The Funnies #33
The Funnies #33 (July 1939, Dell) marks the first appearance of Dejah Thoris — Princess of Helium and John Carter's future wife — in a standard comic book format, making it one of the genuine debut issues of the Golden Age for a character who would go on to headline her own titles decades later. This issue delivers the pivotal narrative moment in the ongoing adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars where Carter's Thark captors shoot down a flier from Helium, bringing the two protagonists face to face for the first time in comics. Together with the John Carter debut in #30, the early run of The Funnies established the Barsoom universe in the comic book medium and demonstrated that literary pulp properties could sustain serialized, authorized comic adaptations — a model that would be revisited by Dell, Gold Key, DC, and Marvel for decades. The Burroughs Barsoom saga's influence on the science-fiction genre, acknowledged as a precursor to works ranging from Flash Gordon to Star Wars, gives this earliest comic treatment added historical weight.
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The Funnies was packaged through its early issues by M.C. Gaines and editor Sheldon Mayer, primarily as a vehicle for newspaper-strip reprints; when Gaines and Mayer departed to produce work for All-American Publications, the title shifted direction sharply, replacing most reprints with original and authorized content. It was that editorial transition, coinciding with Western Printing taking over production duties from Gaines' operation in 1939, that created the opening for the authorized Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter adaptation to launch with #30 and continue through #33 and beyond. The John Carter strip in these early issues was drawn by Jim Gary, a King Features Syndicate illustrator whose style showed the influence of Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff; Gary held the art assignment until John Coleman Burroughs — the novelist's son — took over with issue #34.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published July 1939 by Dell; 68 full-color pages at a cover price of ten cents.
- Contains the first appearance of Dejah Thoris (Princess of Helium) in a standard comic book.
- Continues the ongoing authorized comic adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel A Princess of Mars, which began in The Funnies #30 (April 1939).
- The specific chapter presented here is the scene in which John Carter's green Martian captors shoot down a Heliumite airship, leading to his first encounter with Dejah Thoris.
- Art for the John Carter strip in this issue was provided by Jim Gary, a King Features Syndicate illustrator; John Coleman Burroughs (ERB's son) would take over art duties beginning with issue #34.
- The Funnies' shift toward original and authorized content — including this John Carter feature — followed the departure of packager M.C. Gaines and editor Sheldon Mayer, who left to work for All-American Publications.
- The John Carter feature continued running in The Funnies through issue #56 (June 1941).
- Art from The Funnies' John Carter run was reprinted in a Dell Fast Action Story (February–March 1940), a spinoff of Dell's Big Little Books line.
Cast · 2 characters
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Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).