John Carter of Mars: Art by Michael Whelan

John Carter of Mars Cover

I had a couple copies from this Ballantine book edition of the John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The artwork is striking, with lush colour and striking compositions, not to mention imaginative alien designs.

The scantily clad Princesses don't hurt either, although you tend to forget about that cheese aspect when reading the somewhat dated and formal prose of ERB.

Michael Whelan is a gentleman who raised the bar for pulp book covers; he manages to make them classy, or at least 'classy Maxfield Parrish kitsch'.

The piece below is particularly Parrish-esque. Love the decorative tableaux approach. Both Whelan and Parrish have an operatic quality to their work that suits the genre.

Not actually from the Carter franchise. But it could be.

.