Edgar Rice Burroughs fans

This John Carter trailer from Disney doesn’t suck. (Screen captures of some of the great imagery below. Click the thumbnail for larger picture.)

The portrait of John Carter looks more like how I imagine Lord Greystoke. But I really like the idea of a young Ed Burroughs being involved in the story. It looks like his uncle’s mausoleum will be shown. And we also see glimpses of John Carter working on his manuscript. Nice touches, all.

I can buy this as the incomparable Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium. She looks exotic enough, graceful. I guess they didn’t go crazy making the red Martians overly red. Which is fine. By contrast, John Carter looks like when I put a pair of shorts on for the first time all summer — a pasty white. All he needs is a pair of black socks.

In any case, I don’t need everyone to be naked, as some fans seem to demand. I don’t know why. The garb I see in the trailer seems to fit perfectly with how I’ve always imagined, and how I think ERB intended. (Otherwise, how did Tavia masquerade as a man in A Fighting Man of Mars if her harness didn’t cover her up a bit?)

The glimpse we see of a green Martian looks fine. I hope that’s Sola, rather than Tars Tarkas. That’s not ferocious and imposing enough to be the mighty Jeddak of Thark. I do miss the suction cup ears, though.

I love John Carter’s jump in the weak gravity of Mars. And the ochre sea bottom looks great. The ancient ruins, the beautiful palace we see the princess in, the way cool fliers …. so far, I like what I see.

One spectacular bit is the charge of the green men as John Carter stands waiting for them. It appears the mounted warriors are accompanied by war calots — and that’s made of awesome.

Can’t wait to see more.

Artist Chris Wright and I have published a book that explores the worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs from the perspective of that tabloid newspaper of Mars, The Barsoomian Blade. It’s 100 pages, packed with art and humor. Here’s a preview. Click the lulu button below to go to the site where it’s available, or click HERE. Just $15.

I get to at least a couple Blackhawks games a year. This has little to do with ERB, except that they play a few blocks from where he was born. The Hawks play this on the jumbotron before games, and it really revs up the crowd. I love it. I guess I could make another ERB connection, in that I think this music would be great during the build up to a huge battle on Barsoom.

The Muckers recently visited the hotel where the 2010 Dum Dum convention will be held Aug. 19-22. I made this video promoting the Dum Dum. Registration information can be found HERE.

The Muckers are hosting the 2010 Dum Dum in Chicago. We have four action-packed days lined up. Details at our new Dum Dum web site:
www.panthanpress.com/DumDum2010

I’d love to see artist Dave Hoover story board a Tarzan movie.

Greg Phillips drew this cartoon for The Mucker Magazine, and I animated it.

I wrote this years ago on the old Panthan Press site. Found it on the Way Back archive olf old web pages …

Top Ten Reasons John Carter is Better than Tarzan

10. Woola would eat Jad-bal-ja for lunch and use Nkima as an after-dinner mint.

9. John Carter’s sword is bigger than Tarzan’s hunting knife.

8. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

7. Never had dozens of really bad movies made about him.

6.When John Carter’s son was 10, he helped the old man lead a slave revolt against the evil goddess of Life and Death. When Tarzan’s son was 10, he ran away from home with an old ape.

5. John Carter arrived naked on another planet, and rose to become Warlord of all Barsoom. After all these years, Tarzan still pretty much just runs around naked.

4. When John Carter’s wife is lost, her father launches 10,000 battle ships and starts massive wars. When Tarzan’s wife is lost, her father wanders around the jungle saying “Tut-tut.”

3. John Carter’s best friend is a 15-foot green guy with four arms, tusks, and a big honking sword. Tarzan’s best friend is a Frenchman.

2. Tarzan had to take pills to become immortal. John Carter was just born that way.

1. Four words: The incomparable Dejah Thoris.