John Carter: The Gods of Mars #4 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (story), Ramón Pérez (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: This–is–Barsooooom!

The Review: As I explained to Jim in the comments to my review of The Avengers, I like to review and grade everything on this site according to what legal minds call a “partially individualized” test.  It means while I do make a big effort to be as objective as possible, I also give some weight to what the creators’ intent.  It doesn’t really make sense to evaluate, for example, a cartoon on Nickelodian in the same way I do for a literary masterwork.

So when it comes to a pulpy piece of sci-fi, I definitely offer a lot more leeway for cliché and silliness than I would with almost every other genre.  Obviously, the intention with these things isn’t to create some radical new form of storytelling; all these stories really want to do is provide an entertaining diversion that’s almost comforting in the way it relies on classical conventions.

John Carter: The Gods of Mars #2 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (story), Ramón Pérez (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: Whoever wrote the gospels on Barsoom clearly didn’t do his research.

The Review: Among the many plot elements John Carter sort of threw out there, yet never felt the need to elaborate upon, was the exposure of the Therns as false gods.  So much of Barsoom’s culture revolves around these mysterious figures that such a revelation should have made much more of an impact, but it came off as little more than a vaguely interesting plot twist.  If the producers expected a couple sequels to develop the storyline, they may be very disappointed.

So it’s left to this miniseries to reveal how Barsoom will deal with their whole spiritual dogma getting turned on its head and inside-out.  And by “Barsoom” I mean the planet as a whole, since this issue reveals that pretty much every single race has the wool pulled over their eyes.  Just as the Therns hold themselves out as “a holy race” and prey upon the common Martians and Tharks, the Black Pirates of Omean consider themselves “the first born” and prey on the Therns in the name of Issus—who just so happens to be the same divinity the Therns claim to act for.

John Carter: The Gods of Mars #1 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (writer), Ramón Pérez (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist)

The Story: Spend some time on Mars and Earth religions start looking pretty good, eh?

The Review: Even though I found John Carter visually exciting, bordering on spectacular, ultimately the whole movie fell flat from uneven pacing, clumsy structure, and blandness in the plot and character.  What’s particularly frustrating about the underwhelming quality of the movie is it belies the rich potential of the story itself.  There’s a minor epic to be had here, if we can find the right people to bring it out.

From the initial look of this issue, Humphries may be one of those people.  He dives right into the action, refusing to tarry with fancy narrative techniques or swaths of exposition.  Right away, he understands that a story like this works best at a breakneck pace, so he never allows you to linger for very long in quiet before the pulp kicks up again.  Almost as soon as Carter awakens to find himself back on Barsoom, he’s surrounded by danger and must fight for his life.  And would you have it any other way?

Within eight pages, Carter’s already on the verge of death, prompting the timely arrival of a valuable ally.  Tars Tarkas serves a valuable role in the plot by not only ciphering necessary information for Carter’s (and our) benefit, but also generating a lot of warmth through his obvious affection for his Earthman friend.  Much of the feel-good factor of this issue comes from the pairing of these unlikely buddies: “John Carter, my heart is glad you have returned.”  “Tars, you steely-eyed buzzard—the feeling is entirely mutual!”

John Carter – Movie Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review, or better yet, IMDB it.

The Story: Some of these aliens are green, but they aren’t all little, nor definitely all men.

The Review: It’s only fair to warn you that prior to watching this movie, I had zero knowledge of the Barsoom series or mythos other than a vague recollection that Dejah Thoris is a comics series that DS reviews on this site.  In fact, that very fact was the tipping point which actually got me to the theater to watch the film.  I figured it’d be a decent way to spend two hours of free time and get a little work out of it, too.

In the end, that’s all John Carter really is: a decent way to spend two hours of free time.  Disney obviously spared no expense in making the movie, as the cinematography and special effects make it already one of the most lavish and spectacular visual feasts of the year.  The location scouts should be well compensated, as their choice of locales truly evokes the dusty, Martian landscape of our dreams.  Beyond that, the very design of the Barsoom races and their cultures meets a Star Wars standard of detail, implying much that the script does not point out explicitly.

On that note, it should be little surprise that if there’s one area Disney shortchanged, it was in the writing.  This is particularly distressing, as Michael Chabon (if this is indeed the same who wrote the wonderful Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) is one of the credited writers.  But the script lacks not so much in quality or credibility as it does in cohesiveness.

