Tarzan.CC: Yo, Michael! Man, I've known you for a l-o-o-o-ng time - at least since I was 18 and scarfing up your Judge Dredd collection. How have ya been?
Michael Tierney: Hey! I'm doing great. I've been operating my bookstores for so long, that customers who used to come in as kids now come in WITH their kids. It probably won't be too much longer until they start coming in with their grandkids!
TCC: You own and have been running two comic shops, "Collector's Edition" and "The Comic Book Store", for as long as I can remember. When and how did you get into the business, and how much work goes into maintaining your stores, including time spent keeping an eye on the industry?
MT: I opened my first store, Collector's Edition in North Little Rock, way back in 1982. Opened my second store, The Comic Book Store in Little Rock in 1989. Operating businesses in two cities, and living in a third, makes for a seven days a week job. But being your own boss is worth the sacrifice. When you're making a living at something you enjoy, it's worth it. (TCC: AMEN to that, Brother!)
TCC: To what degree has the Internet or have places such as eBay affected the way you do business?
MT: eBay has helped me more than hurt. I often do more buying off eBay than I do selling, finding things that I'd never see in Arkansas. Conversely, there have been times when I've taken an item that I couldn't sell in my stores for years, then put it up for auction and gotten fives times what I couldn't sell it for in Arkansas. eBay is unique in that it makes your customers into your competitors. But at the same time, those competitors learn for themselves just how much work goes into a sale. Sometimes they discover that they're only getting minimum wage for their time, and giving their books away. It's definitely a buyer's market. If you've got a hot item that a couple or more people want, that's when you will do well.
The Internet has also had other benefits for me. It used to be that I had to find all my industry information in print. Now there's instant access to breaking news, and there are also gated Internet communities where retailers can communicate directly with not only the creative community, but the publishers as well. A lot of good things have come out of that increased capacity of industry communication.
TCC: I love talking to you because you can answer questions about almost any book. Does anything hit your shelves that you are completely unfamiliar with?
MT: Sure. I don't try to read everything... only the material that I enjoy. But the process of ordering titles two months before time requires that I read solicitation material that includes not just the creative contributors, but a brief overview of the content. So some of my knowledge is based on synopsis more than the actual reading of a book. Of course, I also get a lot of information from my customers when they talk about their favorite titles. A lot of my knowledge comes almost through osmosis.
TCC: You are pretty well-known in the comic book community, and have even published a few of your own titles! Please tell us about them!
MT: Thanks for asking! I've been self-publishing since 1977. That first publication was a magazine of my art and stories, writing in different styles about several different genres. I've never picked a single niche. I'm always pushing for new ground to explore.
In 1984, I started publishing my own comics series, "Wild Stars", based on a novel I first wrote back in 1977. For Volume Two Number One, published in 1988, I not only wrote, penciled, inked and lettered the book, I also printed it on my own printing press in my garage. I used printer's techniques to make each copy unique, like a customized art print. As far as I know, it was the first comic to feature die cutting and foil stamping on the front cover, and the only one to feature die cutting on the back cover. That was a lot of work. On Volume Three, first published in 2000, I went back to traditonal printing and started hiring professional artists.
Published over 20 years, the three volumes of "Wild Stars" and the Portfolio all make up one big story, that I put together in my graphic novel "Wild Stars: The Book of Circles." I've gotten a lot of good reviews on it. In the Comic Shot News, Cliff Biggers gave it a B+, with the high marks based on the story and the criticism being the fact that the art is inconsistent, what with three different artists working on it over such a long period of time. The art may be inconsistent, but the story is solid. I used what I call a double finale. The first 285 pages tell the story in long form, and in great detail. Then, just in case some readers don't get it, I repeat the core story in short form in the last 3 pages. (TCC: Just like Herman Brix's "The New Adventures of Tarzan" serial!) It's called "The Book of Circles" because it's so multilayered, that a person could read it several times, and get a different level of the story each time. I've had customers come in after three readings, and I was still about to show them details that they missed. When you work on something for twenty years, you can really put a lot of effort into it.
An agent called me and asked me what my goal was with the graphic novel. I told her that, "At the middle of the story I want the reader to be saying 'I have no idea what's going on or what's going to happen next,' and by the end be saying 'Oh! It was all so simple!'"
"Wild Stars: The Book of Circles" is a cornerstone story intended as a foundation for several other novels that I've written over the years. "Wild Stars" has a huge back story, with a future history and ancient history. For instance, there's one character, who only appeared in a couple of pages at the end of the 288 page graphic novel, who is the main character in my longest unpublished novel of 450,000 words. There are seeds for future stories planted throughout.
My spin-off comic "Force Majeure: Prairie Bay", set on Mars in the not-so-distant future, is the first of those. I've also created a "Wild Stars" boardgame for which I'm currently negotiating a contract with a game company.
TCC: I understand that you had an incident with another publisher who tried to put out a book similarly titled to yours. What's the scoop on that? Were they aware of your copyright before they created their book, or only after you contacted them?
MT: I wish I could talk about that, but my lawyer advises me to make only this simple statement: "The dispute between Image and myself has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parities, and Image will no longer use the Wild Stars trademark."
If you'd asked me about this a few years ago, and I don't remember if you did, I'd have given you an earful on the subject. But now all I can do is repeat the statement prepared by my lawyer. (TCC: Luckily, comments made prior to the settlement are exempt from its terms of agreement, and you just might find a few of them............ HERE! AAAAAWW--EE--AW--EE--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWW--EE--AW--EE--AAAAAWW!!!))
TCC: I got a real kick out of the stories of your experiences working with artists you'd contracted with to draw "Wild Stars". What happened, and looking back, do you regret any of the choices you made?
MT: Without knocking on either of the first two artists, myself being one of them, I have to say that I wish Dave Simons, who drew the majority of the story, had been the artist from the start. Dave was great to work with. Not only did he bring a massive resume of experience to the project, Dave is also a storyteller first, and an artist second. Dave never tried to just draw pretty pictures at the expense of the story. He took the script, and faithfully translated that into the artwork.
For example, there was one artist who ended up not working on the project, whose name I won't mention, that sent in some initial layouts. When I said "I want the boat coming straight out at you" and "I want to make eye contact with the girl... she's been kidnapped by drug runners and is scared for her life," that's what Dave Simons gave me. It turned out perfect and dramatic. This other artist turned in layouts that did the opposite of everything I asked for. The boat was headed away, the girl's head was turned away, and she looked like she was flaunting her body in front of the drug runners. It just looked like they were going for a Sunday boat ride. Great art and layouts, but boring delivery of the story... not dramatic at all.
