Comics Alternative

This week the Two Guys with PhDs visit grounds they rarely tread: superhero comics. Don't worry, they don't completely forsake their mission statement, but they definitely approach the line. While each of the titles they discuss reflect the mainstream and/or the superhero genre, in one way or another, they all nonetheless stand outside of the usual machinations of the Big Two. The guys begin with Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years (Dark Horse Books), a 600+ page omnibus collecting almost all of Kubert's DC Tarzan run. Or at least those stories on which he served as artist, in some way. In fact, Andy admits at the outset that this idea for a superhero-tinged episode springs from him wanting to discuss Kubert's Tarzan. And as both he and Derek make clear, this is an impressive volume that is well worth reading. It contains adaptations of three of Edgar Rice Burroughs's novels -- Tarzan of the Apes, The Return of Tarzan, and Tarzan and the Iron Man -- and a wealth of short stories Kubert wrote for the 1970s