A new arc begins.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ron Marz & Ian Edginton
Art: Ariel Medel
Colors: Nanjan Jamberi
What They Say:
John Carter and Dejah Thoris discover what may well be the key to repairing the dying atmosphere of Mars. But the long-lost technology of the White Martians is not only protected by deadly robots, it’s also being sought by other agents who will stop at nothing to retrieve it. John and Dejah might well save Mars, but only if they can save themselves! The start of a two-part story that could change Mars forever!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Every now and then I find myself drawn to trying out the Warlord of Mars books in hopes that they connect with me. I’ve had mixed success and continue to find that the piece that works the best for me is the movie from a few years ago that I thoroughly enjoyed. Dynamite’s ongoing series of comics based on the original Edgar Rice Burrough’s work continues to bring out some great covers that I see every month and this one drew me in to try it again since it’s the start of a new arc called Lost Empires. This takes us out of most of the usual things going on in the book with familiar settings, locations, and cast, and by narrowing down to the two leads it feels a bit more accessible to me.
The premise is straightforward enough in that while out in their flyer going to a destination unknown, Dejah and John are caught in a storm and forced to ground. With a damaged flyer in hand, they end up discovering some intriguing ruins. As John rightly points out, Barsoom is littered with ruins yet this one feels different. Discovering that it’s an Orovar city from the age of the White Martians ups the interest considerably, though they’re wary. And again, rightly so because there are others that have set up shop in there to exploit it and what they may find and they now have John and Dejah in hand thanks to a surprise attack. What’s interesting is that the man behind it, the brains of the operation that doesn’t prefer manual labor, is named Pallias and has a history with Dejah as he served in the guard. There’s some issues going back to Dejah’s father and a sense of abandonment of soldiers that could be interesting to ferret out if there’s enough time as a sins of the father story always works well.
What we get with this book is a good, measured, pace towards where things are going to get nuts and uncertainty fills the pages. When dealing with a lost ruin of the White Martians, it’s going to be a tomb more than anything else and that means traps – traps that are beautifully executed here with a quick coldness that really does delight in its own way as Medel really makes it chilling while simple as bodies are sliced up. Medel’s artwork in general is pretty good throughout this, working the pacing of the story solidly with the layouts so that it flows well while still having some good details, even in the shadowed backgrounds so it feels creepy and more realistic. The action choreography is solid as well and I particularly liked the creepy designs of the guardians that inhabit the tomb.
In Summary:
With a strong interest in the property but a difficult time finding it accessible, this issue feels like it opened up the world a crack for me and has allowed me in. I don’t expect it to last, simply because there is such a large and rich history that will be used either in this story or subsequent ones that will have me feeling lost once again. This issue kicks off a new arc and Marz and Edginton work it well in making it feel creepy and part of something larger and unsettling as it introduces the ruins, the main cast and those new to the book at this point. Medel’s art definitely fits the design of the book and the world well and his artwork is really elevated nicely by the color design from Nanjan Jamberi, a rare book from Dynamite where it feels like their digital design for colors works in its favor. I’m definitely interested in keeping with this arc and have hopes that it might be something I can segue into other installments with.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 23rd, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
