Edgar Rice Burroughs': At the Earth's Core

by Bobby Nash, James Chase (Illustrator)

Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1914 pulp fantasy epic comes to life! Follow David Innes and Abner Perry as they take their "iron mole" five hundred miles below the Earth's crust to a world known as Pellucidar. Thrill as they cross paths with the evil Mahar, the ape-like Sagoths, and all manner of prehistoric creatures . . . as well as the lovely Dian the Beautiful! More than simply an epic adventure, At the Earth's Core is also one of Burroughs' most compelling love stories.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Dinosaurs, Science Fiction, Sequential Art

96 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Bobby Nash is an award-winning author, artist, and occasional actor. He writes novels, comic books & graphic novels, novellas, short stories, audio scripts, screenplays, and more.

Bobby is a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, International Thriller Writers, Southeastern Writers Association, and Atlanta Writers Club.

For more information, please visit Bobby at www.bobbynash.com, www.ben-books.com, and across social media.

Reviews

[Magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read Edgar Rice Burroughs book, but after reading this graphic novel am I quite tempted to do that. The story is fascinating and the art suits the story really well. Yes, there were moments when I thought that David Innes, the books hero, was a bit too good to be true and the instalove with Dian was not really my favorite part. But the fantastic world at earth's core is just so interesting with all the different animals and all the action. This story was really entertaining and I would love to know what happens next to David and the rest of the characters.

I received this copy from Dark Horse Books through Edelweiss in return for an honest review! Thank you!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

ERBs klassische Lost World-Abenteuergeschichte (Band 1 der Pellucidar-Reihe aus dem Jahr 1914) über die Reise von David Innes und Abner Perry ins Innere der Erde, wo sie das vergessene Land Pellucidar entdecken und haarsträubende Abenteuer erleben.
Pulp at it´s best, Heldenmut und fiese Gegner, Dinos und die schöne Dian, um deren Liebe Innes kämpfen muss: eine Stunde actionreiche Unterhaltung und Abtauchen in eine Welt, in der es keine Zweifel gibt, wer die Guten und wer die Bösen sind: wer darauf Lust hat, ist hier genau richtig. Die Story ist erzählerisch und zeichnerisch flott umgesetzt, vor allem die Artwork von Jamie Chase hat mir gut gefallen.
Ich hoffe, dass Dark Horse weitere Hardover-Bände in der Reihe Sequential Pulp herausbringen wird, der Zeitpunkt wird vermutlich nie besser sein, denn das Interesse an den Pulps hat einen neuen Höhepunkt erreicht.

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent adaptation of the classic ERB pulp adventure, one that stays true to the source material. I read the novel as a kid, because Tarzan is a gateway drug, and my memory insists this is a faithful translation. It’s just goofy over-the-top adventuring, of the kind that was so popular a century ago that its heirs like Jurassic Park imperfectly emulate.

The painted art perfectly suits the story, as well.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

At The Earth's Core is a faithful rendition of Burroughs fantastical tale of a separate land in the middle of the planet. The challenge clearly is to take something written with the limited scientific knowledge of 1914 and make it relevant for 2014. For unlike Burroughs' other title, Tarzan, this story has not aged well and the technology/science risible. Fortunately, the authors/illustrators have taken a visual reference from the original book's printing dustjacket to tell the story of 1914 - despite the implausibilities and with its sense of adventure and wonder intact.

Story: Young Edgar Rice Burroughs is traveling in the Sahara when he comes upon quite a sight: a man in a loincloth in front of an amazing looking (and very phallic, truth be told) machine standing erect in the sand. Turns out, the man, David Innes, has quite the tale of traveling to the Earth's core in the machine, meeting and saving a savage princess, saving humans from pterodactyl-like monsters, escaping back to the surface, and the need to return with weapons in order to save the people. All faithfully recounted by Burroughs himself.

The book is a nice nostalgia piece - who didn't grow up with Burroughs, Wells, Verne, or even John Norman? The adaptation flows smoothly and dialogue/exposition is kept to a minimum. Images tell a lot of the story, fortunately, and so the bane of graphic novel adaptations (text everywhere) is avoided.

The painterly illustration work, heavy on the shadows and colored mostly in Earth tones, has a nice quality that feels appropriate for this period of the work. It's not pretty, certainly, but it is effective.

