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Dejah Thoris #a1
(Art of Dejah Thoris and the Worlds of Mars HC) [By: Renaud, Paul] [Dec, 2013]
Since the first serialized adventures in 1912 of the Martian Princess Dejah Thoris and her beloved hero, John Carter, science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts have dreamed of the faraway Red Planet, its wondrous sights and monstrous perils. Fans and fine art lovers need dream no longer! In hundreds of full-color illustrations, the finest artists of modern fantasy have brought the dying world of Mars to life, depicting scenes of brutal conflict with alien beasts, quiet moments overlooking Martian wastes, and enticing visions of an exotic princess at her most intimate. This magnificent hardcover collection features the talents of Alex Ross, J. Scott Campbell, Joe Jusko, Art Adams, Paul Renaud, Lucio Parillo, Francesco Francavilla, and many more!
Hardcover
First published December 24, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 27, 2023
This is a massive collection of art from the graphic novels of the red planet as envisaged by ERB. The collection is for adult consumption with numerous acts of death and dismemberment interspersed with nude portraits of Dejah as defined at the end of the graphic novels. The pictures are for the connoisseurs and fans.
The book starts with a history of the arts of Dejah Thoris starting from the earliest depiction by ERB to her possible early scuttlement suggested by Thomas Newell Metcalf of the The All-Story magazine. There are snippets in the development of the physique over generations and many of these are worth its weight in gold for the true connoisseur. This part spread over 7 pages are the actual core of this book.
Worth a lookover for the fan of the series.
The book starts with a history of the arts of Dejah Thoris starting from the earliest depiction by ERB to her possible early scuttlement suggested by Thomas Newell Metcalf of the The All-Story magazine. There are snippets in the development of the physique over generations and many of these are worth its weight in gold for the true connoisseur. This part spread over 7 pages are the actual core of this book.
Worth a lookover for the fan of the series.
September 25, 2021
*exhales slowly* Quick review for a quick read. This might be among the easiest books that I review because - long story short - this is just a compilation of cover art/fantasy illustrations in Dynamite's Warlord of Mars/Dejah Thoris comic series spanning across a number of years and series collections. Please note that this is an adult, NSFW/mature collection of illustrations, but that's a given considering the Dynamite comic series is an adult comic series with graphic nudity and violence. Still, I'm putting it as a disclaimer before I jump into my thoughts about this compilation to start.
The introduction to this art book was a nice bit of history on "A Princess of Mars" and the creation of Dejah Thoris's character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' original series. It also talks about its impact on science fiction and the genre shaping in itself, which I thought was worth reading. I could probably write a dissertation talking about how sci-fi has been developed by and beyond stories like this, with aspects of this story that truly don't age well, but that's a discussion for another time and a retracing I'd rather do when revisiting Burroughs's original series. Also I'd rather do more indepth discussions on the Dynamite comic stories for their individual volumes. Some of them I've already reviewed in depth on my blog and Goodreads in reviews, because I got them either as galleys from NetGalley or I picked them up myself.
I feel like I'm being generous giving this first volume compilation 2 stars, because - if I'm centering it on the talents of the artists featured in the compilation, some of them range from absolutely stunning and ones I would purchase larger prints for to... and I'm direct quoting something I said in conversation to someone after finishing: "We know you can quick draw scantily clad or nude women with boobs in sexually suggestive poses, but you really did nothing to represent Dejah herself or the world of Warlord of Mars and the stories contained within." *groans* It really is a mixed bag of fantasy art and interpretations of Dejah Thoris's character alongside other characters in the series including John Carter and Tars Tarkkas. While someone could probably debate with me "Well, the stories in the Dynamite series featured some of these storylines and they weren't far from the quality of the artwork in those volumes" - that's what I'm getting at as well with my critique. It wasn't consistent and sometimes the shift for quality was jarring. I touched on that in some of my reviews for those volumes as well.
It's not so much that I can't appreciate what different artists bring to the table when interpreting characters or a realm for a series. If you look at animated films such as the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight as examples - stories can be told across a range with different animators giving their take on a character or a world as they see it. The same is true across comics and graphic novels where you have different interpretations like Wonder Woman or Spider-Man. But I'd argue that I wonder what made some of these images in this compilation be chosen as covers for volumes in the series versus others.
