Focus!

We've got a Voluptuous Heroine, a Muscley Protagonist, a Crimson Scientist, and a group of pressure cookers.

Which of these elements should be in clear focus and take up 30% of the foreground?

>1 EndofDiskOne:

"Your picture is the wrong shape to fit on the cover."
"Give me a couple hours."

Bad Show, artist Sir! Scantily or non-clad ladies are what the nerds are on Barsoom to see! Or the mighty-thewed chaps for some.

(Except for the truly pathetic ones, who -- on a parallel chat board -- are probably complaining about the inaccuracy of the pressure vessels.)

I think maybe those nerds get a charge out of peeping from the shadows ...

>4 paradoxosalpha: There's probably one of them hiding behind the pressure cookers.

>5 GSSex-noob: Right. Prospective reader as present voyeur. It's not just a cover illustration; it's a cover plot.

The full wraparound art includes a white Barsoomian ape, who also likes to watch.

.

Here's the full original art:



"Hey guys, I'm going for a beer run, do you want anything?"

....

"Is this a bad time?"

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/wp-content/uploads/mastermindofmars.jpg

Oops! Ninja'd.

BTW, sorry I haven't added any new covers in the last week: been busy, and am currently rather ill with what appears to be a bad cold. My energies are low.

>8 bam2001: @paradoxosalpha: Presumably the ape is also representative of the reader. Whelan went to plenty of cons, he saw the type.

@bam2001: I had that cold in December. It may linger.

It all looks just terribly uncomfortable and poorly thought out. That twist of her hips to bring her nether regions to bear can't be easy to pull off, and if John Carter is planning on using that dildo at his hip for some back-door fun, it really is going to be awkward.

This guy's not even John Carter. He's another dude, mentored by the mad scientist Martian. He falls in love with the red babe, who of course turns out to be a princess of course.

ERB couldn't sell it to the higher-paying publishers and had to settle for 1/3 the price from Gernsback.

@NomadUK: She appears to be one of the egg-laying mammal women of Mars. Maybe they've got really flexible spines?

>13 GSSex-noob: Sixth of a ten book series: he may have been running a bit out of steam by that point.

>14 bam2001: Yes, he'd already started slowing down when he'd switched to Carter and Dejah's kids, and it was all completely downhill after this one.

Wonder if this was already public domain by then.

We'll always have Tarzana.

(it's not been on fire lately)

I'm just trying to fill in what's going from my sketchy knowledge of the Barsoom series. The mad scientist has a white fringe of hair, which seems to indicate that he's probably nearing the end of his thousand-year lifespan, though I don't know if the Therns (the white-haired ne'er-do-wells from the South Pole of Mars) have that limitation.

The dark-haired guy is pretty white for a Martian. Maybe he's some other guy teleported to Barsoom from some random other world which emphasizes physical fitness and prizes six-pack abs. Oh, and I think *all* red-skinned Barsoomian women are princesses.

I do recommend the Librivox.org recording of "Princess of Mars", though. Single reader, and not bad at all for being an amateur.

>16 Hammy_JLK: Yeah, this is some other guy from Earth.

I thought the thousand years was just what the Red Martians thought was their "time" to take the magical mystery river trip which ends in them being killed by the Therns/plant men, not the age at which they get old and creaky: they're still pretty hale at the time they leave, IIRC.

>18 bam2001: Did the Reds ever find out the truth? I suspect Carter and Deja told everyone, but don't remember.

>17 GSSex-noob: I thought I remembered the dastardly Earthling; he pulled some really nasty stuff. I don't know if he was the one behind the defeating of the atmosphere plant at the end of "Princess of Mars", but I could see him having the ability and means to do so.

>18 bam2001: You're probably right about that. As far as I remember, the trip down the River Ish was a voluntary thing, not necessarily triggered by infirmity. That makes me wonder about the white-haired guy with the fringe on the cover up there. As I recall, Therns didn't shave their scalps and leave a fringe, but maybe I'm confused.

Nice Dejah view.
I bet thoris her thpine in that pothition.

>22 TorMented: Ooh, that's up to the old GSS standards. GSS!