With an alien force attacking Barsoom, the only thing standing in the invaders way is John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars!
JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS #3
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Abhishek Malsuni
Inker: Zsolt H. Garisa
Colorist: Nanjan Jamberi
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in John Carter, Warlord of Mars: An invading alien force is attacking Barsoom (we know it as Mars), and it looks like their attack on the main cities is succeeding. Deja Thoris has been captured, and the leader of of the alien force is a Yankee soldier from Earth.
INVADERS FROM MARS
This issue starts off with a little backstory on why Vush Tanzar helped the aliens invade Barsoom, and is often the case in the John Carter books, Dejah Thoris is the reason behind his madness. Promises made, princesses captured, and a battle in the heavens continues as Tanzar attempts to woo the princess. Of course she’s having none of it. Though Deja Thoris is a strong female character, she too often falls into the trope of woman in danger. And having John Carter rescue her again and again, grows tiresome. At least when there were legal issues with the John Carter property, and Dynamite Entertainment went on their own with Dejah she was more in charge of the various situations.
The bulk of this issue consists of Dejah sweet talking Vush out of her bonds and chains in an exchange that seems to go on a bit too long in my opinion. Then, as Dejah Thoris and Vush Tanzar trek through the underground caverns, the duo are attacked by giant rat-like creatures that the two have to fend off. While Dejah often becomes the prisoner in these books, she is still strong and willing to help even those she dislikes by helping to fight off the creatures. Still, she doesn’t escape captivity, and the fate of John Carter is left as the big cliffhanger in this issue, which is okay from a multi-issue series standpoint.
LOTS OF VA-VA-VOOM
Anytime artists jump on this book, there is plenty of va-va-voom when it comes to Dejah Thoris, and with Abhishek Malsuni at the drawing table there are plenty of opportunities to show off a lot of skin. Not only the skin of Dejah Thoris, but the muscles and figures of all the characters in this book. Abhishek does a fine job of making sure everyone doesn’t look like a cookie-cutter cutout, and there are plenty of muscles to go around. There are a few weird moments where anatomy gets wonky – John Carter’s head nearly spins completely around in one panel, and I’m pretty sure John’s hair shouldn’t be blowing in the breeze THAT much. The art is well above average, which is a nice change of pace from some of the things I’ve been reading lately.
The thing that did surprise me the most in this issue was the coloring by Nanjan Jamberi. Though there are some dark shadow areas, the overall tone and shading of the issue is much different than what we’ve seen in other Dynamite Entertainment books.
BOTTOM LINE: INTERESTING ENOUGH OF A STORY
This series is not related to the John Carter, Warlord of Mars book that was published in 1919, but as the Jedak of all Jedaks, John Carter is a strong warlord, so I’m okay with the title here. This issue focused a lot on Dejah Thoris, while John Carter and his team were flying back to Helium. A little slow in parts, but overall I thought this issue was better than average for a third issue. Worth checking out, but I’d suggest you pick up the previous two issues first.
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