Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris #1 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Carlos Rafael (illustrator), Carlos Lopez (colors), Marshall Dillow (letters), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: Colossus of Mars, Part 1 of 5: Five hundred years before John Carter arrives on Mars, Helium is not the legendary twin cities, but two cities at war, the lesser of which is commanded by Dejah Thoris’ grandfather (only a Jed at this point). Dejah Thoris’ family is about to win when their liege lord tells the two cities to stop fighting, in part because he wants Dejah Thoris to marry his son. The other part of his reason is a lot more surprising.

What’s Good: Rafael and Lopez knocked the artwork out of the park. The first splash page was just beautiful with the rearing thoat foregrounded against weird aircraft firing on Greater Helium, while radium pistols and cannons wreak havoc where swords were too far from their enemies. Subsequent pages are filled with not only the pitched battle, but evocative, human faces. Mors Kajak especially is young and dynamic. The envoy from the Jeddak of Yorn and the son of the Jeddak were pricelessly done, with subtly applied ironic realism. And Dejah Thoris, of course, is beautiful. I don’t know how much Nelson is in cahoots with the two artists for Dynamite’s Mars books, but there are some beautiful Barsoomian touches that cross the two series. I’m just going to congratulate the whole creative team for the banners, flags, pikes, Barsoomesque helmets, and other cultural details. They were delightfully unexpected to a lifelong Barsoom fan like myself (I discovered Barsoom early through the novels and the Marvel comics). Lopez’ colors are also worth applause. He had a heavy task of finding the right tones to make sandy red Mars filled with red-skinned people come to life without appearing alien or gaudy. He used the perfect palette touches to make our Martian brothers and sisters come alive.