Just to make sure the poll doesn’t match the thread title, I think I’ll throw Nero Wolfe in in there too. And Doc Savage. But not the Scarlet Pimpernel. I spit on that limey bastard and everything he represents.
By Book!Tarzan, of course, I mean Tarzan as written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and likewise Book!Holmes refers to the Doyle short stories and novels. No other authors need apply. Not that it matters, you hosers are gonna do whatever you want anyway, I don’t know why I even bother. The point is that this is a literature thread, not a cinema thread. It’s not that I don’t love the Johnny Weismueller movies; I just don’t want anybody bringing that … thing … Disney put out a few years ago, or the Bo Derek “movie” from the 80s or 70s or whenever the hell it was, I am certainly not Googling it. Likewise, anyone who brings up that abomination starring Iron Man and Alfie will have his or her hard cider ration reduced bvy 4/5.
If you put Tarzan in London and ask him to be perceptive and make deductions and study the occasional footprint, I figure he’ll do okay; he’s not Holmes, but he’s brilliant. If you put Sherlock Holmes in the jungle and ask him to communicate with mammals of all shapes and sizes, I figure he doesn’t actually wind up doing that.
As in the poll option, Tarzan taught himself how to read using an illustrated primer, as a child, with all but minimal contact with any other humans. Impossible in reality, but if it happened it points to a greater intellect than the any of the others possessed, at least as a child.
Besides that he could beat the snot out of all the others.
Holmes is no pushover in a fight. Even Dr. Challenger is pretty impressive, and could give a damn good showing with his fists. Doc Savage, of course, whips the lot, and could probably defeat them all at once. He’s a “superhero” and the others are all just “heroes.”
In the intelligence department, Holmes has systematized reasoning. Tarzan is smart, but has never examined his own intelligence nor tried to analyze its workings.
Tarzan is the man who was given a fish, but Holmes is the man who has learned how to bait a hook and cast a line.
