| SYNOPSIS: It's 1933, and a haggard Elijah Snow travels up a thin strip of river through a dense jungle, searching for the Lost City of Opak-Re. He finds it, gleaming and golden, at the river mouth. His arrival is met by an immense snake, whose attack Snow confronts with a pistol, with limited success. His unique powers also prove somewhat effective, although ultimately it is Lord Blackstock, a member of British royalty who was raised in the jungle and preceded Snow to Opak-Re, who swings in on a vine and ends the battle. As white men ("minorities," remarks Blackstock), they become friends, although Snow, who remains in the City to tell stories of the outside world, becomes even closer to the beautiful Anaykah, one of Opak-Re's intellectuals. Blackstock is an adventurer, a man with a "pathological fear of being bored," and Anaykah tells Snow that he basically views the people of Opak-Re as his subjects, even his slaves. Evidently Anaykah changes his mind at some point, since when Snow leaves, promising to return one day, she and Blackstock have a child. Snow returns, 18 months later, to find the city submerging and Anaykah and her baby at the surface. Children fathered by white men are not welcome in Opak-Re. Telling Snow she loves him and will always love him, she begs Snow to care for the child, as she must return to her people. Snow accepts, later giving the child to a farming couple in Germany. They name her Jakita.
REVIEW: It took a while but we finally get the origin of Jakita. Or at least, we learn who her parents were, and all the Internet speculation about Snow or whoever can finally be put to rest.
But this issue offers much more than that. We get to know another member of the Century Club, warts and all, as Lord Blackstock is a man we are both impressed with and appalled by. We meet Elijah's first true love, shown briefly in a flashback in Issue #11. (Which thankfully ends more Internet speculation about who she was.) 
And amid the revelations and drama, there's some fun, including the Tarzan myth and the City of Opak-Re, mentioned once or twice prior to this issue. Plus we get an early Elijah Snow adventure and a really big snake.
This issue might lack some of the intensity of earlier issues, or perhaps we're just spoiled since we didn't have to wait as long for this one. Here the entertainment and intrigue is somewhat overshadowed by our glimpse into Snow's past. And, juxtaposed with the self-absorbed and morally ambivalent Blackstock, we see how Elijah seemingly uses his long life to the world's benefit, while Blackstock entertains only himself, indifferent to the world around him. A hundred years later, only Snow remains.
| |  Random Thoughts:I'm pretty sure I had a Tarzan book as a child with the cover this issue's cover is modeled on. I think Marvel Comics' Tarzan Annual #1 also has a similar cover.
Okay, if you guessed that Blackstock was Jakita's father when Snow described him as having a "pathological fear of boredom," congratulations.
With friends like Blackstock, who evidently hooked up with Snow's true love not long after his departure, Snow doesn't need enemies. Since people have asked, yes, Blackstock does figure to be the Jungle Lord from Issue #1. To his credit, at least he helped save the world. Even if he didn't extend the same caring to his child.
Somebody else can tell me whether the snake depicted here has its origins in any of Edgar Rice Burroughs' books. Tarzan or the John Carter series. It was a very long time ago that I read them.
Rating: 7/10. The series can do better, and has, but there is some important stuff here and some great images. |