I was also fortunate to hire an industry legend for the covers of Volume Three. Frank Brunner did a terrific job on them. Again, he did exactly what I asked. I'd send him pages of description, reference material, and a sketch of my concept. What I'd get back was a masterpiece. Funny story. Once, Frank asked me if I was giving the interior artist as much instruction as I was giving him. I answered, "He's asked the same about the information I give to you." Having originally intended to draw the series myself, I knew exactly what I wanted in every panel. In some ways, that made it easier for the artist, because they didn't have to try to read my mind. But in other ways, I'm sure it made it more difficult because I sent them so much material to research and process. I've been told that I give the most detailed instructions... ever! But I have to say that I'm completely satisfied with both Frank and Dave's work. Some of the things that they found the most difficult to draw ended up being some of the most satisfying, and impressive illustrations.
Dave always referred to "Wild Stars" as being "Star Wars meets Dynasty." I've read some of his interviews on other websites, and he often uses the word "Epic" to describe the story. I'm flattered.
TCC: Like me, you are a lifelong, tremendous Edgar Rice Burroughs fan. When did you first discover the works of ERB, and how many of his titles have you read? And I know you are a fan of both Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Do you have a favorite between the two, and if so, why?
MT: A shorter answer would be which of Edgar Rice Burroughs books that I haven't read. There are a couple of westerns, like the Bandit of Hell's Bend and the Oakdale Affair and the Rider that I haven't read. I will someday, but I'm saving those as a treat for a rainy day.
The Tarzan, Martian, Pellucidar, Venus, and all the other fantastic adventures set in exotic locales, I devoured when I was in grade school and Junior High. I remember going to the public library and checking out the Tarzan books, starting with Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. It was great stuff! I kept noticing all the Mars books, but the titles didn't spark an interest. I thought that Thuvia, Maid of Mars was about some chambermaid, and Chessmen of Mars... well, you can guess. Then I discovered the Warlord of Mars, and I was hooked! To this day, the Martian novels are my favorite books ever.
Tarzan is my favorite character. But the Martian locale is the greatest of fiction's exotic locales. One Christmas, my parents gave me a set of Ballantine paperbacks of all the Tarzan books that I hadn't already read. I went through them like candy. I read one book a day. Before long, it seemed that Africa must have so many lost cities and lost civilizations, that they'd be pushing one another off into the sea. But on Mars... there were no boundaries. I always imagined that Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian novels were set somewhere not just in space, but in time as well.
TCC: The character of Tarzan had a profound impact on my youth, and really provided a guideline for the person I eventually became. I've met others who were very similarly affected. Did ERB's characters influence you in any tangible way, or were his books just a great bit of escapist fantasy for you?
MT: Tarzan and every other hero created by Burroughs were very moral. Honesty and fair play are lessons that every young person should learn. I'm friends with Danton Burroughs, ERB's grandson, and we've talked about how so many fans of his grandfather's books all share these common traits. I don't know if it's that his books attract people with a certain type of moral character, or if the books influenced that character. But the pattern is definitely there. (TCC: So I'm not alone in the universe... there are others like me out there!)
TCC: I only began to read the Mars books a few months ago, and couldn't believe what I had been missing all these years. One thing that immediately struck me as odd were several similarities to the future "Star Wars" movies. From some of the names used, to the structure of the trilogy of "Princess", "Gods" and "Warlord" itself, I personally believe that George Lucas went beyond inspiration here… what are your thoughts?
MT: My first thought is that you must have had the same hesitance from some of the titles that I had. But, wow, there's nothing boring about those books! That first trilogy of A Princess, Gods, and Warlord of Mars are the epitome of heroic romantic fantasy. I've never really compared Star Wars to Burroughs' Martian novels. Part of that may be because I read them so long ago. But part of it is that the Martian novels were, to me, cut from a much richer tapestry. Sure, Star Wars has a large canvas, but that first movie was really just; "Let's go save the Princess." Whereas A Princess of Mars introduced not just a world of unique characters and ancient lost cities filled with hidden mysteries, but bizarre science, with ships that float in the air and powerful rifles that can knock them from the sky. All the diversity of life and the way they interacted was all so detailed and visually stunning in your mind's eye.
TCC: Let me be more specific on that point… "Jeds" and "Jeddaks" (Jedis?) - "Banths" (Banthas?). Even evil creatures called the "Sith" first appear in the Martian novels! This is only getting started... and as for the trilogy, the first book ends with a brief and to-the-point ceremony for a hero being honored by a princess; the second book ends with an emotion-wrenching cliffhanger; the third book wraps up the story. Each book closes quickly after a climatic, epic battle between large-scale, aerial navies from warring races. Surely, I'm not the only one to see this?
MT: You know, I hadn't thought about that. But now that you mention it... I agree with what you're saying. There's no doubt that Lucas must have drawn a lot of his inspiration from the Martian novels. Maybe I need to put my lawyer in contact with ERB Inc.? Just kidding!
TCC: You sell many early edition ERB hardback novels, and I've been most impressed by the facsimile dust jackets you create and include with some of them. They are perfect replacements for heavily worn or missing originals. Please tell us about those.
MT: That all came about as a result of working on my own personal collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs hardcovers. Originally those books came with fantastic covers by J. Allen St. John, John Coleman Burroughs, and others. Since I was learning Photoshop for my publishing endeavors, recreating these covers became a good study project for learning to work with Photoshop colors. It was challenging to take an old, original cover, and restore the color to its original luster. You had to adjust not only for the aging of paper, but the way blues would turn red with age, and reds would turn blue. It wasn't just an art project, it was almost like doing detective work; trying to figure out exactly what those covers looked like when they were new... three-quarters of a century ago and older!
Once I restored my personal collection, I took some of the extra copies down to my stores to sell. I don't charge anything for the covers, leaving them as a bonus restoration. There are others who will sell facsimile wrappers, often for more than what I'm selling my restored books. But, heck... those old books add a lot to the ambiance of my stores! They're so cool looking! You can't beat them for adding a 'neat' factor to a person's shopping experience.
