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Dejah Thoris (2019) #1
Dejah Thoris, Volume 1: An Outcast of Mars
Dejah has been many things: Wife, mother, royalty. But now, she is a determined scientist, dedicated to discovering why her world is freezing, and which political factions know the secret of this global catastrophe? Experience glittering palace intrigue and visceral adventure in the new ongoing adventures of DEJAH THORIS!
156 pages, Paperback
First published August 17, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 14, 2023
Violent saga lovingly based on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, building on the events and setting of the books, looks like the entire series, though as far as I can tell not any of the comics or graphic novels. Written by Dan Abnett and illustrated by Vasco Georgiev, it is several sagas in one. The starting plotline deals with Dejah Thoris and Kantos Kan, sort of like her bodyguard, both in exile from Helium. Dejah is working on investigating and coming up with a solution to a climate change crisis on Barsoom, an ice age-level winter that appears poised to end life on the planet, her expeditions taking her to remote areas on the planet, places filled with dangerous wildlife and making her vulnerable to assassins.
Another plotline is palace intrigue. Kurz Kurtos, Jeddak of Helium, his rule having swept aside Dejah and her family, publicly tolerates Dejah’s bloodline to still exist, unprecedented in Barsoom history, but privately has with some push from associates decided that Dejah and her family, the bloodline of Jasoom, and associates, despite going to honest and public efforts to indicate they support Kurz Kurtos and do not want to be back in power, must be eliminated. Eliminated in private of course, via assassins, as publicly Dejah is too well known and too popular. Not only does Kurz Kurtos want Dejah gone, but others that could threaten his rule or avenge any assassination of Dejah, notably Llana of Gathol, Tara the Queen of Gathol, and Thuvia of Ptarth, pretty much a who’s who of the Barsoom saga.
Meanwhile, there is unrest among the Tharks, who are being stirred up to break their Dejah Thoris-brokered peace with Helium, also as a people feeling the pinch of the coming super winter and desperate for food. Tars Tarkas, friend of the bloodline of Jasoom, is one of the very few Tharks who don’t seem to want to break the peace treaty and still remembers Dejah and her family with fondness.
On top of all this there are other players, one revealed early on, the witch queen Jeddara of the city of Zodanga, a figure I have to admit not being familiar with, who is both working with Kurz Kurtos and may have something to do with the impeding climatic doom of Barsoom. And there is another player on top of that, but I won’t say who.
It’s a lot! Pacing is brisk, there is a lot of action, combat in the air, on land, underground, with huge monsters, with super soldiers (that was a surprise). The pinup gallery of cover art and other illustrations of Dejah at the end of the graphic novel aside, Dejah is actually for most of the book very modestly dressed; albeit a bit form-fitting, it covers almost all her skin except her neck and head, though other red Barsoomians wear kind of skimpy clothing. The book is violent but I don’t think especially gory, though it is tough on the wildlife! I liked the aerial battles and every time terrain was depicted, it was well done. One character is heavily hinted at being LGBTQ, though it does not appear to be a major plot point. Some of the hairstyles seemed very modern, like very recent popular styles among young people, and to my surprise there was some profanity. My favorite character had to be Tars Tarkas, who both Kept It Real and was hilarious (with some very nice illustration of his facial expressions, well done).
Another plotline is palace intrigue. Kurz Kurtos, Jeddak of Helium, his rule having swept aside Dejah and her family, publicly tolerates Dejah’s bloodline to still exist, unprecedented in Barsoom history, but privately has with some push from associates decided that Dejah and her family, the bloodline of Jasoom, and associates, despite going to honest and public efforts to indicate they support Kurz Kurtos and do not want to be back in power, must be eliminated. Eliminated in private of course, via assassins, as publicly Dejah is too well known and too popular. Not only does Kurz Kurtos want Dejah gone, but others that could threaten his rule or avenge any assassination of Dejah, notably Llana of Gathol, Tara the Queen of Gathol, and Thuvia of Ptarth, pretty much a who’s who of the Barsoom saga.
Meanwhile, there is unrest among the Tharks, who are being stirred up to break their Dejah Thoris-brokered peace with Helium, also as a people feeling the pinch of the coming super winter and desperate for food. Tars Tarkas, friend of the bloodline of Jasoom, is one of the very few Tharks who don’t seem to want to break the peace treaty and still remembers Dejah and her family with fondness.
