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Post by deuce on Jul 14, 2017 23:36:07 GMT -5
As we know from a journal entry, ERB began writing The Gods of Mars on July 14th, 1912 -- 105 years ago today. In my opinion, it is the greatest of the Barsoom novels and easily one of the best sword & planet/planetary romance novels ever written. After creating a whole SF genre with his very first novel, A Princess of Mars, Ed found sure footing with "Gods" and settled into his vision of Barsoom -- a vision he would follow for decades after. Mostly ignored from the first novel were things like a rifle that could hit targets on the horizon -- an invention which curtailed close-in combat and created problems with plotting. More-or-less blanket telepathy/mind-reading was also quietly shelved. With "Gods", Burroughs showed us Barsoom crystallized and perfected.
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Post by Char-Vell on Jul 15, 2017 6:42:20 GMT -5
A while back I mentioned Brian Wood's John Carter: The End. The other day I read through the second issue at my local comic shop.
Hoo-boy.
The art is --- brace yourselves! --- the same kind of scratchy, sketchy indie art style which makes every character look sickly that we complained about on his Conan run. And it doesn't feel like anything ERB ever wrote. The language is far too contemporary. "Warzone", "bioweapon". I wouldn't be surprised if someone used a smart phone or called in a drone strike. It was the second issue, so I couldn't figure out why a very aged John Carter and Dejah Thoris (is Wood unaware that Barsoomians usually live a thousand years or that Carter is immortal?) are living on Saturn's moon Titan. Nor do I care.
Is it too much to ask that Wood have some basic familiarity with the franchise he's writing for?
Wood is a master at alienating fanbases, apparently. I really wish he'd just stick with his personal franchises -- which I don't read and have no desire to. [* Note: I read a little bit of his "Vikings" series -- I thought it was crap. Don't try to sell me on it.] Anyway, this is obviously not his first rodeo. Despite what you may've been told at the time, Wood always intended to take Conan totally down the emo road. He also hand-picked those crappy artists just to piss off old-school Conan fans. Forget the Conan you thought you knew. Time for us to get woke! I have this from a reliable source. Wood is only comfortable writing postmodernist crap and "deconstructing" old icons to leave more room for his own pallid, intersectionalist creations. He's incapable of seeing that people from other times/places might actually think differently from his 21st century view and be "immune to his consultations". There is more in heaven and earth, Horatio... Apparently, Wood is driven to "challenge" us to "re-envision" our beloved heroes and "reimagine" things in a whole new boring/repellent way. I used to think Arvid Nelson was bad, but Arvid's's more of a confused dilettante than a true saboteur like Wood. At least this thing is so totally out of the real continuity that only morons would take it seriously. I was blissfully ignorant of Brian Wood's John Carter. Good for me! I've avoided a lot of crap lately (i.e. IDW's Kull).
Wood's Conan was "pure T shit" as the old-timers around here would say, and he comes across as a genuine A-hole in interviews.
Disclaimer: I enjoyed Wood's Star Wars run at Dark Horse. he seemed to "get" that property.
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Post by Char-Vell on Jul 15, 2017 7:03:44 GMT -5
Thanks Jason. I enjoyed hearing your perspective. Wonder if anyone has written any Gor Hajus fanfic? Someone should write a Pew Mogul fanfic!
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Post by deuce on Jul 15, 2017 10:22:14 GMT -5
Wood is a master at alienating fanbases, apparently. I really wish he'd just stick with his personal franchises -- which I don't read and have no desire to. [* Note: I read a little bit of his "Vikings" series -- I thought it was crap. Don't try to sell me on it.] Anyway, this is obviously not his first rodeo. Despite what you may've been told at the time, Wood always intended to take Conan totally down the emo road. He also hand-picked those crappy artists just to piss off old-school Conan fans. Forget the Conan you thought you knew. Time for us to get woke! I have this from a reliable source. Wood is only comfortable writing postmodernist crap and "deconstructing" old icons to leave more room for his own pallid, intersectionalist creations. He's incapable of seeing that people from other times/places might actually think differently from his 21st century view and be "immune to his consultations". There is more in heaven and earth, Horatio... Apparently, Wood is driven to "challenge" us to "re-envision" our beloved heroes and "reimagine" things in a whole new boring/repellent way. I used to think Arvid Nelson was bad, but Arvid's's more of a confused dilettante than a true saboteur like Wood. At least this thing is so totally out of the real continuity that only morons would take it seriously.
I was blissfully ignorant of Brian Wood's John Carter. Good for me! I've avoided a lot of crap lately (i.e. IDW's Kull).
Wood's Conan was "pure T shit" as the old-timers around here would say, and he comes across as a genuine A-hole in interviews.
Disclaimer: I enjoyed Wood's Star Wars run at Dark Horse. he seemed to "get" that property.