TCC: You've told me of your own collection - a complete set of first edition Tarzan novels? Please tell us about your personal stash - what's in it, how long did it take you to build it, and how much might something like that set a person back?
MT: I've been working on assembling a complete Edgar Rice Burroughs library since I was a kid. Not just Tarzan, but every Burroughs novel. I completed it just last year. So It only took me something like 40 years! It's something that I didn't think I'd ever accomplish. Thanks go to eBay for that. But I had to be patient. Often I'd get outbid dozens of times for a certain book. But every time, after all the guys with 'crazy money' got their copy, I'd end up with a better copy at a great price. My copy of A Princess of Mars has cream white interior pages, and it only cost me $30! I've seen copies with pages that look like someone peed on them go for hundreds of dollars. I just caught the right auction at the right time, when no one else noticed. (TCC: PEE on an ERB novel?!? I should start a charitable foundation to help disgruntled readers redirect their angst and their urine toward more deserving publications!)
Most of my best books I bought when I was a kid. It's a fact that you make your best investments when you're young. The key is hanging onto them. If I was trying to build my library today, there's no way I could afford it! Not of the quality I have now.
With the restored covers on the older books, my library looks like something that only a time traveler could assemble. In fact, for the Return of Tarzan, only two copies are known to exist with a dust wrapper. One is locked away, and the other was stolen years ago and its current location is unknown.
TCC: Were you a fan of Tarzan in cinema as well? If so, who was your favorite actor in the role? And given the choice who would you cast to be the perfect screen version of the Ape-Man?
MT: My absolute favorite Tarzan was Mike Henry. To me, Henry not only looked most like Tarzan, but the character as he portrayed him was the closest to Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel vision of Tarzan. But I also enjoyed Gordon Scott as Tarzan. And Jock Mahoney. Jock's Tarzan movies are probably the most cinematic of all the Tarzans ever made. I've got them in letterbox format... and the scenery is visually stunning.
TCC: You've mentioned to me that you were a distant relative of the late Tarzan actor Jock Mahoney. How were you related, and did you ever have the opportunity to meet him? If not, did your family pass along any anecdotes about Jock?
MT: I was told that by my Mom when I was a kid. She's long since passed away, and no one else in the family can confirm this. But most of the ancestral work has been done on my paternal side. So maybe I'm related on my maternal side? Don't really know for sure. But everything else she told me has always proved to be accurate. I really wish I could trace that history today, to provide confirmation that I am indeed related to Tarzan!
TCC: Tarzan has had a very long life in the medium of comics, from the Burne Hogarth strip to comic book publishers such as Gold Key, Dell, DC, Marvel, Malibu and Dark Horse. You are the expert! Let us in on the history of Tarzan in comics. What did you think of each?
MT: Without question, my hands-down favorite Tarzan comics were done by Russ Manning. His adaptations of the novels, while often very abbreviated, always seemed to catch the spirit of Tarzan's world. His artwork was so clean, but wonderfully detailed. Russ Manning was a fantastic storyteller. And he was working with fantastic material.
I've never read much of the newspaper Tarzan. But I've read all the Tarzan comics from Dell #1 to present day. The Dell/Gold Key comics were a mixture of Burroughs novels and the movies, influenced quite a bit by Johnny Weissmuller's film version of Tarzan. From there the series continued to evolve. For example; Cathne, the City of Gold moved several times. Most of the lost cities ended up being relocated inside of Pal-ul-don. One of the interesting twists came when Tarzan evicted the Bolgani, intelligent talking gorillas, from their home in order to give the place over to a lost colony of Roman soldiers. Those Bolgani caused a lot of problems. When they learned archery, you had these giant, intelligent apes running through Pal-ul-don's dinosaur infested swamps, shooting six-foot arrows that could penetrate through both sides of a chariot... and sometimes did!
Then you add into the mix the Terribs. These guys weren't the Horibs from Pellucidar, but they borrowed heavily from that concept. The Terribs were cannibals wearing crocodile armor and riding on giant lizards. Tarzan came up with some unique solutions to deal with all of these continuing dangers. Like some mad scientist, Tarzan used a secret growth hormone to grow his own colossal beasts deep in the jungle. He grew not only a couple of giant eagles, but a giant lion, a giant cape buffalo, and giant otters that loved to snack on the Terrib's lizard mounts. All in all, the Dell/Gold Key Tarzan jungle world was pretty fascinating. But it was poorly edited. Characters kept changing names, and other names kept being used over and over. Certain tribes would be white one time, and then they next time you meet them they'd become African. Even one of Tarzan's giant eagles kept changing his name back and forth.
But this unique jungle world disappeared with the advent of Russ Manning. At the time, I didn't think it was much of a loss. Manning's Tarzan seemed so superior. But having recently gone back to read and review the entire series, I found those old Dells to have a lot of their own charm. When Manning left the Gold Key Tarzan to work on the newspaper strip, I was very disappointed. In fact, a lot of the later adaptations I never read until recently. But, like the Dells, with time I've found new appreciations for them. Those later adaptations really did have some good art by different artists. The non-adaptational stories that were interspersed in between were at first based on the television series Tarzan, featuring Ron Ely photo covers. In the later part of the run, those non-adaptation stories were set in an indistinct jungle world of Tarzan, with no real definition like during the Marsh years. Heck... in one story Tarzan went back to England to solve a bank robbery, and you even got a look inside Castle Greystoke! So, while they weren't set in familiar terrain, they were still unique.
Then DC took over, but continued the issue numbering that Gold Key had continued from Dell. Comics legend Joe Kubert took over the art and editing, and really got back to basics. These were faithful adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs books. But as the series progressed, a parade of different writers and artists took turns portraying the Apeman, with varying results. The very last adaptation of Tarzan the Untamed seemed to have a different scripter on each issue, and it showed. It was plain out terrible. In fact, it ended by borrowing elements from Tarzan the Terrible. It was an ugly, inconsistent finish.
Then came the Marvel years and a fresh start with the numbering, and a return (one more time) to the basics of Tarzan. The first issue even featured an homage to the cover of the All-Story magazine where the first Tarzan novel appeared. (TCC: I hadn't realized this until you mentioned it -- I pulled out my own copy of Marvel's "Tarzan" #1, and you are right!)
