Michael knows Hollywood, being an independent filmmaker himself, and he also has a strong love for the Burroughs canon. He manages to maintain enthusiasm for the movie while disagreeing about some of the structural components and creative decisions that drove it to its final form. I’d recommend that anyone so interested hie themselves over to http://thejohncarterfiles.com/2012/04/analysis-john-carter-the-flop-that-wasnt-a-turkey-how-did-it-happen-part-1/ and read Parts 1 & 2 of his article. Part 3 is there too, but it has been truncated by the fact that Michael decided to publish the e-book.

Sellers deals with the corporate take on the project quite well, and he’s very tolerant of Stanton’s creative impetus, saying, in answer to a number of comments, that some of the decisions were not the ones he would have made, but he respects Stanton’s right to make them. Many others are not so forgiving about the whole thing. I know that many, many fans saw the film, loved it, enjoyed it and want more of it. Then there are a wide range of fans who were disappointed, some virulently so, not just about changes to the story, but the misplaced emphasis on certain elements and the almost total disregard of others. Part of this anger comes, I think, from the realization that a movie like this, intended to be the flagship of a franchise, that does badly at the box office and is denigrated critically, has very little chance, if any, of ever seeing the big screen again. It’s frustrating to wait 40 years for film technology to develop to the point where it is possible to depict a living, breathing Barsoom, and then have it miss the mark.

Of course, supporters of the film will say that it didn’t miss the mark at all, and the disappointed will say that maybe half a loaf is better than nothing. And the vicious, who love to splatter their opinion everywhere they go will continue to clothe their, very often completely accurate, points in a language that will only infuriate and alienate their readers so much that all that can come out of any discussion is a rabid polarization of the “no, it doesn’t, yes, it does” third-grader argument variety. It would be nice if we could get beyond that someday, but the Popular Culture sites are still very juvenile, dominated by people who are much too enamored of their own cleverness or their own forcefulness. It happens on both sides and little but steam and vapor is generated by it.

In any case, all the criticism is out there: the medallion business is a senseless MacGuffin; Carter’s backstory and personality were shoehorned into the plot; a planet-crawling Zodanga was unnecessary and badly realized; super villain Therns cause more plot problems than they solve; the romance was stunted; and the search for the Gate of Issus was a showstopper, wasting time that could have been used on more dramatic and character-driven elements. That’s just some of them.

On the other hand: the production values were first-rate; the CGI of the Tharks was wonderful; the fliers were beautiful; the costuming was good…

The movie’s supporters say, “sit back and enjoy it! It’s a fun sci-fi romp!”

Its detractors say, “If only…!”

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth in the ERB fan community about the promotion and reception of the Andrew Stanton “John Carter” movie. I want to put in my own two cents about it, but frankly, I’m still chewing it over. It was not the film I’d hoped for. I will be very surprised if it attains true “film classic” status. It will very likely remain one of those “cult” films that could-be-good, could-be-bad …

I think the writers could have done a much better job of interpreting the book, and to confirm my feelings I went back to re-read “A Princess of Mars” for probably the fifth or sixth time (not counting all the times I’ve looked up some detail of one kind or another in it). I looked at it with a much more mature eye this time, and although I still enjoyed it and appreciate it for its place in the canon of SF and Fantasy, I got a little better handle on the shortcomings, as well as the virtues, of Ed’s first novel. That is the key, after all. It was his FIRST novel. He was feeling his way along and spinning a tale that he thought was just as crazy, if not MORE crazy than all the other pulp tales of 1910 and 1911.

I’ve got more to say on this but for now I’m just glad that I’m back in business.

The All-Story headpiece for ERB's first story. Art by Fred W. Small.

IN CASE you missed it, February 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of that most famous swordsman of two worlds, Captain John Carter of Virginia.

In the February, 1912 issue of “The All-Story” magazine, volume 22, number 2, on page 193 (the pages being numbered in sequence by quarterly volume), appeared an introduction (an “editor’s note”) to a story that would have a far-reaching effect on fantasy adventure for the next 100 years:

“Relative to Captain Carter’s strange story a few words, concerning this remarkable personality, are not out of place.

At the time of his demise, John Carter was a man of uncertain age and vast experience, honorable and abounding with true fellowship. He stood a good two inches over six feet, was broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, with the carriage of the trained fighting man. His features were regular and clear-cut, his eyes steel gray, reflecting a strong and loyal character. He was a Southerner of the highest type. He had enlisted at the outbreak of the War, fought through the four years, and had been honorably discharged. Then for more than a decade he was gone from the sight of his fellows. When he returned he had changed, there was a kind of wistful longing and hopeless misery in his eyes, and he would sit for hours at night, staring up into the starlit heavens.

