Russell George Manning (19291981) was one of the

most admired and influential cartoonists on the West

Coast in the 1960s and 1970s. The San Diego Comic-
Cons Russ Manning Award is given yearly to the most
promising newcomer in the field.
Manning first discovered the works of Edgar Rice
Burroughs in the public library in his boyhood home
of Los Altos, California. He studied art at Santa Monica
Junior College and the Los Angeles County Art Institute;
after serving with the U.S. Army in Japan in the early
1950s, he began drawing comics for Western Publishing,
based in Los Angeles. Manning was renowned for his
faithful adaptations of the original Tarzan novels and
created Magnus, Robot Fighter 4,000 A.D., arguably the
1960s most original science fiction comic book series. In
addition to Tarzan comic books and the newspaper strip,
Manning initiated the Star Wars newspaper strip in 1979.
LibraryofAmericanComics.com idwpublishing.com
EISNER AWARD
NOMINEE FOR BEST ARCHIVAL COMIC STRIP BOOK
The Library of American Comics has once again given fans another magnificent volume in a
reprint series that is becoming a national treasure. [Russ Mannings] Tarzan newspaper strip
is as exciting an adventure strip as has ever existeda rich feast for both old and new fans of
Burroughss work. To read these strips today is to be reminded of the best that an action strip
can be. This is comic art at its finest. Mark Squirek, The New York Journal of Books
$49.99
(Different in Canada)
The New York Journal of Books called Russ Manning
a stunning artist. This third volume of a four-book
set collecting his entire run of the Tarzan newspaper
strip is reproduced from the Edgar Rice Burroughs
estate file copiesand presents the final two daily
storylines, plus four extended Sunday adventures.
In the dailies from August 2, 1971 through July 29,
1972, Tarzan returns to the Earths core, while Korak
plays guide on the dangerous white water river. In the
Sundays from January 24, 1971 through March 17,
1974, Tarzan travels to Pal-ul-don and Korak enters
the City of Xuja.
RUSS MANNING
VOLUME THREE: 1971-1974

RUSS
MAN
NING
COMPLETE
NEWSPAPER
STRIPS
1971

1974
P
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o
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IDW PUBLISHING
San Diego
TARZAN
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
VOLUME THREE:
1971-1974

THE LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS

EDITED AND DESIGNED BY Dean Mullaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR Bruce Canwell
ART DIRECTOR AND SUNDAY PAGE RESTORATION Lorraine Turner
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Henry G. Franke III MARKETING DIRECTOR Beau Smith
IDW Publishing, a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC
5080 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA 92109 www.idwpublishing.com LibraryofAmericanComics.com
Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer/President
Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer
Alan Payne, VP of Sales Dirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services
Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors 1-410-560-7100
ISBN: 978-1-61377-982-8 First Printing, June 2014
Special thanks to Thomas Yeates (of the Apes) for his encouragement, enthusiasm, and friendship; Jim Sullos and Cathy Wilbanks at ERB, Inc.
for making this possible; Tyler Wilbanks at ERB, Inc. for his dedication in locating and scanning the best possible copies of the strips in the
ERB archives; Bill Stout for his insights and use of the photo on page 11; Mike Royer for his insights and use of the photo on page 11;
Jackie Estrada for providing the dustjacket photograph of Russ Manning from the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con; Jennifer Bawcum for the
photo on page 11; Rick Norwood for his always expert advice; Ken Webber, Mike Conran, and Dennis Wilcutt for their research;
and to Melissa Manning for supplying the photos on pages 6, 7, and 17.
OTHER BOOKS IN THE
LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS
Edgar Rice Burroughs and Tarzan owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and used by permission. 2014 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Library of American Comics is a trademark of The Library of American Comics LLC. All rights reserved. Introduction 2014 Henry G. Franke III. With the
exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the comic strips in this publication may be reprinted without the permission of ERB, Inc. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from ERB, Inc. Printed in Korea.
5
In the 1968 annual poll of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and
Collectors, Tarzan came in second for best newspaper adventure strip, behind
only Dick Tracy but ahead of The Phantom and Steve Canyon. It was a
gratifying acknowledgment for both Russ Manning and Edgar Rice
Burroughs, Inc. that Manning had successfully resuscitated the series just a
year earlier. The mainstream popularity of traditional newspaper adventure
comic strips and comic books, however, was on the decline.
The 1970s opened with major social and economic turmoil in the United
States. The Vietnam War framed public unrest and cultural changes in the
country. Adventure comics were steadily becoming a victim of changing tastes.
Television had also clearly eclipsed comics as the leading purveyor of serial
fiction. Both Manning and ERB, Inc. were concerned that United Features
Syndicate was not adequately promoting the Tarzan daily and Sunday strips,
nor actively pursuing more U.S. newspapers to subscribe to it.
