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and

Present

Volume 2201

1. "INTRODUCTION" -- Dec. 7, 1941

P1: Here begins the strange story of an earthman whose powerful will carried him across

43 million miles of space!

P2: The following tale is compiled from John Carter's memoirs written upon his return

from Mars.

P3: Arizona, 1865 -- Following the Civil War, Captain John Carter and Lieutenant Jim

Powell are prospecting for gold -- one afternoon Apache indians attack them.

JCB John Carter Sunday Pages ~ jcs01ah9 http://www.johncolemanburroughs.com/mag22/

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P4: John Carter barely escapes into the foothills with Powell's body before his wounded

horse falls dead.

P5: Seeking to hide his friend's body, Carter is choked by strong gaseous vapors inside a

lonely cavern.

P6: He slumps to the ground, paralyzed; then something snaps. "Before me lies my own

body!" He whispers.

P7: Now in the sky outside, a glittering red planet seems to beckon with a strange,

irresistible attraction.

P8: Hypnotized by its overpowering fascination, the man stretches his arms toward the

flaming planet. In an instant of extreme cold and darkness he is drawn through the

trackless immensity of space.

P9: John Carter opens his eyes upon a weird landscape. "Could this be Mars?" he

mutters, puzzled, "or is it -- death?"

Notes:

1. Compare the above narration to what was printed in issue #30 ofThe Funnies: After serving in the

Civil War, Capt. John Carter and a fellow officer, James Powell, locate a rich gold claim in Arizona --

Powell sets out for civilization to buy some mining machinery but while still within sight is attacked

by hostile Indians -- John Carter spurs his horse and rides madly into the band of Apaches rapidly

firing his Colts. -- Stunned by the sudden attack, the Indians scatter momemtarily. At that instant

Captain Carter reaches down and grasps his partner's body. -- Hotly pursued, Carter heads into the

foothills. -- ("The trail ends right here at a cave...") -- ... As John Carter carries his dead partner into

the cave a pleasant drowsiness creeps over him. -- He keels against a side wall. -- ("There's gass in

here -- I've got to get out") -- Unable to move, Captain Carter slumps to the cave floor... he fights

hard against the overwhelming anaesthesis -- then something snaps ("This can't be! My own body

lays like lifeless clay at my feet! -- That red star! Mars, the War Lord! -- It's drawing me to it like a

powerful lodestone!") -- With the suddenness of thought Captain Carter is drawn through the

trackless ommensity of space -- Then from the speed and intense cold he loses comsciousness! --

When John Carter opens his eyes he finds himself in the midst of a strange and weird landscape.

("There's no dount in my mind -- This is Mars...")

2. The Carter story, as told in the Sunday strip, passes over Carter's experiments in jumping about onMars, his discovery of the Martian egg incubator, and his witnessing the hatching of the green

children. Instead, the final scene in the Sunday strip duplicates the last panel in issue #30, where

Carter is threatened by the mounted green men. The fictional narrator of the novelization of the

Sunday strip story can skip over most of the action/events portrayed on Sunday page #1,

summarizing Carter's transportation to Mars as an already known "fact." The narrator of the

novelization will be Valla Dia, princess of Duhor, a land allied with the Empire of Helium. In a

framing sequence for chapter 1, Valla Dia writes a short letter to "Jane" on Earth, and there

introduces the Sunday strip story as a personal reminiscence, recently entrusted to her by Dejah

Thoris, while on a state visit to Duhor. According to ERB's fictional sequence of events on Mars,

Ulysses Paxton, on two or more occasions, traveled to Helium. It can be assumed that his mate,

Princess Valla Dia, accompanied him there when he wrote his "letter" of June 8th, 1925, to ERB on

Earth. In the Introduction toMaster Mind of Mars, ERB has the fictional Paxton say: "with the aid

of one greater than either of us, I have found the means to transmit to you with this letter (the

manuscript)..." Presumably John Carter, in one way or another, sent the letter and manuscript to his"nephew" on Earth.

