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Disneyland and animation have gone hand-in-hand for 60 years now.

Today, Dynamite announced that they’ve acquired the rights to Will Eisner’s Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and plan to team her up with her historical inspiration Tarzan for a jungle crossover that would make Phil Colins quiver.

Check out the full press release below:

Dynamite Entertainment is proud to announce their agreement with rights holders Galaxy Publishing and Valdoro Entertainment to publish original comic book and graphic novel content for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, as well as reprints of the character’s classic jungle fantasy material. Described by co-creator Will Eisner as a female counterpart to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, Sheena will see her first adventure at Dynamite Entertainment teaming with the iconic “Lord of the Jungle” himself. Dynamite’s rights also include statues, trading cards, action figures, lithographs / fine art, and t-shirts.

“Sheena is one of the first-ever jungle heroines, a hypnotic character who has captured the hearts and imagination of fans throughout the decades,” says Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of Dynamite. “Her long-running series in the 1940s and 1950s established her as a powerful and wild character, a welcome role reversal of traditional jungle action tropes who spent much of her time saving hapless men in distress. We’re thrilled to add Sheena to our line, and we are honored that we are able to make her first adventure a historic one which will bring her – for the first time ever – face-to-face with the archetypal jungle hero, Tarzan!”

Valdoro President Steven E. de Souza, whose many screen credits include Commando, Die Hard, and Tomb Raider, says, “I’ve been lucky enough to work on some immensely popular, action-packed series. Thanks to Dynamite, Sheena will join them – starting with this crossover that’s a fanboy’s dream. Hats (or is that pith helmets?) off to Nick and his team!”

Galaxy President Paul Aratow, who first brought Will Eisner’s other famous creation The Spirit to Hollywood’s attention, says, “When I signed onto this expedition with the Queen of the Jungle, I never could have imagined that the Lord of the Jungle himself would board our safari! Thanks to all who made it happen!”

“When you consider the depth of the legends of Sheena and Tarzan, you wonder why this hasn’t been done before,” says Jim Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. “We’re looking forward to the exciting adventure that Dynamite will create with this crossover. It will become a classic. I’ve already reserved my copy.”

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle was created by industry legends Will Eisner and S. M. “Jerry” Iger, and debuted in the UK publication Wags #1 in 1937 (reprinted a year later in the United States in the pages of Jumbo Comics #1). She was the first female comic book character to carry a dedicated series, preceding Wonder Woman #1 by four years, and her series spanned 167 issues and twenty years. Sheena began her fictional existence as an orphan raised by a shaman in the jungle, perfecting her survival skills and mastering the ability to communicate with animals. Her many adventures brought her into conflict with evil hunters, slave traders, and rampaging wildlife. The character has thrilled audiences in several television and film adaptations, including portrayals by actresses Irish McCalla (1955-1956), Tanya Roberts (1984), and Gena Lee Nolin (2000).

Dynamite Entertainment has a long history of publishing jungle fantasy and pulp adventure, making it the perfect home for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. The iconic hero Tarzan appeared in the company’s Lord of the Jungle series, as well as the related title Lords of Mars. Dynamite has also published Frank Cho’s Jungle Girl, the Frank Frazetta-created Thun’Da, King Features Syndicate’s The Phantom and Jungle Jim, Alan Quatermain (of King Solomon’s Mines) as a supporting cast member in Prophecy and Savage Tales, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

Historian and filmmaker John Canemaker will host the conversation with the master character animator.

While the best known of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creations are now in the public domain—Tarzan and John Carter among them—not all the books in those series are out of copyright and trademarks remain. Thus it was that Dynamite’s books such as Lord of the Jungle and Dejah Thoris roused first ire and then legal firepower at ERB, Inc, which filed a lawsuit a couple of years ago claiming trademark infringement. Dynamite responded but kept publishing their books, and the lawsuit dragged on. But now everything is happy as, as with the many times that Batman and Captain America have fought, they have eventually realizes that they are on the same team. And thus ERB and Dynamite have buried the hatchet and announced a publishing PARTNERSHIP that will see Dynamite publish books with the titles John Cater Warlord of Mars, and Tarzan and so on. It’s also because after the massive floparoo of the John Carter movie, Disney/Marvel has let go of the rights.

Good times for everyone! More money for publishers and less for lawyers one hopes.

BTW, if you read my above link, you’ll see some smart law types chiming in saying that the original suit had some pretty important IP rulings at its heart. Looks like they won’t be settle this time.

Click below the PR for a gallery of ERB’s greatest comics hits.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company founded by the author to protect and maintain his literary creations, and one of the comics industry’s leaders, Publisher Dynamite Entertainment, announced today a comprehensive agreement that will see the return of Burroughs’ original “John Carter: Warlord of Mars” to the pages of comic books, comic strips and graphic novels.  The agreement allows for the world-wide publication of the John Carter universe as well as “Lord of the Jungle” and ERB’s library of archival material.

The initiative comes on the heels of the reacquisition of comic book rights by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. that had been held by Walt Disney Pictures and its Marvel Entertainment subsidiary, as well as a recent legal settlement with Dynamite that cleared the way for Dynamite to introduce key characters and plot elements from the John Carter backstory that were, until now, absent from recent comic book interpretations.

“It was important to us that we reacquire the comic book and comic strip rights from Marvel Entertainment so we could reintroduce them in the market place.  We’re excited to see the exploits of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first science fiction adventure hero brought to life in their fullness by the passionate creative talents assembled by the folks at Dynamite,” said James Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. “They’re true fans - and it shows on every page and in every idea they’ve shared with us.  Now fans everywhere will be able to appreciate the original adventure stories that later spawned Flash Gordon, Superman, Star Wars and Avatar.”

