I can’t say I’m excited to see John Carter (I’m not), but I am interested in the fact that the Edgar Rice Burroughs character has been around for 100 years and, therefore, is out of copyright.
Ergo, you can read A Princess of Mars and other John Carter books for free on Project Gutenberg (or iBooks or, I assume, Kindle). And you probably should, because if you think about it, the film is brought to you by the same studio that brought you the stinky The Prince of Persia … (For those who care, that’s based on a Tweet I wrote a week ago. For those who don’t, why are you reading parenthetical insertions?)
Other notes: according to reports, the plot of the film
Former Confederate captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is mysteriously transported to Mars (“Barsoom”) where he becomes part of a conflict between the various nations of the planet, whose leaders include Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). Carter takes it upon himself to save Barsoom and its people.
Isn’t this the plot of Planet Hulk? Hmmm … must investigate.
Also, we can also begin to see how Disney is shaping Marvel. The comic book line released a 5-issue short run of John Carter: A Princess of Mars (the main storyline from the film) last year. Like tentacles slowly wrapping around a prey, Disney will eventually crush Marvel to its likeness.
Or maybe I’m just grumpy.
Loved these books when I first read them as a kid, and always thought what spectacular films they’d make as it was a pretty safe bet no one would ever make them. But of course, with the advent of CGI, Hollywood leaves no property unmolested. Think I’ll spend my time rereading the books and imagining far better films.
I think I’ll read them too … but I just can’t avoid the draw of the movies. I’ll let you know how it is.