Manning had a good relationship with Robert M. (Bob) Hodes, ERBs
general manager and vice-president, who had made the decision in 1967 to
hire Manning to replace artist John Celardo. Manning wrote Hodes in
September 1971 about a family road trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, stopping
all along the way to get copies of local newspapers. Not once, on the entire
trip, did we find a newspaper with Tarzan in it. While on this vacation the
cartoonist even tried to approach the owner of the newspaper in San Angelo,
Texas, with the idea of influencing several Texas papers under his management
to pick up the strip. He had no luck reaching the owner/publisher, but
ironically the paper asked Manning for an interview.
While the strip was not a major seller to newspapers in the U.S., it did
very well outside the country. Mannings Tarzan strips received high praise
around the world. His style was popular in overseas markets, notably Europe
and Latin America. ERBs income from these overseas licenses more than
offset the stagnant subscriber list at home.
s s s s s
Of concern to Manning was that growing inflation during the Nixon
Administration meant that the cost of living and the expense to create the
strip could quickly outstrip his income. The cartoonist was an independent
contractor hired by ERB, Inc. Through the years Manning would refer to a
September 14, 1967 letter with ERB, Inc., laying out the conditions of his
work, as his official contract. He maintained regular correspondence with
ERB, Inc. and would visit their offices in Tarzana, seventy miles from his
home and studio in Orange County.
THE DAY THE TARZAN DAILIES ENDED
by HENRY G. FRANKE III
Left: Russ Manning receives the Inkpot Award at the 1974
San Diego Comic-Con.
Opposite left: The cartoonist on vacation in Punta Banda with
his new Zodiac boat and Evinrude motor, October 1971.
Opposite right: Russ and his mother, Opal, on the road with
his truck, camper, and the always-inflated Zodiac boat. He
took that thing everywhere, recalls daughter Melissa.
(photos courtesy Melissa Manning)
He made it clear that his was a battle of balancing creativity and quality of
the strips against the cost to produce them, which meant that he had to decide
how much time he could invest in the strips. As an independent contractor he
also had no health insurance, workmans compensation, or pension. The workload
and constant deadlines led Manning to hire assistants, but this came out of his
paycheck, not from ERB, Inc. or UFS, so he had to be judicious in bringing on
help. In 1969 Mike Royerafter working with Manning for four years, including
the first two years of the newspaper stripsleft for better paying work. To keep
things running smoothly ERB, Inc. gave Manning the raise he requested in late
1969 to hire another assistant.
In an early version of product placement the cartoonist figured out a way
he might benefit from his Tarzan work beyond the standard paycheck for the
strips. Manning always loved the water, boating, and fishing, and in July 1971
phoned both Evinrude Motors and Zodiac of North America, following up with
both through formal correspondence. He told them that he was beginning a new
storyline in the daily strip starting on August 23rd of that year, to run for at least
twelve weeksKorak, the son of Tarzan, would accompany a film crew traveling
on expedition upriver in Africa in inflatable boats powered by outboard motors.
The boats and motors would be featured in nearly every scene, he explained.
They would be illustrated accurately and realistically, using actual models if
supplied. Trademarks and emblems would be shown, if possible. There would be
no failures in boat or engine; all units would be portrayed as reliable and without
fault. He reminded both companies that the strip was syndicated worldwide, with
approximately thirty million readers.
He asked Evinrude for a 25-horsepower motor to use as a model in the
production of the strip, and for my personal use thereafter, in return for the
display and promotion. Late in July he told Zodiac, manufacturer of inflatable
boats, that he would feature their Mark II and Mark V models in the strip. He
asked that a Mark II be sent to him for photographic purposes, and to be kept
for his private use after its usefulness in the comics strip is complete. He received
the inflatable boat at his home on July 26th, assembled it, and had already begun
taking photos of it that same day. His contact with Evinrude and Zodiac was no
secret to ERB, Inc. He furnished copies of all of his correspondence to ERB, Inc.,
and even referred both companies to ERB, Inc. in case they wished to negotiate
for the use of these particular strips in public relations or sales campaigns.