His death occurred upon a winter’s night. He was discovered by the watchman of his little place on the Hudson, full length in the snow, his arms outstretched above his head toward the edge of the bluff. Death had come to him upon the spot where curious villagers had so often, on other nights, seen him standing rigid — his arms raised in supplication to the skies.”

“Under the Moons of Mars,” subtitled, on the contents page, as “the romance of a soul astray,” was serialized in the next five issues, through July, 1912 and led directly to the All-Story publication of “Tarzan of the Apes” in October of the same year. It would not be seen in book form as “A Princess of Mars,” until October 1917, five years later. Though it was published under a pseudonym since Burroughs didn’t want to be thought a complete nut-case, after the enthusiastic reception the story garnered he was only too eager to publish “Tarzan” under his own name.

The “Mars series” of 10 novels and one novella has inspired artists and writers from Otis Adelbert Kline and Robert E. Howard through Leigh Brackett, Ray Bradbury and S. M. Stirling. It gave birth to Flash Gordon, Star Wars and Avatar to name but a few. There had been other “visits to Mars” stories written previous, but none of them combined romance with adventure in such vivid and non-stop action. Criticized by some readers, those who seem to have a hard time with early 20th century writing, as “Victorian” or “old-fashioned,” the John Carter “Princess” trilogy still holds up and the three books bowl right along into an intense climax in the final pages of “The Warlord of Mars.”

Various attempts to film some kind of Burroughsian Mars adventure have been made since as far back as Bob Clampett and John Coleman Burroughs’ pitch of an animated feature in 1936. From the 1970s through  but the upcoming release of Andrew Stanton’s “John Carter” in March, 2012 marks the first time this 100-year old story will be seen living and breathing on the screen. Burroughs and Barsoom fans await the movie with both excitement and trepidation.

Early reports from those who have seen advanced screenings are encouraging and suggest that, though he might not have read the magazine version, Stanton and his collaborators, Mark Andrews and genre fiction enthusiast Michael Chabon, have managed to invest the film with, not only action and spectacle, but a bit of the “romance of a soul astray” in a way that modern audiences can relate to.

There will be elements of the film for us old-timers to complain about, of course. I still can’t seem to let go my disappointment of Stanton’s choosing to make the thoats, war-horses of both green and red men, look more like water buffalo instead of the dragon-like steeds that Burroughs describes. And if John Carter can find time in the movie to shave his prospector’s beard, why can’t he cut his hair as well? In the books Carter always describes himself with “close-cropped” hair. With fifty years of Burroughs-related art, scholarship and discussion about every detail of the books, you’d think that Stanton and his designers would at least check the record before going off on a tangent.

Be that as it may, the bones of the story will still come through, I’m sure. Carter will teach the Tharks about friendship and help to open peace talks through the strength of his love for the incomparable Dejah Thoris. There will still be swordplay, battles, fliers of all sizes, evil villains and a love that spans two worlds.

Perhaps this spring and summer will evoke some of the excitement that the six parts of “Under the Moons of Mars” created for the adventure seeking souls who picked up “The All-Story” at a newsstand 100 years ago and were so captivated that they imitated it for years to come.

After telling you all that I was working on a redesign of the site, it just seemed like it was getting harder and harder to get it finished. I think I started on this back on ’07 but there were a number of little problems that it took a while to figure out. Making the blog integrate with the site was a major one, but I think that’s pretty seamless now. You still have to remember to use your Back button or the “Recoverings Home” tab up top though. I couldn’t fully integrate the navigation of the site into this because there’s just too much back-end stuff going on here for me to attempt to design my own blog template. Maybe later.

I hope you’ll like the additions to the site such as the Art Prints, the Readings page and the Contact page. The latter is something I should have added a long time ago but wanted to wait until I could do a complete redesign.

You probably want to know if I’m going to finish any more dust jackets. In fact, I’ve finished the art restoration for TANAR, FIGHTING MAN and TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE, and will be working on setting the type as soon as I know this site is running well. I’ve almost completed the front cover restoration of GIRL FROM HOLLYWOOD but I need to do more work on the cover thumbnails on the back panel. As for TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE, there’s more to do there yet. But I’ll keep you informed.

I plan to write something on here once a week for starters, but it might drop to once a month later. We’ll see how it goes and what I have to say.

This is just a start folks.