemmed from a “human weakness for bloody and cruel situations” — while others objected to its persistent nudity, with the author’s own script notes reportedly calling for “plenty of female nudity.” Readers, however, were captivated by Tarzan’s adventures involving ancient Egyptians, modern criminals, Vikings, dinosaurs, killer apes, and a succession of alluring queens and princesses. In 1937, the strip was continued by Burne Hogarth.

For this XXL edition, the comics have been reproduced directly from the original newspapers, preserving both the colors and the distinctive Ben-Day dot printing associated with classic comics. Hal Foster’s Tarzan transports readers back to Sunday mornings spent lying on the living room floor with the newspaper spread out before them, absorbed in a world of exotic adventure while breakfast was being prepared nearby.

Tarzan Hal Foster newspaper strips © ERB, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tarzan® owned by ERB, Inc. Used by Permission.