Illustrating Burroughs

For the first time in one of these posts, I'm running into the problem that a lot of the illustrations I'd like to feature are...ahem... somewhat graphic. There is a plethora of attempts to illustrate Burroughs' Barsoom, but given that most of the characters run around naked or semi-naked, and the overwhelming tendency to focus on Dejah Thoris'... assets, most of them are NSFW. It's also interesting that there's a strong tendency to sexualise the Thark women (think the Na'vi in Avatar, but green and with tusks). If you're interested, you'll have to hunt them down yourselves :)

The most interesting aspect of the other illustrations is trying to decipher the visual cues to race and culture: instead of dreaming up something truly strange, many of these artists throw in visual references to some Earth culture they consider exotic. This is the classic cover, the one I've seen most often:

To me, this seems to be trying to evoke ancient Greece. John's costume is basically a chiton with a utility belt. You can't see much of Dejah's dress, but the bare arms and multiple folds suggest a peplos; her armbands are another cue. This is from the same edition:

Again, the draperies suggest a classical influence, supported in this case by the column and the bas-relief. This webpage has a collection of various Barsoom illustrations.

This is another interesting one:

It's from a recent graphic-novel version of the book. I'd be interested to hear what others think the artist is going for here.

There were also plenty of comic book versions of John Carter and Barsoom (this site collects a few, along with some illustrations by fantasy artists like Vallejo). This is an interesting take:

He looks like a WW1 flying ace, crossed with Errol Flynn as Robin Hood.

These are by far my favourite illustrations: a weird, wiggy take on the Barsoom series drawn by Manolo Pireto for a Spanish translation:

And, finally, Joel Rothberg's gorgeous illustrations: