Mick Beyers' Mars
Barsoom. I Meant Barsoom.
Welcome! As you may know, I have many interests. I started reading/collecting comics in 1972 and I’ve enjoyed the art form ever since. When I was young I wanted to be a professional writer, then I wanted to be a comic book artist, and even went to the Kubert School1 for a year. While I never made a career out of it (and sadly my lettering works went uncredited), I’ve continued to read and study the medium. I spent over 27 years in the movie exhibition industry, in theatres as staff, management, and eventually as a corporate analyst2.
Even before I got into comic books I was a voracious reader. Mystery, adventure, science fiction, fantasy, I explored it all and I still do. I refuse to lock into a single genre, and enjoy romance, history and science. Let’s see, comics, books, TV, films, oh, and music! Chances are that I’ll eventually talk about something you’re interested in, too. I try to give reviews that have no spoilers, so if things seem sketchy at points, I hope that piques your curiosity.
Joe Kubert’s Tarzan was one of the first two comics I ever got. A year or two later, I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original in the 4th grade. I got a copy of Tarzan of the Apes (Ballantine Books black boarder, Neal Adams cover, Scholastic Book Club edition) and devoured it. I still have a fondness for the book, though as an adult I realize the problems with the concept. I didn’t meet John Carter in A Princess of Mars until my junior year (Frank Frazetta cover, Science Fiction Book Club hardcover edition). Having just moved to the “deep South,” I had more of a problem with Carter being a Confederate soldier than I would have if I’d read it in the 4th grade as well, but I read it and got the rest of the books in the series from the book club (the rest were all double novels, most with Frazetta covers and interior illustrations).
As with Tarzan, I’d read John Carter in comics before I read the original prose, from DC (art by Murphy Anderson) and Marvel (art by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum, etc.). I liked the character.
Via a Kickstarter I funded, I got a three-issue series from MC Comics collectively entitled Queen of Mars, and though I have some minor qualms on pacing and the art, this is a damn fine Barsoomian tale in the Burroughs tradition, a tale told in three acts.
Creator Mick Beyers explored the geography and politics of the races of Barsoom (Mars, to the inhabitants) and told a great story utilizing the various cultures, particularly the Tharks, some of whom are resistant to the cooperative new world that Warlord John Carter has introduced, somewhat against the will of all. Barsoom is a dying planet with few resources, primarily because all the races have always been at war with each other, as well as with factions within their own species. Carter has tried to unite them in peace and work together to survive.
Tradition dies hard.
“Leave to a Thark his head and one hand and he may yet conquer.” – Edgar Rice Burroughs, Gods of Mars. This saying has become the mantra of Kahr Kagut, a Thark who, indeed, has only one full arm left to him. He feels he has no worth, that with the coming of the Warlord John Carter the Tharks have lost their traditions; he seeks to end his life in battle. To this end he has traveled the River Iss, to face the wild beasts of the Valley of Dor.
Tradition dies hard.
Meeting Phaidor, Queen of Therns, his curiosity overcomes his desire for death, even though he considers the diminutive (to a Thark) woman to be his enemy. Phaidor, thought dead, has come to reclaim her throne, but there are those in her city who also resist the new ways of the Earthman who has changed their world.
Tradition dies hard.
This is where the story begins, with intrigue, culture clashes, battle, and romance, in “…He May Yet Conquer!” which continues in Queen of Therns and The Mettle of Mars.
The art in the first two chapters (serialized in 2021 & 2022) were reproduced in pencil and the printing is a little spotty in places where it pixilates. The final chapter (2023) was inked by Jeff Foulsham and has a more appealing sharpness. The visual storytelling is a little off here and there, but mostly is quite good. They are currently inking the first installments and coloring the whole story (Joel Bartlett, who has done the covers) for a trade paperback collection next year, which I look forward to. I’d like to see an additional page here and there where the story got rushed (there’s a second romance that almost appears out of nowhere), but I don’t think there are any plans for that.
On the cold Martian world – sorry, Barsoomian world – the inhabitants, whether Thark or humanoid, wear very little. This is implicit in the novels, and in all-ages (and Comics Code-approved) comic books, the skimpy clothing covered all the “naughty bits.” Beyers eschewed this faux modesty and renders the aliens and beasts with their breasts and frequently genitals uncovered. It isn’t to be titillating, which it really isn’t, but to give an accurate representation. There are no back-breaking early Image-esque posing of the women or undue attention brought to anything, it’s just there. But if you’re the sort of person who is offended by it, well, you might have to give it a pass. If you’re just looking to get your jollies from cartoon nudity, you’ll want to ignore it as well. This is a serious and well-told fantasy adventure for mature audiences.
The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, NJ, (1984-1985), followed by several months in The John Belfi Workshops (1985).
An independant theater, some AMC Theatres locations, and Century Theatres, which was sold to Cinemark in 2006, so from 1979-2006.