John Carter, Warlord Of Mars

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white avenger

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I don't know how many people here are familiar with the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, primarily the exploits of the immortal John Carter on the planet Mars, but for those of you who are, I would be interested in your input on just how Carter and every other fighting man on Barsoom is armed.

(My purpose for asking is that, from what little that I have seen of trailers for the new movie, they missed it on all counts)

We are told that the normal armament of all Barsoomian warriors consists of a "long sword," a "short sword," a handgun, and a dagger, though no specific details of any of them were ever given. Personally, I always envisioned the long sword as a cross between a rapier and a saber, something actually used for fencing of a lethal nature. The short sword, I imagined as being, obviously, shorter in length, but with a heavier blade, something like a small cutlass or a very large Bowie, suited more for hacking and chopping than than anything else. The dagger I saw as a medium sized Arkansas Toothpick. For a long time, the Barsoomian revolver remained a complete mystery to me, until I saw what would be to me the perfect example: Mal Reynolds' pistol from "Firefly."

So, if anyone here would care to share, what do you see when you imagine the
Warlord's weapons?

(And is anyone else really looking forward to this movie?)
 
I thought Albion did a pretty good job with their "Martian Longsword." It was based on some of the cover art from one of the John Carter books.

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I can't say that I'd given the complete panoply a lot of thought, but it would be neat to go through the books and pull out any descriptive wording and have a custom set built based on that.
 
I LOVE those books, along with Tarzan and the short John Carson of Venus series.
Burroughs was a true visionary, the journey to the center of the earth stuff was him too, from a Tarzan run.
The whole idea of him returning to earth every 30 years or so and seeing his family who knew it was still him ... loved it.

That is a good looking sword too.
I think there was a comic series based on it called Warlord, he carried a pistol and his sword, and was set on Mars.
 
I think that you're referring to the CARSON NAPIER Venus novels, which were, incidentally, the main inspiration for the Na'vi and their "Home Tree " in "Avatar."

And as for any description Burroughs might have given, about all that I can remember is the mention by Carter of putting "three feet of steel" through a Thark's chest, and a dagger having a "long, slender, and razor sharp" blade. Beyond that, about the only descriptions of the various Martian weapons were when they were described as either "plain in appearance, but of the absolute finest quality" or as having various precious stones embedded in their hilts.
 
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Your right, it was Carson of Venus, no John on that one ... :D
Loved the Pellucidar stuff too.
Tarzan was one of my favorites too.
 
I may be one of the few people in the world who got actually angry at how Disney turned Tarzan into a dumb, dread-locked, tree surfing parody. Even the live action movies were far better than that, though Weismuller, Gordon, and most of the rest were well off target too. Ron Ely was, in my opinion, about the closest that any actor ever came to actually getting the character right, possibly because he was the only one who ever actually bothered to read the books.

And as I've been writing this, it has just occurred to me for the very first time that the studio that ruined my image of Tarzan is the same one that is making the movie about John Carter. Now I'm beginning to get worried. Carter is one of my all time personal fiction heroes, and I really hate the idea that he's going to be butchered the way that Tarzan always has been.

Incidentally, have you ever read Philip Jose Farmer's take on Tarzan? "A Feast Unknown," (which reads like pornography, so be forewarned) or its sequels, "Lord Of The Trees," and "The Mad Goblin" then a totally different version in "Time's Last Gift," which is the best of all of them, in my opinion.

(Sorry, folks, that this got off topic so much, but the opportunity to talk to another Burroghphile just doesn't come along that often)
 
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I will have to check those out.

I got mad as hell about pretty much all the Tarzan movies ..lol
To me, I always think of Tarzan from the books, as a brilliant mind trapped in a savage body.
He was the offspring of brilliant people with great genetics, and raised as a savage.
To truly do him justice, they would have to portray him as someone who is sharp as a razor, and physically intimidating as well.
Jane was no weeping maiden looking to be rescued either, she turned into a true jungle queen with Tarzan at her side, and after a while Tarzan even fit in as Lord Greystoke.
Not sure who would do it right, but my thoughts on it are that the guy who made the new batman movies has a real goof eye for that balance. I think he would do a great Princess of Mars too.
The "Civilized Savage" is pretty much what Bruce Wayne/Batman are, and would be equally appropriate to apply to Tarzan and John Carter. John was a gentleman soldier, and Tarzan a noble born with a good heart but raised as a great ape.
 
I haven't read the book (didn't know it was a book until this thread) but the movie looks pretty good (crossing fingers).
If I were to decide on the proposed loadout I'd have to start with some kind of bastard sword. It can be used one handed, but is improved with two-handed use. As much as I like katanas, the book seems to suggest that the swords are longer (at least 36" in the blade, apparently). A European type bastard sword could comfortably be that long, and sabers that long were mostly used from horseback. Such a sword would also allow for the use of a second weapon, such as the revolver, the short sword or the dagger. As for the short sword, I'd agree with the OP on some type of curved sword like a cutlass or a wakizashi. It seems the dagger is pretty well spelled out already — long, thin and 'dagger' usually means double-edged. I've always liked the Holbein dagger, so I'll go with that. No comments on the revolver, as nothing immediately comes to mind.

- Chris
 
Was pleasantly surprised to see John Carter made into a big screen pic. Saw the B-movie version about a year or so ago, and found it a bit laughable, but still enjoyed seeing the stories come to life on screen. My grandfather actually started me on John Carter of Mars about 15 years ago, telling me he read the same books when he was a teenager in the 40's. Amazingly vivid storytelling at its best. In terms of the short sword, I guess I envisioned a Roman gladiator type sword, but with a bit of an S like curve (I sort of figured the Martian races would favor a wavier blade, don't know why though, just sounds right). Can't wait for the movie, actually rereading the complete series on an e-reader file on my phone.
 
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