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Volume 1901

ERB ECLECTICA
ERB-Date: 2010.03


Comic Book Legends Revealed #238 and #237
Reprinted From

and
The ERBzine Mike Grell Project Preview
plus
John Carter Film Production Art
 
COMIC LEGEND 1: Walt Simonson had to re-work an unused issue of Tarzan into an issue of Battlestar Galactica! Marvel got the license to Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle hero in 1977 but by 1979, the book was finished.


The book was canceled abruptly enough that the book's regular artist, Sal Buscema, already had an issue in the bag.

So Simonson and Steven Grant were given the task of re-purposing the issue in Marvel's series based on the TV series Battlestar Galactica (about a large spaceship protecting the remnants of a human space fleet as they search for the mythical planet of Earth while trying to keep away from an evil race of warrior robots called Cylons).

Their first step was to write an issue (drawn by Simonson) of Battlestar Galactica where they could set up the concept - a jungle "planet" as well as a group of creatures who happen to look like apes.


So then they moved on to the issue in question, Battlestar Galactica #18...
(Click for larger images)


Here is the opening with a double-page spread.




As you can tell, the character of Apollo is a re-drawn Tarzan.


Later on the adaptation is even more impressive.

"I know this terrain - and this will be a great chance to use my gymnastics training!"

COMIC LEGEND 2: Walt Simonson and Chris Claremont re-worked an unpublished Carmine Infantino issue of John Carter of Mars into an issue of Star Wars. In 1977, Marvel tried to re-create their Conan licensing success by licensing Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars character.


Even though the series had a lot of strong talent working on it (Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane launched the title, and Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson and others worked on the series), it was over by late 1979. The last issue published was the third Annual.

However, when it was canceled, Marvel still had some fill-in work by Carmine Infantino in their files. So a year or so later, Walt Simonson and Chris Claremont were given an odd task - take a fill-in Infantino did for John Carter and turn it into a Star Wars story!


And really, they did a marvelous job, with Simonson drawing a few pages as a framing sequence (aping Infantino wonderfully) and then adapting Infantino's art where need be. The first two pages are just Leia thinking back upon her home planet of Alderaan's destruction.





From 
Dennis Wilcutt Presents 
The Mike Grell Tarzan Sunday Pages
in ERBzine 2967 (planned for future release)
THE LOST PAGES
In Mike Grell's first story, two pages were lost in the mail and some studio hack had to draw them over to make up for the loss. Then after the pages were published, the mail service found the pages and gave them back to Grell. They were never printed. Although our copies are of marginal quality we present them here as curiosity pieces.





 
 

PART II
JOHN CARTER FILM PRODUCTION ART
Source and Relevance Unknown
Open at:
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1901a.html 

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