Written by: Ron Marz
Art by: Abhishek Malsuni
Published by: Dynamite Comics
Note: This is an advanced review; the issue isn’t due out until November 5th, 2014. Please be warned, this comic has mature content. There are also spoilers in this review.
John Carter: Warlord of Mars is back in a reboot of the originally published comic by Marvel and the stories written by Edgar Rice Borroughs. Can John Carter save Barsoom (Mars) and his Princess, or will this reboot fall short of a hero?
Our story starts off with the Princess of Mars (John’s wife), Dejah Thoris, who is tied up and coerced into telling everything about Barsoom (Mars) by an enemy of John’s from the future, Captain Joshua Clark. Meanwhile, while fighting a huge war against an invading army, John Clark promises his second in command Tars Tarkas that he’ll save the Princess Dejah.
Ron Marz is known for storylines that can draw a person in from the first panel, but this comic doesn’t quite do that. With that being said this isn’t a bad comic; it just falls a bit short of a plot. This comic is a typical portrayal of macho men in comics, but many may like the eye candy involved in the visuals Abhishek Malsuni displays.
This comic seems very similar to Hollywood Greek Mythology movie Troy, with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. Both have war in it, but Troy is centered around Greek Mythology while John Carter is a science fiction comic book. Other than that, both of these storylines have one thing in common: war. John Carter’s army fighting off a historical invasion of Barsoom is very similar plot to Hector’s Trojan army defending the city of Troy against a similar historical invasion Achilles’ army.
I will be on the lookout for the second issue to this comic since I’m hopeful the plot will evolve. I recommend this based on the artwork alone, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that doesn’t like war comics or anyone whom opposes the idea of the damsel in distress.
