GOING APE: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Neal Adams, one of the enduring favorites of Tarzan artist fans, has passed his considerable talents on to his son Jason, a young sculptor of great promise who studied at the famous School of Visual Arts in New York. Jason's art training included illustration, air brush, fine arts and 3-D design, but after graduation he taught himself how to sculpt, since none of his art courses offered classes in this field. 

His full name is Jason Spyda Adams, and he has founded “Spyda Creations” which you can check out on his website at

www.spydacreations.com

You may already have seen some of the toys he has designed in the past, but he is now devoting his time and talents to designing and sculpting his own original works and, occasionally, working on designs created by his famous father. One of his father's designs was published in 1984 in Set C of the Neal Adams Portfolio (see below), and Jason has used it as a model for “Going Ape.” Kit building fans are familiar with his resin kits featuring such characters as Ribald the Black Guard, Catrina the Sacrifice, and Mike Robot Killer. The artist has also been illustrating articles on human anatomical studies for Kitbuilders  Magazine. He believes that a sculpture should be interesting to look at from all angles, and "Going Ape" certainly fills the bill. The ape kit comes in four pieces and is ten inches tall. It contains a certificate of authenticity signed by both father and son.

The "Going Ape" kit is $150 plus $10 shipping and can be ordered from the Spyda Creations website. No phone number or postal address is listed. Some other sculptures are available pre-painted, although this one is not yet. The artist also says he is interested in doing it in a cold cast bronze edition some day.

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS

• Tarzan actor Denny Miller met his old friend and teammate Denny Crum during his stop in Louisville in June to promote his book Didn’t You Used to Be What’s His Name? Denny's wife Nancy (Miller, that is) sent us this photo of the two Dennys.

• Denny’s book was the victim of a typo in the last issue, in which we said a signed copy could be ordered for $25. They are actually $35, and the Louisville bookstore has no more signed copies for sale. However, signed copies can be ordered directly from the author at 9612 Gavin Stone Avenue, Summerlin, NV 89145.

• Also, Danton Burroughs reports that Jerry O'Hara is handling the sale of the Tarzan Yell dolls (Gridley Wave #273 ), but is not otherwise acting as his agent. (Interesting fact: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. patented the Tarzan yell Dec. 15, 1998.)

• The Summer issue of The Burroughs Bulletin is due back from the printer any day. Copies will hopefully be available at the Dum-Dum in Oak Park.

• Perhaps Carl Sagan started the ball rolling with his Blues for a Red Planet, but The Ethics of Mars was the title of a special presentation by Lynn Bondurant, educational program officer for NASA, at a symposium held at the Lewis Research Center back in 1997. He discussed how Edgar Rice Burroughs handled ethical issues in his Martian stories, so we hope the future will bring more influential speakers to remind the public of Burroughs' astute intellectual perceptions which go hand in hand with his imaginative storytelling genius. Burroughs has suffered a lot of bad press, but much of it can be overlooked if popular speakers continue to influence public opinion.

... "Ye Editor"