Here in SEK, we call it "Pure D Shit". Yes, from what I understand Wood is a piece of work. Star Wars is more modern and Wood grew up immersed in it. I really doubt he loved the Barsoom novels to anywhere near the same extent. Plus, there is just so much problematic stuff in those ERB books, dontcha know? Fair game for Wood's deconstructionism. The inherent guilt of the Barsoom series demands that the source material be treated roughly and without respect. Check your Barsoomian privelege, bitches!
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Post by deuce on Jul 20, 2017 8:21:59 GMT -5
Barsoom fan Norman Ray pointed this out:
'One funny bit of trivia regarding Barsoom warfare I noticed in A Fighting Man of Mars: Tavia says that "I cut off my long hair and painted my face that I might look more like a man". That might have been just a Jahar custom (as in Manator where people's whole bodies are painted in Chessmen of Mars), except that Tan Hadron says later on "the warriors were women dressed in the harness of men, their hair cut and their faces painted, after the fashion of the fighting men of Barsoom."
This tiny sentence seems to imply that fighting men on Barsoom use paint regularly on their faces, which makes sense. After all, all fighting men are basically dressed the same, leather harness and weaponry, with only metal insignas noting their rank and nation to differenciate one from another. The use of war paint in warfare would help recognize friends from foes in the middle of a battle, more effectively than trying to decypher insignas on a whim. But as far as I know, it's the only mention of war paint in the entire saga!'
The quote "faces painted, after the fashion of the fighting men of Barsoom" certainly seems to point to a global custom on Mars
At the same time, one would think that might've been mentioned by ERB long before. It would certainly give artists an interesting option. There's nothing "unmanly" about war-paint, it's simply a custom that's been long out of favor in the West. What say you?
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jul 20, 2017 8:31:50 GMT -5
Barsoom fan Norman Ray pointed this out: 'One funny bit of trivia regarding Barsoom warfare I noticed in A Fighting Man of Mars: Tavia says that "I cut off my long hair and painted my face that I might look more like a man". That might have been just a Jahar custom (as in Manator where people's whole bodies are painted in Chessmen of Mars), except that Tan Hadron says later on "the warriors were women dressed in the harness of men, their hair cut and their faces painted, after the fashion of the fighting men of Barsoom."
This tiny sentence seems to imply that fighting men on Barsoom use paint regularly on their faces, which makes sense. After all, all fighting men are basically dressed the same, leather harness and weaponry, with only metal insignas noting their rank and nation to differenciate one from another. The use of war paint in warfare would help recognize friends from foes in the middle of a battle, more effectively than trying to decypher insignas on a whim. But as far as I know, it's the only mention of war paint in the entire saga!'The quote "faces painted, after the fashion of the fighting men of Barsoom" certainly seems to point to a global custom on Mars At the same time, one would think that might've been mentioned by ERB long before. It would certainly give artists an interesting option. There's nothing "unmanly" about war-paint, it's simply a custom that's been long out of favor in the West. What say you? Makes perfect sense to me. I used body paint in the first Barsoom novel I wrote. I think its use simply became more utilitarian in modern day (IE as camouflage). Still in use during WW2 tho!
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Post by finarvyn on Jul 20, 2017 9:43:25 GMT -5
For some reason I seem to remember most folks on Barsoom being pretty darned near naked. Seems like some a little face paint might not hide certain patterns in anatomy.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jul 20, 2017 11:04:09 GMT -5
For some reason I seem to remember most folks on Barsoom being pretty darned near naked. Seems like some a little face paint might not hide certain patterns in anatomy. Absolutely correct. I won't be one to judge Ed for a shortsightedness tho - having written myself into many corners and wrote the same thing two or three times, having forgotten I mentioned it already, I know how easily those little oversights are to fall into! I loved Fighting Man of Mars, though - going back to Deuce's original post. Who wouldn't love to have Tan Hadron's ' cloak of invisibility' and invisible flyer? And the piece where they're stranded in the cannibal desert and Tan finds the invisible flyer hovering just within grasp right when they need an escape route - classic ERB. Love it.
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Post by deuce on Jul 21, 2017 10:34:42 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jul 24, 2017 14:22:22 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jul 29, 2017 12:22:34 GMT -5
Mark Schultz's "Barsoomian Encounter"...
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Post by deuce on Aug 3, 2017 19:59:14 GMT -5
Frazetta's rendition of Thuvia, Maid of Mars...
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Post by deuce on Aug 6, 2017 13:40:28 GMT -5
Ras Thavas, Mastermind of Mars, by Jusko...
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Post by deuce on Aug 8, 2017 8:48:05 GMT -5
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Post by finarvyn on Aug 8, 2017 18:08:07 GMT -5
The Art of John Carter sold out very quickly after the release of the film. It has maintained its resale value. Very much so. I wanted that one from the first that I heard about it, but it was so expensive I can't justify to myself to spend that kind of cash.
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