FirstPost just wrote up a great little article talking about the Red Planet and how it’s been used in literature through the ages. Of course, it mentions Edgar Rice Burroughs who has made Mars the new home of John Carter. The other highlights include Ray Bradbury, Doctor Who and Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks. Check out the full article here!
The British Film Institute is running an open-ended poll in the search of The Greatest SciFi Character out there! Checking their result, it seems several votes were already cast for John Carter of Mars. So why not contribute and pitch in your voice?
The iO9 website known for a variety of tech gadgetry and Scifi topis is also asking its readers for their thoughts. You can leave a comment about your favorite choice here.
The last issue of Dejah of Mars is now out! Follow Dejah as she shoots, hacks and smashes her way to save her kidnapped husband! Get it now:
Ron Marz has been writing comics for more than two decades, starting his career with a lengthy run on Silver Surfer for Marvel. Since then, he has worked for virtually every major publisher and compiled a long list of credits, including stints on Green Lantern for DC, Star Wars and Conan for Dark Horse, Witchblade for Top Cow, and as a staff writer for CrossGen Comics. He is also the current writer for The Mucker and Korak the Killer web comic hosted by Edgar Rice Burroughs website.
In an interview for ComicVine, Ron Marz goes into details about his inspiration and love for Edgar Rice Burroughs comics, as well as beginning work on the newest John Cater Warlord of Mars series published by Dynamite. He explains how John Carter made him want to become a writer growing up. He has ambitious plans for the first storyline as well as a great new villain. Marz also hopes to bring in new readers by starting fresh and re-introducing the world and setting, while still focusing on the heart of the series.
You can read the full article here!
Follow 12 Golden / Silverage comics online inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs classics and get behind-the-scenes Bonus Materials such as artist sketches and older comics! All our strips are updated weekly and available immediately online for just single subscription of $1.99/ month or $21.99 /year!
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Ekaterina Botziou posted about her interesting experience starring in the 2012 John Carter movie. She describes the process of transforming into a native Martian by undergoing deep St Tropez tan sprays every two weeks, as well having red swirly tattooed glued onto her. Here is an excerpt of her experience:
The problem with a fake spray tan is that it gets progressively darker as time passes. So some days, I would get to the studios in the morning, as pale as a ghost, and travel back home on the train getting more and more orange with every stop.
I looked like a cross between a member of Hell’s Angels and an orange smurf.
The cast spent almost 4 hours in hair and make-up every morning (bear in mind that our call time was usually 5:30am so the make-up artists had to work wonders), and we were told to ease up on the nightly wash in case the tan came off. Fat chance.
Read the full story on her blog!
AV Club has just put up a great article looking back the the history of superhero comics in the U.S. It focuses primarily on Jim Starlin’s work on Warlock, but gives a pretty comprehensive idea about the origin of many contemporary archetypes and tropes. The introduction reads:
Superhero comic books descend from the pulps. That is, they are a product of a massive surge in genre fiction produced in the early decades of the 20th century. Look at your favorite superheroes today, and you can still see the traces of this lineage. It’s not as if fantasy, science-fiction, or detective stories hadn’t existed before 1900, but so many of the expectations and conventions that genre fans take for granted today were only created and codified after the turn of the century. Many of the people who got in on the ground floor of the Golden Age of comics had experience with pulp magazines like Amazing Stories and Weird Tales as writers, editors, or devoted fans.
It’s a great piece Tim O’Neil, so we highly recommend it to all fans of our comics and Edgar Rice Burroughs classics. Check it out here.
Dynamite Entertainment has just announced that they have signed Ron Marz for a new ongoing John Carter: Warlord of Mars comic series launching in November. Marz is a veteran of the comic industry having written and edited a number of prolific titles such as Green Lantern and Silver Surfer. He expressed great enthusiasm for working on the new John Carter, stating it is a job he has been “wanting to do since [he] was twelve years old.” Dynamite Entertainment, too, shares Marz’s excitement.
The new comic series stars the science fiction and fantasy hero John Carter who mysteriously finds himself in the alien world of Barsoom. Struggling to adapt and fight new enemies, great challenges and adversary will require John to become a true Warlord. The original series debuted with an Edgar Rice Burrough’s novel in 1912, an inspired many future adventure classics from Flash Gordon to Star Wars and Avatar.
You can read the full article at All-Comics. Don’t want to wait till November for the new comics? New John Carter: Warlod of Mars comics are available online right now!
Follow 12 Golden / Silverage comics online inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs classics and get behind-the-scenes Bonus Materials such as artist sketches and older comics! All our strips are updated weekly and available immediately online for just single subscription of $1.99/ month or $21.99 /year!
