By guest writer and StashMyComics.com user Andrew Volker.
It’s a big year for Barsoom. In addition to multiple comic series by Marvel and Dynamite Entertainment, a major blockbuster movie is coming this summer from Disney. But while John Carter is undoubtedly the most famous Earth man to travel to the Red Planet, he’s not the first. In Warriors of Mars, Dynamite tells the story of Mars’ earliest visitor, Lt. Gullivar Jones.
The story is adapted from the 1905 novel Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation by Edwin Lester Arnold. It predates Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars by 12 years and probably influenced his books, although it met with far less success. Writer Robert Napton has done an admirable job of tying Arnold’s novel into Burroughs’ more popular Barsoomian lore.
Issue #1 opens with Dejah Thoris sharing a story with John Carter about her mother’s first love, unexpectedly transported through time and space by way of a magic carpet. In contrast to Carter, who is the prototypical calm, capable, square-jawed pulp action hero, Gullivar Jones is a more emotional, impatient, and brash protagonist. Jones is a lowly naval officer from New York who lacks the career prospects and financial well-being to pursue his beloved Polly. A chance encounter and act of kindness leave him in possession of a magic carpet, which responds to his despondent plea to be whisked away to another time, another world, where a man might be judged by more than his rank or title. He arrives on Barsoom just in time to haphazardly foil an assassination attempt on a Martian chieftain, Jeddak Hath and his beautiful daughter, Princess Heru. He is less successful in defending against a second attack by the brutal Thither tribe, which ends the issue on a nice cliffhanger.
Napton gets this new series off to a strong start, primarily by highlighting the differences between Carter and Jones. I found Gullivar much easier to relate to than John Carter because of his imperfections. While John Carter is portrayed as an experienced warrior and perfect Southern gentleman, Jones is an impulsive, untested, yet well-meaning New Yorker. I look forward to seeing him struggle to adapt to life on Mars as opposed to Carter, who was thriving within hours of his arrival. The Thither are introduced as an intelligent and formidable enemy. Although they are also adapted from Arnold’s novel, Napton fits them seamlessly into Burroughs’ world. The artwork is solid throughout. The color palette is a little heavy on the red in the Mars scenes, but Jack Jadson truly makes the landscape and creatures feel both alien and familiar at the same time.
I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of pulp story-telling and space operas. It has the potential to expand the world of Barsoom immeasurably.
Art: 7/10
Script: 7/10
Parental concern: Orange
