T'RALLAA
Real Name: T'Rallaa (see comments)
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial
(late 19th
Century)
Occupation: Predator, castaway
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: John Carter, Stara
Kan and his Martian raiders, residents of Zeere
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Zeere, Mars (aka Barsoom);
formerly its home planet in deep space
First Appearance: John Carter, Warlord of
Mars#4 (September, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: T'Rallaa is a large
extraterrestrial of unrevealed origin. He can survive in the Martian
atmosphere. Appearing like a giant four-footed reptile, his movement is
such that he lurches; this may be because
of different gravity, atmosphere or complacency with his diet of local
Martians, which he believes will eventually give him enough energy to
return to the stars. T'Rallaa has low-level telepathy that influences
Red Martians to the point that they surrender all will and fall to be
consumed by him (excepting bones); he can sense when someone does not
respond to his telepathic commands. He has three tendrils mounted on
the top of his head to help snare reluctant victims and produces blue
bile that dribbles down his rope-like chin whiskers.
Height: 40'
(approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
History:
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#4 (fb) - BTS) - Through
unrevealed means, the extraterrestrial T'Rallaa was stranded on Mars
alone and was unable to leave. He made his way to the trading post of
Zeere occupied by Red Martians. He found he had low-level telepathic
control over the local inhabitants and a religion began around the
creature, including statues and a tower. T'Rallaa would regularly
call on the inhabitants who,
hypnotized by his telepathic drum-like summoning, would fall into his
pit and be consumed by him down to their bones. T'Rallaa believed
absorbing sufficient lifeforce would help him escape Mars and return
home.
(John Carter, Warlord of Mars#4) - The villainous nihilist Stara Kan had blackmailed the heroic Earthman John Carter to lead raids against Martian outposts or else he would harm Carter's beloved Dejah Thoris. The next attack took them to Zeere. Once landed, Carter, Kan and Kan's raiders were initially puzzled by the empty streets until they found the trail of locals numbed in a queue leading to T'Rallaa's lair. Kan and his men were likewise hypnotized and joined the queue, but Carter was immune and attacked the deadly beast. Carter was ready to let his tormentor Kan be killed by T'Rallaa, but needed him alive to learn his beloved's location, so Carter fought on, slashing with his sword, eventually piercing T'Rallaa's skull. The surviving victims were mentally released without memory of what had happened, just confusion. Carter, Kan and his men fled while the Zeere survivors hacked at T'Rallaa's carcass.
Comments:
Created by Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane, Rudy Nebres. Kudos to colorist Andy
Yanchus for the beautiful color blending of T'Rallaa's hide.
The alien creature slurred his words, so his name
could
easily be simply T'Rala.
I think this story is very Conan-like in style. But
some questions pop up. Did T'Rallaa really need to be an alien? How did
he hope to escape when he had such limited mobility? And why did the
Zeere locals so quickly cut up T'Rallaa's dead body if they had no
memory of the creature devouring them? Could it be that T'Rallaa was
originally an amorphous alien being that bonded to a giant Martian
lizard and found fellow alien John Carter as its first opportunity to
escape Mars?
This was my first John Carter (back) issue. Now you
can get
the whole 1970s Marvel series in brilliant color in a stellar Marvel
omnibus.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
T'Rallaa has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#4, p, pan (main image)
p, pan (from behind)
Appearances:
John Carter, Warlord of Mars#4 (September, 1977) - Marv Wolfman
(writer/editor), Gil Kane (pencils), Rudy Nebres
(inks)
First posted: 05/03/2025
Last updated:
05/03/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™
and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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