John Carter of Mars Teaser Poster

Due to some unexpected delays, I won't be able to pick up with Dark Horse's John Carter comics just yet, by Barsoom I apologize!

In the meantime, here's the teaser poster for the upcoming John Carter of Mars film, arriving in just nine months!

John Carter, Warlord of Comics will be back very shortly!

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!)

Tarzan Family #66 - Dec. 1976

"Prisoner of the Tharks" by Marv Wolfman, Murphy Anderson, and Gray Morrow

For John Carter's final DC appearance, they chose to finally give him extra space, by reprinting the second half of Tarzan #207 and the whole story from Tarzan #208:

At twelve pages, this would be John Carter's longest appearance in Tarzan Family. Too bad it was devoted to a reprint, and his swan song at DC to boot.

Obviously DC got caught unawares that they were going to lose the ERB license, since just one issue previous they talked about all the plans they had for the book. But of course it was not to be--John Carter and the rest of his fellow ERB creations would soon migrate over to Marvel, where the Gentleman from Virginia would have a bit of a longer life...

Even though this is DC's last John Carter comic, we do have one more little DC-related detour to cover, which we'll see in two days!

Tarzan Family #65 - Oct. 1976

"Arrival" by Marv Wolfman and Murphy Anderson.

This time around, DC decided to reprint Carter's first appearance in Tarzan #207:

On the final page of this story (truncated to fit the five-page format), DC promises that an adaptation of Princess of Mars "begins next issue." Not quite...

Tarzan Family #64 - Aug. 1976

"Lights of Doom" by Robert Kanigher, Noly Zamora, and Vic Catan Jr.

John Carter's final new DC adventure:

...The End!


While the John Carter strip would continue in Tarzan Family, this would be the last all-new appearance. Poor John Carter, he can't catch a break...

Tarzan Family #63 - June 1976

"Death Has Three Heads" by Robert Kanigher, Noly Zamora, and Vic Catan Jr.

Another all-too-brief adventure of John Carter, Warlord of Mars:

I really enjoyed this issue's adventure; the colors in particular are wonderfully vibrant and the action is well-staged.

Again, its all over way too soon--kind of strange considering Tarzan Family was an extra-sized book, its not like there wasn't the room!

Tarzan Family #62 - April 1976

"The Girl in the Emerald" by Robert Kanigher, Noly Zamora, and Vic Catan Jr.

After several years of being gone from DC's pages, John Carter returned as a feature in new Tarzan Family anthology book, with an all-new creative team:

At a scant five pages, this is John Carter's shortest adventure, over before you know it.

The art, by Zamora and Catan, has a Kubert-esque feel to it, which of course isn't a bad thing. Its just all over too soon!