There seems to be no point to this graphic novel except to be an excuse to name drop a bunch of Edgar Rice Burroughs characters.

Jason Gridley escapes from a extra large spaceship named Resolve and crashes in front of Tarzan. Together they gather a crew of adventurers to fend off Rokoff and his Master and set off in a Martian skyship Venture. Plenty of adventure in the ERB worlds of Barsoom, Venus, Pellucidar, and the Lost World of Caspak with a nicely plotted ending leaving open the possibility of further adventures.

I have read half of this and it has failed to keep my interest. I will not be finishing this title or reviewing it at this time.

I think that this will draw in many fans of Fables, but not be able to compete with Willingham's previous works. The art style is familiar, but the characters are not, which makes this a harder sell than classic fairy tale retellings. I was more confused by the cast than I had hoped.

"In ancient days, Jason gathered the greatest heroes of his age and set out on the ultimate sea voyage. Now, in Tarzan's era, Jason Gridley does the same. The greatest heroes of the Edgar Rice Burroughs universe come together as the crew of the good ship Venture, with none other than Tarzan as their captain. It's a race this time, against a battleship of dark hearted villains, and the fate of many worlds hangs in the balance."


I liked Fables, so I'm willing to give Willingham a shot with writing in someone else's universe.

Oh, this made me realise I need to brush up on my Edgar Rice Burroughs, lol. That being said, this was pretty awesome. The artwork was great, and the story captivating. A few too many characters on the crew to keep everything straight for me, but on the other hand, they all deserved to be there. I also loved that the kept the raw characters of Burroughs, and didn't try to pretty them up, or make them conform to modern standards.

From the publisher: In ancient days, Jason gathered the greatest heroes of his age and set out on the ultimate sea voyage. Now, in Tarzan's era, Jason Gridley does the same. The greatest heroes of the Edgar Rice Burroughs universe come together as the crew of the good ship Venture, with none other than Tarzan as their captain. It's a race this time, against a battleship of dark hearted villains, and the fate of many worlds hangs in the balance.

I'm a fan of Bill Willingham's work on Fables, so I jumped at the chance to read The Greatest Adventure. The plot summary sounded interesting, sort of a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but with Edgar Rice Burroughs's characters, of which there are a lot more than I was familiar with. However, I found The Greatest Adventure just okay.

First of all, there were a ton of characters. In addition to Tarzan, Jane, and John Carter, there were about 20 other characters, none of which I was really familiar. There may have been some nods and winks from Willingham to his readers that I didn't pick up on, but this lack of familiarity prevented me from getting very engaged with the story. And honestly, it seemed like Willingham didn't really know what to do with all of the characters either, as several encountered challenges along the way that left them by the wayside with not much said about them the rest of the story. At no point was I overly concerned about any of the characters.

Second, the plot was kind of basic: Bad guy works with aliens to create a weapon to conquer people/planets/etc. The villains weren't very well rounded, more stock characters. The group of heroes encountered many challenges to their mission, including a journey to the center of the earth, a land that time forgot, and a visit to Mars. As far as I'm concerned, the action on Mars was the best part of the story, but that might just be because I'm more familiar with the John Carter stories. Speaking of being familiar, there was very little jungle adventure, which seems strange when Tarzan is a main character. I didn't find myself engaging with much of the plot, and had to push myself through a large chunk of the story.

I really appreciate how Willingham told a deep and far-reaching story with a boatload of familiar characters in his Fables series. Unfortunately, The Greatest Adventure just didn't work for me. I'm going to chalk it up to not really knowing many of the characters. It's possible that Willingham was trying to write in the style of the early 20th century pulp writers as well, and if that's the case, I get it, I just didn't care for it.

If Willingham tries something in this vein again, I'd certainly give it a shot. However, I can't really give a high recommendation for The Greatest Adventure. If you're a Burroughs fan, you should give this a shot. Willingham fans might want to check it out as well, but it wasn't really my favorite.

I received a preview copy of this book from Dynamite Entertainment in exchange for an honest review.

The Greatest Adventure is a truly fascinating novel!! It incorporates classic comic art style and several classic characters, such as Tarzan. As a lover of the classic art style, it interested me. However, I have not read any of the classic comics themselves, such as the Tarzan series. I found myself wondering if I was missing out on inside jokes readers of the classic comics would get that I just wasn't. I found myself getting lost in the sea of characters, and the plot confused me, as it jumped from past to present with seemingly no warning.

While this book wasn't for me, I still know it will be loved by those who loved the old comics. I would definitely purchase this for my library!

I’ve been a fan of Bill Willingham since I read the first issue of Fables, so was delighted to have received an electronic ARC from Netgalley. The greatest adventure see Mr Willingham turn his attention to the creations of Edgar Rice Burrows and this 1st issue introduces us to Tarzan and Jane who lead an expedition to the lost world of Caspak, where are heroes are forced to do battle with dinosaurs and meet John Carter. This is an interesting premise for a graphic novels as all words collide and intermingle with each other. Highly recommended.

I love Bill Willingham but this is more sci-fi than I expected. I'm not a sci-fi fan so this is a bad match.