Monday, December 12, 2011

The Babes of Burroughs







Dejah Thoris

Dejah Thoris is the titular princess of Burroughs Princess of Mars. The daughter of Mors Kajak, Jed of Lesser Helium. She is John Carter's beloved, and eventually his wife. Her beauty is often refered to as "incomarable." To look at these pictures, one can see why this is.











Tara of Helium


Tara was the daughter of John Carter sand Dejah Thoris. Strange that an Jasoomian and a Bersoomian princess are capable of reproducing, given their different reproductive systems. Tara obviously has inherited her mother's beauty and curvaceousness. Here, she is depicted recoiling in horror from one of the Kaldane/Rykors.

Thuvia of Ptarth


A princess of the Barsoomian city of Patarth. She becomes is the mate of Cathoris, the son of John Carter. She has the ability to control the great banths, the six-legged "lions" of Barsoom.

Llanna of Gathol


The beautiful daughter Gathan and Tara of Helium (sorry, I couldn't find a picture)

Duare


Carson Napier's beloved, the beautiful daughter of Mintep Jong of Vepaja on the cloud-shrouded forest world of Amtor. Here she is facing off with a tharban, or Venusian "tiger." Wait--aren't tharbans supposed to be peppermint-striped--and striped longitudinally? Anyway, the way Frazetta depicts her, her pants don't come up very far...
Seeing this picture, certain words come to mind: "Shara drew her blade, held in her small, capable fist and waited, as the great predator snarled in menace."
Don't know why; this IS Duarre of Amtor, not a jungle girl named Shara. Oh, well...

Nah-ee-Lah



The "Moon-Maid" of the novel of that title, Na-ee-Lah, princess of the lunar city of Lathe. She is perhaps the most beautiful heroine Burroughs ever created, and the most lovely Frazetta ever illustrated. She became the beloved of Julian 5th, man of Earth, who describes her thusly:"...there before me, was as perfectly formed a human female as I had ever seen. ...she appeared a girl of about eighteen, with hair of glossy blackness, that suggested more the raven's wing than aught else and a skin of almost marble whiteness, slightly tinged with a creamy shade. Such perfection of features seemed almost unbelievable." - from The Moon Maid
Frazetta depicts the Va-gahs as a race of centaurs, although that is not technically correct. The Vah-gahs are sentinet quadropeds, but not centaurs. "Frazetta Comics" did a one-shot issue based on this painting. The story was vaguely Burroughian, but the princess was not Nah-ee-lah, and it had nothing to do with the origninal tale by Burroughs.

Oh, and notice the difference between frazetta's illustration for the paperback edition, and the more commonly seen version above.





Dian the Beautiful











Dian the Beautiful is the beloved of David Innes in Burroughs' Pellucidar series. The first of the illustrations above may, in fact, depict a different girl in At the Earth's Core(one who tragically fell victim to the Mahar), or it may in fact depict Dian, but no particular scene from the novel. The second Frazetta pic shows a well-developed Dian facing off against a Tarag in the Mahar arena; the thipdars in the painting sized the tarag and carried him off, saving the lives of David and Dian. This was becuase a dept that Tu-ul-sa, the Mahar queen owed to David after sparing her life. The final Frazetta pic is from a scene for Savage Pellucidar, showing Dian between two snarling smilodons. This same painting was also used on one edition of Burroughs' The Cave Girl, though that was erroneous, as no sabertooths, nor any other beast save a large panther, ever appeared in its pages.

La-ja
A blonde barbarian girl of the Pelluicdaran village of Basti, von Horst's beloved in Back to the Stone Age. She acted as though she hated him throughout most of thier adventures. In truth, she feared that Gaz, her suitor would kill von Horst When the German finally killed Gaz, La-ja let him know her true feelings for him. Sorry, I couldn't find a picture. Note: In one of the Russ Manning newspaper strips it is suggested that La-ja was killed, and von Horst fallen into deep depression. I still wonder if that was really true, and perhaps La-ja was still alive, much as Jane was still alive in the comic series Tarzan: the Savage Heart. Anyway, it was non-canonical.

Jana (the Red Flower) of Zoram

Jason Gridley's beloved in Tarzan at the Earth's Core. He saved her from unwanted suitors, and eventually returned to the surface with her.

Nat-ul


The beloved of Nu of the Niocene in Burroughs stand-alone novel The Eternal Savage.

Victoria Custer

Nat-al's reincarnation in present-day Africa.

Victory

Jefferson Turk's love interest in Lost Continent. He saved from a primitive suitor named Buckingham. Victory was queen of the land of Grabritin, a savage tribe in a post-apocolyptic future. England and mainland Europe)had fallen into barbarism. The lands were overrun with primitive tribes with beasts such as lions and tigers.

Nadarra



The heroine of The Cave Girl Nadarra was actually a civilized girl of noble blood, who had grown up and "gone wild" on a primitive island inhabited by Neanderthal tribsmen. She becomes the mate of Waldo Emerson Smith-jones, who eventually becomes known as Thandar. There were no prehistoric beasts on the island, save a species of huge black panther.

Fou-Tan


The jungle girl of The Land of Hidden Men. The princess of Phom Dek, a lost civilization in the depths of Asia, a different continent than most Burroughs' stories. The becomes the mate of American Gordon King, who saves her, among other perils from a mad ruler who beleives himself (falsely) to be infected with leprsy, and attempts to infect her. Now, if can ever find the time to write a pastiche where Tarzan himself enters the Land of Hidden Men, and battles a maltese tiger.

Ajor


A Galu princess of Caspak. Tom Billings saves her from a giant panther, and worse human dangers.

La of Opar










La of Opar was High Priestess of the lost Atlantean colony of Opar in ERB's Tarzan series. The women of Opar were beautiful, while the men were degenerate and bestial, partially because of breeding with the local Mangani. La was cold, haughty and ruthless; she nearly sacrificed jane Porter in The Return of Tarzan. Terribly jealous repeatedly vied for Tarzan's affection, but was forever spurned; Greystoke was committed to one woman only, much to her chagrin. The Frazetta pic of the girl with the lioness may not be intended to depict La, and the lost city in the distance may not be Opar, but there is certainly a resemblance.

Nemone of Cathne






Nemone was the proud, cruel queen of Cathne, the city of gold, in the hidden valley of Onthar. She had a desire for Tarzan, but of course, she could never have him. The above risque depiction by Frazetta may not be Nemone, but then again, it might. The lion could very well be Belthar, Nemone's faithful pet. Lions were used as guard beasts and to drive chariots in Cathne as well.

Pan-at-lee

Pan-at-lee was a Waz-don girl of Pal-ul-don, whom Tarzan rescued from a Tor-o-don, and later, from a gryf. Here she is depicted by artist Joe Jusko hiding form her pursuers among gigantic prehistoric clubmosses.

Itzal Cha


Itzal Cha was a Mayan girl of the lost colony of Uxmal, whom Tarzan rescued from sacrifice in Tarzan and the Castaways.

Itzal Cha might have been a model for Chel (below), the female lead in The Road To Eldorado. She was one character who really did have a frazetta-esque build.

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