{"id":23711,"date":"2026-11-02T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=23711"},"modified":"2026-10-13T11:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:35:02","slug":"erbs-beyond-the-farthest-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2026\/11\/02\/erbs-beyond-the-farthest-star\/","title":{"rendered":"ERB’s ‘Beyond the Farthest Star’"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember in high school when I was reading Edgar Rice Burroughs<\/a><\/strong> that one of the books I read was Beyond the Farthest Star<\/em> (or, BtFS<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"Beyond<\/a><\/p>\n

What I found most intriguing about it was that Burroughs had spent time building up a whole planetary system for adventures, the Omos system, which had 11 worlds all in the same planetary orbit and somehow shared the same atmospheric belt. This would allow for characters to easily travel from world to world, but we never got further than the world of Poloda.<\/p>\n

Burroughs also worked out an alphabet and numbering systems as well. It’s too bad he didn’t work out an outline for further adventures.<\/p>\n

BtFS<\/em> was composed of two novellas (or are they novelettes?), both written in 1940. The first, “Adventure on Poloda,” was published in Blue Book Magazine<\/a><\/em> in 1942, but the second, “Tangor Returns,” wasn’t published until 1964 in the collection Tales of Three Planets<\/em>. I would get the later Ace paperback with the second Frank Frazetta<\/a><\/strong> cover.<\/p>\n

I don’t recall that this had the various maps of the Omos system or Poloda. I think I had to see those reprinted in some of my Burroughs references.<\/p>\n

More recently, ERB Inc.<\/a> has put out a new “restored edition” in 2021, which put back a lot of text cut from the published magazine edition that had previously been used in book editions, along with additional items. These include an intro by Paul Di Filippo<\/a><\/strong> and a preface by Christopher Paul Carey<\/a><\/strong> on the restoration. They include the maps, alphabet diagram, and other previously unpublished bonus materials.<\/p>\n

Of the two stories, “Adventure on Poloda” reads like some of your standard Burroughs tales like the Barsoom or Venus stories. Like John Carter<\/a><\/strong>, our main character, Tangor<\/a><\/strong>, is an unnamed American pilot shot down over Germany in WWII. He finds himself transported to the world of Poloda, which lies beyond the Globular Cluster NGC 7006, 450,000 light-years away from Earth. Though how he is able to send back a message of his adventures to the typewriter of Burroughs is never explained.<\/p>\n

We find Poloda is a world also engulfed in war. Tangor has appeared in the nation of Unis, a large continent in the western hemisphere. They have been waging a 100+ year war with the nation of Kapar, on the coast of a continent in the eastern hemisphere. Loosely, Unis (note that name) is a stand-in for the U.S., if we had been forced to fight WWII for as long. We learn it’s ruled by a democratically elected council. Their opponent, who started the war, Kapar, seems based on Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. It’s a highly paranoid society, with a secret police and led by a single ruler.<\/p>\n

The first story has our hero arriving naked on the planet and being captured by the Unis. It is they who name him “Tangor,” meaning “from nothing.” After learning the language and going through a trial, he is able to join Unis society, eventually becoming a pilot and being involved in fighting the enemy.<\/p>\n

The second story, “Tangor Returns,” is more of a spy thriller. The main part of the story is Tangor taking on a mission to Kapar after meeting a girl who is pro-Kapar and wants to go there. Tangor pretends to go along but is on a mission to both find out what happened to another Unis agent and to get ahold of a Kapar “power generator,” which allows their planes to fly as far as they do. Thus, a large part of the story is set in Kapar, and we get a firsthand look at how horrible their society is.<\/p>\n

In fact, due to false evidence, Tangor is arrested and tortured until someone proves his innocence. And another man is arrested after his son turns him in for speaking against the ruler.<\/p>\n

But in the end, Tangor is successful and is able to return to Unis. Sadly, as that is all Burroughs wrote, who knows what might have happened next.<\/p>\n

But like I said, I was always impressed by the world-building that Burroughs was doing here. He had worked out the Omos solar system, naming all the planets. He had worked out an alphabet and numbering system. I’m not sure if he had mapped Poloda, or if that’s by someone else. I find the Unis continent strangely similar to North America.<\/p>\n

A soldier of Poloda<\/em><\/h3>\n

We have gotten one additional work set on Poloda, but it’s part of the “Wild Adventures of ERB,” which allows for non-canon stories.<\/p>\n

A Soldier of Poloda<\/em> is by Lee Strong<\/a><\/strong>. Instead of starring Tangor, we get another Earthman, an American OSS officer Thomas Randolph<\/strong>. Though unlike Tangor, Thomas finds himself in Kapar. He now goes by Tomas Ran<\/strong> and gets a firsthand account of how Kapar works and meets up with a Unisan prisoner, Loris Kiri<\/strong>. He will use his skills to get them out and back to Unis. There he meets up with Tangor and learns he has been on Poloda for seven years and what he has been doing. Including a several-year visit to one of the nearby planets. But after various activities in Unis, plans are made to put an end to the war. Thus, both Tomas Ran and his companion return to Kapar. They are successful. Read to find out how.<\/p>\n

