Lars of Mars was the perfect combination of creators, with Jerry Siegel of Superman fame working with Murphy Anderson, a former artist on the Buck Rogers comic strip. Both men had a love of Science Fiction that translates into each frame. The collaboration that took place between April and August of 1951 produced only six stories, with Siegel leaving Ziff-Davis after a disagreement.
Murphy Anderson recalls in The Life and Art of Murphy Anderson (2003) by Murphy Anderson with R. C. Harvey:
Jerry Siegel was writing for Ziff-Davis. I think he wrote all the science-fiction scripts himself…With my Buck Rogers background and Jerry’s science-fiction interests, we hit it off right away…During our conversations, Jerry came up with an idea for a book, Lars of Mars, and we hashed it out. Lars was a character from Mars, who looked just like any other earthman, and he became a television actor.
The comic did not have a long run but it is fun to see what might have been if Ziff-David had pursued comics more seriously. In the Halls of Spaceman Fame, Lars is but a blip but an interesting one. Both of these issues are available free at DCM.
Issue 10 (April-May 1951)
“Lars of Mars” begins when the Martian council are informed that the Earthlings have exploded an H bomb. The people of Mars and Venus had fought a terrible nuclear war, after which they banned space travel.
The head of the Martian council calls in Lars to deal with the problem. He is put in a hastily constructed rocket and sent to Earth. His mission: to stop any threat of interplanetary war.
When he bails out of his ship, he spies a woman being attacked by robots. He flies in and saves her. The only problem is it is a movie set. Lars is hired on the spot for the film. He accepts the job as it will help him in his mission.
“Villain of Hero?” has Lars unhappy with his new role. He asks Mars if he can return but is denied. That’s when the mobster, Schemer Bixby, sends his goons to collect him.
Schemer’s plan is to use Lars’ reputation as a Martian to frighten people during a big robbery. The gang holds up a jewelry store. During the heist, a thug knocks Lars over the head with a gun butt. Lars recoups quickly, then takes his revenge after donning a mask.
The fleeing bandits find themselves driving over a ravine that Lars made with his ray gun. He doesn’t allow them to crash but pulls them up and cuts their car in half. The crooks are captured and a “real” Martian gets the credit. June, Lars’s boss, complains she is stuck with a fake one. (Shades of Lois Lane and Sup there.)
“The Terror From the Sky” has Soviet spies planning to blow up the nuclear facility at Oak Ridge. Lars gets a phone call from Mars warning him. He abruptly leaves a meeting of the television producers.
The red saboteurs parachute in but Lars meets them. They shoot at him. He cools them off with his ray gun (that can also chill, I guess). The spies are caught and Lars flies off with the Russian bomb.
Lars returns to his meeting, pretending he hasn’t heard about the capture of the spies. Meanwhile back in Russia, the head of the attackers, Dr. Raskov, curses his foiled plan. Something must be done about this Lars of Mars!
Issue 11 (July-August 1951)
“The Terror Weapon!” picks up after the last comic. Lars ditches June because he gets another phone call from Mars. Dr. Rakov is back. He approaches the Chinese Communists with his new weapon, the Absolute Zero Ray, which can freeze people. An angry June confronts Lars after his message from Mars. He hypnotizes her to go to work so he can get on with his mission.
Lars flies into the stratosphere (where his Martians lungs allow him to breathe) and then uses a space warp to get to Russia instantly.
In the space warp he is attacked by a dragon that when blasted becomes a cloud of miniature Larses. The Martian detective destroys a fleet of airplanes equipped with the Absolute Zero Ray, then captures Dr. Raskov. To change the scientist’s mind, Lars drops him from a height then catches him. Raskov promises to behave.
“The Crucial Game!” has Lars going to the hospital for sick children where he meets Billy. The sick boy is depressed because his favorite pitcher has quit the Blues team in the middle of the play-offs. Lars promises to do something about it.
The Martian finds Daly and talks to him. The pitcher thinks he is washed up. Lars convinces him to practice, where with a little help from Lars’ ray gun, the pitches are unhittable. Daly gets his confidence back and Billy is cheered up watching the game. After Soviet spies, this seems pretty light fare for a Man From Mars.
“The Earthshaker!” has a scientist in Kentucky threatening the world with his new invention, a machine that makes earthquakes. Lars speeds off to deal with him. This time he uses the sleep ray on his ray gun and puts the guard to the cave asleep. Inside he plans to sleep the rest and destroy the machine but gets knocked out.
Tied up, Lars ducks when one of the thugs tries to punch him. The machine is turned on by accident and the whole cave explodes. Lars escapes with his flying jet pack. Back to show business.
The ray gun that Lars uses has any number of functions it turns out. It can disintegrate, freeze, sleep, create space warps and any number of other functions we haven’t seen yet. It is this device that allows Lars to adapt to any situation. It reminds me a little of Green Lantern’s ring.
Conclusion
The Lars of Mars stories have a feel that is familiar to Superman fans. The dual life of agent and actor is similar to Clark Kent and Superman. June is a stand-in Lois Lane. That rocket that brought him sounds familiar too. Despite this, the comic has its own feel, with Lars dealing with large matters and small in his quest to root out evil on Earth. It would have been interesting to see where Jerry Siegel would have taken the comic. Would June and Lars become romantically involved? Would rival TV companies buy out the show? Would Hollywood actresses try to woe the Martian? What would happen if someone stole the ray gun? There is tons of stuff left to do.
Murphy Anderson brought the feel and excitement of Buck Rogers to the look of the Lars series. His love of Science Fiction heroes (like Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future) can be seen in the style which he inherited to Gil Kane and the Adam Strange series at DC. Murphy drew covers for Julius Schwartz at DC for the new character but Schwartz just didn’t like them. He passed the assignment onto Gil Kane, who borrowed Murphy’s Buck Rogers look for Strange. Thus “That Buck Rogers Stuff” found its way into a classic DC series.
