DC COMICS ANNUALS COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

I don't think I've enjoyed any modern DC comicbook for a number of years now.  Mainly due, I suppose, to the fact that nowadays the characters no longer seem to be the same ones I grew up reading.  However, one thing I do enjoy is when DC publishes replica Annuals and Giants, as well as Annuals and Giants that never were, but should have been.

Here, then, is the first part of a cover gallery featuring some of those very comicbooks that DC does so well.  I just wish they'd do more of them.  What say the rest of you?

The original cover was by NEAL ADAMS & DICK GIORDANO, though the
replica sports a re-creation by Giordano himself (for some reason)

MARVEL'S TARZAN COVER GALLERY...

TARZAN copyright The Estate of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

Remember when DC COMICS took over the TARZAN comicbook franchise from GOLD KEY in the early '70s?  Drawn by JOE KUBERT, it seemed that no other contemporary artist of the time was more suited to the legendary ape-man than the renowned illustrator of TOR and HAWKMAN (and loads of other characters too, of course).

However, there was one other who was equally equipped for the task, and that was JOHN BUSCEMA, who freelanced for DC's main rival, the MARVEL COMICS GROUP.  When Marvel acquired the rights to produce Tarzan comics in 1977, it was to Big John that the pencilling chores (and, initially, the inking too) were entrusted.

Buscema wanted to draw Tarzan more along the lines of CONAN; that is, a beefy, brawny battler with a wild mane of hair, as opposed to the lean, wasp-waisted, follicly-groomed HAL FOSTER or BURNE HOGARTH version that most readers were familiar with.  However, the estate of ERB had final say on how the lord of the jungle was depicted, so Big John had to adhere to the established comicbook look of the character.

I don't have too many Marvel Tarzan mags in my collection, only what you see here, but I'm sure you'll enjoy these few examples all the same.