Friday, October 3, 2008

Paperback 146: The Gods of Mars / Edgar Rice Burroughs (Del Rey 27835)

Paperback 146: Del Rey 27835 (13th ptg, 1979)

Title: The Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Vol. 2: The Gods of Mars
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Cover artist: Michael Whelan

Yours for: $6


Best things about this cover:

  • "Hey, wardrobe, can we get some more groin coverage on set, please? STAT!"
  • That hunk of "rock" behind them looks disgusting - like rock candy mixed with snot
  • I like the part where the naked ballet dancer disembowels the Cyclopadusasaurus.
  • Second sets of arms just look silly. That bottom set looks like the hands of someone who can't see and is flailing wildly because his head is shoved up into the torso of the sabermantis.
  • Scifi artists, for whatever reason, seem to get credited a lot more than paperback cover artists working in other genres. It takes real talent to do good scifi covers. Even if the artist is super-talented, there's always the danger (manifested here) that the resulting imaginative landscape will look campy and ridiculous.

Best things about this back cover:

  • Ugh, more side-arms.
  • Cyclopadusasaurus is open downfield ... looks like she'll catch the moonsphere, but man is she going to take a hit from the safety.
  • "Return to Peril" - do I have to?
  • Dejah Thoris drops mad beats.
  • I don't think you're supposed to want to "escape" from an "Eden" (which is, by definition, perfect)

Page 123~

"The great Thark, I fear, is dead," she replied, sadly.

~RP

5 comments:

Miss Maggie said...

Wow, two rib cages and two sets of shoulders. What possible evolutionary path would one take to get that?!?

Anonymous said...

These are the editions by which I was introduced to ERB's John Carter. Most of these covers that featured Thoris has her 'clad' in, well, next to nothing. I enjoyed these stories as a boy. And, of course, I loved the covers. Speaking directly to the women's attire in these types of stories, Michael Swanwick wrote a short story on the word "Helium" (the capital city on Mars) that is quite funny: http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/elements/helium.html

JamiSings said...

To me the blue one eyed thing on the back cover looks like it's doing the "I gotta go potty" dance.

G said...

NOT THE GREAT THARK!?!! Nooooooo...

Michael5000 said...

Four commas, in ten words, is too many, even by MY standards, so there.