John Carter of Mars Covers by Gino D’Achille
As I have said elsewhere, my first encounter with Edgar Rice Burroughs was in the elementary school library in 1974. I was nine and I saw The Chessmen of Mars with a cover painted in 1973 by Gino D’Achille.
The eerily casual pose by the headless female figure, her back turned to us and a kaldane (that hideous spider thing) creeping towards her. That was too much for my young mind. I shuddered and turned away. It would be another four years before I ventured into ERB territory, and then to Tarzan with those great Neal Adams covers. It would take the more fantasy-oriented, brightly-coloured Michael Whelan covers to finally get me to read John Carter when I was in my mid 20s.
But that’s not to put down Mr. D’Achille. The covers were a bit more adult, a little more serious, and perhaps more realistic. And very well done.
I’ve been able to gather some of D’Achille’s roughs and originals, and a piece of art direction he received for A Princess of Mars.
A Princess of Mars rough
The rough was returned to D’Achille with these notes on the back (or he wrote the notes to himself during a review meeting):
“Dejah must be red skinned and should be more covered – more jewelled harness. Green man must be taller, and skeletally thin.”
A Princess of Mars
The Gods of Mars
The Warlord of Mars rough
The Warlord of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars
The Master Mind of Mars
A Fighting Man of Mars
Swords of Mars
Synthetic Men of Mars rough
Llana of Gathol
John Carter of Mars
A Princess of Mars
The Gods of Mars
The Warlord of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars
The Master Mind of Mars
A Fighting Man of Mars
Swords of Mars
Synthetic Men of Mars
Llana of Gathol
John Carter of Mars
Box set of the first four novels
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It was Gino D’Achille’s cover of A Princess of Mars that drew my attention when I was looking for a book in my father’s “library” to read in 7th grade English. He had all the covers except for Warlord of Mars, which was the Michael Whelan cover. I found D’Achille’s Warlord cover some years ago at a thrift store.
For me it was the other way around. When I went looking for the D’Achille set, I found all of them in a book shop, save for Princess. Eventually got it through eBay.
Gino d’Achille’s cover suite had a hidden trick. The front-to-back designs could be pasted together into one very long panorama, a nod to the famous Lord of the Rings cover set from the 60s.
Very cool piece of info. Thanks!
I just saw the John Carter movie and I thought the movie caught the look of Gino D’Achille’s covers. (Just my humble opinion.) Thanks to the Google images and your wonderful page I was able to see these covers again. Looking at the covers posted above I was a little embarrassed to realize that I read the first 6 books of the series and I was in college at the time. But the covers got me to buy and read the books, which was the point. Thank you for letting me share. 30
Gino may be offering prints soon. I’ve been trying to get one of Flashman and the Dragon.
I grew up with earlier Ace 40 cent and the first Ballantine Barsoom books.
Cool. I’ll look for those.
Prints of Gino D’Achille work, including the John Carter of Mars series, are now available at http://www.ginodachille.com
Wonderful! All success.