John Carter of Mars: Weird Worlds

When I found this book at a used book store, I was super happy. I've read several of the John Carter of Mars books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs and I was looking forward to some new adventures in comic book form. Well, I got half my wish.

This collection of John Carter stories covers the 1972-73 run in the back of issues Tarzan and Weird Worlds. Murphy Anderson, Marv Wolfman and Joe Orlando were the creative trio behind the majority of these stories. And here's where my wish was left completely fulfilled. The comics are a present faithful recount of the first two Burroughs works about Mars: A Princess of Mars and The Gods of Mars. Then books 3-5 get smushed together. 

I don't really mind rereading the adventures of John Carter and Dejah Thoris on arid Barsoom (the Martian word for Mars). It's just not what I was expecting. 

Since Tarzan, another Edgar Rice Burroughs creation, was published at the same time by DC, there's a very good chance that those stories are adaptations as well. That won't be such a problem for myself considering I've never read a Tarzan novel. But for those of you who might be Tarzan fans and you're looking for all-new Greystoke adventures from 1970s DC, you probably are in the same boat I was with John Carter of Mars: Weird Worlds.

The writing was very faithful. The art was amazing. Exquisite. About as sexy as you can get without going into the realm of Frank Frazetta. If characters wearing very little clothes is a problem for you; this is not the book for you. 

Possibly NSFW sci-fi.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Essential Rawhide Kid, Volume 1

Though I am very much a bit of a city mouse, I do have some down-home roots. I spent many a summer working on my grandparents' farm. I've run barefoot in fields and creeks. And I have a fondness for a good country western story. 

Legendary writer Louis L'amour is a good go-to for such a need. But when you don't have time to sit down and read a lengthy adventure tale, you can't go wrong with the Western comics of Marvel! 

This volume collects issues #17-35 of the Silver Age adventures of the Rawhide Kid. Retooled from a fledgling 1950s cowpoke who was pretty forgettable, this iteration of the character is a rough-and-tumble loner who's not quite a teen anymore but barely a man. 

After the death of his adoptive father-figure, the Rawhide Kid travels the Old West in search of peace and quiet. But more often than not, the Kid runs afoul of varmints, Indians and gunslingers looking to make a name for themselves. As the Rawhide Kid leaves his mark of Justice and fairness on the cities and towns of the Western frontier, his legend grows...

These stories were crafted by a group of legends in their own right. Stan Lee crafted all of the tales in this book. Jack Kirby penciled all except the last 2 or 3 issues of this book. His work is adeptly inked by Dick Ayers. Finishing out this volume is Jack Davis. Known for his work on the EC Comics of the 1950s, Davis adds a whimsical flare to the Rawhide Kid.

Each reprinted issue features an extra Western tale that often ends with an EC Comics style twist ending. More often than not, the hero's of these adventures turn out to be legends such as Doc Holiday, or----uh,uh,uh! SPOILERS!

These issues also had a prose story. These 2-pagers were early 60's postal requirements for comic books to maintain their status as first-rate mail. They're actually pretty good reads but they're anonymous. Stan Lee got his chops in the comic book industry penning such tales in the pages of Captain America in the 1940s. He might have wrote some of these epics. Or someone else might have got their unsung start writing them. I just don't know.

On at least 3 occasions, stories are retold. It's interesting seeing Stan and Jack remake their own works. (Davis retools one Rawhide yarn as well with Stan's able pen.) But where Western stories that hard to think up? Obviously, this wasn't one of Stan Lee's most verbose titles as the words 'owlhoot' and 'hombre' were used to mind-numbing effect and there's quite a bit of poor vocabulary and grammar spoken on the rustic plains.

With the Rawhide Kid just wanting to be left alone, I'm wondering if this comic book was the inspiration for another Marvel creation- the Incredible Hulk! Coincidentally, the first appearances of the Hulk are advertised frequently in the pages of this book. Should the Rawhide Kid have been a forefather to the big green machine, it would add all that much more to the mystique of that all encompassing world known as the Marvel Universe that was brilliantly brought to use by Stan the Man and Jack the King!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars!

Sadly, only one volume was ever