Warlord of Mars #9 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Lui Antonio (illustrator), Adriano Lucas (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: John Carter has become the Warlord of Mars, by uniting the Tharks of Barsoom under Tars Tarkas, the new Jeddak, and he’s leading them against the forces of Zodanga, to stop the wedding of Dejah Thoris, the woman he loves, to the Prince of Zodanga.

The Review: This is the fast-paced conclusion to Dynamite’s adaptation of Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars. The events come tumbling, with some cool, satisfying moments. The first I loved was the mass of dour-faced Thark warriors revealed on page three. Furthermore, I think that Antonio has really captured the awesome engine-of-destruction power of the Tharks, more accurately than other renditions (I’m thinking principally of Marvel’s 28-issue, 3-annual run in the late 1970s and the Whelan covers for the 1980s series of Ballantine books). Burroughs was always clear that a charging Thark warrior was a near-unstoppable force. Antonio had his Tars Tarkas dismembering six Zodangan warriors at a time, and didn’t stint on showing them at their full fourteen-foot heights, with the appropriate muscles. And Antonio’s work on Dejah Thoris remains near-flawless and pin-up worthy, which is not gratuitous, as it fits perfectly with Burroughs’ descriptions of Barsoom’s equivalent of Helen of Troy. He also drew some interesting character into Kantos Kan where Nelson had given him a nice little command role. And of course, Antonio’s airship battle was awesome, as were the last few, sad pages. This is not to say that every panel was perfect, but Antonio is gradually climbing up my scale of favorite artists and certainly justifies being among my top choices to pencil Barsoom.

Warlord of Mars #8 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writers), Lui Antonio (art), Adriano Lucas (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: The incomparable Dejah Thoris is the prisoner of the Jed of Zodanga, and a marriage is in the works. All that stands between John Carter and saving the love of his life is the entire Zodangan army and navy, with nary a friend in sight.

What’s Good: Warlord of Mars #8 is sword and planet adventure is modernized pulp tradition. Our highly intelligent, honor-bound hero is in big problems, navigating the strange world of Barsoom and trying to win his love, Dejah Thoris. I’ve read Princess of Mars many times, but Antonio and Lucas have worked wonders to bring what, until now, has only been possible to be seen in our imaginations. And it’s not that Marvel didn’t do a great job in its 1977-1980 series at bringing Barsoom to life, but the Marvel artists like Gil Kane, Sal Buscema and Pablo Marcos emphasized the dusty age of Mars, rather than the science that was so advanced as to appear magical. Antonio and Lucas make Barsoom hyper-advanced and deadly savage in a way that no other visualizations (even the Whelan covers on the novels in the 1980s) have done.

On the writing, Nelson makes the action tense and the emotions powerful. When Carter swears to kill the Zodangan Jed so that Dejah does not need to wed him, he’s truly hurt, and so are we, by her response. And in the tradition of the best and most sympathetic of characters, he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time anguishing over what to do. Carter is the best of the old pulp heroes, in whom thought and action are one. *Carter is going to solve this and win Dejah Thoris.* And we love him for it, because it’s the kind of response we wish we were capable of.

Warlord of Mars #7 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Lui Antonio (artist), Adriano Lucas (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: Having led the tharks away from Dejah Thoris, John Carter became lost and is dying in the Martian desert. But, he finds a strange building and after some creepiness, gets past it and back to civilization, where he gets news of Dejah Thoris. Then, it’s back to sneaking *into* the enemy camp for our favorite Warlord of Mars.

What’s Good: We’re in the high point of Act II of A Princess of Mars, so the pace of action is fast and the exposition is minor. Nelson hurtles us from the atmospheric factories of Mars, the weird tech of the homesteaders of Mars, to the city of Zodanga, where writer and art team show us a different Martian culture and how their military works. I have to say that I like Nelson’s sleight of hand for getting John Carter into the Zodangan navy better than Burroughs’ version. Nelson didn’t abandon Burroughs’ premise, but he connected together the attrition from the Zodangan-Helium war, especially among the air service, with Carter’s easy entry. This made the plot much easier to buy. I also loved the training sequence and Carter’s laconic monologue as well as his boastful competitiveness.

Warlord of Mars #5 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Lui Antonio (artist), Adriano Lucas (colors), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: John Carter has his first quiet moments with the incomparable Dejah Thoris. Classic adventure romance, with Burroughs’ trademark curve balls thrown in for good measure… But, more that one Thark has a hate for Carter, and it’s no small danger that results.

What’s Good: Antonio’s artwork with Lucas continues to impress. Dejah Thoris is as beautiful as Burroughs imagined her and the giant and savage green Tharks of Mars are bigger and more dangerous that I imagined. Their expressions and the action sequences are evocative and dynamic. The thoats and zittidars were well-imagined, faithful to Burroughs’ vision, but different than have been done before by such fine artists as Michael Whelan or Gil Kane. Antonio has added additional features and a bit of a lizardy feel here and there. And, as always, the Martian settings are superb. I especially liked the night-to-day shift showing the old, ruined city against both backdrops.

