“The City of the Mummies” in Llana of Gathol (1948) proves it was not a novel so much as a series of stories combined to fill a book. It was followed by three other loosely connected but separate tales. Most of Edgar Rice Burroughs later books were of this sort. The series was part of ERB’s Amazing Stories/Fantastic Adventures sales to Ray A. Palmer. After decades of writing novels, Burroughs enjoyed the freedom to pen new shorter stories in Pellucidar, Venus and Barsoom. All of these pieces were written in Hawaii, where ERB was living to save money (two ex-wives to support) and avoid US marriage law. All this would come to a crashing halt when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. ERB signed up as a war correspondent and Ray Palmer lost his top writer.
J. Allen St John
Ray A. Palmer knew a good thing when he saw it. The pairing of J. Allen St. John (1872-1957) with Edgar Rice Burroughs was such a thing. All four stories were illustrated by St. John. Each piece got the cover as well as two other b&w images. St. John had been illustrating Burroughs for over twenty years in 1940. The work he did for these and the other ERB stories for Ray A. Palmer’s magazines include some of my favorites. (Oddly, none of the art was used in the book publication. That was done by ERB’s son, John Coleman Burroughs.)
The City of the Mummies
“The City of the Mummies” (Amazing Stories, March 1941) begins in Hawaii, where the author is romanticizing about the Hawaiian king, Kamehameha. The daydream becomes a visit from a real warrior, John Carter! The Warlord of Barsoom has come to visit with his last surviving relative that he knows from his youth. He says Burroughs may die soon (he was aged 66 when he wrote this, but he would survive for nine more years). ERB asks about all the folks back on Mars, mentioning Dejah Thoris, their son Carthoris and daughter, Tara of Helium and her husband, Gahan of Gathol. (This jumps all the way back to Chessmen of Mars, the intervening books having nothing to do with these characters). Time has passed and there is a new child now grown, Carter’s granddaughter, Llana of Gathol.
John Carter recounts how he was flying over Mars to clear his mind, with the destination of the Horz, the ruined city as his goal. When he arrives at Horz, he sees a white man with yellow hair fighting a band of tharks. (White skin is very rare on Mars since the dominate humans are red-skinned. Up to now, only John Carter possessed such coloring.) Carter lands, jumps over a wall and is in the thick of the fight. Together, the two men kill all the green men except one. The survivor flees on thark-back. Carter pursues and kills him.
Orovars of Horz
When John returns to the city he finds a hundred men waiting. They arrest him, telling him he must be executed. The man he rescued, Pan Dan Chee, explains. All who see the white people of Horz must die. Carter is taken to see the jeddak of Horz. There is a very slight chance he might be lenient. Carter meets Ho Ran Kim. He explains their history. Millennia ago, when the sea receded, the People of Horz, the Orovars, were attacked by hordes of green men. Since then, they have hidden away, killing all who discover them. The outcome is the same. Carter and Pan Dan Chee are sent to the Pits of Horz until the next day’s execution.
Once in the pits, the two explore. They are attacked by a giant ulsio, the rat of Mars. Pan Dan Chee kills the creature since he was not disarmed like Carter. They go on. They see a light then hear laughter. This happens again later. Someone else is in the abandoned pits of Horz. Next the men discover coffins with bodies that still look alive despite being thousands of years old. This is the work of master embalmer, Lee Um Lo. John Carter takes a harness and sword from one corpse.
Two Friends, One Problem
To kill the time, John Carter offers to play Jetan, Martian chess. He has a miniature travel-size set that Dejah gave him as a gift. When Pan Dan Chee sees the figure carved from Lllana of Gathol he is immediately smitten. The two discuss what they are going to do on the morrow. Pan Dan Chee expects Carter to return for execution with him. John refuses. The two have a half-hearted duel in which Pan Dan Chee fights poorly, allowing Carter to kill him if he wants to. Carter refuses. He also learns that if the two men don’t return by noon, the death sentence if off.
Next they hear laughter again. Carter dims his torch in an attempt to find the source of the laughter. This ploy works. They corner an old mad man who invites them to eat and drink. When they find out the food is either rat meat or human flesh, they pass. Both men are quite tired and foolishly settle down for sleep. They have been drugged! The old man is named Lum Tar O, though ERB usually just calls him THING. He was apprenctice to Lee Um Lo. He is going to put them into suspended animation (or maybe just eat them) but Carter breaks the spell and cuts off his head.
