Well, that came out of nowhere.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tim Seely, David Walker
Art: Fernando Dagnino
Colors: Sandra Molina
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
What They Say:
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.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening issue of this series was one that worked pretty well for me even though I knew a good part of what I had to do was excise my own preconceptions about the franchise in order to make it work. By bringing Cornelius and Zira back to the late 1800’s and giving birth to Milo there and having him raised with Tarzan was a really neat blending that had its quirks that were hard to get past. Decades of knowing the “other” way makes change hard sometimes. Thankfully, Dagnino’s artwork made it engaging and Seeley and Walker’s script comes together well as it progressed, which launches us into this second issue that takes place a bit further down the line as events have changed.
With the Greystoke family now having taken to enslaving the apes as they can and using them for all sorts of work, there’s lots of interesting areas to explore with that which we don’t get to here. Tarzan, known as John, struggles with being in London in all the familiar ways but at least has Happy the ape to engage in conversation with from his home. What we learn here, however, is that the Greystoke business is suffering thanks to the fighting going on in Africa and that means Tarzan’s finally going to be able to go back, though he’s intended as a tool to end the fighting and bring all the apes in line to be enslaved. His brother certainly has a familiar approach as there’s a lot of biblical aspects to how he views the apes as pure animals to be used and lorded over by man, as is man’s divine right in the eyes of the lord. Tarzan doesn’t have this background and sees both man and ape as equals and potential partners, if they can get past this.
To balance this side of the story we get to see the fighting going on back in Africa where Milo, now using the name Caesar, knows this is a losing battle for their freedom but one that must be fought. Though things come together in a weird way at the end when he and Tarzan meet again – amid dinosaurs attacking! – the bulk of it is Milo’s struggle to figure out how to cope with all of this through his father’s journals. This area offers up some neat things as we see the film saga told to some degree with the events from the future of that timeline and Cornelius’ uncertainty about the truth of some of it and what of it actually still plays out because of their coming back to this time and altering the course of things. It’s an interesting idea to follow and one that I like because it offers something new to the saga itself, which in turn takes its own twist with Tarzan’s inclusion.
In Summary:
Though there was some pretty convoluted stuff to some degree in the opening installment and this issue takes a quick readjustment with how it kicks off here with Tarzan in London, there are some really neat things going on with this blending of properties that’s appealing. I like the concept and I’m enjoying the way it’s unfolding while offering up potential areas to explore more with religion, man’s place in the world, and more. Dagnino’s doing some great stuff with the period costumes and the locales as well as making for some really good ape sequences. The flashback material almost, in a weird way, felt like it came out of a 1970’s Marvel comic book with its colors and design. The action sequences are strong and I love some of the panel layouts, especially with the third movie sequence that we get in the forbidden zone. I’m excited to see what’s next in this series as it can make for some fun twists ahead.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics, BOOM Studios
Release Date: October 26th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