After that came Malibu, and then Dark Horse, and the magic of the character just seemed to get more and more lost with each new publisher. It wasn't long before the sales reflected this. Kind of like a pizza parlor that sees sales dropping, so they cut the ingredients. Then sales drop again and the ingredients get cut again. It just seemed that so much of the magic of Tarzan was lost as the years and number of different publishers progressed.
Of course, in all fairness, I do have to mention that those early Dells were operating in a different publishing climate. Back then, there was no code. The body count of Tarzan's kills got pretty incredible. When Jane was kidnapped to Pal-ul-don, Tarzan killed just about everybody and everything that got in his way of his rescue of Jane. You don't want to ever threaten the Apeman's main squeeze. As the years went by, Tarzan might have still been featured sharpening his knife in cover photos, but he'd really mellowed.
The savage seemed to be taken away from the Tarzan of the comics. Nowadays, there are no codes to operate under. A publisher can do any kind of story that they want, which should lend itself well to returning Tarzan to his savage ways. That said, I always want to encourage any publisher to be kind to retailers and parents, and let us know a Target Age Guideline on the cover. You can do anything you want, but please help keep the right product in the right hands. Comics have matured, and the packaging should reflect this.
TCC: Dark Horse began an eight-part series,"Tarzan: The Rivers of Blood", but yanked the book after only four issues, leaving fans in the cold with an unresolved storyline. It's understandable for a company to back out of a bad investment, but how common or uncommon is it for a comic book publisher to cancel a title mid-run? And how much risk does that publisher take with the fans in doing so?
MT: Speaking strictly for myself, I think it's a huge mistake to start a series and leave it unfinished. I've seen other publishers do this with other series, and all it does is destroy consumer confidence. When you leave a customer dangling with an uncompleted story, you have a hard time getting them back for the next.
I said earlier that I'd read all the Tarzans to present. I have to admit that I've never read this series because it wasn't completed. One thing about being a retailer, you see so much of this type of error, that you learn to wait until all of a series is out before reading it. Nowadays, the work ethic doesn't seem to be what it used to be. The industry is rampant with late shipping books and unfinished projects.
Overall, I never really connected with the Dark Horse Tarzan comics. Likewise, I didn't read the Tarzan novel they supposedly completed from an unfinished manuscript. I bought them as they were released, but every time that I picked one up and read a paragraph at random from inside, it was so uncharacteristic of Burroughs' work, that I wasn't interested in reading more. I'd find modern colloquialisms that just didn't fit. Do you every remember Edgar Rice Burroughs using the phrase, "No more mister nice guy"? When I read that line, I just bagged the book and filed it away. (TCC: I just got ahold of another copy of "Tarzan: The Lost Adventure", and soon will re-read it with a more critical eye once I've completed my re-reading of the 24 original novels.. When I first learned of this book a few years back, I was ecstatic, and remember feeling transported back to my youth as if nothing had changed. At the time, I saw many similarities to the character and stories in the100% Burroughs novels, and thought Joe R. Lansdale had done an excellent job of completing the unfinished manuscript that I'd read about for years in the ERB bio section of the Ballantine Tarzan paperbacks I'd read as a youth. This rekindled my dormant interest in Tarzan, which has continued strongly in me to this day. That being said, the reviews of this book that I've seen from other ERB fans have been anything but glowing. Now I'm more curious than ever to review it again after a fresh read of the ERB books, to see if I feel diffrerently the second time around.)
TCC: You've even been in negotiations with Danton Burroughs and ERB, Inc. to produce your own Tarzan comic book! Do you think this will ever come to pass, and if so, where do you plan on taking the character?
MT: Danton is a great guy, and I've really enjoyed talking with him. I say that not just from a fan's point of view, but from a professional point of view. I hope we can work on several projects in the future.
Something that was told to me by an editor of another company, not Dark Horse, was that fans today can't believe that there's anywhere left unexplored in the world. To make Tarzan vital today, you'd have to convince them that there still are unexplored vistas. I'd love to do an update of the character... using the ageless, mature Tarzan. Not a reinvention or a modernization of his origin and youth. Keep everything intact and just find a way to convince readers that the classic Tarzan of yesterday walks among us today. Obviously I have some ideas how to do all these things. Plus, Tarzan in the first couple of novels was a tragic character. I think a tragic Tarzan who is still living, while all those that he's known and loved have passed on, could work in today's market. Hopefully, someday I can explore that concept further.
TCC: You are also near set to market your own Tarzan board game! I have the old Milton Bradley game, "Tarzan to the Rescue", and you've mentioned another game (created by John Coleman Burroughs?) that I have not previously seen. Can you offer us a preview of your game?
MT: Well... we're still in negotiations on that, so I can't really say too much at this point. But I will say that I think the game I have in mind would be a hoot to play! And it's very grounded in the world of Tarzan as created by Edgar Rice Burroughs! (TCC: Well, best of luck, because I look forward to playing it in the future!)
TCC: Is there anything you'd like to say to Tarzan.CC in closing?
MT: Thanks for providing such a great website! I've really enjoyed browsing through it and reading all your great articles. I hope I've contributed something of interest for others to read!
Michael Tierney: Hey! I'm doing great. I've been operating my bookstores for so long, that customers who used to come in as kids now come in WITH their kids. It probably won't be too much longer until they start coming in with their grandkids!
TCC: You own and have been running two comic shops, "Collector's Edition" and "The Comic Book Store", for as long as I can remember. When and how did you get into the business, and how much work goes into maintaining your stores, including time spent keeping an eye on the industry?
MT: I opened my first store, Collector's Edition in North Little Rock, way back in 1982. Opened my second store, The Comic Book Store in Little Rock in 1989. Operating businesses in two cities, and living in a third, makes for a seven days a week job. But being your own boss is worth the sacrifice. When you're making a living at something you enjoy, it's worth it. (TCC: AMEN to that, Brother!)
TCC: To what degree has the Internet or have places such as eBay affected the way you do business?
MT: eBay has helped me more than hurt. I often do more buying off eBay than I do selling, finding things that I'd never see in Arkansas. Conversely, there have been times when I've taken an item that I couldn't sell in my stores for years, then put it up for auction and gotten fives times what I couldn't sell it for in Arkansas. eBay is unique in that it makes your customers into your competitors. But at the same time, those competitors learn for themselves just how much work goes into a sale. Sometimes they discover that they're only getting minimum wage for their time, and giving their books away. It's definitely a buyer's market. If you've got a hot item that a couple or more people want, that's when you will do well.
