The secret revealed.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ron Marz & Ian Edginton
Art: Ariel Medel
What They Say:
John Carter and Dejah Thoris finally return to majestic Helium, but they find the city strangely deserted. John and Dejah must find out what happened to its inhabitants, or suffer the same horrific fate!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having just jumped onto the book with issue eleven, I’m admittedly fairly out of the loop over the events of this arc in general. What worked for me in coming onto the book was that we were getting mostly standalone tales as John and Dejah traveled across the Barsoom landscape and had some interesting – and dangerous – adventures that explored more of the mythology and reality of the place. It made it pretty accessible without the need to be really aware of the bigger picture. A focus on the two main characters in some human moments tied to action and the grand scale of the world in the background getting filled in was exactly what I needed to finally connect with the book.
The pair’s journey comes to an end with this installment, however, as they finally reach Helium. That had me with a sense of dread simply because it means a larger character expansion (for me) and getting into the bigger dynamics. Amusingly, the massive city is actually completely empty of life and noise, giving them a wholly different problem to deal with. I liked the way this unfolded because we get some core character traits here with John hitting things in frustration because he didn’t protect those he was sworn to as Jeddak while Dejah tries to analyze the situation and figure out what’s going on – all while reassuring him. It’s fully in character and quite appropriate to John and the time period he comes from. It may feel archaic today, but I’m enjoying the view of this character and the period he’s from because it’s standing more and more in contrast to characters existing in the here and now.
While their resolution to the problem is rather quickly figured out, or at least hoped to work since it means potentially destroying the city, it’s a route that kind of leaves me wary. Essentially, they discover that all of this must be a dream and then backtrack to realize most of their recent adventures are dreams as well. There were certainly clues which you can see in hindsight, especially as I just wrote it off as standard storytelling design for this series as I’m a new reader, but it frustrates to some degree in that outside of the character side everything we just learned was a dream. What we saw of John and Dejah still holds true in how they act, but as we know from our own dreams it’s all done in such weird ways that it’s hard to truly pin down. The reveal of who is behind all of this is similar to past installments where it’s all handled quickly, but it hits some decent notes as it resolves and moves back to reality in full. The “villain” doesn’t mean much to me, though the history is talked about briefly, but I was more just off-put by everything being a dream.
In Summary:
John Carter, Warlord of Mars brings us back to Helium and there’s a lot going on here because of it. I like the overall flow of it and what it presents, but it also kind of annoys me a bit – perhaps a bit more so as a new reader. That said, it is a familiar tactic to use in storytelling of this nature so I’m not holding it against it in a big way. Marz continues to handle the cast well and I’m curious to see how I feel about it after this arc. Medel’s artwork is once again strong in overall presentation and the flow of it. It may not go for big, splashy moments or anything, but it’s a solid and polished approach that brings this world to life in a very good way.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 23rd, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