If I had to say it, the second volume is actually a much better range and quality than this compilation, but it was worth me holding onto this particular volume for some of the illustrations made by Lucio Parillo and Joe Jusko to name a few.
If I can attach a few screens of some of the ones I found to be very well done, I'll do so in this review. But overall, it was just okay.
Overall score: 2/5 stars.
The introduction to this art book was a nice bit of history on "A Princess of Mars" and the creation of Dejah Thoris's character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' original series. It also talks about its impact on science fiction and the genre shaping in itself, which I thought was worth reading. I could probably write a dissertation talking about how sci-fi has been developed by and beyond stories like this, with aspects of this story that truly don't age well, but that's a discussion for another time and a retracing I'd rather do when revisiting Burroughs's original series. Also I'd rather do more indepth discussions on the Dynamite comic stories for their individual volumes. Some of them I've already reviewed in depth on my blog and Goodreads in reviews, because I got them either as galleys from NetGalley or I picked them up myself.
I feel like I'm being generous giving this first volume compilation 2 stars, because - if I'm centering it on the talents of the artists featured in the compilation, some of them range from absolutely stunning and ones I would purchase larger prints for to... and I'm direct quoting something I said in conversation to someone after finishing: "We know you can quick draw scantily clad or nude women with boobs in sexually suggestive poses, but you really did nothing to represent Dejah herself or the world of Warlord of Mars and the stories contained within." *groans* It really is a mixed bag of fantasy art and interpretations of Dejah Thoris's character alongside other characters in the series including John Carter and Tars Tarkkas. While someone could probably debate with me "Well, the stories in the Dynamite series featured some of these storylines and they weren't far from the quality of the artwork in those volumes" - that's what I'm getting at as well with my critique. It wasn't consistent and sometimes the shift for quality was jarring. I touched on that in some of my reviews for those volumes as well.
It's not so much that I can't appreciate what different artists bring to the table when interpreting characters or a realm for a series. If you look at animated films such as the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight as examples - stories can be told across a range with different animators giving their take on a character or a world as they see it. The same is true across comics and graphic novels where you have different interpretations like Wonder Woman or Spider-Man. But I'd argue that I wonder what made some of these images in this compilation be chosen as covers for volumes in the series versus others.
If I had to say it, the second volume is actually a much better range and quality than this compilation, but it was worth me holding onto this particular volume for some of the illustrations made by Lucio Parillo and Joe Jusko to name a few.
If I can attach a few screens of some of the ones I found to be very well done, I'll do so in this review. But overall, it was just okay.
Overall score: 2/5 stars.
February 8, 2021
This was billed as an overview of “fine art” depicting Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Dejah Thoris over the past century, but it’s just soft porn intended for the male gaze. Specifically the male gaze of 13-year-olds and stunted incels. Pretty sure half the artists just googled a naked woman and drew from that. Even the same artist doesn’t render her the same way each time.
It’s rather pathetic, tbh.
The history of the character comes in the introduction, but no examples are given of the art from the nineteen-teens through nineteen-fifties. If you want to see Frazetta’s work, or James Allen St. John’s, or any number of other artists from the last century who depicted the character, do an image search online. If you want to fap in your parents basement, buy this book.
It’s rather pathetic, tbh.
The history of the character comes in the introduction, but no examples are given of the art from the nineteen-teens through nineteen-fifties. If you want to see Frazetta’s work, or James Allen St. John’s, or any number of other artists from the last century who depicted the character, do an image search online. If you want to fap in your parents basement, buy this book.
February 2, 2020
A highly problematic collection - its porn dressed up in just the tiniest amount of literary history window dressing.
August 24, 2023
The Art of Dejah Thoris and the World of Mars is a collection of covers from Dynamites different series of the John Carter water of Mars franchise, if you’re hoping to find older artwork from the likes of Frank Frazetta you’re not gonna find that in this book. What is here is very much and homage to Pulp sci-fi fantasy covers with a lot of scantily clad women pin ups. This is definitely an NSFW book but if you look past the nudity, I think some artist rise above the Male titillation into really beautiful painterly pulp covers you would see in on old pulp novel from the 30s to the 50s. In particular the covers by Jay Anacleto, Joe Jusko, and Paul Renard are gorgeous to look at.