The Internet has also had other benefits for me. It used to be that I had to find all my industry information in print. Now there's instant access to breaking news, and there are also gated Internet communities where retailers can communicate directly with not only the creative community, but the publishers as well. A lot of good things have come out of that increased capacity of industry communication.
TCC: I love talking to you because you can answer questions about almost any book. Does anything hit your shelves that you are completely unfamiliar with?
MT: Sure. I don't try to read everything... only the material that I enjoy. But the process of ordering titles two months before time requires that I read solicitation material that includes not just the creative contributors, but a brief overview of the content. So some of my knowledge is based on synopsis more than the actual reading of a book. Of course, I also get a lot of information from my customers when they talk about their favorite titles. A lot of my knowledge comes almost through osmosis.
TCC: You are pretty well-known in the comic book community, and have even published a few of your own titles! Please tell us about them!
MT: Thanks for asking! I've been self-publishing since 1977. That first publication was a magazine of my art and stories, writing in different styles about several different genres. I've never picked a single niche. I'm always pushing for new ground to explore.
In 1984, I started publishing my own comics series, "Wild Stars", based on a novel I first wrote back in 1977. For Volume Two Number One, published in 1988, I not only wrote, penciled, inked and lettered the book, I also printed it on my own printing press in my garage. I used printer's techniques to make each copy unique, like a customized art print. As far as I know, it was the first comic to feature die cutting and foil stamping on the front cover, and the only one to feature die cutting on the back cover. That was a lot of work. On Volume Three, first published in 2000, I went back to traditonal printing and started hiring professional artists.
Published over 20 years, the three volumes of "Wild Stars" and the Portfolio all make up one big story, that I put together in my graphic novel "Wild Stars: The Book of Circles." I've gotten a lot of good reviews on it. In the Comic Shot News, Cliff Biggers gave it a B+, with the high marks based on the story and the criticism being the fact that the art is inconsistent, what with three different artists working on it over such a long period of time. The art may be inconsistent, but the story is solid. I used what I call a double finale. The first 285 pages tell the story in long form, and in great detail. Then, just in case some readers don't get it, I repeat the core story in short form in the last 3 pages. (TCC: Just like Herman Brix's "The New Adventures of Tarzan" serial!) It's called "The Book of Circles" because it's so multilayered, that a person could read it several times, and get a different level of the story each time. I've had customers come in after three readings, and I was still about to show them details that they missed. When you work on something for twenty years, you can really put a lot of effort into it.
An agent called me and asked me what my goal was with the graphic novel. I told her that, "At the middle of the story I want the reader to be saying 'I have no idea what's going on or what's going to happen next,' and by the end be saying 'Oh! It was all so simple!'"
"Wild Stars: The Book of Circles" is a cornerstone story intended as a foundation for several other novels that I've written over the years. "Wild Stars" has a huge back story, with a future history and ancient history. For instance, there's one character, who only appeared in a couple of pages at the end of the 288 page graphic novel, who is the main character in my longest unpublished novel of 450,000 words. There are seeds for future stories planted throughout.
My spin-off comic "Force Majeure: Prairie Bay", set on Mars in the not-so-distant future, is the first of those. I've also created a "Wild Stars" boardgame for which I'm currently negotiating a contract with a game company.
TCC: I understand that you had an incident with another publisher who tried to put out a book similarly titled to yours. What's the scoop on that? Were they aware of your copyright before they created their book, or only after you contacted them?
MT: I wish I could talk about that, but my lawyer advises me to make only this simple statement: "The dispute between Image and myself has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parities, and Image will no longer use the Wild Stars trademark."
If you'd asked me about this a few years ago, and I don't remember if you did, I'd have given you an earful on the subject. But now all I can do is repeat the statement prepared by my lawyer. (TCC: Luckily, comments made prior to the settlement are exempt from its terms of agreement, and you just might find a few of them............ HERE! AAAAAWW--EE--AW--EE--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWW--EE--AW--EE--AAAAAWW!!!))
TCC: I got a real kick out of the stories of your experiences working with artists you'd contracted with to draw "Wild Stars". What happened, and looking back, do you regret any of the choices you made?
MT: Without knocking on either of the first two artists, myself being one of them, I have to say that I wish Dave Simons, who drew the majority of the story, had been the artist from the start. Dave was great to work with. Not only did he bring a massive resume of experience to the project, Dave is also a storyteller first, and an artist second. Dave never tried to just draw pretty pictures at the expense of the story. He took the script, and faithfully translated that into the artwork.
For example, there was one artist who ended up not working on the project, whose name I won't mention, that sent in some initial layouts. When I said "I want the boat coming straight out at you" and "I want to make eye contact with the girl... she's been kidnapped by drug runners and is scared for her life," that's what Dave Simons gave me. It turned out perfect and dramatic. This other artist turned in layouts that did the opposite of everything I asked for. The boat was headed away, the girl's head was turned away, and she looked like she was flaunting her body in front of the drug runners. It just looked like they were going for a Sunday boat ride. Great art and layouts, but boring delivery of the story... not dramatic at all.
I was also fortunate to hire an industry legend for the covers of Volume Three. Frank Brunner did a terrific job on them. Again, he did exactly what I asked. I'd send him pages of description, reference material, and a sketch of my concept. What I'd get back was a masterpiece. Funny story. Once, Frank asked me if I was giving the interior artist as much instruction as I was giving him. I answered, "He's asked the same about the information I give to you." Having originally intended to draw the series myself, I knew exactly what I wanted in every panel. In some ways, that made it easier for the artist, because they didn't have to try to read my mind. But in other ways, I'm sure it made it more difficult because I sent them so much material to research and process. I've been told that I give the most detailed instructions... ever! But I have to say that I'm completely satisfied with both Frank and Dave's work. Some of the things that they found the most difficult to draw ended up being some of the most satisfying, and impressive illustrations.
Dave always referred to "Wild Stars" as being "Star Wars meets Dynasty." I've read some of his interviews on other websites, and he often uses the word "Epic" to describe the story. I'm flattered.
TCC: Like me, you are a lifelong, tremendous Edgar Rice Burroughs fan. When did you first discover the works of ERB, and how many of his titles have you read? And I know you are a fan of both Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Do you have a favorite between the two, and if so, why?
