ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
TARZAN
The Jungle Warrior
By Andy Briggs
Open Read Media
180 pages
Several weeks ago we reviewed the first book in this new,
licensed Tarzan series; The Greystoke Legacy. Following in the footsteps of Tarzan’s creator, Edgar Rice
Burroughs, Andy Briggs continues his new adventures of the Jungle Lord exactly
where he left off in this second installment. Anyone familiar with the original classics is knows that
“Tarzan of the Apes” and “The Return of Tarzan,” were actually one story told
in two parts. So it is with this
series though it dares to be even more ambitious and by the conclusion of this
excellent sequel the saga is far from over.
In the first book, young Jane Porter and her widowed father,
Archie, are living in the Congo.
Archie is operating an illegal tree cutting operation with his lifelong
friend, Clark. Working at the camp is a young American named Robbie Canler who
is on the run from the law. By the
end of that first story, Jane had met the wild jungle man, Tarzan, and earned
his trust and friendship. She had
also discovered he might very well be the long lost heir to a British fortune.
In Burrough’s classic “Return of Tarzan,” the principle
villain was a sadistic Russian named Nikolas Rokoff and his henchman, Alexi
Paulvitch. Tarzan foiled their
various schemes until in the end they traveled to Africa and allied themselves
with his cousin, Lord Cecil Clayton, in an attempt to destroy Tarzan and thus
nullify his claim to the Greystoke fortune. In “The Jungle Warrior,” Briggs wonderfully reintroduces
Rokoff as an obsessed big hunter who has made a fortune bagging endangered wild
animals for his rich clients.
Having heard the rumors of a “white ape” inhabiting the heart of the
Congo, Rokoff and his aid, Paulvitch, set out to find and capture this
legend. The cruel hunger has
become jaded and much like his fictional peer, General Zaroff from Richard
Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” believes Tarzan will provide him with the
most challenging hunt of his life.
Once again we are given a fantastic adventure with some of
the most incredible action sequences ever written. In his works, Burroughs made Tarzan larger than life, almost
superhuman in some aspects and reimagining him as anything less would have been
a serious mistake. Not so with this
new and exciting interpretation.
Here is wild, amazing action that knows no boundaries and a Tarzan as
courageous, magnificent and totally unstoppable as he has ever been. Reading these new Tarzan exploits is a
joyous, fun experience; one no true pulp fan should miss. We can’t wait for volume three.