The opening is the first and most obvious example: disjointed, jarring, uncertain of how to proceed, it feels as if the three writers each had different ideas of the beginning and instead of choosing one, they went for all three.  You start with Dejah’s “epic” voiceover setting up the exposition to the main plot; Carter’s epistolary voiceover to his nephew narrating the film’s main events after the fact; and then the actual start of the action itself.  Each of these would have worked well on their own, but combined, they make for an overly long prologue, dragging down the pace from the very start.

Warlord of Mars #14 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Edgar Salazar (artist), Marcelo Pinto (colorist), Joseph Rybandt (editor), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: The Gods of Mars Part Two: The Black Pirates: John Carter and Tars Tarkas meet Thuvia, formerly a prisoner of the predatory Therns. They use her special talent to try to break out of the valley of death, and no sooner make a good run for it, than run into the people who prey on the Therns, the Black Pirates of Mars.

The Review: Wow! Salazar’s artwork was astonishingly fresh and vital. Just the composition of the splash page alone, complemented by fine detail, and beautiful colors, totally blew me away. Check out the way Tars tarkas is standing. This is the most realistic balancing I have seen for a Thark outside of a Michael Whelan cover. And the fine lines and detailed draftsmanship were just beautiful to pause over, throughout the book. The detail in the accoutrements of the characters were awesome, like the leather strapping of Tarkas’ wrists, the clothing and jewelry on the princess of the Therns, the expressions throughout, but especially on the Dator Xodar’s face near the end. I can and should go on about Salazar’s art, especially the banths, the Thern architecture and the external sets. The action sequences were dynamic and clear and Tars Tarkas, winded after holding off the banths was worth a thousand words. And this is all said without even mentioning the excellent color work of Marcelo Pinto, who made the red Martians closer to what I’d always pictured and who brought the banths and the Valley Dor to life, while bringing a lurid, bloody tinge to the Barsoomian twilight.

Warlord of Mars #10 – Review

By: Arvid Nelson (writer), Stephen Sadowski (artist), Shane Rooks (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor), Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator)

The Story: In the time since John Carter has gone back to Earth, Barsoom mourns his loss and a son has been born to him. The Zodangans and the Therns seem to be hanging about with Dejah Thoris on their minds, when an assassin tries to kill her.

What’s Good: However much I loved Dynamite’s Princess of Mars adaptation (the first nine issues of this series), I’m pleased that it is done so that I can be transported to places and situations on Barsoom that I have not seen before (as Nelson and Napton are taking us). The new Zodangans (ever the rascally enemies of Helium) and the religion of the Therns are such situations. The plotting and counter-plotting has my interest and this issue did what a starting book in an arc should do, which is launch a story with enough momentum to get the reader to want to follow the arc. Artwise, Sadowski brought some different visions to the series. His pyramids and the lair of the Therns were intriguing, as was the hurtling flight of Carthoris and Tars Tarkas across the Martian wastes.

What’s Not So Good: I miss Lui Antonio. We really got spoiled by his beautiful art. Sadowski is certainly a competent artist, but the style change for the series feels drastic. The style is darker and scratchier and more realistic (as opposed to heroic and grand). Dejah Thoris is not the woman whose beauty has started wars, but is simply a woman. Tardos Mors does not seem to be the commanding figure that has ruled the twin cities for five centuries, but simply a man. Even the Zodangans, so beautifully portrayed in previous issues with heroic figures and short brush cuts are now lanky, long-haired figures whose postures seem sniveling compared to those admirable warriors who committed suicide to signal surrender to Heliumite forces. Additionally, whereas I felt that Antonio cleaved pretty closely to Burroughs’ original vision of a largely nudist society, Sadowski through more clothing onto the figures, which seems to me stylistically closer the later stories in Burroughs’ Mars series. I don’t mind which style Dynamite picks (the pulp covers always went with clothed figures), but the sum of the stylistic differences in the art was jarring.

Conclusion: As a hard-core Barsoom fan, I’m going to continue with the series, but the art switch really got me down. Hopefully, Sadowski grows on me. Or they bring back Antonio. Recommended for people like me.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault

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