MT: A shorter answer would be which of Edgar Rice Burroughs books that I haven't read. There are a couple of westerns, like the Bandit of Hell's Bend and the Oakdale Affair and the Rider that I haven't read. I will someday, but I'm saving those as a treat for a rainy day.
The Tarzan, Martian, Pellucidar, Venus, and all the other fantastic adventures set in exotic locales, I devoured when I was in grade school and Junior High. I remember going to the public library and checking out the Tarzan books, starting with Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. It was great stuff! I kept noticing all the Mars books, but the titles didn't spark an interest. I thought that Thuvia, Maid of Mars was about some chambermaid, and Chessmen of Mars... well, you can guess. Then I discovered the Warlord of Mars, and I was hooked! To this day, the Martian novels are my favorite books ever.
Tarzan is my favorite character. But the Martian locale is the greatest of fiction's exotic locales. One Christmas, my parents gave me a set of Ballantine paperbacks of all the Tarzan books that I hadn't already read. I went through them like candy. I read one book a day. Before long, it seemed that Africa must have so many lost cities and lost civilizations, that they'd be pushing one another off into the sea. But on Mars... there were no boundaries. I always imagined that Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian novels were set somewhere not just in space, but in time as well.
TCC: The character of Tarzan had a profound impact on my youth, and really provided a guideline for the person I eventually became. I've met others who were very similarly affected. Did ERB's characters influence you in any tangible way, or were his books just a great bit of escapist fantasy for you?
MT: Tarzan and every other hero created by Burroughs were very moral. Honesty and fair play are lessons that every young person should learn. I'm friends with Danton Burroughs, ERB's grandson, and we've talked about how so many fans of his grandfather's books all share these common traits. I don't know if it's that his books attract people with a certain type of moral character, or if the books influenced that character. But the pattern is definitely there. (TCC: So I'm not alone in the universe... there are others like me out there!)
TCC: I only began to read the Mars books a few months ago, and couldn't believe what I had been missing all these years. One thing that immediately struck me as odd were several similarities to the future "Star Wars" movies. From some of the names used, to the structure of the trilogy of "Princess", "Gods" and "Warlord" itself, I personally believe that George Lucas went beyond inspiration here… what are your thoughts?
MT: My first thought is that you must have had the same hesitance from some of the titles that I had. But, wow, there's nothing boring about those books! That first trilogy of A Princess, Gods, and Warlord of Mars are the epitome of heroic romantic fantasy. I've never really compared Star Wars to Burroughs' Martian novels. Part of that may be because I read them so long ago. But part of it is that the Martian novels were, to me, cut from a much richer tapestry. Sure, Star Wars has a large canvas, but that first movie was really just; "Let's go save the Princess." Whereas A Princess of Mars introduced not just a world of unique characters and ancient lost cities filled with hidden mysteries, but bizarre science, with ships that float in the air and powerful rifles that can knock them from the sky. All the diversity of life and the way they interacted was all so detailed and visually stunning in your mind's eye.
TCC: Let me be more specific on that point… "Jeds" and "Jeddaks" (Jedis?) - "Banths" (Banthas?). Even evil creatures called the "Sith" first appear in the Martian novels! This is only getting started... and as for the trilogy, the first book ends with a brief and to-the-point ceremony for a hero being honored by a princess; the second book ends with an emotion-wrenching cliffhanger; the third book wraps up the story. Each book closes quickly after a climatic, epic battle between large-scale, aerial navies from warring races. Surely, I'm not the only one to see this?
MT: You know, I hadn't thought about that. But now that you mention it... I agree with what you're saying. There's no doubt that Lucas must have drawn a lot of his inspiration from the Martian novels. Maybe I need to put my lawyer in contact with ERB Inc.? Just kidding!
TCC: You sell many early edition ERB hardback novels, and I've been most impressed by the facsimile dust jackets you create and include with some of them. They are perfect replacements for heavily worn or missing originals. Please tell us about those.
MT: That all came about as a result of working on my own personal collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs hardcovers. Originally those books came with fantastic covers by J. Allen St. John, John Coleman Burroughs, and others. Since I was learning Photoshop for my publishing endeavors, recreating these covers became a good study project for learning to work with Photoshop colors. It was challenging to take an old, original cover, and restore the color to its original luster. You had to adjust not only for the aging of paper, but the way blues would turn red with age, and reds would turn blue. It wasn't just an art project, it was almost like doing detective work; trying to figure out exactly what those covers looked like when they were new... three-quarters of a century ago and older!
Once I restored my personal collection, I took some of the extra copies down to my stores to sell. I don't charge anything for the covers, leaving them as a bonus restoration. There are others who will sell facsimile wrappers, often for more than what I'm selling my restored books. But, heck... those old books add a lot to the ambiance of my stores! They're so cool looking! You can't beat them for adding a 'neat' factor to a person's shopping experience.
TCC: You've told me of your own collection - a complete set of first edition Tarzan novels? Please tell us about your personal stash - what's in it, how long did it take you to build it, and how much might something like that set a person back?
MT: I've been working on assembling a complete Edgar Rice Burroughs library since I was a kid. Not just Tarzan, but every Burroughs novel. I completed it just last year. So It only took me something like 40 years! It's something that I didn't think I'd ever accomplish. Thanks go to eBay for that. But I had to be patient. Often I'd get outbid dozens of times for a certain book. But every time, after all the guys with 'crazy money' got their copy, I'd end up with a better copy at a great price. My copy of A Princess of Mars has cream white interior pages, and it only cost me $30! I've seen copies with pages that look like someone peed on them go for hundreds of dollars. I just caught the right auction at the right time, when no one else noticed. (TCC: PEE on an ERB novel?!? I should start a charitable foundation to help disgruntled readers redirect their angst and their urine toward more deserving publications!)
Most of my best books I bought when I was a kid. It's a fact that you make your best investments when you're young. The key is hanging onto them. If I was trying to build my library today, there's no way I could afford it! Not of the quality I have now.
With the restored covers on the older books, my library looks like something that only a time traveler could assemble. In fact, for the Return of Tarzan, only two copies are known to exist with a dust wrapper. One is locked away, and the other was stolen years ago and its current location is unknown.
TCC: Were you a fan of Tarzan in cinema as well? If so, who was your favorite actor in the role? And given the choice who would you cast to be the perfect screen version of the Ape-Man?