If you’re not interested in classic fantasy/sci-fi or a lot of pin up women poses them. This book is probably not for you, but if you enjoy the old pulp artwork. You’ll probably enjoy this.
If you’re not interested in classic fantasy/sci-fi or a lot of pin up women poses them. This book is probably not for you, but if you enjoy the old pulp artwork. You’ll probably enjoy this.
August 10, 2023
Part of a Humble Bundle deal of art books. I've never read any John Carter books so I'm not familiar with the Dejah. Don't get me wrong but this book was merely a collection of scantily clad images on one side and then an exact copy of the image but this time... nipples exposed!
To be fair it wasn't ever spread but enough that it was noticeable. Were there these for "incentive" covers for comic shops? I've heard of alternative covers bit Dynamite seems to have a nipple cover incentive cover market.
I wonder what kind of markup there is is for the full nipple exposure vs. Metal pasties or bikini top versions of the comics.
I think this is the most use of the word NIPPLE I've used or read in a Goodreads review so I guess that is something.
To be fair it wasn't ever spread but enough that it was noticeable. Were there these for "incentive" covers for comic shops? I've heard of alternative covers bit Dynamite seems to have a nipple cover incentive cover market.
I wonder what kind of markup there is is for the full nipple exposure vs. Metal pasties or bikini top versions of the comics.
I think this is the most use of the word NIPPLE I've used or read in a Goodreads review so I guess that is something.
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May 18, 2023Overall very mediocre art!
This volume collects covers from Dynamite Entertainment's Dejah Thoris books. With a few exceptions the art is very mediocre. Such an exquisite figure as DT would require artists with a good knowledge of female anatomy but for the most part you don't find it here. In fact, I'm surprised they are able to sell books with covers this bad. I guess that is why they resort topless variants, but since the anatomy isn't there as previously mentioned, it only succeeds in making the covers even cheaper.
Glad I was able to check it for free on Comixology, I don't recommend buying this.
This volume collects covers from Dynamite Entertainment's Dejah Thoris books. With a few exceptions the art is very mediocre. Such an exquisite figure as DT would require artists with a good knowledge of female anatomy but for the most part you don't find it here. In fact, I'm surprised they are able to sell books with covers this bad. I guess that is why they resort topless variants, but since the anatomy isn't there as previously mentioned, it only succeeds in making the covers even cheaper.
Glad I was able to check it for free on Comixology, I don't recommend buying this.
May 4, 2023
The short history in the beginning was awesome and provides a framework for viewing the art of Deja beyond the half naked or nude sword and sorcery tropes. Would have been improved I think though with a few more sections of the history/trivia throughout it or greater examination of the methods & techniques that is present in some art collection books.
It is also an interesting resource to see the visual evolution of what covers/art sold well in what decades. Loved seeing the differences in the facial features/expressions and body language that differentiate artists trying to portray a defiant, autonomous survivor/warrior versus sexy furniture/object.
It is also an interesting resource to see the visual evolution of what covers/art sold well in what decades. Loved seeing the differences in the facial features/expressions and body language that differentiate artists trying to portray a defiant, autonomous survivor/warrior versus sexy furniture/object.
January 18, 2022
Pseudo porn. The art isn't bad, but it also isn't very interesting. A fair amount of pages are taken up by pairs of drawings identical except for their display or concealment of nipples.
Is Deja Thoris more or less ridiculous than Red Sonja? I'm tempted to say more since she does just as much fighting wear even tinier, more ridiculous outfits. However, once you are down to a chainmail bikini, is it more practical to just fight naked?
Is Deja Thoris more or less ridiculous than Red Sonja? I'm tempted to say more since she does just as much fighting wear even tinier, more ridiculous outfits. However, once you are down to a chainmail bikini, is it more practical to just fight naked?
February 11, 2024
The best part of this book is the history of how Dejah Thoris has been depicted since ERB wrote his first Mars story. Otherwise, the number of artwork of Dejah is extremely redundant and IMO boring.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews