Hal Foster - Original Tarzan Sunday dated 3-26-33 (United Features Syndicate, 1933). Harold R. (Hal) Foster took over the jo...

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Should be placed on page facing lot# 802-016-041. Description applies to both lots.

Hal Foster - Original Tarzan Sunday dated 3-26-33 (United Features Syndicate, 1933). Harold R. (Hal) Foster took over the job of drawing the Tarzan Sunday page from artist Rex Maxon in September, 1931. Edgar Rice Burroughs himself was not happy with Maxon's work on the Sundays, although Maxon continued to draw the daily strips for many years. When Hal Foster got this job, it was during the depths of the great Depression, and work was hard to get. He was working in Chicago at an advertising agency and things were so bad that Foster allowed four other starving artists to help him with the earliest pages, and the $75 per page which Foster was paid was divided equally, $15 per man per week. Even though the job was Foster's and only his name appeared on the Sunday page, he took only an equal share. In his words, these five families "ate ape" during those difficult years. Sometime in 1932, with fan mail coming in, Foster was inspired to put more work into his pages, and gradually took over the pages completely with no assistants. The earliest Foster page known to exist is dated July 10, 1932, and during this period Foster is starting to experiment with panel layout. These early pages are filled with action, and rarely will you see an action figure duplicated, as was common with other artists. Foster could draw Tarzan in any position, in any action, and it looked real. Most collectors agree that he reached his peak on Tarzan in what has become known as the "Egyptian sequence", where the story line took Tarzan to a lost Egyptian civilization that bordered the jungle. That way, he could fill his pages with the pomp and pageantry of the Egyptian kings and princesses, and then cut to nearby action with apes in the jungle. It was the best of both worlds. The Sunday pages offered here are two of the best from this memorable period, dated 3/26/33 and 4/2/33. The first page contains the Egyptian princess with her entourage and her barge, and then the action segues to the jungle where a great ape named Ptok carries the princess away into the trees. An interesting aside...back in those days, it was rumored that apes (gorillas) carried women away to sexually molest them. Perhaps this is why Ptok didn't hurt the princess, he was just taking her away to his nest somewhere in the trees! There are no better examples of Hal Foster's work on Tarzan than these two consecutive pages! Framed and matted, the overall size is 36.25" x 29", with an image area of approximately 27" x 20".Title logos are stats, all else is original. Offered in excellent condition. From the collection of Russ Cochran.

More information about Hal Foster. See also: Foster, Hal, Harold Foster, Foster, Harold Artist.

Auction Info

2002 March Comic Auction #802 (go to Auction Home page)

Auction Dates

March, 2002

15th-16th Friday-Saturday

Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 10

Lot Tracking Activity: N/A

Page Views: 4,107

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Sold on Mar 16, 2002 for: $13,225.00

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