Lord Of The Jungle #12 Review

Following quick off the heels of the last issue, Lord Of The Jungle #12 quickly moves the story on. There’s a lot of developments here, but not what many readers may have been expecting. For good or bad, Lord Of The Jungle #12 decides to cling on to various tropes and cliches. Whilst some lend their charm to this take on Tarzan, others simply seem uninspired.

The official description from Dynamite:

At long last, the Lord of the Jungle finds the fabled treasure-city of Opar. Unfortunately for him, his arch-nemesis Nicholas Rokoff arrives at the exact same time. But a little surprise is in store for both men – turns out Opar isn’t exactly a ghost town, and the locals aren’t too keen on outsiders! Hot jungle babes, savage beasts, and a mountain of gold await the ape-man in Lord of the Jungle #12: The Treasure Vaults of Opar!

Much of this issue carries on like the last. Tarzan is with the tribe whilst Lady Jane is held captive by Rokoff; this dynamic hasn’t changed in previous issues and very little changes here. All the action and developments lie with Tarzan; bar some pointless exposition, nothing happens with Jane Porter and the others. There’s just no point explaining something that the audience already knows for several issues now.

As for Tarzan’s story, the plot seems highly unoriginal, and plain confusing in some aspects. The local population turn out to be degenerate, and the story riffs on various jungle motifs and tropes. This gets to a ridiculous point when a beautiful woman enters (wearing very little save for leopard skins of course). On its own, this could be acceptable, but she naturally feels the urge to kiss Tarzan… straight after he kills her husband.

The problem is that everything feels forced or shoe-horned in. This woman is suddenly in love with Tarzan (who for some reason displays similar feelings) straight after meeting. It seems like the writing is going down an unnatural path just to have various love triangles and complications later on. If it doesn’t feel right now, its not going to make any more sense later on. Throw in the tribe of ape-men, and you generally have a plot that’s trying to be too many things at once, tripping over its own feet in a hurry to get to a poorly planned conclusion.

Hopefully the writing and plot lines get a bit more simplified and clear in the future, as for now its wasting too much time on more suspense for little pay off, when there is a perfectly decent conflict awaiting. There’s no need to drag it out any longer.