The Funnies #35
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Funnies #35 (September 1939, Dell) marks the first time John Carter of Mars appeared on the cover of any comic book — a landmark distinction for one of science fiction's earliest and most influential heroes. The character had debuted in prose in 1912 and entered comics with The Funnies #30 (April 1939), but it took until issue #35 for him to receive the visual prominence of a cover feature. The Barsoom saga's blend of planetary romance, swordsmanship, and interplanetary politics had already influenced generations of pulp readers and would go on to shape the DNA of Flash Gordon, Superman, and Star Wars; this cover was the visual gateway through which that mythology first entered the comic book format in a headline position. As a Golden Age anthology title pivoting toward original content at a critical editorial juncture, the issue also represents an early example of licensed literary properties being adapted into comics — a creative model that would define the medium for decades.
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The Funnies was a Dell anthology title packaged from its 1936 launch by Max Gaines and editor Sheldon Mayer via the McClure Syndicate, built largely around newspaper-strip reprints. When Gaines departed in 1939 to co-found All-American Publications with DC, the editorial direction shifted decisively toward original material — and it was in that transitional moment, beginning with issue #30, that the authorized John Carter of Mars adaptation was introduced. The early issues of the strip (through #33) carried art by Jim Gary, but from issue #34 onward the feature was illustrated by John Coleman Burroughs, the youngest son of Edgar Rice Burroughs himself, who would go on to produce 152 pages of John Carter comics across the run through issue #56.
Trivia · 8 facts
- The Funnies #35 (cover-dated September 1939, Dell) is the first comic book cover appearance of John Carter of Mars, illustrated by John Coleman Burroughs.
- John Carter's first appearance in any comic book occurred five issues earlier, in The Funnies #30 (April 1939), also published by Dell.
- John Carter was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and first appeared in prose in 1912, serialized in All-Story Magazine as 'Under the Moons of Mars' before being collected as the novel A Princess of Mars (1917).
- The interior John Carter strip in issue #35 is an authorized adaptation of A Princess of Mars, continuing the ongoing story arc from previous issues.
- Art for the John Carter feature from issue #34 onward — including #35's both cover and interior — was produced by John Coleman Burroughs, son of the character's creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
- The Funnies was a 64-page, full-color anthology published at a cover price of ten cents, featuring multiple strips alongside John Carter, including Roy Crane's Captain Easy and V.T. Hamlin's Alley Oop.
- The John Carter strips from this era of The Funnies were later reprinted in a Dell Fast Action Book (1940) and informed the artwork for the John Carter Better Little Book (#1402, 1940), both illustrated by John Coleman Burroughs.
- John Carter of Mars continued appearing in The Funnies through issue #56 (June 1941), representing a run of 27 consecutive issues — his only regular comics home until DC's Tarzan comics picked up the character in 1972.
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