A Strange Reunion
Upon his death, all those who have been put to sleep awaken. Soon the room is filled with rich and entitled nobles demanding to know what is going on. One of them is the man who John took the harness and sword from. Carter tells them that they have been asleep for millennia and that the seas have dried up. He will prove his claim by showing them. At this point, a beautiful woman appears. It is Llana of Gathol, Carter’s granddaughter! Pan Dan Chee lays his sword at her feet. She accepts his pledge. (St. John illustrated this moment.)
Llana explains how she came to be there: a group of uncivilized men came to Gathol from the frozen north. They were called Panars, and their jeddak is Hin Abtol. The kingly visitor declares he will marry Llana of Gathol. Gathan, Lllana’s father, says the girl shall pick her own mate. She leaves on a long-planned trip but also to avoid Abtol. The Panars kidnap her, taking her flying ship. They out-number her small guard, throwing the men overboard without even killing them first.
While heading back to Abtol’s capital (and his seven other wives), Lllana sabotages their compass and then their buoyancy tanks. The boat lands near a city. Abtol plans to get help at the distant towers but Llana recognizes it as Horz. By the time the Panars realize they have been fooled, a horde of green men attack them. No longer outnumbering the enemy, the Panars run. Lllana sneaks off and hides in an opening to a crypt. She, of course, runs into Lum Tar O and gets put in suspended animation. When the evil one died, she revived and now stands before her grandfather.
Out of the Crypts
John Carter leads the host out of the crypts. Fortunately one of the sleeping men is the man who designed the catacombs. When they arrive outside they see Carter has spoken the truth. The sea are gone. The sleepers all turn to sand. Pan Dan Chee wants to return to his king, but Carter reminds him that would mean death. Pan Dan Chee decides to go with the Warlord. Hin Abtol has taken John Carter’s flyer so the three will be walking home. He also proposes marriage to Lllana. She refuses him because he has not fought for her. A banth jumps her from the rocks and Pan Dan Chee holds off the creature until John can dispatch it. Pan Dan Chee thinks now Llana should marry him. She is interested but not in a hurry. “It was only a small banth after all.” The romance will continue in the next story…
With “The City of the Mummies” (a title that is more Pulpy and less inaccurate as ERB’s working titled “The Frozen Men of Mars”) I feel a little cheated for not getting some actual mummies. Suspended animation are less fun than the walking dead. The story was written between July 24 and September 6, 1940. I can imagine ERB sitting on his porch, the warm trade winds blowing around him, penning this tale on a notepad. I believe he actually used a dictaphone by this time, not pen and paper, but hey, it’s my vision. Can a writer ever want more than that? Fame, wealth (which he personally had little of in 1940) and a Hawaiian beach to write on? Perfect. And what renewed fun in these Amazing Stories tales. ERB has returned to characters and settings he enjoyed writing about. There is a freshness that the later Barsoom novels lack.
Art by Gil Kane and Rudy Nebres
Comic Book Adaptation
Warlord of Mars Annual #1 (October 1977) is loosely based on “The Ancient Dead” (a working title?) with script by Marv Wolfman, and art by Sal Buscema and Ernie Chan. The first half of this comic follows “The City of the Mummies” faithfully. It is only as Llana of Gathol is supposed to appear does it change. Wolfman has replaced her with princess S-Lara. Their fate is the same, the ancient dead dissolving into dust but Wolfman removes the subplot with the Panars that explains how Lllana got there (since he doesn’t need it.) Marv used most of the tale but doesn’t want to be saddled with Carter’s granddaughter who goes on to the next story with Pan Dan Chee.
Conclusion
As with most Edgar Rice Burroughs stories, I would have enjoyed “The City of the Mummies” more when I was younger. Despite that, I do savor them now in my fifties in a way I never could have done when I was fifteen. I can see how ERB works, how he constructs his tales, uses his favorite gimmicks, and how his hero always wins. The daydream quality of following John Carter through thick and thin still holds my attention today, even if I am sophisticated enough to know that anyone ruthless enough to rule an entire kingdom would never fall for the writer’s traps. There is a sense of adventure and fun that inspires me to write all over again.
Next time…The Black Pirates of Barsoom!