3. For the seventh tale in the Mars series,A Fighting Man of Mars, ERB uses the literary device of

having Jason Gridley communicate with Ulysses Paxton. from Earth to Mars, via the Gridley Wave

radio, in order to procure the story "re-told" by ERB in 1930: "It was from Ulysses Paxton, one time

captain, -- the U.S. Infantry, who, miraculously transported from a battlefield in France to the bosom

of the great Red Planet, had become the right hand man of Ras Thavas, the mastermind of Mars, and

later the husband of Valla Dia, daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor.... the best minds of Helium had

settled down to the task of analyzing and reproducing the Gridley Wave. " -- ERB uses a similar

framing scenario in the ninth tale in the Mars series, Synthetic Men of Mars. There Carter tries to

find Ras Thavas, to heal Dejah Thoris' injury. He travels with an assistant to Duhor to enlist the help

of Vad Varo in Duhor, The story narrated by Vor Daj and sent as an English text to Jason Gridley by


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Ulysses Paxton in late 1938. Although no such framing decice is used for the next story after

Synthetic Men, which was the "Giant of Mars," written by JCB, it can be postulated that Paxton also

relayed that narrative to Earth. Thus, the point in time for the similar relaying of the Sunday strip

story, will be shortly after "Giant of Mars" was written in late 1940.

4. The "letter" and novelization "manuscript" will be sent from the city of Duhor. This royal capital

of a remote red Martian state is located 10,500 haads northeast of Helium (not northwest, as

mistakenly published). Vor Daj underestimates the distance... ("Duhor, which lies some ten thousand

five hundred haads, or about four thousand earth miles, northwest [sic] of the Twin Cities of

Helium.") The distance and direction match a point 25 degrees N. of the equator, in the NW quadrant

of Barsoom. Vad Varo is a Jed there, under Jeddak Kor San, father of Princess Valla Dia. Duhor is5,000 haads west of Amhor and 7,800 haads from Toonol. The snow clad Artolian Hills surround

Duhor and separate it from Toonol.

JOHN CARTER

AND THE PERILS OF MARSNovelization of the JCB strip by Dale R. Broadhurst

CHAPTER 1: "INTRODUCTION"

Dear Jane:

Your reply reached us a few weeks ago but I have delayed responding until I could

gather together a number of things which will be helpful in relating the account of how

Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, first met Captain John Carter, the traveler across

space from your world. I hope you will forgive me for making you wait so long for this

story, but I feel that the additional information I have collected has made the delay well

worthwhile.

We were amazed and delighted to hear that the compilations of events here on Barsoom

which we have relayed to you by this strange interplanetary wireless system have

received such a wide readership on Jasoom. We understand why the stories must be

retold there as if they are fiction; although, to be truthful, Captain Paxton is yet a little

chagrined, to think that his personal adventures are sold back on the world of his birth as

a romance novel! As for myself, I still recall our harrowing experiences at Morbus with

much romantic feeling and I am happy to have assisted Ulysses in his telling of that story,

as well as with the subsequent accounts we have relayed to you through the technical

marvel Mr. Gridley has invented.

It was not too long after her remarkable recovery from the critical injuries that she

suffered in the flyer mishap that Her Majesty stopped over in Duhor, while Captain

Carter was paying a memorial visit to Okar, where he is yet honored as the Warlord of

Mars. She tarried as a guest in my father's palace for five days and during that private

visit we passed much of the time discussing what has transpired on Barsoom in the yearssince our Earthmen arrived here so suddenly and mysteriously. The Princess and I share a

special bond in that regard and I am greatly honored that Captain Carter continues to

call Jed Vad Varo (my Ulysses Paxton) his dearest friend.

But that's enough about my romantic feelings! I shall tell you the story that Her Majesty

recounted to me now, just as she gave it while at Duhor, interspersed with additional

insights furnished by my husband and by Jedwar Kantos Kan, following his recent

interviews with the daughter of the Jeddak of Thark. I give all this to you as honest

history and you may decide for yourself whether or not you can give credence to the

more fantastic portions of the story.


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"Could this be Mars?" he wondered silently. And then, aloud, he continued his question:

"or is it -- death?"

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JOHN CARTER CONTENTS

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BILL HILLMAN

ERB Text, ERB Images, John Carter and Tarzan are Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.- All Rights Reserved.No part of this web site may be reproduced without permission from the respective owners.


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