I'm really getting rather excited to see this week's long-awaited epic John Carter. This movie is looking better and better and it sets up nicely that I might be able to catch it on Friday.
So to get into the proper Barsoomian mood here are some of Michael Whelan's outstanding paintings for his covers to the Del Rey set of paperbacks. There's a whimsy and elegance to these paintings which can't be matched, even by more venerable masters.
These books I have despite owning the Mars stories more than a few times over. Barsoom seems to elicit some great artwork from some great talents.
Here are those covers with logos and such.
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My older brother had these books. While I never read them, the covers made a huge impact on me. This is what John Carter of Mars is supposed to look like in my opinion. So that's why I've been very disappointed with what I've seen of the film.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to thank you for posting the covers and the original paintings. It's cool to see where they actually came from, and what else was in the artist's mind.FYI, I did find some higher resolution images for Chessmen of Mars and John Carter of Mars.
ReplyDeleteJust curious... Did Ballantine commission the paintings or just go through a stack of Whelan's work and pick and choose ones they thought would do? Some of them, particularly Mastermind seem too specific to be chance.
Thanks again!