Thark Thursday: Deviant Artists

There's quite a bit of fan art out there for just about every property under the sun, and Barsoom has it's own fans--student, pro, and everyone in between. Here's a few of my recent favorites:

I dig the ridged skelatal structure beneath the skin of this Thark character sketch by student Brennan "tehnoochness' Wagner.

Professional illustrator Adam Moore, a.k.a. Laemeur's, "Earth Astride Mars" depicts a pivotal scene in A Princess of Mars, when John Carter has frankly had enough of Tharkian boorishness.

I REALLY dig this sketch of Tars Tarkas by aquilianranger (first name Scott?). I love when people go all insectoid with their Tharks. This guy is dying to be in an RPG or an awesome illio for somebody's Thri-kreen character.

Also, for some reason he sorta reminds me of another badass bugman...

Finally, we have a great shot of the three heroes from A Princess of Mars., Tars looks particularly dashing with blades at the ready and soulless, ebony shark eyes. This one's by Ryan Valle, also known as Praxiteles:

Thark Thursday: I've Got Barsoom Fever

I just came back from my second viewing of John Carter and I still think it's great fun. Yeah, it's not a perfect movie, but I've grown to really appreciate the efforts of Andrew Stanton and his cast and design team. I also can think of no better inspiration in recent history for games. It's pure pulp adventure and there's just lots of neat ideas to explore. That [SPOILER] sparkly blue nanite-based "magic" stuff? A great little MacGuffin for any RPG. Thark tribal initiations and homemade weaponry? Sharpshooting skills with radium rifles? Stat me a Warhoon sidekick!

So this afternoon I stopped by Barnes & Noble and picked up a copy of SciFiNow, a movie magazine from the U.K. which did a great cover story on the film. Two things dawned at me at the magazine rack:

1. Movie magazines are a dying breed, what with the interwebs and all. I was an avid reader of Premiere, Starlog, and a half-dozen others during their respective heydays and inevitable declines. The ones that are left, like Entertainment Weekly, don't have the marketing pull they once had to suck people in and get them juiced about the next big film. The reign of the magazine cover is really over.
2. This was the only issue of any magazine that featured John Carter on it. The rest were all about the Hunger Games, The Avengers, and even that godawful Battleship movie. John Carter was passed over for other "sure thing" blockbusters from the get-go. Less face-time for Tim Riggins is just another kick in the teeth.

So seeing this import warmed my heart.

In addition, I've been rapaciously reading all that I can of the Barsoomian mythos that are interpretations other than the Edgar Rice Burroughs books. In the picture above we have a sampling of my Martian diet for the last few months.

One notable item: that big fella in the upper right? Got it for a more than half-off at Amazon. It's the Holy Grail of Marvel sword and planet comics--the entire run of their John Carter Warlord of Mars series from the 70s. It's now one of my most very favorite things. When I'm not reading it, I'll just stare at the amazing illustrations. Longingly. When it and I are not in the same room, I think about it and what it's doing when I'm not with it. Does it think about me or remember me at all? Does it even like me? I MUST KNOW.

Oh, but I only mention it because I'll have a more full post about it this weekend, in part to make up for my lack of a more substantive post today.

Finally, with my latest viewing of the film, I've added some minor, but still significant tweaks to my earlier review of John Carter, in case you missed/are interested.

I really do love that movie. I only wish it would see a sequel one day. We truly need more quarter-of-a-billion-dollar, interplanetary barbarian flicks.

Just as a matter of principle.

The media, from top left:

• SciFiNow issue 64; cover feature with photo spread
• John Carter Warlord of Mars Omnibus by Marvel Comics; 632 pages of full-color, sword and planet adventure!
• Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom; collected stories by popular authors and edited by sci-fi anthology guru John Joseph Adams
• Warlord of Mars by Dynamite Comics; collects issues 1-9 of their continuing series, based on the Carter mythos; I did an earlier post on covers by artist Joe Jusko, which also appear in this edition

It should be obvious that the books, comics, etc., above are great inspiration for gaming as well. Yeah, that was my original point. But you can pardon the drooling and panting while it took me to get there, yes?

Thark Thursday: Thoats, Martian Steeds!

Thoats are the staple mount found on Barsoom, employed mainly by the Tharks (and by extension, John Carter). The eight-legged creatures first appeared in A Princess of Mars, are not hooved, but instead have "pads" on their feet. From the novel:

And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet at the shoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head from its snout to its long, massive neck.
Like its master, it was entirely devoid of hair, but was of a dark slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed to the noiselessness of their approach, and, in common with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteristic feature of the fauna of Mars. The highest type of man and one other animal, the only mammal existing on Mars, alone have well-formed nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in existence there.

