''John Carter, Warlord of Mars'' is a comics series published from 1977 by American company

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. Created by

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's ''The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade (character), Blade, and DC Comi ...

(writer) and

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...

(penciller), it was based on the

Barsoom Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as ''Under the Moons of Mars'' in pulp magazine '' The All-Story'' from February to Jul ...

series of

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

and featured the eponymous character. The entire series (with few exceptions) takes place between the third and fourth paragraphs of chapter 27 of Burroughs' novel '' A Princess of Mars''. The series ran from 1977 to 1979. In 1978 it won the "Favourite New Title" Eagle Award.

Other comics featuring the character

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

released three issues of ''John Carter of Mars'' under its ''

Four Color Comics ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', is an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

'' banner. The issue numbers are 375, 437, and 488, and were released in 1952-1953.

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. History Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...

would reprint them as three issues in 1964, numbering one through three, but reprinted them out of order.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

in 2010 reprinted the comics in a hard back archive edition. John Carter appeared in

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

' ''Tarzan'' comics #207-209, then '' Weird Worlds'' #1-7 and ''Tarzan Family'' 62-64 in the early 1970s. There was also a four-issue

mini-series In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

cross-over in 1996 with another of Burroughs' characters,

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

, in ''Tarzan/John Carter: Warlords of Mars'' from

. Starting in October 2010,

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded in 2004 by Nick Barrucci in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, known for publishing comic book adaptations of licensed feature film properties, such as ''Army of Darkness'', '' Terminator ...

began publishing a regular series entitled ''Warlord of Mars''. The first two issues served as a prelude story, issues 3-9 adapted '' A Princess of Mars'', and issues 10-12 were an original story with following issues alternating between adaptation and new stories. This series ceased with #35, accompanied by two out-of-numbering issues (#100 and #0), in 2014. In 2011, Marvel published two mini-series, ''John Carter: A Princess of Mars'', by Roger Langridge (scripts) and Filipe Andrade (art), and ''John Carter: World of Mars'', by

Peter David Peter Allen David (September 23, 1956 – May 24, 2025), often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Grea ...

(scripts) and Luke Ross (art), a prequel to the Disney Movie. In 2012, Marvel published a new miniseries entitled ''John Carter: Gods of Mars'', based on the novel the ''Gods of Mars'', with scripts by Sam Humphries and art by Ramon Perez. In 2014,

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. is an American holding company founded in 1923 by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is based in Tarzana, California. The company holds the rights to the literary estate of Burroughs that are still protected by copyright ...

initiated the publication of

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

'' Warlord of Mars'' by Roy Thomas (script) and Rodolfo Pérez García (art).

Newspaper strip

In 1941, John Coleman Burroughs wrote and illustrated 69 weeks of a syndicated colour Sunday newspaper strip, ''John Carter of Mars'', which debuted in '' The Chicago Sun'' on December 7, 1941. This debut coincided with the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

, resulting in the series being picked up by very few papers. The strip began with a ''Princess of Mars'' adaptation but departed from the original with episode 5. John Coleman Burroughs explained that this was done at the request of

United Features Syndicate United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media ( ...

, in order to provide more action in the weekly episodes. Continuing with the Burroughs tradition of family involvement, John's wife, Jane Ralston Burroughs, helped with the backgrounds, inking, and lettering of the strip and even served as model for Dejah Thoris.Hillman, Bill
"John Coleman Burroughs,"
ERBzine vol. 0335.

Collected editions

have collected the Marvel series as a single black-and-white trade paperback: *''John Carter of Mars: Warlord of Mars'' (paperback, 632 pages, March 2011, ) They also released a collection of the DC series: *''John Carter of Mars: Weird Worlds'' (paperback, 112 pages, January 2011, ) as well as the earlier Dell Comics one: *''Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars: The Jesse Marsh Years'' (hardcover, 120 pages, May 2010, )

has released their entire series as an oversized hardcover omnibus. Unlike the Dark Horse reprint, the omnibus is in full color: *''John Carter, Warlord of Mars Omnibus'' (hardcover, 632 pages, February 2012, )

References

External links

* *
{{Barsoom 1977 comics debuts 1979 comics endings Comics based on works by Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom Comics based on novels Comics by Marv Wolfman Marvel Comics titles

Other comics featuring the character

Newspaper strip

Collected editions

See also

References

External links