John Carter of Mars Covers by Michael Whelan
Posted on July 14, 2012, in Books, John Carter of Mars, with 1 CommentIn 1979, Del Rey/Ballantine Books commissioned Michael Whelan to paint new covers for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars novels, succeeding Gino D’Achille’s 1973 series.
Following in the footsteps of previous illustration greats like Roy G. Krenkel and Frank Frazetta, Whelan brought his considerable skill in research and detail to give us a more fully-realised view of Barsoomian life than we had seen before.
Collected below are the 11 wraparound cover paintings without text, and three sketches.

A Princess of Mars

The Gods of Mars

The Warlord of Mars

Thuvia, Maid of Mars

The Chessmen of Mars

The Master Mind of Mars

A Fighting Man of Mars

Swords of Mars

Synthetic Men of Mars

Llana of Gathol

John Carter of Mars

Character studies

Sketch for The Warlord of Mars

Sketch for The Warlord of Mars


















Updating the logo to make it dimensional, and using high-quality scans of the original paintings to bring back vibrancy to the Del Rey editions.






And here are a couple with a new type scheme, one that puts the emphasis on the image as opposed to the JCoM branding. I did the series up for personal ebooks.


Design © Scott Dutton 2011


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1 Comment
Khanada Taylor
07.15.2012 ·
Magnificent! Whelan’s covers are my very favorites, though I have other favorites by other artists, too. His come closest to how I picture scenes when I read the stories. So colorful, vibrant, wonderful!