''Tarzan the Invincible'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourteenth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine ''

Blue Book A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The ...

'' from October, 1930 through April, 1931 as ''Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle''.

Plot summary

Tarzan, his monkey friend

Nkima Nkima is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics. His name comes from either the word N'kima ('monkey' in the Mbugu language, a regional dialect of Swahili) ...

, and Chief

Muviro Muviro, chief of the Waziri, is a character in the Tarzan saga created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Character Muviro is depicted as a somewhat elderly warrior of the Waziri, wise, brave and respected, and a good friend of Tarzan. He serves as the ...

and his faithful Waziri warriors prevent

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

from looting the lost city of Opar. The story also prominently features Tarzan's lion ally

Jad-bal-ja Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics. Character Jad-bal-ja serves as a companion to Tarzan, to whom he is attached as a do ...

. Due to Tarzan's earlier expeditions to Opar, rumors of the lost city's existence have become widespread enough that a Communist-led expedition heads there, seeking its gold to finance a plot to embroil France and Italy in a colonial war. Tarzan, discovering their presence and purpose in his domain, arrives in Opar ahead of them, only to find his ally Queen La overthrown and her treacherous subordinate Oah in power as high priestess, supported by Dooth, successor to La's deceased enemy Cadj. Tarzan frees La, and eventually, after various adventures, he and his Waziri warriors thwart the Communist plot and again restore La to her position. Oah and Dooth both perish. This book marks the last appearance of Opar and La in the Tarzan series, aside from the juvenile piece '' Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion'' (1936), which was published later but is chronologically earlier.

Comic adaptations

The book has been adapted into comic form by

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

in ''Tarzan'' nos. 182-183, dated February–March 1970, with a script by

Gaylord DuBois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for Del ...

and art by

Doug Wildey Douglas S. Wildey He recalled his professional start as freelancing for the magazine and comic book company Street & Smith in 1947. Because comic-book writer and artist credits were not routinely given during this era, the earliest confirmed Wilde ...

Sources

* *

External links

ERBzine.com Illustrated Bibliography entry for Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Tarzan the Invincible''
* * ttp://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500191h.html Text of the novel at Project Gutenberg Australia 1931 American novels 1931 fantasy novels Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Blue Book (magazine) {{1930s-adventure-novel-stub