During the 60's Robert K. "Bob" Abbett is the artist who defined Barsoom for the Ballantine paperback market. Abbett is well known not only for his paperback work, but even more for his wildlife paintings. Above is his artwork for the eleventh and final novel in the Martian series.
And here is his work for volumes nine and ten of John Carter's adventures. Below are the covers themselves in all their retro-glory.
And here's an alternate cover Abbott did for Thuvia of Mars which was deemed a bit more saucy and was used in 1969. Given the over-the-top risque images I've seen of Dejah Thoris these days, this is a real blast from a different era and attitude.
The Abbett covers seem to be the ones Joe Jusko remembers as revealed in this painting for a cover of Dynamite's current comic book series.
John Carter opens today. Hopefully I'll get to see it. Full report to follow of course.
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While these are nice in a historical-romance style (which Abbett did a LOT of), I always felt the Frazetta & Krenkel Ace Books covers were the definitive 1960s Burroughs visualizations.
ReplyDeleteStay tuned amigo!
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