Bold Fashion Choices--The Non-Naked Warlord Of Mars!!

You know, our imaginations can be pretty broad and vast.

So, really, there's no reason that Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter Of Mars has to always be seen as half-naked leftovers from Frazetta covers wandering around the Red Planet, despite what a generation of cheap paperback covers have taught us.

No, there is another way. For example...

In 1952 & 1953, Dell's Four Color did three issues of John Carter stories, all art (including covers) by Jesse March.

See, John can dress more like a Flash Gordon type...no loincloth or "battle harness" necessary (OK, that Thark is wearing a loincloth...but he has a cape!!)

Another huge surprise:

Deja Thoris can actually wear real clothing!! She doesn't have to parade around as transparent wank fodder by imagination-less illustrators who can't think of any other way to make her attractive than by having her parade around in a way that would make a porn star blush.

I'm not sure about that hair, though...

Hey, I'm not saying that this interpretation is necessarily the best one, the preferred one, the most correct one, the only acceptable one.

But good gosh, we (and by we, I mean you, Dynamite Comics) sure seem to have settled into a rut, a group-think that suggests that the only possible interpretation of John Carter is to get Dejah Thoris as naked as possible as often as possible and to make John himself straight barbarian, rather than interplanetary swashbuckler. 

But they can wear clothes, guys, even if only once in awhile...

From Dell Four Color #375, #437 & #488 (1952-53)