Gullivar Jones vs. John Carter!

Right around the time DC was starting their John Carter strip in Tarzan, Marvel, obviously smarting over the license going to their Distinguished Competition, had picked up their own Mars-centric character--Gullivar Jones, created by Edwin L. Arnold.

In an editorial that ran in Monsters Unleashed #1 (which you see above), they went a little overboard comparing the two characters:

...I think time has shown that while Gullivar Jones might be a fine character, its John Carter who still remains the preeminent Mars warrior. Since Marvel could never admit to even their worst comic not being better than DC's best, they of course came down on Gullivar's side. Of course, they changed their mind just a few years later, when all of sudden John Carter was good enough for the House of Ideas!

This little moment of Spy vs. Spy-esque folderal was immortalized by Fred Hembeck in Fantaco's Hembeck #5, The Hembeck File:

...'nuff said!


Next up for John Carter is his time at Dark Horse, which we'll start looking at one month from now, on July 14th. By Barsoom, be here!



(Special Thanks to Honorary Barsoomian Rob Tullo for providing the scans from MU #1. Thanks Rob!)

John Carter, Warlord of Mars Annual #3 - 1979

"Amazons of Mars!" by Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, Alan Weiss, and Tony DeZuniga.

Marvel's final issue of John Carter, Warlord of Mars in any form opens with John Carter not in battle (for once), but working alongside his fellow citizens of Helium:

Meanwhile, back in Helium, Dejah Thoris is worried that her beloved John Carter has been gone so long.

For his part, John Carter is indulging in wine, women, and song--mostly the first two. But all the fun is interrupted when a gong is struck, which signals an attack by a horde of giant bat-like creatures descending from the sky!

Carter, of course, is not afraid of anyone, and he unsheathes his sword, jumping straight into the sky, hacking away. Not used to facing any sort of resistance, the creatures flutter away after they see some of their number felled by John Carter.

Carter is welcomed to a massive, orgiastic display that is meant as a tribute to their god. Carter, still under the effect of his captors' will-bending perfume and lip paint, finds himself forced to be part of the ceremony.

A gang of the women truss Carter to a wall, and they reveal that the ambush he saw in the desert was all staged for his benefit, designed to bring him to them--so he can be their sacrifice!:

Dejah Thoris fights her way through the crowd, and the commotion makes it way to the altar where Carter is still chained.

As she tries to get closer to her beloved John Carter, Tars Tarkas is occupied fighting off another attack by the bat creatures. Dejah is on her own.

Dejah slices her way through the throng, until she is face-to-face with Klys:

...The End!


Kind of an odd way to go out, with an annual that doesn't bear any relation to the main storyline(s) that ran in the main book for almost its entire duration. Still, its nice for the last image we have of Marvel's John Carter and Dejah Thoris is them in each other's arms.

So where do we go next? Well, we go back in time just a few years, and take a look at the Distinguished Competition's version of ERB's Warlord of Mars. So come back in one week, May 15th, when we'll start off with Tarzan #207!

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #28 - Oct. 1979

"The Weapon-Makers of Mars!" by Peter Gillis, Larry Hama, and Ricardo Villamonte.

This final issue of John Carter, Warlord of Mars opens up with a new storyline, a new writer, and a new artist:

Kantos is attacked, and his scream is heard by John Carter. Carter and some of the men search for him, but the trail leads to a dead end. Or does it?

Turns out the wall is a false one, and some explosive charges blast a hole in it, leading to a secret underground lair. Carter and some of his men take an elevator down many stories, into a vast chamber filled with all sorts of high-tech equipment.

Carter feels some mental vibrations which he believes are coming from Kantos. They follow that feeling across a bridge, into a room, and:

...and with that abrupt ending, Marvel's John Carter series comes to a close, save for a third annual, which we'll cover next. Be back in two days!

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #27 - Sept. 1979

"Marathon of Death!" by Chris Claremont, Mike Vosburg, and M. Hands.

Tars Tarkas finds his friend John Carter laying outside the walls of Helium:

Tars ignores Carter, and fires shots at the ice floor that Tal Mordin is sitting on. The ice cracks, and a horde of grasping hands rise out from the water underneath, grabbing Tal and dragging him below.

Tal begs for mercy, but it is too late: he is dragged beneath the surface, with the ice re-freezing above him almost immediately. Now it is suddenly quiet.

John and Tars make their way home. On their way, they come across a pile of dead bodies, the end result of a furious battle. Among the bodies is a scrap of clothing Carter is sure belonged to Dejah Thoris. Seeing some tracks in the sand, they conclude that some Warhoon warriors must have taken her prisoner (again!).

Carter tells Tars to go back to Helium and tell them what's happened and form a search party. In the meantime, Carter will go after his beloved...alone.

Night falls, and Carter comes to a ridge. He sees some Warhoon standing around some of their prisoners, strapped to post...and one of them is Dejah Thoris!:

...for once, John and Dejah get to rest and enjoy one another (something they're quite good at).


This was the penultimate issue of John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Marvel was a fairly chaotic place leading up to this point (they had something like half a dozen Editors-in-Chief in just a few years), and the fact that this series was canceled and reinstated so abruptly just a few months earlier is symbolic of that. Ending a major storyline here, just a month before the series was canceled, indicates they didn't know the end was coming!