David Innes

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Dave Innes of Pellucidar in the Comics By late 1939, with both TARZAN and JOHN CARTER OF MARS earning royalties from comic books, the next natural Burroughs series to adapt to the comics would be his Pellucidar stories. Burroughs suggested to Western Printing (Whitman’s publishing arm in Racine) that John Coleman Burroughs be retained to do the artwork for a DAVE INNES OF PELLUCIDAR feature which would run regularly in one of their monthly comic books. Possibly as a test, it was decided to have John Coleman Burroughs write and draw a 20-page story to be featured as part of a one-shot comic...but the one-shot comic never materialized and instead the first 12 pages of this 20-page story were published in an obscure, badly-distributed comic book called HI-SPOT #2 (November, 1940). Because of the understandably poor sales, there was never another issue of HI-SPOT comics, and the 12 pages of DAVE INNES OF PELLUCIDAR in this issue were the only ones ever published in the medium of the comics. Following the appearance of these pages in HI-SPOT #2, Western asked John Coleman Burroughs to write and draw two six-page stories of DAVE INNES OF PELLUCIDAR, which would be worked into one of their comic books, possibly SUPER comics. These twelve pages of artwork were done and are presented here, along with the final eight pages of the original 20-page story. (The original artwork for the first 12 pages of the first story was destroyed long ago by Western). In early 1940, Dell Publishing wanted to create an image as a reliable publisher of wholesome comics for children. They especially wanted to push their funny animal comics… the Disney comics, Walt Kelly comics, etc... and did not want to be in the superhero business in competition with all the other comic book publishers. The Burroughs comics, TARZAN, JOHN CARTER OF MARS, and DAVE INNES OF PELLUCIDAR, were all of the type they wanted to phase out in favor of more in the Disney-type comics which nobody could object to. By early 1941 the decision had been made that DAVE INNES OF PELLUCIDAR would not be continued and that JOHN CARTER OF MARS would be discontinued from THE FUNNIES, and in August of 1941 CRACKAJACK comics (also from Western Printing) dropped the TARZAN daily strips they had been reprinting. By the end of 1941 all ERB features had been dropped by Western, but of course United Features was still reprinting TARZAN Sunday pages in SPARKLER and TIP TOP comics. The following is reproduced for educational purposes.

David Innes
David Innes is a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as the main protagonist of his Pellucidar novels. ====Associated Novels====

The early novels
== David Innes is introduced in the first Pellucidar novel, At the Earth's Core, as a mining heir who finances the experimental "iron mole," an excavating vehicle designed by his elderly inventor friend Abner Perry. In a test run, they discover the vehicle cannot be turned, and it burrows 500 miles into the Earth's crust, emerging into the unknown interior world of Pellucidar. In Burroughs' concept, the Earth is a hollow shell with Pellucidar as the internal surface of that shell. It is inhabited by prehistoric creatures of all geological eras, and dominated by the Mahars, a species of flying reptile both intelligent and civilized, but which enslaves and preys on the local stone-age humans. Innes and Perry are enslaved by the Mahars' ape-like Sagoth servants and eventually lead a revolt of humankind. To further the struggle Innes travels in the iron mole back to the surface world at the end of the first novel to procure outer world technology. David Innes returns to the inner world in the second novel, Pellucidar. With the aid of the resources he brings the human revolt succeeds. In the course of the two books Innes wins the love of the cave-woman Dian the Beautiful, defeating rival suitors Jubal the Ugly One and Hooja the Sly One. Finally Innes and Perry succeed in building a confederacy of human tribes into an "Empire of Pellucidar" that wipes out the Mahar cities and establishes a new human civilization in their place. =====The middle novels===== The books after the first two show David Innes' new empire as a relatively small entity in a world by and large still primitive and savage, and even his own subjects as little affected or changed by the trappings of civilization. Innes himself appears a somewhat hapless figure, brave and resourceful, yet ultimately dependent on the superior survival skills of his friends. Years after his initial adventures, as the surface world measures time, Innes confronts a new threat, the Korsars, a nation of pirates descended from corsairs of the outer world, who had entered Pellucidar generations before through a natural polar opening connecting the outer and inner worlds. The tale is the subject of the third novel, Tanar of Pellucidar, told by his native friend Tanar and relayed to the surface by Perry via radio. The adventure ends with Innes a captive of the Korsars. He is a secondary character in this novel, and a minor one in the two that follow. In response to Perry's plea, an outer world expedition is launched to rescue Innes, in which Burrough's jungle hero Tarzan plays a major role. The rescue effort is the subject of the fourth novel, Tarzan at the Earth's Core. It enters Pellucidar in an airship via the polar opening, and eventually succeeds in rescuing Innes. The fifth novel, Back to the Stone Age, details the adventures of a lost expedition member, ultimately located by the liberated Innes. =====The late novels===== The Sixth novel, Land of Terror, returns Innes to the central role, relating his adventures during his return from his search mission to Sari, the capital of his empire. Savage Pellucidar, the final book in the series, presents a new sequence of adventures for Innes, Perry, and Dian, in which a hitherto unknown native Bronze Age civilization is discovered. ====In other media====
 * David Innes first appeared on screen in At the Earth's Core (1976), an adaptation of the first Pellucidar novel. He was portrayed by actor Doug McClure. Not a great movie,but can be considered a guilty pleasure.*David Innes has also appeared in a comic strip and comic book series based on the novels, as well as the Tarzan comic strip.