STARA KAN
Real Name: Stara Kan
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial
(Martian
(Red Martian)) (late 19th
Century)
Occupation: Council of Five member (assigned
to terrorism);
formerly fugitive;
formerly prisoner;
formerly dwar (captain rank), Zodangan Army
Group Membership: Council of Five;
formerly Zodangan Army
Affiliations: Great One, Krakas,
Truka,
various Warhoon warriors (Gagarr,
Grunt-Ar, others);
formerly Zodangan Army
Enemies: John Carter, Tars Tarkas, Dejah
Thoris, Helium military, T'Rallaa, various Martian settlements
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Secret base in a volcano,
Martian desert, Mars (Barsoom to the natives);
formerly Zodanga, Mars
First Appearance: (Mentioned) John Carter, Warlord
of
Mars#1 (June, 1977); (seen) John Carter, Warlord of Mars#2 (July,
1977)
Powers/Abilities: Stara Kan is a master
strategist, very skilled swordsman and handy with a radium pistol,
having been trained in the
military as a career soldier, and has very good desert survival skills.
Like other red Martians, he has low-level telepathy.
He was latterly
fitted with a multifunctional mechanical left arm that provides him
with enhanced strength.
In later years, his
thinking was converted into a genocidal militant purist.
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 165 lbs. (with
mechanical arm)
Eyes: Pale blue
Hair: Brown
History:
(John
Carter, Warlord of
Mars#3/A Princess of Mars (fb) - BTS) - Lost Earthman John Carter
rallied a large army of red Martians from the city state of Helium and
green Martian Tharks against the red Martian city state of Zodanga to
rescue Carter's lover, Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium. Stara Kan
was a dwar (captain) in the Zodangan Army and defended the city.
(John Carter, Warlord of
Mars#3, 11 (fb)) - The Zodangan Army fought against the onslaught, and
Kan first encountered Carter.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3 (fb)) - Kan's left
shoulder was deeply pierced by Carter's sword in battle. With Zodanga lost
to Helium and as he was not honorably slain, Kan was disgraced and
stumbled away from his ruined city.
Months later, he was captured and
tried for war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3 (fb) - BTS) - Kan swore revenge on Carter and Thoris, and eventually escaped into the deserts where the giant mutant self-dubbed the Great One found him. With that, the Council of Five was formed to pursue the Great One's genocidal mission to save Mars' dwindling resources by mass-culling of "weaker" Martians; Kan was assigned to terrorism. Kan was fitted with a multifunctional mechanical arm.
Kan's primary task was to take control of the life-giving atmosphere factory, and he made his second task the capture and humiliation of Carter.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#5 (fb) - BTS) - Kan
established a secret base staffed by red and green Martians hidden in a
dormant volcano in the Martian
deserts. He later gained a replica mechanical arm with advanced
weaponized technology.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#1 (fb) - BTS) - About
one year after first fighting Carter, Kan had Thoris kidnapped for
interrogation, which also served to bait Carter to Zodanga.
(John
Carter, Warlord of
Mars#1) - Carter dispatched Kan's Warhoon warriors in the Zodangan
ruins, and he rescued Thoris and Tarkas from the brutal Krakas, who had
interrogated her about Mars' life-sustaining atmosphere factory. Tarkas
warned that there may be more the situation than a kidnapping.
(John Carter, Warlord of
Mars#2) - Outside the ruins, the heroic trio spotted Kan fleeing, but
did not know who he was. Thinking him a spy, Carter used his enhanced
strength (improved on Mars due to its lower gravity) to tackle Kan and
stopped him from flying away using his equilibrimotor (jetpack). Kan
was taken back to Helium and put immediately on trial for masterminding
the kidnapping, but Kan remained silent throughout. Carter asked to
interrogate Kan the next day, and the quiet villain was locked in a
cell.
Alone at night, Kan disengaged his (weaponized) mechanical arm, using one component to blast open the door, then kill a guard. He later buried the mechanical arm under the castle walls and escaped in a flyer to the atmosphere factory. Kan's escape was discovered hours later; suspecting a link with the atmosphere factory, Carter and Tarkas confronted him there, but were overwhelmed by the giant white apes controlled by the villain. Thoris had secretly followed and likewise fell.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3 (fb) - BTS) - Kan had
the unconscious Carter fitted with an obedience collar that would
trigger pain at Kan's whim. Carter was then caged in a cell.
(John Carter, Warlord of
Mars#3) - Kan roughly treated Thoris as he revealed their mutual
history before. He mocked the newly awakened Carter. With Thoris then
locked away, Kan had a banth beast unleashed on Carter and waited as
Carter escaped his cell and found his way to Kan's throne chamber where
the villain was was accompanied by several concubines. Carter
threatened to kill Kan, but instead Kan triggered the obedience collar
with just a thought and demanded that Carter call him "master." Carter
resisted through the pain, spurred on by the threat to Thoris, and Kan
punched him repeatedly with his mechanical arm, claiming Carter would
eventually break and submit to the Council of Five. Yet despite the
crippling effect of the intense pain of the obedience collar, Carter
managed to punch down Kan. Carter ultimately surrendered as Kan had his
beloved Thoris as prisoner.