Returning to Pellucidar was a great journey and one always hopes that Innes did manage to make it back to defeat the apes/pterodactyls and save the girl. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like a lot of the things I'm interested (especially roleplaying games) draw inspiration from pulp sources, which makes me interested in them in turn. But aside from Lovecraft I've not really been able to get into reading any of those old authors-- and Lovecraft can be difficult at times as well; when his writing isn't ponderous and overwrought, it's full of horrible old biases and racism.

I have been interested in the Pelucidar novels because I think the idea of the hollow earth is so weird and fantastic; it is laughably absurd by any scientific view, but fascinating for how it shifts the normal world into something extraordinary. But for the general reason I mentioned above, I didn't think I would ever really read them. So when I spotted this book, a graphic novel adaptation of the first novel in the series, it seemed a great chance to gain a somewhat deeper exposure to the story in a more digestible form.

It was a fun read. The story is endearingly stupid, but I knew to expect that. The art style isn't my favorite, but it looks almost a bit grainy in a way that is reminiscent of old movies that might feature stop-motion dinosaurs, so it actually works well. Though I think more of the intention was to mimic the style of old pulp novel covers?

My main complaint is that I wish there were some more detailed explanations of things. Apparently ERB had invented a language for Pelucidar, with its own names for the various prehistoric creatures he threw into the mix. I am pretty sure in adapting the story to this form, they skipped over a fair bit of info-dumping that might actually have been nice. And on one occasion there is a creature mentioned (a thipdar) even though they hadn't bothered to explain what that is in English; after checking wikipedia, it is apparently a pterosaur, just not a rhamphorhynchus. Also, the ending felt very rushed, but I can't say if that was just the adaptation, or if the original was like that.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free ebook of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This review will contain SPOILERS

Not a bad read although Edgar Rice Burroughs' tale has aged somewhat badly. Science has come a long way since the original story was written and it's pretty laughable that the main villains and rulers are supposed to be using advanced mental powers when we now know that their brain would have been tiny.
I also didn’t enjoy the suddenness of the two characters falling in love with each other.

With regards to this particular edition though I have to admit that I really enjoyed the artwork. It's short on detail and feels almost like sketching with paint but it works perfectly to match the subject matter.

If you enjoy Jules Verne and similar authors then this is definitely worth giving a go.

3.5/5

[Jeneé · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a love affair with anything ERB so when I saw this of course I had to buy it immediately. The only problem I have found with ERB's stuff turned into graphic novel form is that it seems very rushed because instead of written detail there are pictures to take it's place.
I'm not saying ERB was a master novelist but even though he wrote pulp sci-fi, that moved relatively quickly, there was detail to it that gets lost in comic form. So the comic seems to rush from one predicament to another but if you are a fan or ERB or atleast used to his story style this is not unexpected.
The art wasn't the best but it wasn't horrible.
I gave this four stars because like I said I love anything ERB. But be forewarned it's not for everyone, know what you're getting into, it's a comic based off of early 1900 pulp sci-fi, not a masterpiece.

[Vishualee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heart-pounding adventure! There are so many things awaiting us in the world of Pellucidar. What fascinated me was Pellucidar itself, unbenownst to us, there is a thriving environment below our earth. I have previously read about the hollow earth theory, watched movies like the Lost World and Dinotopia, then read Journey to the centre of the Earth. But none of them were as exciting as reading this book.

There are some parts that amused me, such as Dian the beautiful introduces herself in English. The other humans speak in English. We are made to believe that the hero, David learns their language. Secondly, we see David sobbing as he says to himself that we are only food to the reptilian creatures. A thought crossed my mind about how we, in real life, treat other animals as food. It's just the tables had turned in Pellucidar.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably good graphic novel from Burroughs's adventure novel. Nash solves most of the adaptations problems well, but sometimes uses modern colloquialisms is ways that are jarring and took me right out of the story. True, Burroughs often wrote in clichés, but not in modern clichés. Chase is an fairly effective visual storyteller, but his rendering to often leaves too much to be desired. Pretty good, but not very good.

[Terry Graybill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adventure story but very much a product of its time. Pure adventure and little thought. The hero fights creatures (dinosaur-like) at the center of the earth (which is not filled with magma in these stories) and prevails.

The cotton candy of adventure stories - lots of sweet with little substance. But people enjoy them.

[Maarten Naple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun distraction!

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be nice if Nash and Chase would adapt and illustrate the sequel.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

got this expecting it to be the novel, i guess i didn't read the library website well enough.

i loved the art style and the pacing, will have to look up more by this artist