On top of all this there are other players, one revealed early on, the witch queen Jeddara of the city of Zodanga, a figure I have to admit not being familiar with, who is both working with Kurz Kurtos and may have something to do with the impeding climatic doom of Barsoom. And there is another player on top of that, but I won’t say who.
It’s a lot! Pacing is brisk, there is a lot of action, combat in the air, on land, underground, with huge monsters, with super soldiers (that was a surprise). The pinup gallery of cover art and other illustrations of Dejah at the end of the graphic novel aside, Dejah is actually for most of the book very modestly dressed; albeit a bit form-fitting, it covers almost all her skin except her neck and head, though other red Barsoomians wear kind of skimpy clothing. The book is violent but I don’t think especially gory, though it is tough on the wildlife! I liked the aerial battles and every time terrain was depicted, it was well done. One character is heavily hinted at being LGBTQ, though it does not appear to be a major plot point. Some of the hairstyles seemed very modern, like very recent popular styles among young people, and to my surprise there was some profanity. My favorite character had to be Tars Tarkas, who both Kept It Real and was hilarious (with some very nice illustration of his facial expressions, well done).
March 6, 2024
Yet another turgid riff on Burroughs' Barsoom series, this new Dynamite series is even worse than normal.
John Carter is gone, apparently, and Dejah is a grandmother but hasn't aged at all because of some reason (have to milk those variant covers that look nothing like the interiors still I suppose). Dejah is initially trying to understand what is causing an unusually long winter that some believe is the beginning of the end for the world.
We have as one of the villains a populist ruler who doesn't believe in climate change (no, really) who ousted Dejah from being ruler of Helium. He let her live but now decided she and her descendants have to die because...they're a threat....somehow. He's also oppressing the minority green men, because we're hitting all of the right wing idiot stereotypes and needed to get racism in there too.
It's really bad. It is fan-fiction level bad. Which is surprising because Abnett is usually at least decent.
John Carter is gone, apparently, and Dejah is a grandmother but hasn't aged at all because of some reason (have to milk those variant covers that look nothing like the interiors still I suppose). Dejah is initially trying to understand what is causing an unusually long winter that some believe is the beginning of the end for the world.
We have as one of the villains a populist ruler who doesn't believe in climate change (no, really) who ousted Dejah from being ruler of Helium. He let her live but now decided she and her descendants have to die because...they're a threat....somehow. He's also oppressing the minority green men, because we're hitting all of the right wing idiot stereotypes and needed to get racism in there too.
It's really bad. It is fan-fiction level bad. Which is surprising because Abnett is usually at least decent.
November 28, 2022
On the one hand, the plot is great and the story keeps moving along with the characters constantly finding themselves getting out of one scrape only to get into another worse scrape. On the other hand, there is some language that Edgar Rice Burroughs didn't use in any of his books and seems anachronistic, nor does it improve the story. Abnett also makes Llana of Gathol gay which is not something even hinted at in the original books.
The artist excels when depicting cityscapes and spaceships.
The artist excels when depicting cityscapes and spaceships.
December 31, 2023
Like many, I read the Barsoom books when I was a kid and loved the action adventure nature of them, and as an adult I check in now and then with what people are doing with this world and characters.
The story in this one is very good, playing with Burrough's characters in interesting and modern ways. But the real star, particularly in this volume, is the beautiful rendering of the world of Barsoom with a great many locations depicted in beautiful detail, often in full page splashes.
The story in this one is very good, playing with Burrough's characters in interesting and modern ways. But the real star, particularly in this volume, is the beautiful rendering of the world of Barsoom with a great many locations depicted in beautiful detail, often in full page splashes.
September 10, 2024
The art was good (and not pervy) so I appreciated that, and I liked some of the characters a lot. I think I also would have liked the plot, but there's a ton of backstory I don't know (from a quick Google of the characters, it's at least all ten books and maybe some comics after that), so I was just confused most of the time and decided not to finish it. Might try again in the future if I ever get up to speed, but since the not-pervy Mars stuff is rare, I probably won't get that far.
March 30, 2025
The skimpy outfits distract a bit from the fact that it's actually a fun read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews