Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris: The Colossus of Mars (Arvid Nelson, Carlos Rafael and Paul Renaud)

Having adapted Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1918 pulp novel 'Warlord of Mars' to comic book format, Arvid Nelson next turned his hand to writing a series of prequels to John Carter's adventures on Barsoom (Mars) that went into the backstory of his love interest, the luscious Dejah Thoris, princess of the twin cities of Helium. Set four hundred years before the arrival of Carter on Barsoom, this volume collects the first six issues of the Dejah series together to form a complete narrative explaining how the cities of Greater and Lesser Helium were unified and how the city of Zodanga became reknowned for treachery and a sworn enemy of united Helium.

The narrative opens with civil war between the Heliums being interrupted by the overlord of all the Red Martians, the Jeddak of Yorn, ordering that hostilities cease immediately. He takes our heroine, the incomparably busty Dejah, into captivity, little realising that his cowardly but kindhearted son will take it upon himself to free her...but not before his dastardly father has unearthed an all powerful ancient war machine which threatens all Barsoom, from the civilisations of the red men to the tribes of the green.

I think this run of prequels was definitely a good idea. Freed from the shackles of Burroughs' original stories, Arvid Nelson really manages to cut to the chase and write an all action story with plenty of twists, turns, treachery and derring do. Dejah's character really benefits from being centre stage and not overshadowed by John Carter, becoming less a damsel in distress and more a female warrior badass in the mould of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Elektra. The artists manage once again to capture the world of Barsoom in a very impressive manner, and Dejah herself is rendered in a stunningly sexy fashion true to the original tales. She's surely the hottest character in comics.

Now I've read both the comic book adaptation of 'Warlord of Mars' and this first volume of 'Dejah Thoris', I am now champing at the bit to read Dynamite's next two prequel offerings from Barsoom, 'Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris: Pirate Queen of Mars' and 'Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom', both of which are soon out as trade paperbacks. If you want a fun and engaging read with some jaw dropping artwork, you could do worse than checking out these titles.

Warlord of Mars (Arvid Nelson, Steven Sadowski and Lui Antonio)

One of the most productive avenues for authors of comics is mining pulp fiction of the early twentieth century. It was while browsing through various Conan titles on Amazon that I came across this adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 'Warlord of Mars'. Seduced immediately by the gorgeous art and pulp storyline, I ordered it just before Christmas.

This trade paperback collects the entire first run of Dynamite's 'Warlord of Mars' comic. The tale starts in post-Civil War Arizona, where John Carter, late of Virginia's army, is mysteriously transported from a cave to the red planet, known to locals as Barsoom. There he finds a race of four armed green warriors, the Tharks, who are mostly savage and brutish, apart from a few heroes, such as Tars Tarkas, who Carter quickly befriends out of mutual respect. The atmosphere of Mars makes Carter un-naturally strong and quick, and with his martial training on earth, he becomes a peerless warrior and chieftain among the Tharks. But then, one fateful day, he realises that the green men are not alone on Barsoom: the Tharks capture a princess of the "red men" (physiologically the same as humans, but red skinned) who is a compelling, scanitily glad, passionate beauty. Dejah Thoris immediately becomes Carter's raison d'etre, and he daringly jail breaks her...and this is just the start of their adventures together.

The comic strip is framed by an opening section penned by "Edgar Rice Burroughs" explaining how "Uncle Jack" told him these stories and left him these manuscripts, and also by a closing section which inventories the technology of Barsoom. I don't read a lot of comics/trade paperbacks/graphic novels, so to catch my eye, a work of this genre has to stand out from the crowd. This does just that, a rollicking adventure, economically told and gorgeously illustrated, complementing rather than replacing Burroughs' original pulp adventure, styaing true to the world, the characters and the vision. Recommended.