John Carter, Warlord of Mars #3 - Aug. 1977

"Requiem For A Warlord!" by Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane, and Rudy Nebres.

Last issue ended with John Carter having been knocked unconscious and taken prisoner by the villainous Stara-Kan:

Stara-Kan mocks Carter by belittling him through the bars of his cell, and promising that if Carter does not cooperate, his beloved Dejah "will feel greater pain than the back of my human hand across her beautiful face."

Left alone, this drives Carter into an enraged frenzy, and after a mighty struggle, he manages to rip the chain keeping him to the wall in half. Spent, Carter collapses into a heap.

Days later, Carter awakes. But before he can try to escape, a door slides open, and enters a Banth, a Martian lion. Taking no pride in the kill, Carter strangles it with his chains, and declares he is coming for Stara-Kan.

Escaping from his cell, Carter makes his way to the royal chamber, where Stara-Kan sits atop his throne, as if waiting for his foe to arrive. Carter promises he now kill him, to which Kan replies:

When Kan makes a jest that he will hand Dejah Thoris over to the brutish Warhoons, Carter leaps into the air at him. Kan backhands Carter using his robotic arm, delivering blow after blow. But Carter will not fall!

Kan tries blasting Carter using his telepathic powers, demanding Carter relent:

...to be continued!


Many heroes--most, actually--have their #1 lady love, whether it be Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson, Jane, etc. But I have to say none of them show the devotion-to-the-point-of-madness fervor that John Carter shows for Dejah Thoris. In some ways, bad guys use that against them--all they have to do is make some snide comment about harming her and Carter goes ballistic, as he does here.

This issue also features a one-page "Barsoomian Portfolio" by Alex Nino, an unusual little extra for a Marvel color comic:

Obviously, by this early stage Marvel already considered John Carter, Warlord of Mars a sales success, since on the letters page a John Carter Annual is announced to be on sale in just a few months, before the book was even a year old!