MT: My absolute favorite Tarzan was Mike Henry. To me, Henry not only looked most like Tarzan, but the character as he portrayed him was the closest to Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel vision of Tarzan. But I also enjoyed Gordon Scott as Tarzan. And Jock Mahoney. Jock's Tarzan movies are probably the most cinematic of all the Tarzans ever made. I've got them in letterbox format... and the scenery is visually stunning.
TCC: You've mentioned to me that you were a distant relative of the late Tarzan actor Jock Mahoney. How were you related, and did you ever have the opportunity to meet him? If not, did your family pass along any anecdotes about Jock?
MT: I was told that by my Mom when I was a kid. She's long since passed away, and no one else in the family can confirm this. But most of the ancestral work has been done on my paternal side. So maybe I'm related on my maternal side? Don't really know for sure. But everything else she told me has always proved to be accurate. I really wish I could trace that history today, to provide confirmation that I am indeed related to Tarzan!
TCC: Tarzan has had a very long life in the medium of comics, from the Burne Hogarth strip to comic book publishers such as Gold Key, Dell, DC, Marvel, Malibu and Dark Horse. You are the expert! Let us in on the history of Tarzan in comics. What did you think of each?
MT: Without question, my hands-down favorite Tarzan comics were done by Russ Manning. His adaptations of the novels, while often very abbreviated, always seemed to catch the spirit of Tarzan's world. His artwork was so clean, but wonderfully detailed. Russ Manning was a fantastic storyteller. And he was working with fantastic material.
I've never read much of the newspaper Tarzan. But I've read all the Tarzan comics from Dell #1 to present day. The Dell/Gold Key comics were a mixture of Burroughs novels and the movies, influenced quite a bit by Johnny Weissmuller's film version of Tarzan. From there the series continued to evolve. For example; Cathne, the City of Gold moved several times. Most of the lost cities ended up being relocated inside of Pal-ul-don. One of the interesting twists came when Tarzan evicted the Bolgani, intelligent talking gorillas, from their home in order to give the place over to a lost colony of Roman soldiers. Those Bolgani caused a lot of problems. When they learned archery, you had these giant, intelligent apes running through Pal-ul-don's dinosaur infested swamps, shooting six-foot arrows that could penetrate through both sides of a chariot... and sometimes did!
Then you add into the mix the Terribs. These guys weren't the Horibs from Pellucidar, but they borrowed heavily from that concept. The Terribs were cannibals wearing crocodile armor and riding on giant lizards. Tarzan came up with some unique solutions to deal with all of these continuing dangers. Like some mad scientist, Tarzan used a secret growth hormone to grow his own colossal beasts deep in the jungle. He grew not only a couple of giant eagles, but a giant lion, a giant cape buffalo, and giant otters that loved to snack on the Terrib's lizard mounts. All in all, the Dell/Gold Key Tarzan jungle world was pretty fascinating. But it was poorly edited. Characters kept changing names, and other names kept being used over and over. Certain tribes would be white one time, and then they next time you meet them they'd become African. Even one of Tarzan's giant eagles kept changing his name back and forth.
But this unique jungle world disappeared with the advent of Russ Manning. At the time, I didn't think it was much of a loss. Manning's Tarzan seemed so superior. But having recently gone back to read and review the entire series, I found those old Dells to have a lot of their own charm. When Manning left the Gold Key Tarzan to work on the newspaper strip, I was very disappointed. In fact, a lot of the later adaptations I never read until recently. But, like the Dells, with time I've found new appreciations for them. Those later adaptations really did have some good art by different artists. The non-adaptational stories that were interspersed in between were at first based on the television series Tarzan, featuring Ron Ely photo covers. In the later part of the run, those non-adaptation stories were set in an indistinct jungle world of Tarzan, with no real definition like during the Marsh years. Heck... in one story Tarzan went back to England to solve a bank robbery, and you even got a look inside Castle Greystoke! So, while they weren't set in familiar terrain, they were still unique.
Then DC took over, but continued the issue numbering that Gold Key had continued from Dell. Comics legend Joe Kubert took over the art and editing, and really got back to basics. These were faithful adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs books. But as the series progressed, a parade of different writers and artists took turns portraying the Apeman, with varying results. The very last adaptation of Tarzan the Untamed seemed to have a different scripter on each issue, and it showed. It was plain out terrible. In fact, it ended by borrowing elements from Tarzan the Terrible. It was an ugly, inconsistent finish.
Then came the Marvel years and a fresh start with the numbering, and a return (one more time) to the basics of Tarzan. The first issue even featured an homage to the cover of the All-Story magazine where the first Tarzan novel appeared. (TCC: I hadn't realized this until you mentioned it -- I pulled out my own copy of Marvel's "Tarzan" #1, and you are right!)
After that came Malibu, and then Dark Horse, and the magic of the character just seemed to get more and more lost with each new publisher. It wasn't long before the sales reflected this. Kind of like a pizza parlor that sees sales dropping, so they cut the ingredients. Then sales drop again and the ingredients get cut again. It just seemed that so much of the magic of Tarzan was lost as the years and number of different publishers progressed.
Of course, in all fairness, I do have to mention that those early Dells were operating in a different publishing climate. Back then, there was no code. The body count of Tarzan's kills got pretty incredible. When Jane was kidnapped to Pal-ul-don, Tarzan killed just about everybody and everything that got in his way of his rescue of Jane. You don't want to ever threaten the Apeman's main squeeze. As the years went by, Tarzan might have still been featured sharpening his knife in cover photos, but he'd really mellowed.
The savage seemed to be taken away from the Tarzan of the comics. Nowadays, there are no codes to operate under. A publisher can do any kind of story that they want, which should lend itself well to returning Tarzan to his savage ways. That said, I always want to encourage any publisher to be kind to retailers and parents, and let us know a Target Age Guideline on the cover. You can do anything you want, but please help keep the right product in the right hands. Comics have matured, and the packaging should reflect this.
TCC: Dark Horse began an eight-part series,"Tarzan: The Rivers of Blood", but yanked the book after only four issues, leaving fans in the cold with an unresolved storyline. It's understandable for a company to back out of a bad investment, but how common or uncommon is it for a comic book publisher to cancel a title mid-run? And how much risk does that publisher take with the fans in doing so?
MT: Speaking strictly for myself, I think it's a huge mistake to start a series and leave it unfinished. I've seen other publishers do this with other series, and all it does is destroy consumer confidence. When you leave a customer dangling with an uncompleted story, you have a hard time getting them back for the next.