In the process, we learn a bit about how Kapar came into existence, but I wonder about that. The author puts forth the idea of it being a movement like the Nazis or the communists who took over one nation, Ergos, and from there went on to conquer most of the rest of Poloda. But I wondered how this continued for the 100 years of war? The Soviet Union collapsed after a few decades.<\/p>\n

Beyond the Farthest Star: the comics<\/h3>\n

\"Beyond<\/a><\/p>\n

BtFS<\/em> was adapted into a comic feature during DC<\/a>‘s tenure on the Burroughs properties in the early ’70s. Written by Marv Wolfman<\/a><\/strong> and later Dennis O’Neil<\/a><\/strong> (maybe) and Robert Kanigher<\/a><\/strong>, and drawn by several artists including Murphy Anderson<\/a><\/strong> and Howard Chaykin<\/a><\/strong>, it ran in Tarzan<\/em> #213\u2013218 (Oct. ’72 \u2013 March ’73), then later tried again in Tarzan Family<\/em> #61 (January\u2013February 1976). American Mythology Productions<\/a> would reprint it in two issues in 2022 as Beyond the Farthest Star: Chronicles<\/em>, with an additional story added. While initially following the plot, this series quickly veers off into a different direction. I guess the original story wasn’t fantastical enough, thus they went with a new storyline. Plus, they give Tandor bright red hair.<\/p>\n

In Tarzan<\/em> #213 (Wolfman and art by Dan Green<\/a><\/strong>), we have Tandor coming to Paloda (sic) in Unis, but then he grabs one of their jets and takes off.<\/p>\n

In Tarzan<\/em> #214 (Wolfman and Green), Tandor comes to a red desert land and meets a group of old men who teach him the language of Paloda and name him “Tandor.” But they are attacked by Kapars, whom Tandor tries to fight off. After which he heads out again.<\/p>\n

In Tarzan<\/em> #215 (Wolfman and Green), Tandor crashes into the ocean, is rescued by a race of fishmen who give him temporary gills. He becomes a sort of leader of them.<\/p>\n

In Tarzan<\/em> #216 (Wolfman? and art by Howard Chaykin), Tandor is still with the fishmen. Chaykin puts him in an outfit similar to some of his other characters. He is testing for the fishmen a spacecraft which winds up taking Tandor to one of the nearby planets, but we don’t know which one.<\/p>\n

In Tarzan<\/em> #217 (unknown writer, maybe Dennis O’Neil, and art by Murphy Anderson), Tandor is on another world. And we learn his real name is Lt. James Farnsworth<\/strong>. He meets the various perils of this world and makes friends with an alien monkey.<\/p>\n

In Tarzan<\/em> #218 (O’Neil? and Murphy Anderson), Tandor and his monkey friend meet a girl, Zita<\/strong>, and they head off on a new adventure. We seem to be promised more, but nothing further with this storyline.<\/p>\n

In TF<\/em> #61 (Robert Kanigher and Rudy Florese<\/a><\/strong>), we get a totally new storyline. We have a Kaparian spaceship heading to the world of Tonos (which is next to Poloda), and Tandor and Melandra<\/strong> (a possible new love interest) follow them. Clearly, Tandor is working for Unis, so maybe they just ignored all the previous stuff. There are aliens on Tonos but want nothing to do with the war on Poloda. If they planned for further stories, I am unaware of this.<\/p>\n

ERB Inc. did another mini-series running four issues in 2021 titled Beyond the Farthest Star: Warriors of Zandar<\/em>, which is part of the ERB Universe stuff involving Victory Harben<\/a><\/strong> showing up on one of the worlds of Omos, Zandar. This has since been collected in a trade paperback by ERB Inc. When I get into reading those books, I’ll review this then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember in high school when I was reading Edgar Rice Burroughs that one of the books I read was Beyond the Farthest Star (or, BtFS). What I found most intriguing about it was that Burroughs had spent time building up a whole planetary system for adventures, the Omos system, which had 11 worlds all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":23968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_has_post_settings":{"highlight_sharing":"default","image_sharing":"default","headline_sharing":"default"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan looks at Edgar Rice Burroughs's 'Beyond the Farthest Star.'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[7,1,135,14],"tags":[1458,2758,790,2657,2764,470,471,103,368,1758,1986,104,2760,2761,2763,1969,2762,2765,2759,1460],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-23711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-pulp","category-pulps","category-reprints","category-review","tag-american-mythology","tag-blue-book-magazine","tag-christopher-paul-carey","tag-comic-books","tag-dan-green","tag-dc-comics","tag-dennis-oneil","tag-edgar-rice-burroughs","tag-edgar-rice-burroughs-inc","tag-frank-frazetta","tag-howard-chaykin","tag-john-carter","tag-lee-strong","tag-marv-wolfman","tag-murphy-anderson","tag-paul-di-filippo","tag-robert-kanigher","tag-rudy-florese","tag-tangor","tag-victory-harben"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-6ar","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2026\/11\/beyond-the-farthest-star-featured.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23711"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23977,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23711\/revisions\/23977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23711"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=23711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}