I'm not sure that Burroughs invented the story arc form, but he certainly was an early proponent! The Martian (Barsoom) books have the same behaviour, so I wasn't surprised. However, I still prefer the old, 1930's black and white Johnny Weissmuller movies.
Frankly, I didn't think this held up all that well, but then I don't have
gmw's perspective of looking back on an old favourite. The racism was about what I'd expected, and no worse than typical for the time. I actually found the treatment of women far more difficult to stomach.