Don’t wait, Sign up Now!
(May 19th, 2014 – Tarzana, CA & Mt. Laurel, NJ) Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company founded by the author to protect and maintain his literary creations, and one of the comics industry’s leaders, Publisher Dynamite Entertainment, announced today a comprehensive agreement that will see the return of Burroughs’ original “John Carter: Warlord of Mars” to the pages of comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. The agreement allows for the world-wide publication of the John Carter universe as well as “Lord of the Jungle” and ERB’s library of archival material.
The initiative comes on the heels of the reacquisition of comic book rights by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. that had been held by Walt Disney Pictures and its Marvel Entertainment subsidiary, as well as a recent legal settlement with Dynamite that cleared the way for Dynamite to introduce key characters and plot elements from the John Carter back story that were, until now, absent from recent comic book interpretations.
“It was important to us that we reacquire the comic book and comic strip rights from Marvel Entertainment so we could reintroduce them in the market place. We’re excited to see the exploits of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first science fiction adventure hero brought to life in their fullness by the passionate creative talents assembled by the folks at Dynamite,” said James Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. “They’re true fans – and it shows on every page and in every idea they’ve shared with us. Now fans everywhere will be able to appreciate the original adventure stories that later spawned Flash Gordon, Superman, Star Wars and Avatar.”
“Working together with Jim and the team at ERB, we will be taking the worlds of John Carter and The Lord of the Jungle publishing initiatives to a new level. I cannot wait to announce the creative teams behind each series in the coming months. This is the beginning of a great relationship.” states Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of Dynamite Entertainment. “I can’t express how happy and excited everyone at Dynamite is to be working hand in hand with everyone at ERB, Inc.”
John Carter debuted in 1912 as the lead character in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in the pulp magazine, The All-Story, and later published as a complete novel retitled A Princess of Mars. The character excited the imagination of readers and quickly imprinted onto the public psyche. As many literary and popular culture scholars attest, John Carter served as the template for a litany of adventure heroes to follow, from Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Superman to the Jedi knights of Star Wars fame and most recently, Avatar.
In planning for a late 2014 relaunch, Dynamite Entertainment confirmed that the new comic book series will be titled John Carter: Warlord of Mars. Dynamite will also republish other John Carter assets, going back as far as the early 1940s comic strips by John Coleman Burroughs, the son of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
In a related development, new John Carter: Warlord of Mars “adventure strip” episodes will make their online debut in early summer as part of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Digital Comic Strip Service at edgarriceburroughs.com/comics. Written by the legendary Roy Thomas, with art by Pegaso (Rodolfo Perez Garcia) of Mexico City, this series will invite readers to accompany John Carter and his compatriots on exciting adventures that delve into the rich, storied history of Barsoom (as the inhabitants of Mars refer to their planet). As with the other nine series featured on the site, including Tarzan and Carson of Venus, the first four episodes of John Carter: Warlord of Mars will be viewable at no charge.
About Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Vampirella, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, Purgatori, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, Neil Gaiman, Andy Diggle, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, Gail Simone, Steve Niles, James Robinson, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards. For art and more information, please visit: dynamite.com/
About Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
Founded in 1923 by Edgar Rice Burroughs himself, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. holds numerous trademarks and the rights to all literary works of the author still protected by copyright. The company has overseen every adaptation of his literary works in publishing, film, television, theatrical stage productions, licensing and merchandising. The company is still a very active enterprise and manages and licenses the vast archive of Mr. Burroughs’ literary works, fictional characters and corresponding artworks that have grown for over a century. The company continues to be owned by the Burroughs’ family and remains headquartered in Tarzana, California, the town named after the Tarzana Ranch Mr. Burroughs purchased there in 1918 which led to the town’s future development. For more information, please visit EdgarRiceBurroughs.com.
When “John Carter” came out a couple of years ago, most critics hated it or were indifferent to it, and audiences stayed away; but it did have a few defenders, including me and Scout. We recently spent a half-hour on the phone talking about what a buoyant and sweet film it was to be so gigantic, and how the complaints that it was “derivative” of “Star Wars” and “Avatar” seemed ignorant of the fact that Burroughs wrote the original tales almost a century ago, when Mars was not just a nearby planet but a red blank slate upon which fantasies could be projected. Burroughs captured the imaginations of generations of future storytellers who cherry-picked his themes and images, and in so doing, unfortunately made them less remarkable. (Trivia note: the movie was originally called “John Carter of Mars,” but Disney dropped “..of Mars” when it became convinced that films about Mars never made money. Since “John Carter” was a box office failure anyway, I wonder what the studio executives told themselves—that if “..of Mars” had stayed in, it would’ve done even worse?)
Read the full article at: RogerEbert
