The beasts of Pellucidar first came to me comic book style. The reason for this was I was lucky to be reading the books for the first time in and around 1975. At the same time I was exploring the Inner World with David Innes, DC Comics was illustrating his adventures in the pages of various Edgar Rice Burroughs comics. They didn’t do it in a very organized way — one segment appearing in Korak, Son of Tarzan the rest in Weird Worlds but I eventually got all of them. Also inconsistent was their artist roster. Because of this I got Pellucidar through Russ Manning, Alan Weiss and Mike Kaluta‘s eyes. (As a teen I had no idea about the copyright passing from Gold Key to DC, about Russ Manning drawing the newspaper comic strip or any of the other pitfalls that go into producing comic books.)
Just a word about Frank Frazetta here. Frank was also important at this time as he did most of the covers for the ERB books, so I was seeing his images too. He did a great set for Richard A. Lupoff’s Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure (1965) which I also saw in larger format in ERB-dom. All that being said, getting a copy of ERB-dom was a lot harder than buying DC Comics at the five-and-dime.
Another admission here. Pellucidar was always my favorite ERB setting. I’ve often wondered about this but I blame it on print size. The Ballantine Tarzans and Barsoom novels had terribly small print. The ACE Books Pellucidar paperbacks had lovely, eye-friendly print. It seems a small thing, because the story is everything– but the fact remains. I can thank ACE editor Donald A. Wollheim once again…
Here are the amazing prehistoric beasts of Pellucidar, some known to us from fossils and others only from the imagination of Edgar Rice Burroughs:
Dyryth (Ground Sloth)
This scene had been drawn previously by J. Allen St. John in b&w but I only saw it years later. Imagine how disappointed I was when the film version of At the Earth’s Core (1975) did not begin its time in Pellucidar with the sloth. (Almost as depressing was Conan the Barbarian (1982) when that skeleton that Conan takes the sword from doesn’t get up and fight him for it.)
Jalok (Hyenadons)
I always thought the hyenadons were Dire Wolves but I guess they weren’t. Dire Wolves show up in a later book and are called Codons. (Not to mention Game of Thrones.)
Monkey Men
The Monkey Men were an unfortunate bit of racism in Burroughs’ writing. ERB makes a very strong parallel with African Americans in his description and almost verges on distasteful parody. I used to wonder if Jules Verne’s The Village in the Treetops (1901) had any influence but the first English translation looks like it was 1964, so I suppose not.
Sagoths
All the artists mentioned above as well as John Buscema drew the Sagoths but I like Russ’s version the best. They seem more threatening because of how close they are to human as opposed to a wild gorilla. The other artists made them look like apes wearing clothes. Manning is more convincing. (We won’t even think about the movie version!)
Mahars (Rhamphoryncus)
The Mahars are one of Burroughs’ greatest creations, truly powerful and cunning. (Despite the innate sexism of an all-female race being defeated by a man. ERB would return to this old saw in other stories. Being born in 1875, he wasn’t a much of a feminist.)
Thag (Bos)
That’s a lotta bull.
Tarag (Smilodon)
The Bos/tarag fight scene is classic ERB. I am sure it inspired the arena scene in Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones (2002) with its Ray Harryhausen style spear jabs. The actual Smilodon was not as big as it appears on book covers and in comics.
Azdyryths (Ichthyosaur)
Something goes a little hay-wire with the labels of ERB’s aquatic sea creatures. In the Manning comic the ship is attack by Tandorazes but someone calls them Azdyryths. There is some confusion between the sea serpent and the alligator monster too. I have sorted it out to my satisfaction. (Disagree if you wish.)
Tandoraz or Ta-ho-az (Pleisosaur)
Sithic (Sea Serpent)
(Labyrinthodon)
It is cool that Neal Adams inked this segment of Weird Worlds. He did the art for the Ballantine paperback reprint of Tarzan at the Earth’s Core.
Thipdars (Pterodactyls or Pterodons)
Like the Tarag, the Thipdars get a Hollywood-size boost in dimensions. I suppose they are all pterodons, which were larger than mere pterodactyls.
Lidi (Brontosaurus)
The Lidi of Edgar Rice Burroughs predates V. T. Hamlin’s Alley Oop newspaper cartoons by eighteen years though Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” appear in February 18, 1914. “At the Earth’s Core” appeared in All-Story Weekly beginning April 4, 1914.
Cave Bear (Ryth)
For some reason the uncredited colorist made the cave bear white. ERB doesn’t specify a color in the text but it is usually brown as Frazetta did it.
Tandor (Mammoth)
I always loved that a mammoth was “Tandor” and an elephant “Tantor”. ERB really was a genius at such things.
Dyal (Phororhacos)
I’ve always loved the old ax-beak. (Blame H. G. Wells.) I was pleased to see them in 10,000 BC (2008) though the movie was mostly terrible I liked the Terror Bird scene.
Gorobors
Another one of ERB’s better inventions along with their masters, the Horibs. Lizard-men are not unusual in Pulp magazines but Burroughs pulls them off with more verisimilitude. That was his gift.
Horibs
This is not every creature that lives in the Inner World of Pellucidar. Certain novels got more attention by the comics than others. DC ignored Tanar of Pellucidar (though Marvel would use the Corsairs from that book). The later novels also didn’t get much use (Back to the Stone Age‘s mammoth slaughter was used by Marvel again, perhaps because they didn’t want to repeat too much of the earlier stuff.) The only really cool creature I wish they had done was the lion men from “Return to Pellucidar” in Savage Pellucidar (1963). J. Allen St. John made them look mostly human but Frazetta did not. I wonder what Mike Kaluta or John Buscema would have done with them?
Excellent. Very comprehensive