Friday, January 31, 2014

Making a Splash: Gil Kane, Warlord of Mars!

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Y'know, when Marvel got the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' properties in 1977, seemed they knew exactly what to do with 'em: hand them over to their top writers (and probably biggest ERB fans) Roy Thomas (on Tarzan) and Marv Wolfman (on John Carter), pair them up with their top action-artists John Buscema (on Tarzan) and Gil Kane (on John Carter) and turn them loose!

Today we're gonna focus on Gil Kane's John Carter Warlord of Mars (issues 1-10, March-December 1977). Gil didn't do full pencils all the time, for many issues he did the layouts only, but writer/editor Marv kept some dyn-o-mite inkers around for the finishing chores: Dave Cockrum, Tom Sutton, Rudy Messina, the Tribe, and for most issues Rudy Nebres. These artistic team-ups made for action-packed, splendidly other-worldly pages the oozed with a savage sci-fi vibe that well-suited ERB's second most famous hero! Check out these splashes to see what Ol' Groove means...











And y'know, Ol' Groove just realized I've never done a MaS post on Big John Buscema's Tarzan! Well, tune in next Friday when I fix that sitch! Pax!

5 comments:

  1. God, those pages are so beautiful! And a much-needed balm for me today. Many thanks.

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  2. These are absolutely lovely - you just reminded me that I really have to get around to reading my Warlord of Mars omnibus...

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  3. I love it. These are so beautiful. Thank you for this post.

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  4. I never heard of John Carter as a young teen. But then the novels were reprinted with gorgeous covers. Around the same time Marvel's Roy Thomas, Gil Kane & company blew us away. Every issue was simply beautifully done. You can truly see each issue was a labor of love for these top talents. My personal favorite inker was Dave Cockrum. Who I was very lucky to meet once in 2003. As well as get to be friends with for a brief time before he left us. It's been a real jot & honor. To get to meet some in person & be friends with some of my all time favorite old Marvel Bullpenners. Dave Cockrum, Gene Colan, Tony Dezuniga, Joe Sinnott, Herb Trimpe, John Romita SR, Marie Severin, Roy Thomas, & Frank Brunner. All were & are kind, warm & friendly. Not to mention Comic book legends!

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  5. I'm struck by the Marvel System of Editors...
    Two ERB comics - two different editors, Marv and Roy.
    Even after they left the ERB properties were edited by two different people.
    How strange.

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


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