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 saucier 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 comic book series.
Jusko is he artist who have been entrusted to supply new cover art for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authoritative Editions currently spilling onto the market. Rip Off
I recently reread THUVIA, a copy with the saucier cover, and I prefer the cover not only aesthetically, but also because in the novel proper Thuvia barely makes use of her never-explained power over Martian lions. Since that's the novel wherein she gets permanently bonded to the son of John Carter, maybe Burroughs didn't want to suggest that she might keep her pet lions around to win arguments with her new husband?
ReplyDeleteSounds reasonable. I'm currently reading the second novel again and I might or might not get to Thuvia this time around.
Delete