Long story short, Carter crashes the princess’s wedding, kills everyone there, and then gets her to marry him instead. Because that’s the kinda thing that works in pulp fiction.
I know I said that this would be a Monday through Friday week of comics, but tomorrow’s strips might get pushed back. Then again, it might not. It’s really sort of nebulous right now, I just thought you should know.
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One of the things that always fascinated me about this part of the story is that John Carter isn’t allowed to kill the groom himself — it’s explained to him that there’s a law, known and obeyed all across Barsoom, that no man may marry a woman if he was responsible for the death of her previous husband or fiance. It says a lot about Barsoomian society that this is a thing they felt the need to make laws about.
(And of course it means that in the sequels the author has to find ways around this when it’s somebody else who wants the incomparable Dejah Thoris and Carter is the husband who’s in the way. Apparently it doesn’t count if you drop the husband into a deep pit and leave him to starve, as long as he was still alive last time you saw him…)
As yes, the “incomparably beautiful Dejah Thoris”, if I remember correctly, that was how she was described. Every. Single. Time. She. Was. Mentioned. Not so hot looking now, is she?
The fact that everyone appears to have been running around in their birthday suit 24/7 may have added to that description; Carter got to see all of her incomparable beauty all the time, and it probably weighed on his mind.
She’s covered in blood and just spit out something that may or may not be a martian’s finger.
I don’t think she could possibly be sexier.
It’s the degraded remnant of a once mighty civilization, dwindling down as their planet’s water supply goes away. Many lives must be sacrificed to produce enough liquid for a decent bath.
What, everyone? Including the family of the bride? o_o That princess must’ve had some bad family issues to shack up with mass-murder boy after that!
No, just the groom’s family. The bride’s family was with the party crashers, not with the guests.
Clearly the bride’s family were not invited – see the first line yesterday “So John Carter stumbles upon a princess being taken prisoner …”
Hey, you never know with royals. If an heir or bargaining chip isn’t feeling cooperative…