100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Image Courtesy of A.C. McClurg
#95. A Princess of Mars (a.k.a Under the Moons of Mars)
Medium
Serialized Pulp Magazine (Initial)
Novel (Later)
Release Dates
February 1912–July 1912 (Released as Under the Moons of Mars in All-Story Magazine)
1917 (Re-Released as A Princess of Mars in Novel Form)
Credits
Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Novel Illustrator: Frank E. Schoonover
The Reason It’s Great
Yep, Mr. Burroughs gets another one of his stories on this list. A Princess of Mars or Under the Moons of Mars introduces readers to the character of John Carter. His superhuman abilities—due to a different environment—would be later mimicked by Superman and other modern day superheroes.
What makes John Carter and the novel a unique offering is that the character is human and becomes superhuman to another race of beings—the Martians. Carter would later rise in rank in his adoptive world and delve deep into its politics.
Burroughs’s narrative style, even by today’s standards, offers a lot of action with large amounts of violence—a hallmark of today’s darker comics. Burroughs’s characters are also stoic and black-and-white in their morality, making his books a perfect example of good versus evil.
The novel isn’t just a great read. Its signature characterizations and world-building would leave an imprint on literature—making way for modern day comics and setting up a template for what we now know as superheroes.