As a lifelong comic book reader, I have been a big fan of crossovers and team-ups. Granted, that in today’s marketplace, these ‘events’ are so routine that a cynical observer might mistake them for blatant cash grabs. Cynicism aside, there is something inherently exciting about larger than life characters coming together, pooling their resources (after the obligatory introductory dust up, of course) to fight off a greater threat. Heck, this was practically Bronze Age Marvel’s raison d’être. Although DC certainly followed suit once this successful formula became codified. Will Murray’s Tarzan, Conqueror of Mars is such a crossover event, which has been a hundred plus years in the making. Murray’s novel is a classic fish out of water tale, which slowly builds up steam, culminating in two Edgar Rice Burroughs protagonists, Lord Greystoke and John Carter, locked in a collision course. Conqueror is basically an Edgar Rice Burroughs universe crossover story in the tradition of Marvel Team Up or DC Comics Presents. As a longtime reader of this sort of thing, I can say in all honesty that Murray knocks it out of the park with this one.

Conqueror starts off in media res, in which Tarzan is on the trail of the ne’er do well tribal medicine man, Sobito. When the mage is finally run aground by ape man, he utters an imprecation to Meriki, the god of wrath and thunder, to strike his captor down. Without warning, Tarzan is struck by mystical lightning and his consciousness (not his body) is sent to Mars, whom the natives call Barsoom. Upon his transition to the red planet, Tarzan materializes in the midst of one of the expansive moss carpeted dead sea bottoms. Bereft of everything but his life, Tarzan is dropped into this alien environment. The Martian landscape is (initially) devoid of any of the familiar African and terrestrial topography that is Lord Greystoke’s natural element. Right off the bat, Murray places the jungle lord at an extreme disadvantage. As the story hurtles along, irrespective of the dire straits that the author places him, Tarzan comes out victorious. Whether it be killing a predatory banth, almost bare handed, to fighting off and eventually leading a tribe of Martian white apes, to gaining his own version of Tars Takas (a young Thark named Dag Dolor) and becoming the Jeddak to a ronin horde of Green Men, time and again, Ramdar (Red Scar, as he is christened by white apes) rises to the challenge. When it comes to Burroughs, I was more of a John Carter fan rather than the ape man. I can’t state as to how Murray writes him in comparison to his creator. What I can state is that Murray portrays Greystoke as the ultimate competent individual. A person who is vastly comfortable in their own skin; at times a cool, gray eyed tactician, who waits until the perfect moment to make his move, while in other instances, reverts to primal anger. Like Carter, this émigré from Jasoom also has the twin advantages of increased strength and enhanced leaping abilities. His singular goal throughout the novel, the thing that is ever present in the back of Tarzan’s mind is to find a means back to Earth.

At the fifty-six percent mark of the Kindle edition of Conqueror, Murray makes the bold choice of switching from third person (in which Tarzan’s travails are chronicled) to the first person, when John Carter begins narrating his encounters with Ramdar and his mixed horde of (among others) Tharks and white apes. While a bit jarring for the first few paragraphs, I easily fell into this switch in narrative cadence.  The author does a fine job of fleshing out The Warlord’s voice. He also does an admirable job of bringing in various cast members from the Barsoom series including Tars Takas (of course!), Kantos Kan, Tan Hadron of Hastor and Thuvia of Ptarth. The point of conflict between the two earthmen lies in that the city state of Uxfar (where Ramdar is leading his rag tag horde) is a vassal state to the Heliumetic Empire. To a large degree which Murray fleshes out step by step in the story, Carter’s hand is forced to intervene. These two titans of pulp fiction come off as prideful and a bit hot headed in their own ways, which leads to a natural disagreement to put it mildly.

Will Murray breathes new life into our neighboring planet, adding some novel flourishes to the world that Burroughs created over a century ago. By utilizing the concept that Mars was once brimming with oceans and running with it, Murray creates a predator species (known as the denjurus) that haunt those dead sea bottoms. This species have adapted their biology to the dry planetary conditions over the millennia. These flying jellyfish-like creatures attack in unison as a hive of wasps; they inject their prey with paralyzing venom, while simultaneously inflating it with lighter than air gasses. When the paralyzed victim comes tumbling down, the creatures swarm the body, digesting their prey while still alive. At one point in the story, Ramdar and his horde adventure through a mountain ringed jungle (highly reminiscent of the Valley Dor from The Gods of Mars) in which Tarzan encounters a ghoor, a massive, snail-like cyclopean creature that uses its head as a gigantic mace, crushing anyone unlucky enough to be under it when it strikes. These examples of strange Martian fauna certainly seem as though they could have originated from the mind of Burroughs.

Within that walled biome, Tarzan encounters the woman known as Cosooma. In another shout out to The Gods of Mars, Cosooma states that she is the last Orovaran woman of the vanished city of Samabar. This golden haired mystery woman has some mental abilities that are similar in nature to the denizens of the ancient city state of Lothar (from the novel, Thuvia, Maid of Mars).  I realize that I’m being vague in relation to the conflict between John Carter and Lord Greystoke. Not to mention the question of, does Tarzan make it back home to Earth? You’ll just have to read the book for yourselves to find out how it all shakes out. Suffice it to say, that while reading Tarzan, Conqueror of Mars, I was impressed by the fact that Murray really was able synthesize ERB’s narrative voice and style, at least as it pertains to Barsoom (considering my Tarzan reading is limited).  When Carter comes face to face with Tarzan, he states; “Momentarily, I had the queer feeling of facing someone who might have been an ancestor stepping forth from the forgotten past. I shook off this unaccountable feeling.” Bravo, Mr. Murray. I think that if Burroughs (and to a lesser, yet just as critical degree, Famer) had the opportunity to read that line, he would come to the conclusion that his creations are in good hands. My only question now is, when does your next Barsoom novel drop, Mr. Murray? 

Note:

In recent years, ERB properties have had a robust presence in the medium of comic books. Titles such as The Greatest Adventure have brought together many of Burroughs’ characters and concepts. My first exposure to this type of ERB crossover fiction was in Dark Horse Comics’ Tarzan/ John Carter: Warlords of Mars. I read this miniseries about twenty years back and found it a great deal of fun. In my view, Conqueror is certainly a spiritual successor to that project.