How John Carter Got To Mars

I’ve been hankering to read A Princess Of Mars ever since I heard Ray Bradbury explain how John Carter got to Mars. Bradbury described the scene in the novel saying:

“He wished himself there.”

I love that.

I’ve extracted and abridged the scene itself from the audiobook (it runs over three chapters) into this eleven minute |MP3| (the narration is by Mark Douglas nelson).

Here’s the newspaper strip’s three panel explanation:

Here’s Jesse Marsh’s six panel explanation:

Here’s the old Marvel Comics explanation – [update: art by Gil Kane] (done in an eight panel flashback):

UPDATE: Here’s a 14 panel explanation as appeared in DC Comics’ Tarzan Family No. 65 (1976):

The Dynamite Entertainment adaptation was spread over two issues (and 15 panels):

The trailer for the 2012 film version (currently called Disney’s John Carter), has none other than Michael Chabon working on it. The soundtrack written by Arcade Fire and performed by Peter Gabriel is entitled My Body Is A Cage:

BONUS: Carl Sagan on Mars and Burroughs:

[via StereoGum and JohnColemanBurroughs.com]

UPDATE: Murray Anderson’s version from Weird Worlds, Vol 1., #1, Aug-Sep 1972:

Posted by Jesse Willis