Four Color #488

Dell's Four Color series brings Edgar Rice Burroughs' swashbuckling hero to vivid life in this 1953 entry, with John Carter posed dynamically aboard what appears to be a Martian flyer — one hand gripping a control, the other leveling a ray gun, his blue cape billowing dramatically behind him. The cover's painted realism gives Carter a rugged, movie-hero presence that suits a story subtitled "Tyrant of the North" perfectly. Jesse Marsh handles the interior art, making this a fine showcase of his work on one of science fiction's most enduring planetary romance heroes.