February, 1912. That was the month and year when the public was first introduced to
John Carter, the main character of Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction story
Under the Moons of Mars (as it was first published in the
All-Story Magazine). Which means that 2012 marks the first 100 years of this character. More below.
For those who don't know, Edgar Rice Burroughs also created another well-known character:
Tarzan. Burroughs became very popular with the readers at the time, so in 1917,
Under the Moons of Mars was published as a novel with the title
A Princess of Mars. With the success of the first novel, 10 more sequels were published. In total, there are 11 novels, known as
BARSOOM series. From 1977 to 1979, John Carter was featured in Marvel Comics'
John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and he also appeared along Tarzan in
Tarzan Sunday comic strip, as well as in 1996 four-issue mini-series from Dark Horse Comics,
Tarzan/John Carter: Warlords of Mars. There are also some recent stories in comics with the character of John Carter.
While a 100 years is a very, very long time, no one really managed to translate this story to the big screen.
In 1977, George Lucas'
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released, which became a huge hit, especially its sequels. It's worth noting that Lucas was influenced with the adventures of
John Carter (planetary romance, odd character names, etc). Also, based on the recent trailers for
John Carter, it seems that some think that this is a
Avatar rip-off. That is not true. James Cameron said in number of interviews that he looked at the adventures of
John Carter of Mars while writing his story. John Carter is a character that's been around for 100 years. Do John Carter fans have problem with Avatar because it took a lot from Burroughs stories? No, because there is nothing wrong when one person is inspired by the work of someone else. That's how things work. Saying that, it's only fair that we all see
John Carter when it hits theatres, to finally watch the story that was inspiration for many people.
We won't have to wait much longer, because on
March 9th, for the first time, we are getting the big screen adaptation called
John Carter. Directed by Academy Award–winning filmmaker
Andrew Stanton (
Finding Nemo,
WALL-E) and written by Stanton,
Michael Chabon and
Mark Andrews,
John Carter tells the story about American Civil War veteran, who is inexplicably transported to Barsoom (Mars) where he finds himself involved in a conflict of epic proportions between the inhabitants of the planet. This is a project Stanton has been working on since 2006 and it's been a very passionate project for him. He is also a very big fan of the novels, as he said it himself in a lot of interviews. The cast is also pretty impressive. We have Taylor Kitsch playing the title character, Lynn Collins as Princess Dejah Thoris, Willem Dafoe is Barsoomian warrior called Tars Tarkas, Samantha Morton as Sola, Dominic West as Sab Than, the Jeddak (King) of Zodanga, James Purefoy is playing Kantos Kan, Mark Strong as Matai Shang, Thomas Haden Church is Tal Hajus, and the rest of the cast includes Ciarán Hinds, Bryan Cranston, Daryl Sabara and Polly Walker.
- 11 covers for the entire Barsoom series by illustrator Gino D'Achille
I wrote this to introduce John Carter to those who are not familiar with the character, and to remind everyone that this a 100-year-old story that inspired many filmmakers, as well as many popular authors. I will end this article with the first words from
A Princess of Mars, and I highly recommend reading the novel (you can do that for
FREE on Library of Congress website). On
March 9th,
John Carter arrives.
I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell because I have never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.
And because of this conviction I have determined to write down the story of the interesting periods of my life and of my death. I cannot explain the phenomena; I can only set down here in the words of an ordinary soldier of fortune a chronicle of the strange events that befell me during the ten years that my dead body lay undiscovered in an Arizona cave.
I have never told this story, nor shall mortal man see this manuscript until after I have passed over for eternity. I know that the average human mind will not believe what it cannot grasp, and so I do not purpose being pilloried by the public, the pulpit, and the press, and held up as a colossal liar when I am but telling the simple truths which some day science will substantiate. Possibly the suggestions which I gained upon Mars, and the knowledge which I can set down in this chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of the mysteries of our sister planet; mysteries to you, but no longer mysteries to me.
My name is John Carter; I am better known as Captain Jack Carter of Virginia.