When last we saw John Carter, he was held down by a pack of skeletons, ready to be killed by his friend Tars Tarkas!
They put Tars Tarkas' unconscious body into their flier, and head home to Helium. Doctors take possession of Tars in a desperate attempt to save his life.
Meanwhile, back in the City of Skulls, the half-dead being that zapped Tars is commanding his skeleton army, preparing them for an assault on Helium!
Back in Helium, while they wait to see if Tars will recover, Carter and Kantos climb back into their flier to return to the City of Skulls. On their way there, they see the skeleton army on its way towards Helium!
Carter frees himself just as the skeletons reach the city, and then helps free Kantos. As Kantos helps fight against the army, Carter goes after their leader, who was hoping Carter would do just that!
He zaps Carter the same way he did Tars, and in an instant Carter learns who this being is: he was once a man named Zhuvan D'Ark, sentenced to a slow, agonizing death for murdering women and children. But Zhuvan didn't die in the dark pit he was consigned to--using his skill at the Dark Arts to stay alive even after his body gave out!
With this storyline, John Carter veers more into typical Marvel Comics territory: Zhuvan is very similar to a supervillain, someone you could picture tangling with any number of Marvel heroes. But its still fun to read, and whole skeleton army-thing reminds me of a Ray Harryhausen movie (who would have made an awesome John Carter movie, come to think of it).
This is the second issue drawn by Carmine Infantino, who does a nice job--he could do those futuristic cityscapes in his sleep!
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