(John Carter, Warlord of
Mars#4) - Threatening the life of Thoris, Stara Kan forced Carter to
board his warship and raided the small mining outpost of Maran. He
compelled Carter to join his men attacking the Maran people and had him
steal the sacred Jewel of Issus from the temple. Kan punched down the
priest as Carter took the gem, and the priest recognized Carter. Further
raids on other settlements for their sacrosanct valuables followed, and
Kan made sure that Carter was always at the forefront to lead the
plunder in sight of the inhabitants; thus Kan began turning Martians
against Carter while the Earthman desperately wanted to kill the
villain.
The warship returned to the atmosphere factory. The next raid took
them to Zeere, where the people were telepathically numbed by the
stranded alien T'Rallaa and gradually being consumed. Kan was likewise
hypnotized and joined the queue, but Carter was immune and slayed the
beast. The surviving victims were mentally released without memory of
what had happened, just confusion, and Kan and Carter fled.
(John Carter, Warlord of
Mars#5 (fb) - BTS) - Kan sent Carter on a raid to G'ranna township
while he went
to his secret volcano base.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#5) - Finding a hidden
logbook of Kan's with a compass point, Carter stole a glider and headed
to that direction, eventually finding the secret base. Kan was speaking
to his lackeys about his plans when Carter launched into the room and
ferociously attacked Kan. The villain initially used the pain-inducing
obedience collar, but Carter mocked him in front of his men, so Kan
relinquished his mental hold, and the two fought equally. Kan's
mechanical arm matched Carter's Earthman strength, but Carter eventually
caught hold of it and crushed it. Kan dashed for his fallen radium
pisto,l and the foes grappled. Kan's lackey Truka told the others to
stay back and observe Martian honor. Kan and Carter grappled with the
gun between them until it fired. Kan mocked Carter that only he knew
Thoris' location and then fell dead to the floor.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#6) - Carter recalled his his fight with Kan and ordeals as he raced back to Helium to warn them of the danger and rescue Thoris.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#8) - Kan's buried
weaponized mechanical arm outside Helium's gates had slowly vivified
the rocks beneath. The arm triggered an explosion (likely a time delay)
that unleashed newly formed giant stone serpents that petrified victims
into stone.
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum. Based on characters & races created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Mars was known as Barsoom to the indigenous peoples
there.
Chronology-wise, as defined in Marv Wolfman's editorial in John Carter, Warlord of Mars#1, Marvel's stories (unless they stated otherwise) were set "between paragraphs 3 and 4 in Chapter 27 of Edgar Rice Burroughs' book A Princess of Mars" (that text finishes with a non-descript sentence of a nine-year period where newly married Carter "served in the councils and fought in the armies of Helium as a prince") with Marvel introducing several new characters within that period. So Marvel certainly saw it as in-continuity with Burroughs' works... but Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. seems to only recognize comics published by American Mythology since 2020 as canon.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Stara Kan has no known connections to:
Truka was a Warhoon adviser and lackey to Stara Kan
in the villain's secret volcano base. Like other green Martians of his
kind, he stood around 15' tall and had six limbs. He was taken by
surprise by the maddened John Carter, who was keen on getting revenge
on the murderous Kan, who also held Carter's beloved Thoris as
prisoner. Carter knocked Truka away, but the Martian recovered quickly. Truka bade the
others stay clear and observe Martian honor by letting the two mutual
foes battle each other to the death. Kan was killed and Carter was not
stopped from
fleeing.
--John Carter, Warlord of Mars#5
images:
(without ads)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3, p13, pan1 (main image)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3, p14, pan4 (headshot)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3, p3, pan3 (in golden armor)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#2, p2, pan1 (with jetpack)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#2, p8, pan8 (mechanical arm detached for
escape)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3, p15, pan4 ("call me master!")
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#5, p16, pan6 (Truka)
Appearances:
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#1 (June, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor),
Gil Kane (pencils), Dave Cockrum (inks)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#2 (July, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Gil Kane (pencils), Rudy Nebres (inks)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#3 (August, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Gil Kane (pencils), Rudy Nebres (inks)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#4 (September, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Gil Kane (pencils), Rudy Nebres
(inks),
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#5 (October, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Gil Kane (pencils), Rudy Nebres & Joe Delbeato
(inks)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#6 (November, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Gil Kane (pencils), Rudy Mesina (inks)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#11 (April, 1978) - (Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Rudy Nebres (inks)
First posted: 03/26/2025
Last updated:
03/26/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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