The mystery deepens with new revelations.
Creative Staff:
Story: Frank J. Barbiere
Art: Francesco Manna
Colors: Morgan Hickman
What They Say:
Having taken command of an elite unit in the People’s Army of Barsoom, Dejah ventures into the badlands to search for secrets of her past. But when her unit is captured by powerful enemies, she must truly learn what it means to be a leader or suffer the consequences!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Dejah Thoris has definitely had a lot of good material in its first three installments even as Dejah as Larka has been through more than she should. The escape, the journey, and then joining the People’s Army was fairly chaotic but it was held together by her goal to get to the place where she’ll supposedly learn more about her lineage. The last issue kind of pushed things a little harder and faster than it should have when it came to giving her a command and moving into that storyline, but Barbiere’s scripts that I’ve read over the years tend to work this angle so I wasn’t too surprised. There’s a lot of richness to explore in each of the issues so far that could have easily been expanded further with a couple of issues each, but we’re hitting the right plot points here overall and they’re engaging because of how beautifully Francesco Manna is bringing them to life.
With that last fight having gone as badly as it did since the team was completely overpowered by the Warhoon, which has now resulted in her and Burma being tossed in makeshift cell. What she’s introduced to here is some of what’s going on that’s connected to events in Helium as there’s a sprawling mine being worked with a lot of prisoners across the board, all of which are being controlled by an special mineral that they’re mining for their overlord who has been promised a position of power. It’s no surprise to see Dejah doing her best to incite a rebellion but the reveal of the mental control that’s in play works well as it explains a lot of what’s going on here and just how hard it will be to work through all of this. Dejah’s certainly true to herself and what she’s learning through this journey. It’s just as I said before, moving a pretty brisk clip.
What’s supporting all of this are the events in Helium itself that are certainly interesting but best kept to that kind of supporting position. Carter has made his escape and there’s some fun in seeing how that unfolds, though thankfully it’s kept to just about a page or so since this is Dejah’s story. What I do like that we get in the Helium subplot is seeing Valoris’ play unfolding more as it’s all part of the larger Issus cult revival. Being semi-fresh to the Carter world I don’t know if there’s a lot of backstory to it or not but watching the way this cult is moving so swiftly and effectively here is definitely engaging to watch even as it’s kept to the supporting side of things. A power grab can always be interesting and Barbiere is definitely giving it a good run here as the pieces are coming together.
In Summary:
Dejah Thoris works the whole prisoner set as slave labor angle pretty well and seeing her attempting to do the whole inciting rebellion is definitely fun. This issue works the reveals that it needs to, gives Dejah what she needs to continue on with her journey, and works to further seed what Carter’s storyline will be as you know it’ll intersect along the way. Barbiere and Manna definitely click well here with what they’re doing and bringing to life as it has all the right elements, just too compressed for my tastes, while touching on the right scale for it. Though I expect we’ll end the opening arc with Dejah back in Helium in her usual position, it’s one that will have her with a very different view of the world.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 11th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
