Tardos Mors

Tardos Mors is the Jeddak (emperor) of Helium on Barsoom (Mars) and grandfather of Princess Dejah Thoris, making him one of the most powerful rulers in Edgar Rice Burroughs' planetary-romance setting as depicted in comics.

Tardos Mors stepped onto the Bronze Age Marvel stage in 1978, introduced by the formidable creative pairing of Chris Claremont and Ernie Colón in John Carter, Warlord of Mars #16 — a debut that planted this figure firmly in one of comics' most beloved planetary-romance settings. Over a remarkable span stretching all the way to 2022, he has kept extraordinary company, sharing pages with Dejah Thoris, John Carter, Tars Tarkas, Kantos Kan, and Mors Kajak across titles like Dejah Thoris and Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris. That kind of enduring presence across more than four decades and multiple publishers speaks to a character woven deep into the fabric of the Barsoom mythos as comics has embraced it. For collectors who love the sweeping, adventurous tradition of sword-and-planet storytelling, Tardos Mors is a name worth tracking down.