On the writing, I felt the beginning a little rough, lacking context, but after page three, the story took off and soared. The thoat training and the mockery that ensued revealed Carter’s simple, honest character, as did his problems with Dejah Thoris. Carter is a gentleman who marries together some American values that were classic pulp values in the early 20th century: courageous resolve, honesty, gentlemanly honor, and a quick sense of swift justice. Part of this is distrust and a lack of appreciation for the sophistication and social complexity needed when the world isn’t black and white. This is pretty much politics, lawyers and romance for Burroughs, and Nelson captured all of these values at once in the first scene where a few romantic and social things are playing themselves out. The reason this is a classic Burroughs scene that worked as well in 1912 as in 2011 is that for many people (women as well as men), it’s impossible to catch all the romantic and social signals, and everyone feels like they’re missing something. We admire Carter for going back to rescue Powell, and later on for risking himself for both Woola and Dejah Thoris, but Burroughs and Nelson make us identify with Carter emotionally through scenes like this. Yes, he’s a superb, nearly superhuman warrior, but he’s got the same problems as us.

Warlord of Mars #4 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Lui Antonio (artist), Adriano Lucas (colors), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator), Joseph Rybandt (editor)

The Story: John Carter, prisoner of the Tharks of Mars, observes the Thark ambush of a strange flying fleet.

What’s Good: Nelson, Antonio and Lucas have crafted something great. Nelson continues to adapt Burroughs’ classic Princess of Mars to comics. He’s caught the formal, southern gentleman mood of the original in the narrative text boxes without having the dialogue sound stilted or Victorian. And he’s also found a way to keep the pace quick and adventurous without losing the reader in a medium that doesn’t have the space for a whole lot of explanation. Any adaptation is tough, and Nelson is walking the narrow path of doing justice to both the original story and the new medium.

Artwise, Lui Antonio delivered some awesome action, emotion and ancient Martian setting. This is no change from the last three issues. One thing I loved in the visuals this issue though was the reimagining of the flying ships of Helium. For almost a hundred years, the flying ships of Barsoom have been depicted as flying yachts, from the early book editions, through the excellent Ballantine editions (art by Michael Whelan) through to Marvel’s 1977-1979 series. Antonio brings a Star Wars feel (think Jabba the Hutt’s hovercraft) with insectoid accents. Very cool. And while we’re on the Star Wars feel, I have to say that Antonio’s finishes feel a lot like Cam Kennedy’s work on Dark Horse’ Star Wars series.
The other visual that just blew me away was Dejah Thoris by Antonio and Lucas. Oh. My. God. Stunning. Jaw-dropping. I’ve trashed a few comics here and there (as have my colleagues at WCBR) for gratuitous T&A, but the beauty here is that Dejah Thoris is close as you can get to Burroughs’ original conception of her. Gratuitous is when sensuality or violence isn’t necessary to the story. Barsoom is a world of natural beauty and ever-present danger. Antonio and Lucas delivered Burroughs’ vision in a way that felt honest. This begs the question of where beautiful Martian women aren’t honest. Let me put it this way, I had the choice between Campbell’s cover (which struck me as over the top) and Parrillo’s stunning scene of Carter fighting a white ape and chose Parrillo’s.

Warlord of Mars #3 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Lui Antonio (artist), Adriano Lucas (colorist), Troy Peteri (letterer)

The Story: Continuing one of the classic sci-fi stories of all time, John Carter wakes up on Lowell’s dying Mars of canals, deserts and the warring races struggling to survive. John Carter meets the awesome Tharks.

What’s Good: Where the frak has Lui Antonio been hiding? OMG you *have* to check out his Martian cities (starting at the double splash-page about a third of the way through). I’ve looked at Michael Whelan’s Barsoomian art, seen Gil Kane’s take on Barsoom, but Antonio blew me away. The architecture is *weird* (in a great way), almost like Jack Kirby mixed with John Byrne’s Attilan. The level of detail in the cities (always high on my rating system) was fantastic, with ornate geometric decorations and a soaring stadium for Lorquas Ptomel’s council chamber. The brilliance of the scenery goes on. Antonio drew an entire tiled mural (Greek Byzantium style) just to give the right feel of awe to a single panel. And the lurid red of the night sky outside of Carter’s window was captivating. I was ready for the draftsmanship on the bodies and faces to be a little less than stellar. That was absolutely without reason. Antonio draws a *very* muscular, proportioned (for comics) John Carter, with a very assertive jawline, and evocative expressions to carry the story along. The fight scene (where Carter clocks his first Martian) was surprisingly brutal, with the consequences drawn out (no pun intended).