The scale of events is upped again.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Vasco Georgiev
Colors: Dearbhla Kelly
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
“We cannot settle scores if we are all dead.” The monstrous Mother Spider of Golpas will not be denied their meal…and on the menu is DEJAH THORIS. By DAN ABNETT (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Aquaman) and VASCO GEORGIEV (Xena)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve read several Dejah Thoris series over the years and her use in other books but Dan Abnett has finally given me a story I can feel invested in. And part of that continues to come from advancing the time forward a lot to where there are a couple of generations under her now so that she’s “Granna Dejah” and her family is out of power. The shift in time and place on Barsoom really gives it new life and urgency. And at the same time, Vasco Georgiev is putting in some absolutely gorgeous work on the designs, the action, and the overall look of it. It was solid to begin with but each issue it feels like the confidence goes up a few more notches and becomes even better, making for some really beautiful panels and a solid approach to presenting Barsoom itself.
The book focuses on a couple of different areas, such as Thuvia awakening in the desert with her creatures and discovering others incoming, which includes Tars Tarkas. The history that exists helps at this point but the story doesn’t progress too far here, simply providing a connection to bring him into the fold and Thuvia as the conduit. We also get some brief time in the city of Zodanga where Jeddara Sabal Than oversees things. She’s discovering that Kurz Kurtos hasn’t been as successful as he was supposed to be in dealing with Dejah, so that has her sending one of her henchmen to check on the project that she has hidden out in the desert near a dead city. You know it’ll be connected with soon but it’s interesting to see some of Sabal at this point and how she’s dealing with the situation. I don’t recall her much from the prior issues but with the gap, that doesn’t surprise me.
The bulk of the book focuses on Dejah a she and Kaz and Llana find themselves saved from the spiders by an unexpected potential ally, a Kaldane named Morokh. It’s the first I’ve heard of this secretive group that’s focused on self-evolution into a group mind thing but they’re threatened by the weather changes going on and this Kaldane was sent out to find out what’s going on. With the ability to hear the surface level of other people’s minds, we cut through a lot of things quickly but there’s a huge amount of distrust from Dejah and her group, though Dejah works through it for the larger mission which is still revenge. But she’s also being swayed to realize that revenge can come later and her original mission may be tied to all of this and she has to focus there. The Dejah scenes with the Kaldane are strong but I wanted to throttle Llana for acting even more immature than she is as she’s completely against all of this and is just wanting revenge and nothing more.
In Summary:
There is a lot going on in this issue and it definitely helps to paint a bigger picture. I always feel a little out of place in these books because it feels like there’s such an immense well of material that I’m unaware of and each new species or race that’s introduced comes out of the blue for me, making me wrap my head around this crowded planet and its past all the more. I like what the Kaldane brings to the story and his time with Dejah is spot on. I’m also intrigued with how Sabal is operating within all of this. Abnett really goes for a lot of information and back and forth here but Georgiev brings it to life wonderfully and delivers a good deal of fun throughout it. It looks great, makes for a solid and weighty enough read, and moves a lot of things forward in a good way.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 10th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99