At the Earth's Core

At the Earth's Core is a 1914 fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first in his series about the fictional "hollow earth" land of Pellucidar. It first appeared as a four-part serial in All-Story Weekly from April 4-25, 1914. It was first published in book form in hardcover by A. C. McClurg in July, 1922.




Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale, discussing the 1962 paperback edition, praised the novel; he said that "Burroughs's concepts are intriguing and his combat scenes gripping." Gale faulted the novel's style, noting that "the reader must wade at least twenty-five pages into the book before he can cease to be annoyed by the author's stilted and florid style", but promised that "by then he has reached the point of no return".




The novel was filmed as At the Earth's Core (1976), directed by Kevin Connor and starring Doug McClure as David Innes and Peter Cushing as Abner Perry.




When DC Comics gained the license to adapt the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, they managed to adapt the first Pellucidar book, with Len Wein scripting, and various artists such as Mike Kaluta and Murphy Anderson on art. The adaptation started out Korak, Son of Tarzan #46, then moved to Weird Worlds, where it ran from #1-6.




The 2008 movie Journey to Middle Earth also shares several similarities with the events and locations of the novel, although the film was intended as a loose adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.




Other authors have been inspired by Burroughs' depiction of the strange subterranean world, most notably H. P. Lovecraft whose At the Mountains of Madness was heavily influenced by At the Earth's Core, particularly in the name of the Elder Things' slave race, the Shoggoths. Another and more direct homage to Burroughs' concept is Lin Carter's "Zanthodon" series, beginning with his novel Journey to the Underground World.




Prolific manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori also loosely adapted the book for the final story arc of the original Cyborg 009 manga. (wikipedia.org)