I said earlier that I'd read all the Tarzans to present. I have to admit that I've never read this series because it wasn't completed. One thing about being a retailer, you see so much of this type of error, that you learn to wait until all of a series is out before reading it. Nowadays, the work ethic doesn't seem to be what it used to be. The industry is rampant with late shipping books and unfinished projects.
Overall, I never really connected with the Dark Horse Tarzan comics. Likewise, I didn't read the Tarzan novel they supposedly completed from an unfinished manuscript. I bought them as they were released, but every time that I picked one up and read a paragraph at random from inside, it was so uncharacteristic of Burroughs' work, that I wasn't interested in reading more. I'd find modern colloquialisms that just didn't fit. Do you every remember Edgar Rice Burroughs using the phrase, "No more mister nice guy"? When I read that line, I just bagged the book and filed it away. (TCC: I just got ahold of another copy of "Tarzan: The Lost Adventure", and soon will re-read it with a more critical eye once I've completed my re-reading of the 24 original novels.. When I first learned of this book a few years back, I was ecstatic, and remember feeling transported back to my youth as if nothing had changed. At the time, I saw many similarities to the character and stories in the100% Burroughs novels, and thought Joe R. Lansdale had done an excellent job of completing the unfinished manuscript that I'd read about for years in the ERB bio section of the Ballantine Tarzan paperbacks I'd read as a youth. This rekindled my dormant interest in Tarzan, which has continued strongly in me to this day. That being said, the reviews of this book that I've seen from other ERB fans have been anything but glowing. Now I'm more curious than ever to review it again after a fresh read of the ERB books, to see if I feel diffrerently the second time around.)
TCC: You've even been in negotiations with Danton Burroughs and ERB, Inc. to produce your own Tarzan comic book! Do you think this will ever come to pass, and if so, where do you plan on taking the character?
MT: Danton is a great guy, and I've really enjoyed talking with him. I say that not just from a fan's point of view, but from a professional point of view. I hope we can work on several projects in the future.
Something that was told to me by an editor of another company, not Dark Horse, was that fans today can't believe that there's anywhere left unexplored in the world. To make Tarzan vital today, you'd have to convince them that there still are unexplored vistas. I'd love to do an update of the character... using the ageless, mature Tarzan. Not a reinvention or a modernization of his origin and youth. Keep everything intact and just find a way to convince readers that the classic Tarzan of yesterday walks among us today. Obviously I have some ideas how to do all these things. Plus, Tarzan in the first couple of novels was a tragic character. I think a tragic Tarzan who is still living, while all those that he's known and loved have passed on, could work in today's market. Hopefully, someday I can explore that concept further.
TCC: You are also near set to market your own Tarzan board game! I have the old Milton Bradley game, "Tarzan to the Rescue", and you've mentioned another game (created by John Coleman Burroughs?) that I have not previously seen. Can you offer us a preview of your game?
MT: Well... we're still in negotiations on that, so I can't really say too much at this point. But I will say that I think the game I have in mind would be a hoot to play! And it's very grounded in the world of Tarzan as created by Edgar Rice Burroughs! (TCC: Well, best of luck, because I look forward to playing it in the future!)
TCC: Is there anything you'd like to say to Tarzan.CC in closing?
MT: Thanks for providing such a great website! I've really enjoyed browsing through it and reading all your great articles. I hope I've contributed something of interest for others to read!
Copyright © 2005, 2010 by Tarzan.CC and Michael Tierney
Text may not be duplicated in any form without express
permission from the authors.
Text may not be duplicated in any form without express
permission from the authors.
This interview was conducted by e-mail on April 12th, 2005. Fellow Tarzan fan and ERB enthusiast Michael Tierney is a longtime acquaintance of mine, and his life's journeys have taken him down many interesting paths, which include several fascinating connections to the world of Tarzan. Aside from his extensive knowledge of the ERB universe, he is also a relative of the late Tarzan film actor Jock Mahoney, personal friends with ERB Inc.'s Danton Burroughs, and a creative genius who has a few of his own licensed Tarzan products in the works (crossing our fingers)!
As an author, Michael was rewarded with his first creative story publication in 1972 while still a student in high school. Michael began a career as a journeyman printer and division manager for International Graphics at the age of 23, and eventually fused his writing, artistic, and printing talents together in the self-publication of his own comic book titles and graphic novels. The first of these, "Wild Stars", like many great innovations was born in his own garage. All of Michael's publications are available directly through his stores, or also from Amazon.com.
As a business owner, Michael has since become well-known on the comic book scene -- he owns and operates two stores, "The Comic Book Store" and "Collector's Edition", and is a Senior Advisor to the "Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide". In addition, he has provided numerous articles and market reports for "Comics And Games Retailer", "Overstreet Monthly" and "Overstreet's Fan" magazines, "Comic Book Marketplace Magazine", ICv2.com, and "Comics Buyer's Guide" (current issues of which feature his reviews of many Tarzan publications, and are available on newstands and in comic book stores everywhere). If that isn't enough, he has also been nominated for both the "Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer of the Year" award and the "Star*Reach Comics Retailer of the Year Award".
It was our real pleasure to talk to Michael, and he certainly has many interesting things to share with us. Enjoy!
As an author, Michael was rewarded with his first creative story publication in 1972 while still a student in high school. Michael began a career as a journeyman printer and division manager for International Graphics at the age of 23, and eventually fused his writing, artistic, and printing talents together in the self-publication of his own comic book titles and graphic novels. The first of these, "Wild Stars", like many great innovations was born in his own garage. All of Michael's publications are available directly through his stores, or also from Amazon.com.
As a business owner, Michael has since become well-known on the comic book scene -- he owns and operates two stores, "The Comic Book Store" and "Collector's Edition", and is a Senior Advisor to the "Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide". In addition, he has provided numerous articles and market reports for "Comics And Games Retailer", "Overstreet Monthly" and "Overstreet's Fan" magazines, "Comic Book Marketplace Magazine", ICv2.com, and "Comics Buyer's Guide" (current issues of which feature his reviews of many Tarzan publications, and are available on newstands and in comic book stores everywhere). If that isn't enough, he has also been nominated for both the "Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer of the Year" award and the "Star*Reach Comics Retailer of the Year Award".
It was our real pleasure to talk to Michael, and he certainly has many interesting things to share with us. Enjoy!
