Image du Jour

Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Chessmen of Mars is the fifth of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels, and one of my favourites. I own the edition with this phantasmagoric cover by Gino D'Achille. John Carter is not center stage in this book, which has to be the weirdest entry in the series; certainly ERB outdid himself with his descriptions of the titular "Chessmen" creatures. D'Achille's cover certainly made me shudder when my uncle gave me a copy for my 12th birthday. But I loved it just as the other ERB Mars novels, and it's still a fantastic read.

Image du Jour

My mother bought this comic for me when I was a wee tot. I liked H.G. Wells, and I thought the hero, Killraven, looked cool, but the lampreys were scary. I didn't understand the story. I could make no sense of it. I decided to give it another try another time. By the time I did, Amazing Adventures was defunct.

In the 1980s I rather cheaply amassed a complete run of the Amazing Adventures issues featuring the War of the Worlds strip. It's now one of my favourite Marvel series ever. And this Jim Starlin cover image (aided by the H.G. Wells imprimatur) is what first roused my curiosity. What a classic 70s Marvel cover!

HC 93