John Carter Warlord of Mars Character Retrospect: Garthon

The John Carter Warlord of Mars comics are filled with the stuff that drives gay men wild. Naked guys, odd glances, tons of hunks and passionate friendships. I have been telling these tales to FallenAngel and it has been having an effect on him as well. He has been surprising me with some awesome fan art of the characters. My tales had a very strong influence on him! Coming very soon I will have a big surprise for you bloggers. Today I want to spotlight one character in particular from the comics. It's a shame that Marvel never got the rights to reprint these wonderful comics. I apologize for the crappyness of the shots I took.




WOW this is one of Fallens most handsome faces. He looks so melancholy. I guess he his thinking of his fate and how he must flee his home. Nice battle damage! Now why can't more characters have that! :P His penis head is a red as the Martian sky. :P Sweet! I love the big thick comic book style lines fallen used here. Perfect! What is sad is, I read all the comics and there doesn't seem to be a final answer to his fate. Though we can assume he is fine.

While reading through the John Carter Marvel Comics, this character caught my attention quite easily. The character John befriends during the comics final story arch, Garthon. He is a curly blond, wingless son of a leader of a race of winged Martians. Not only is the pointed eared, peach skinned man sexy, he also has a few gay attributes to him as well. He is well built, but his main passion is gardening and poetry. Okay, so these don't make you gay...but let's face it, they are stereotypes and taking in account this was done in 1979, you gotta wonder... Continuing on from there, even his relationship to John is well, a little strange. John is taken captive in his city that is built out of stalactites in the Martian Grand Canyon. Garthon is the very first person to befriend him. He states that they are both the same (being white skinned) and that he cannot tell anyone he is married to Dejah. It's kinda funny how he does his best to be by Johns side as much as he can after telling him to forget about his wife. (Even though he has good intentions in doing so.) XD

Garthon surveys a new world in which he can live. This image influenced FallenAngels amazing fan art.

Garthion also lives in the shadow of his father. Literally! He is much smaller then him for one thing. His father Gar Korus is huge. John feels like a child standing beside him. The massive winged man is disgraced by Garthon and often avoids even making eye contact with him. Being small in stature, wingless and not interested in war makes him a less then desirable son..hmmmmmmm. :P One funny thing is how much Gar Korus dotes on John Carter and puts him in clothes. It's like John his his little boy toy. John hates that and protests at first. The more he is around Garthon and the stronger their bond becomes and the less and less we see on John. This is probably due to the artist choices while drawing the character, but it does make ones mind wonder. They undress in front of each other as well...

He is not liked by his father because of his timid ways, but John constantly praises him in front of Gar Korus. The father is never interested till it is too late.

Garthons also has a secrete! He has a forbidden love, a red woman. He wants to escape his city along with John and Dejah. The people of this place do not believe the world goes on any further beyond the cliff tops. (Funny since they know they evolved from people who fled the surface thousands of years ago.) The love between Garthon and the red woman seems reflective of emerging liberal views towards interracial and gay relationships at that time. Huge Gar Korus representing the overshadowing old school thought on the subject suffocating the youth of the time.

John complementing Garthon on his garden.

Garthon with a wedgie. What is going on in the front to make the back so tight? XD

Garthon and his lady love. We see her all of twice. There is way more focus on him and John! XD

Oh John you are the only one to love me for who I am...

John meeting Garthons farther for the first time. You know they would make an awesome threesome!

Wonderful profile shot of Garthon. You can see his pointed ears here and chiseled features.

A warm embrace. Now, this could just be my 21st century jaded outlook shinning through in comparison to how open and friendly people were back in the 70s, but I say there is way too much of this going on! XD

City with the farms below, tended by red slaves.

Garthons alternate outfit.

John and him all sweaty in battle. They fight side by side, with less and less clothes each time!

Yes John is in the process of grabbing his bum here. LOL

His bum is often shown 'by accident' when the colorists do not color his skin tight garment white. Uh huh, sure it is an accident.

These last two are of Garthon and John Sneaking in the window...there is no explanation as to why they must sneak back in the palace...they were just at war. What were they doing out there? XD Is it me, or does it look like they were just holding hands until his father startled them? XD Garthon is for sure grabbing Johns bottom here. :O Hmmm lots of light homosexual tendencies he has huh? XD

One thing I want to point out is how the coloring of Garthon is probably wrong. When Burroughs mentions 'white' Martians, he probably means, very pale skinned, milky white people, like a China doll, or Snow White. All Martians are color coded, but this coloring does not reflect the races of Earth. Black Martians are said to be close in stature of black people on Earth, but are still very different. This image by Joe Jusko shows what the black Martians were probably meant to look like. I always figured they were a cross between black, white and Trinidadian people.




Well that's it for now. We never see Garthon after John escapes his city. I am sure he would have become a main character if the books had been able to continue.