Review: Dejah Thoris #1

Not too long ago, the last run of Dejah Thoris was cut short, just as it was beginning to get interesting.  Maybe it was because the confusion of her lineage went against everything that had been previously stated, giving writer Frank Barbiere the possibility of a hard sell.  Whatever the reason, Dynamite are not going to let the ruins of the last series stop them publishing another book with a less than half-dressed heroine.

Barsoom, or Mars to you and I, was once a splendid world, full of life.  Now, with the loss of the city of Ephesyium, the water level has decreased causing life to shrink from the surface and the lack of H2O has become one of the main reasons for war.  Step up to the plate an idealistic princess, determined to find the lost city and recover the lost secrets that will serve to enrich all life on the barren world.  Of course, as a princess, Dejah has the obligations of the royal house, which would rather see her service her world by getting married, rather than investigate the Lost Lands.

Writer Amy Chu has been absolutely fantastic on sister book Red Sonja, turning the oft serious character mired in the lands of swords and sorcery, into a fun stranger in a strange land type of affair.  With the failure of the last series maybe ringing distant alarms, Chu keeps things a little more traditional for Dejah with a major exception – there is no John Carter! This is a great choice for Chu to make as it thrusts Dejah into the forefront, without the need to have her “superman” to save her, proving that she is no damsel in distress.  The dialogue works for existing fans of Dejah, although sometime readers may need to Google some of the Barsoom lingo to gain an understanding.

Pasquale Qualano is an artist who has had his works seen in a number of books from Marvel, DC and a host of books from companies like IDW.  His art has an almost whimsy, willowy feel to that works when drawing the body beautiful of both genders.  This is a great time to comment on the fact that, as per the normal course of things for stories based in this particular comic book world, Dejah and her fellow women do show a lot of flesh.  Qualano’s male characters also have an abundance of muscles on muscles on show; isn’t that what equality is all about?  Everyone being treated equally? There are times during the book that I would have liked to see more artistic structure, but this is more to do with the perspective from which the characters are seen. Looking at the art as whole, other than some similarities between a couple of characters and the perspective issues, the art holds up well.  Valentia Pinto provides the color scheme, practically bleaching the pages in stark yellows giving the book an arid feel strong enough to emanate actual heat.  Of course, where there is a half-dressed girl, there is a cover by the incomparable J. Scott Campbell.  This issue is no exception with Campbell being aided and abetted by colorist Sabine Rich, with a painted scheme that screams quality.

Dejah Thoris has had a bit of a hard time of late; the movement away from curvy sexy cheesecake art may have impacted this, which is a shame as Dejah is a character in long-standing.  Granted she was created at a time where women had few, if any rights.  It is to the credit of Chu and Qualano that they are trying to breathe new life across the desert world, with a character standing up for her rights and beliefs.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
Cover (J. Scott Campbell) – 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by; Amy Chu
Art by; Pasquale Qualano
Colors by; Valentina Pinto
Cover by; J. Scott Campbell & Sabine Rich
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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