Mannings success in acquiring the Zodiac boat is a favorite story of his
daughter, Melissa, who fondly recalls her father taking photos of wife Dodie
in the boat, up on blocks in their front yard, as she modeled for images to be
included in the Korak storyline. Family vacations centered for many years on
Punta Banda (on the coast of Baja California, Mexico), and the Zodiac boat and
its outboard engine were mainstays all those years. The storyline Korak and the
6
White Water Runner in this volume shows Manning was true to his word to Zodiac
and Evinrude (see pages 28-29).
s s s s s
Despite the travails of income and changing markets for the Tarzan strips in the
U.S., the early 1970s were good years for Tarzan worldwide and Bob Hodes continued
with his business strategy begun in the late 1960s. Part of that strategy concerned the
Tarzan comic book. Graphic Story World, edited by Richard Kyle, reported in its July
1971 edition that Gold Key would publish its last issue of Tarzan of the Apes with the
December 1971 issue. ERB, Inc. decided to change publishers because they had been
dissatisfied with the series once Manning had left. ERB, Inc. was now aiming for a
more mature audience and a publisher faithfully portraying ERBs characters and
backgrounds. (The license would eventually go to DC Comics.) To offer those mature
audiences another graphical interpretation of the ape-man, Hodes had edited an
illustrated adaptation of Burroughss original Tarzan of the Apes, blending the novel
and ERBs words with new art by Burne Hogarth, eventually published as a hardcover
book by Watson-Guptill in 1972. Kyle also reported an upsurge in Mannings
newspaper strip overseas, noting that a writer in Japan would novelize some of
Mannings storylines.
Sales on the newspaper strip, however, remained flat. In a letter to ERB, Inc. in
May 1972, Manning wrote that Tarzan is the most popular adventure strip in papers
it runs in. Ive been told repeatedly, and am convinced that the excitement, interest,
and story-telling of my Tarzan strip is the equal of any in the newspapersyet it is no
crashing success. The best that can be hoped for is that hanging in there, trying every
combination of story, art, and character, will suddenly be in sync with time and
cycle.
Manning explained to Hodes that he had again reached the point where he
needed to hire competent help and that inflation had wiped out the benefit of the
raise he had previously received in 1969. He also recognized that there might not be
enough income from the strips to warrant the requested raise, but Manning reminded
Hodes that he was the only person writing and drawing an adventure comic strip at
the time without help. The president of UFS confirmed to the cartoonist that foreign
sales sustained the strips, which prompted Manning, ever the professional, to ask
Hodes if he should emphasize tales that appeal most to those areasand what does
appeal there?
7
The requested raise did not materialize, but Bob Hodes had a different
proposition for the writer/artist. Hodes had toyed with the idea of ERB, Inc.
publishing its own comic books in the U.S., but decided to license Tarzan to DC
Comics. He had more ambitious plans for the illustrated Tarzan overseas. Reprints
of the Tarzan and Korak comic books, in addition to original stories created by local
writers and artists, sold well abroad and had been doing so for many years. Untapped,
Hodes told Manning, was another comic-based mediumthe longer-form dubbed the
graphic album. The term applied to a variety of publication formats, but in general
they were different from standard comic books in that they usually ran forty to sixty
pages or more, often with a single extended storyline or linked set of shorter stories,
printed slightly larger than regular comic-book dimensions on high-quality paper
stock, often in hardcover. Belgian artist Hergs Tintin in the Land of the Soviets,
published in 1930, is the most prominent early example of the graphic album. By the
early 1970s Hugo Pratts epic Corto Maltese series set the standard in Europe for all
adult adventure comics of the decade.
This format was virtually unknown in the U.S. at the time. ERB, Inc. envisioned
higher incomes with a new outlet for Tarzan stories that would be co-produced
through their regular licensees in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere. Hodes was
also instituting his plan to reduce ERB, Inc.s reliance on middlemen. The company
would directly take on production of these albums. Manning was a critical part of the
plan, as he would create extended forty-six-page stories in their entiretyscripting,
layout, penciling, inking, lettering, coloring, and post-productionby himself or with
hired help. Eventually the understanding was that an album meant forty-six pages of
story, a title page, and the covers, as well as endpapers.
This represented an exciting creative challenge for Manning. He originally signed
up to create six albums, with the expectation of a quarterly or better production
schedule. In a 1975 interview with Shel Dorf he remarked that one of the joys of the
newspaper strip was the chance to wing it as you go, increasing the possibility of
unexpected tension and accidents. But the 46-page Tarzan albums are a whole nother
bucket of worms. Ive just finished number four, and Ive had to do some pioneering in
this format, since these Tarzan books are among the very first of a new breed. 46 pages
is longmuch too long to handle like a 15- to 20-page comic book story, and
certainly not like a meandering comic strip.
He enthusiastically continued, A good album must be carefully crafted, with
definite pacing of storyline, information, density, characterizations, and, where
possible, even color. Im still learning about this format, of course, but the way Im
handling them seems to have evolved into something closer to movie-making than to
any of the usual methods of comic book/strip creation. I block out a rather complete
plot and page breakdown, then begin writing and illustrating anywhere I feel like it
Above and opposite: Always on deadline, Manning
at his drawing board. (photos by Clay Miller)
8
throughout the 46 pages. If, in writing and illustrating a certain sequence, I feel it needs
emphasis, it gets more pages than shown on the storyboardrealizing, of course, that
there must be a corresponding reduction elsewhere. Then, as completion nears, and even
after completion, it becomes necessary to edit. And I must admit, there have been out-
takeson the studio floorpanels, pages, that didnt fit or were too irrelevant. Wasteful,
perhaps, but this method allows the maximum freedom to create. These albums are very
exciting to do. They are a real challenge, trying to realize the potential inherent in this,
the next logical step for first-class graphic stories.
