DEJAH THORIS GALLERY

"And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in every detail to the earthly women of my past life... Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her every feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against which the crimson glow of her cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a strangely enhancing effect. She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied her; indeed, save for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure."

So declared John Carter when he gazed upon the ravishing Dejah Thoris, princess of the great Martian city-state/empire of Helium on the planet Barsoom (aka Mars).

Edgar Rice Burrough's martian series began with a serialization in THE ALL-STORY magazine from February-July 1912 as UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS. After the success of Tarzan it was published as the novel, A PRINCESS OF MARS in 1917.

John Carter is mysteriously transported to the red planet after hiding in a cave from Apache warriors in post-Civil War Arizona. The series included 11 books:

• A Princess of Mars (1917)
• The Gods of Mars (1918) 
• The Warlord of Mars (1919)
• Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920)
• The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
• The Master Mind of Mars (1928)
• A Fighting Man of Mars (1931)
• Swords of Mars (1936)
• Synthetic Men of Mars (1940)
• Llana of Gathol (1948)
• John Carter of Mars (1964) (a collection of two earlier stories)

As with many of Burrough's tales, the books are filled with characters, and Dejah Thoris is among the most memorable. She is depicted as both a strong female character and a stunning beauty. As a result, innumerable artists have seized on her description to create their own interpretations. Most recently, beginning in 2010, Dynamite Entertainment published a run of comics featuring John Carter and Dejah Thoris. Not surprisingly, the artists--such as Joe Jusko and Arthur Adams--paid particular attention to Dejah Thoris with a few results you see below.