“Working together with Jim and the team at ERB, we will be taking the worlds of John Carter and The Lord of the Jungle publishing initiatives to a new level.  There’s a rich history, and an incredible amount of archival material in the ERB library, and we’re looking forward to bringing it to the fans around the world.  This is the beginning of a great relationship.” states Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of Dynamite Entertainment. “I can’t express how happy and excited everyone at Dynamite is to be working hand in hand with everyone at ERB, Inc”.

John Carter debuted in 1912 as the lead character in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in the pulp magazine, The All-Story, and later published as a complete novel retitled A Princess of Mars.  The character excited the imagination of readers and quickly imprinted onto the public psyche. As many literary and popular culture scholars attest, John Carter served as the template for a litany of adventure heroes to follow, from Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Superman to the Jedi knights of Star Wars fame and most recently, Avatar.

In planning for a late 2014 relaunch, Dynamite Entertainment confirmed that the new comic book series will be titled John Carter: Warlord of Mars.  Dynamite will also republish other John Carter assets, going back as far as the early 1940s comic strips by John Coleman Burroughs, the son of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In a related development, new John Carter: Warlord of Mars “adventure strip” episodes will make their online debut in early summer as part of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Digital Comic Strip Service at www.edgarriceburroughs.com/comics.  Written by the legendary Roy Thomas, with art by Pegaso (Rodolfo Perez Garcia) of Mexico City, this series will invite readers to accompany John Carter and his compatriots on exciting adventures that delve into the rich, storied history of Barsoom (as the inhabitants of Mars refer to their planet).  As with the other nine series featured on the site, including Tarzan and Carson of Venus, the first four episodes of John Carter: Warlord of Mars will be viewable at no charge.

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A powerful looking Ron Ely, star of the TV’s “Tarzan”(1966-1968) and “Doc Savage: Man of Bronze” (1975) spellbound his audience at WonderCon Friday, relating his fight with a wild tiger.  According to Ely, “The Script read: Tarzan sees tiger, Tarzan fights tiger, Tarzan and tiger walkaway in opposite directions with mutual respect.” Instead of firing the writer and walking off the set as would likely happen these days, the actor concerned himself with how to achieve the scene. Contacting the San Diego Zoo, Ely and his producer’s were able persuade Zoo officials to detour a recently captured tiger from India to the set of “Tarzan” in Burbank.  Gaining the big cat’s trust by his attending every feeding,  Ely and the Tarzan production crew took precautions to insure no one would be hurt.  By forbidding a gun on the set, Ely was also insuring the tiger’s safety.

“When we were set to film I hit him on the nose and he gave me a look like ‘Is that the best you got?’ I hit him again and he ignored me. There was only one other thing I knew to do to rouse him–if I turned my back.” Sure enough, the tiger went flying over Ely’s head to pounce and they wrestled. “To a tiger, its just play,” Ely said with equanimity.  Much to Ely’s own astonishment, the scene came off as written.

You can enjoy Warner Bros. Archive Collection of “Tarzan” and “Doc Savage” available at http://www.wbshop.com/category/wbshop_brands/warner+archive.do.

Also being released by WarnerBros. Archive Collection: “Bomba, the Jungle Boy” (1949) and “The Adventures of Superboy, Season 3″ In coming months there will be additional releases of other Boomer generation Televison shows.  One such is “Maya,” starring Jay North.  The star of “Dennis the Menace”, now a teen, searches the jungles of India for his missing father aboard an Elephant named Maya. The show was a milestone for TV at its time in that it was filmed on location in India.

I need a soundtrack. I always have a soundtrack. I’ve got half a soundtrack, but it isn’t quite there yet. I need the song that will play over the movie trailer (in my dreams, that is). Past trailer-songs have included ‘Who Knew’ by Pink, ‘Run’ by Snow Patrol (everybody’s done that one! Sheesh!), and that theme tune from Gladiator (oh hang on, House of Flying Daggers used that one as well. As did, come to think of it, Gladiator). Oh yes, and for Crossing the Line there was something by Morcheeba. That worked well.

So my latest excuse for the dragging pace of my work in progress is ‘It doesn’t have a song’. Apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg always built a sandcastle for each one of their movies. They blamed the failure of ‘1941’ on the fact that they forgot to build a sandcastle for it (rather than, say, on the fact it wasn’t a very good movie, but I digress). I don’t need a sandcastle; I need a theme tune.

As I say, I have half a soundtrack. My protagonist is called Ruby, so that’s easy, then. Lots of people have been kind enough to write songs about Ruby. But none of those is the theme song. I realised out of the blue a few weeks ago that another character’s favourite song was ’24 Hours From Tulsa’ by Gene Pitney – a surprise to say the least, because this is a song that has never registered on my radar before. (But I do love it when that happens.)

Lots of writers have soundtracks. Maybe they all do. Are they all as embarrassing as mine? Oh, I have some cheesy songs on book soundtracks. One includes both Peter Cetera singing ‘The Glory of Love’ and that Phil Collins song from the Disney Tarzan movie, ‘You’ll Be In My Heart’. Really. I have very uncool taste, but what the characters demand the characters have to get. James Blunt! Take That! Celine Dion, for crying out loud! And when I listen to the chords swell, and picture hero/heroine running in slow motion through some urban landscape with beautiful cinematography, I get a wee tear in my eye. Sad.

I was reminded of all of this because last night I was watching Bill Bailey’s Amazing Guide to the Orchestra, which was – well – amazing. He was playing the Doctor Who theme in the style of Jacques Brel. And I thought: now that’s cool. I could listen to that indefinitely, I could. Now I just need to persuade my characters that that’s their song. I don’t think I’m quite there yet.

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about a research project which concluded that chimpanzees have an unexpectedly complicated sex life.

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