Thoats have generally been portrayed as horse-like, sometimes even lizard-horses. It was refreshing to see an original approach used in the design for thoats that appeared in John Carter--but still keep some of Burroughs more signature touches like the paddle-shaped tail.

Though they served as the mainstay beasts of burden and battle for the Tharks, they also were often the target of their masters' abuse who assumed the only way to get through control the creatures was with corporal enforcement.

(Above) Great concept art by Thomas Denmark!

The direhorse, a six-legged mount from the film Avatar, is thought to be inspired by Burroughs' thoats, supposedly about the size of an Earth elephant.

Carter relies on his natural talent with animals to win their obedience without resorting to gratuitous abuse--and ensures his place in the tribe as a sort of "thoat whisperer".

My experience with Woola determined me to attempt the experiment of kindness in my treatment of my thoats. First I taught them that they could not unseat me, and even rapped them sharply between the ears to impress upon them my authority and mastery. Then, by degrees, I won their confidence in much the same manner as I had adopted countless times with my many mundane mounts. I was ever a good hand with animals, and by inclination, as well as because it brought more lasting and satisfactory results, I was always kind and humane in my dealings with the lower orders. I could take a human life, if necessary, with far less compunction than that of a poor, unreasoning, irresponsible brute.

In the course of a few days my thoats were the wonder of the entire community. They would follow me like dogs, rubbing their great snouts against my body in awkward evidence of affection, and respond to my every command with an alacrity and docility which caused the Martian warriors to ascribe to me the possession of some earthly power unknown on Mars.

LOVE this painting by Frank Espinosa! 

In other news:


John Carter Rakes in $100 Million Worldwide
If I were Andrew Stanton right now, I'd be taking some relief in the fact that John Carter did $70 million over the weekend in foriegn markets--adding to the only $30 million it pulled in here in the US. Apparently overseas press aren't as stingy, latching on to poor marketing and creating a "bad narrative" about the film in their coverage. Here's hoping that it at least breaks even in the long run and gets a decent release on blu-ray.

Thark Thursday: Tars Tarkas

Hey friends, it's John Carter Eve! If there's such a thing...which there is, I just made it official. It's still technically Thursday, so I wanted to a few pics of Tars up (click to embiggen). I've got another special art post planned as well, but it will have to wait until I can get the scanner working again (soon though). Until then, I give you the big guy himself...

And of course....

Thark Thursday: Joe Jusko covers

I'm a big fan of Dynamite Entertainment's various Warlord of Mars titles. Among my favorite cover artists is Joe Jusko, who has done some amazing pieces on a number of variant issues. There's really two reasons I love his work. The first being that each piece does an excellent job at conveying a story in the covers. This is made even more apparent when you look at how some of Dynamite's other covers have focused on, ahem, "other" aspects and have actually led to endangering their ability to publish Burroughs' stories. So I really do appreciate that the cheescake factor isn't the primary focus (I could write a seriously long rant about how much I hate that).

Jusko's are quite the opposite, actually. When it comes to composition, both within the scene as a whole, and the figure of each character, he's got incredible technical skill. One of my favorite covers is this one of Dejah before a Thark Jeddak who's posed as if he truly is one physique built on top of another. It made me do a  double-take the first time I saw it. The Thark anatomy and posture appears totally natural the way one set of limbs casually rests on top of the other, and is still articulating a dynamic posture.

Jusko is master of the posed "hero shot" covers like with issue #1 of Warlord of Mars (above), and equally--if not better--at putting characters into fantastic and believable action scenes...

This last one below is great just for shear muscle-bound barbarism. It's a great action cover and I love the lavish colors.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Jusko's style is indicative of certain era during which I grew up (the 80s!) and had a huge influence on my view of fantasy and sci-fi artwork. At least if seems that way to me. It just "feels" like a hearty, swashbuckling-good time...on another planet!

Thark Thursday: Bronze Age Miniatures

Thought it'd be nice to see some sculptural interpretations of our favorite four-armed friends. Lead sculptor David Soderquist at Bronze Age Miniatures has crafted some mightily impressive Barsoomians (or their nearest stand-ins as they're called "wasteland mutants" on the site). These are among, if not the, best Thark minis I've come across.

I own a few of these myself and they're just wonderful. They stand taller than normal minis being cast in 32mm scale--don't ask me if that's true to the source material, I'm not a good enough judge of that. But I can say that your average 25-28mm is going to look pretty shrimpy next to these dudes.

Following are some superbly painted figs that show off the detail and extraordinary musculature of the sculpts:

Love the hands on this guy 

He's got several mounted ones as well, including this sentry-like fellow 

This one's painted to be a Jeddak, who can only be Tars Tarkas