100 Years

Last time out, I talked about Edgar Rice Burroughs and my love of his creations, Tarzan and the Warlord of Mars. both of those characters were first published in 1912. A quick pass by the calculator verifies my math... both characters turn 100 years old this year.


There aren't that many characters that have such lengthy pedigrees. I think there are a couple of factors for that. One is the medium. Getting new generations to read a book that you loved in your childhood is much more difficult than getting them to watch a TV show that you're nostalgic about. The medium of our entertainment has changed so drastically in the last 100 years, I have to think that we'll see more and more characters outlasting normal lifespans. And the cycles starting. Properties that were popular in the eighties like GI Joe, Transformers, and Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles are seeing new life now that the kids that enjoyed them so much twenty-five years ago are parents themselves with money to spend and memories to share.

Another factor that can help a character last through the generations is change. I've talked about this before with the saga of Buck Rogers (http://www.doabarneyoldfield.blogspot.com/2012/09/buck-rogers-man-of-future.html) and how change is difficult for that particular character. I've briefly touched on that with Superman.


The change in Superman has been well and thoroughly documented before. But in case you're unaware, let me explain. During his debut in the 1930's, Superman was very anti-establishment and a hero of the poor and suppressed. In the 1940's Superman fought Nazis and war saboteurs. In the 1950's he was very much an establishment figure and a duly deputized member of law enforcement. The 1960's saw slow change for Superman and he suffered for it, quickly gaining a reputation as a tired old hero of former generations. In the 1970's his popularity surged again with the Superman movie. In the 1980's he and his alter-ego Clark Kent were completely rebooted, all their history jettisoned, and they were re-imagined for a 1980's older teen audience. In the 1990's, Superman died, came back, grew a mullet, changed powers, and did absolutely everything to stay relevant.


The point is that the most enduring characters, especially those backed by money making corporations, are always changing. Superman, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, and more.

I read a line recently (I apologize, but I can't find the original material) that suggested the story of Tarzan only works in 1912. The thought is that in today's day and age with how much our jungles have been explored and with our current technology that the story of Tarzan is just not believable.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen many versions of Dracula that cast him in a modern-day environment. There have been plenty of updated retellings of the story, but most of them cast the character in the era in which he was originally imagined. Nevertheless, the character proves to be too popular to fade away.

I remember seeing Roy Rogers old television show for the first time with my father-in-law. There was a jeep! The famous western cowboy was set in the modern day 1950's! This really surprised me, as I thought of all western characters being from the old west era. Seeing Roy ride Trigger next to his sidekick in a jeep was a little unsettling for me.


In the 1940's, there was a series of Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and set in the modern day. The first time I saw Sherlock Holmes fighting to stop Nazi plots, I was a little unsettled. It seemed odd and out of place, but ultimately worked. And it was obviously very natural for the audiences of the time.


Part of the reason Superman sees change so much is that he has seen continuous, unbroken publication every month since his first appearance in 1938. Few characters have this advantage and even fewer mediums offer that kind of opportunity. So to comics fans, change in characters is nothing new.

But could you picture Tarzan with an GPS? Dracula being discovered because his image doesn't appear on an iPhone screen? Sherlock Holmes fighting modern day killers and criminals?


Thanks,
DCD

P.S. And yes, I know all those things have happened. That's part of the point.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

As I may have mentioned before, and you may have picked up from my subtleties, I don’t read many books. I read constantly, just not many books. And the books I do read are somewhat dated.

Loaded on my iPad for reading at some point are a couple of books on the history of comics, the complete Sherlock Holmes, the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft, the collected Allan Quartermain, the complete works of Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan), some of the original James Bond novels, and pulp stories of the Shadow and Doc Savage. So as you can see, when I do stretch into genres and mediums other than super-hero comic books, I don’t exactly stretch very far.

One of the books on my iPad that I’ve been enjoying the most is the collected works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. If you don’t know, Burroughs created Tarzan. He also created John Carter, Warlord of Mars and other characters. But Tarzan is the one that has been rooted into our consciousness as part of the greater American mythology.



I’ve always kind of taken Tarzan for granted. As a kid, I remember the adults at a party tuning the TV set into an old black-and-white Tarzan movie in order to keep me still and quiet and out-of-the-way. As it turns out, the movie didn’t hold my interest as much as my buddy’s Millennium Falcon toy ship and the promise of science fiction adventure.

I vividly remember the Tarzan Filmation cartoon from 1977. I loved that cartoon and it ran for a few years. I even had a t-shirt with an image of that particular version of Tarzan. Although I can find no evidence that the t-shirt ever existed outside of my memory. I remember running and playing and yelling and pretending to be Tarzan. And I vividly remember the mechanics of the animation techniques used by Filmation and how much of the same movements were used by Captain Kirk, Batman, Lone Ranger, and Flash Gordon during their Filmation cartoons. I believe the Filmation studio had the greatest of respect for these time-honored characters, and that sense of respect is something I latched onto at an early age.


A couple of years ago I bought the collected works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and read the first Tarzan novel on my iPad. It was the first time I had ever read the original work, although I had been wanting to read it for awhile. Reading the novel really caught me off guard. With a property like Tarzan that has been told and re-told and re-told in movies, comics, television, and radio dramas, you don’t really expect to be caught off guard by the original work. Yet it was different from any version I had ever seen, and it was expressly violent. I can definitely see why it was so popular and why it has continued to be popular even through to today.


Another character Burroughs created is John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Tarzan has had a definite and lasting impact on our culture. And so has the John Carter character, although his effect is much less obvious. You can stop anyone in the street and they’ll know about Tarzan. Not so much the Warlord of Mars, although he did have a major motion picture earlier this year. The effect that John Carter has primarily had has been as inspiration for other works. Most famously notable is as one of the inspirations for Star Wars. In reading his adventures, you’ll find themes and situations very familiar to your 2012 self that would have been alien, fresh and new when reading the novels in 1912.



I’ve read the first two novels starring John Carter, the Warlord of Mars. And I was very impressed. For me, the work was definitely edge of your seat high style adventure.



I talk a lot about works like Tarzan and Warlord of Mars being ‘important’ and having a ‘lasting impact on our culture’. Even as I write that, I’m not entirely sure what I mean by it. I do feel that these characters and others are important to us on a cultural level. But even as I say that, my Grandmother appears on my shoulder in phantom form and reminds me that not everyone gives a hoot about such flights of fantasy. I guess for me the importance is twofold. The first aspect is how these characters have generated other characters and stories through powerful inspiration. Tarzan, Dracula, Superman, and Sherlock Holmes inspired entire genres of imitators.

The other aspect of importance, in my opinion, is the building of a shared culture. I feel that using these characters, I can connect with others on a certain level. Even if not directly, I can use their meaning to me to explore what’s important to someone else. As a devout comic book collector and character historian, I’m highly aware that no one I work with or hang out with really wants to talk about all that. But I do know that they must have something that’s important to them that they do want to talk about. And many times it’s exploring those avenues where I can find a connection.

So tell me, what cartoon’s did you watch as a kid?

Thanks,
DCD