John Carter of Mars Covers by Michael Whelan
Posted on July 14, 2012, in Books, John Carter of Mars, with 1 Comment
In 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!