A Princess of Mars

Mark Gruenwald

If you can spare a couple of minutes and a small amount of money in these difficult times, please take a moment and consider helping out the Hero Initiative and creators in need on the anniversary of the passing of Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald  (June 18, 1953 – August 12, 1996) and amazing artist Mike Wieringo (June 24, 1963 – August 12, 2007). This will be the five year anniversary of Mike’s passing.

From the Hero Initiative donation web site:

Every year, we commemorate these two gentlemen on what is now known as “M-Day” (formerly “G-Day”)

This year, we’d like the celebrate the spirit of generosity and cameraderie amongst the comic book community that both of these creators embodied by encouraging their friends and fans to make a donation to the Hero Initiative.

Mike Wieringo

The Hero Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping out those members of the comic book creative community who have fallen on hard times financially. Assistance from the Hero Initiative has made a difference in the lives and situations of many great practitioners of our art.

• M-Day donations
• More about The Hero initiative

It’s really not a web comic at all, though. Miniature sculptor James Killian Spratt began what he describes as “A Graphic Interpretation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars” in 2000. I was going to go into detail about this highly NSFW comic, but found an article by Lauren Davis on io9 (Genital-filled Princess of Mars comic shows off the full-frontal natives of Barsoom) that pretty well sums up my opinions on the work.

a scene from On The Arizona Hills. Artwork © James Killian Spratt

I promised earlier in the week that this would be a post about a Princess of Mars work that doesn’t inspire me, but I’m thinking differently now. Eventually, if all goes as planned, my comic will indeed reach the point where pretty much every character is running around in the nude, and there’s going to be blood and violence in spades – as in the novel. I just think my interpretation of being “honest with the nudity and violence” differs from his, and I hope A Graphic Interpretation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars does inspire me – to try to do better.