The truth is out there.
Creative Staff:
Story: Frank J. Barbiere
Art: Francesco Manna
Colors: Morgan Hickman
What They Say:
Prepare yourself for Dejah Thoris as you’ve never seen her before! A shocking conspiracy unravels in Helium as Dejah’s father has gone missing. In the wake of assuming the throne, Dejah learns secret information from her past that will have resounding effects on the kingdom – and her life!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having reconnected a bit with the world of Barsoom through the recent John Carter series, I ended up coming in at the wrong time to a degree as that series ended gave way to the launch of this one. I’ve had an ambivalent relationship with this world and property over the years as I’ve talked about before, though my favorite is still the feature film itself. With a focus on the female lead character of Dejah Thoris, and a solid creative team behind it, I was definitely curious to dig into this title to see what it would do and where it could go. Dynamite is launching several series this season and this is one that I’ve been very keen on.
With the story we get here it’s essentially a drop in the middle of the existing world with no backstory or true introductions, which can work well enough with a passing familiarity to the world. We get to connect with Dejah as she’s taken on the role of Larka and is some sort of warrior that has lost everything that she once had, which serves to tease us into the bigger picture here. Going back to how it happened after the hook works well enough as we see her as the proper princess of Helium, one that’s concerned about her people but mostly sees the positives and beauty of their land and not much else of what’s going on. All of that starts to change when a coup is put into place that disappears her father and she herself ends up being accused of crimes and thrown in jail. And she’s revealed to not be her father’s true daughter and instead was brought in from somewhere else as a baby.
Suffice to say, there’s a solid launching point here as Dejah escapes the city with help from a servant that she treats mostly well but without a real understanding of what your average citizen goes through. Dejah’s personality is one that certain speaks of culture and class and it’s just pretty blunt, which can certainly be quite accurate. Seeing her thrust into the lower levels of society and escaping the city opens her eyes in predictable ways and we know where it’ll end up, to some degree, based on the opening hook. It all works well and with John Carter thrown into the mix as kind of ineffective as he’s trying to play by the rules and understand it, it works to neutralize him without eliminating him entirely. Part of me almost wishes this took place prior to his arrival in the world so that she would be more unencumbered, but that’s not to be.
In Summary:
Barbiere serves up a fairly straightforward story that sets the stage well and gets us off on our journey. He largely handles Thoris in a good way and it leaves me wanting to spend more time with her to see how she grows and changes even if I’m expecting it to be obvious and predictable. What helps to elevate things here is Francesco Manna’s artwork. The character designs are great and it has a really strong visual dynamic about it that keeps the flow moving. I also really appreciated some of the better laid out backgrounds that gives it a rich and fuller design, angling towards classic Roman look in some of it in a really good way. There’s an obvious familiarity to the design of Helium but I also think it’s open to some expansion and new interpretations, which they accomplish here. With some strong color design from Hickman as well, the book simply looks great and is a solid and fun enough read that I’m definitely on board for a while.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 3rd, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