In early 1972, when Manning and Hodes negotiated the terms to create the Tarzan
albums, a critical aspect of their agreement was for a payment in advance of the start of
each album, followed by payments in installments, so that Manning could hire
competent assistance. Manning could also use these assistants to help on the Sunday
strips, as his studio would be the hub to produce both projects. He was allowed to keep
the original artwork for the albums, which he couldnt for the newspaper strips.
To maintain a quarterly production of the albums Manning planned to interweave
work on these with the Sunday pages. He would concentrate on the Sundays for several
weeks in order to get ahead of the UFS deadlines, then devote two months to an album.
s s s s s
The victim in this scheme was the Tarzan daily. The continuous deadlines for the
six-days-a-week daily could not be reasonably accommodated when he started creating
the albums. In a 1972 issue of Graphic Story World, Manning commented: Its
impossible for a single person to write and draw an adventure strip, daily and Sundays,
over several years. The workload becomes too great. His expected income for the
albums would also exceed what he earned for the daily.
Manning had not planned for the daily to end forever in 1972. To fulfill newspaper
subscriptions when Manning closed out his last daily strip, UFS had scheduled six
months of reprints, beginning with the 1947 Burne Hogarth/Dan Barry daily strip
adaptation of ERBs original novel, Tarzan at the Earths Core.
On July 3, 1972 Manning reported to Hodes that he would deliver the last daily
Tarzan strips to UFS the next week. By August 1st he planned to start work on the first
Tarzan quarterly. He noted that advances and time payments would speed up production
and allow him to hire high-quality assistance that will be necessary to stay on schedule.
In fact, Manning delivered the first three pages for the premiere album on July 21st. The
project was on its way.
Meeting timelines quickly became a challenge. Confusion over production
standards, increasing fees for production materials, and many revisions to the artwork
led to significant delays and mounting costs. Originally the plan was to have six albums
9
completed before the publication of the first one. The long-range vision of
Bob Hodes was a series of albums published in hardcover that would have
an enduring availability for purchaseto be on sale forever. Instead, it took
Manning eight months to complete the first album, Tarzan in the Land That
Time Forgot. Coloring was completed on March 31, 1973, with some post-
production work still necessary. The final version of the album was delivered
to ERB, Inc. on April 11th. Mannings original tale brought Tarzan into
another one of ERBs unique lost lands, the prehistoric island of Caspak.
The graphic albums required a higher standard of artwork and coloring
because they were printed on quality paper instead of newsprint. Russ
Manning was one of the first in the United States to adopt the European-
style coloring method to ensure better color. Bill Stout, who was assisting
Manning at the time on the daily and Sunday Tarzan strips, colored the first
two graphic albums. In this method, each page of original black-and-white
art was photographed to create a film negative. The image was then printed
in black on a sheet of clear acetate, as well as in pale blue ink on white
cardstock paper. This blueline was then colored by hand with markers
and gouache. To check the results of coloring, the black-and-white acetate
was taped over the painted blueline so that they would be in register with
each other. The color separations would be shot from the blueline paintings.
The acetate provided the solid black separation, which made the black print
crisp and clean.
Based on his research of European formats, Manning had assumed
dimensions for the first album closer to regular European comic book
production, but he miscalculated. Eventually the precious original artwork
would have to be shipped overseas to the publishers to help them work out
formats. In the beginning Manning also created artwork at a level
commensurate with printing on lower quality paper. As the first album was
close to completion, Bob Hodes confirmed with Manning that the aim was
to produce quality albums, not comic books. Manning thus put even more
10
Opposite: For the European graphic albums, after a page of the original black-and-white art
was photographed, the image was printed on a sheet of acetate (left) and colored on a blueline
(center). The acetate and the colored blueline were then combined for the final printed art.
(images courtesy Bill Stout)
Below: Manning with his assistant Dave Stevens (center) and San Diego Comic-Con co-founder
Shel Dorf (far right). (photo courtesy Jennifer Bawcum)
Right top: Mike Royer working on two Tarzan Sunday pages#2260 (June 30, 1974) on the
drawing board, and #2259 (June 23, 1974) to his left, both from the storyline, Return to
Castra Sanguinarius. (photo courtesy Mike Royer)
Right bottom: Bill Stout and Royer outside Mannings studio. (photo courtesy Bill Stout)
11
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