Warlord of Mars #1

Writer - Arvid Nelson

Artist - Steve Sadowski

Publisher - Dynamite Entertainment

We seem to be in an age of retooling pulp heroes, with DC recently reviving Doc Savage, The Spirit and The (Crimson) Avenger, while Dynamite has flooded the market with Green Hornet product old and new. Hopefully, Warlord of Mars will be allowed to find its footing the way Lone Ranger did.

It’s a surprising debut, due mainly to the fact that before he gets to Mars and finds adventure, war, love and political intrigue a la Flash Gordon, John Carter was a Confederate soldier. So a chunk of the issue plays like a Western, with Carter and pal Powell try to enjoy a quiet drink in a post-war saloon, as a group of loudmouthed Union soldiers show up and insist everyone drink a toast to President Lincoln on the anniversary of his assassination. This leads to a “know when to walk away” moment, but violence ensues, anyway, and with that, writer Nelson has provided the reader with the basics on John Carter. Great fighter/marksman, dignified, loves his home, but has some xenophobia issues to work out. 

Nelson switches the action to Tars, who in Carter’s narration will become his closest friend on Mars. Tars also shows fighting skill and ethics as he defeats one of the six-legged apes that hunt his people (the green Martians also have six limbs, on a sort of 1.5 torso design that is likely faithful to the Burroughs’ novels but awkward-looking on the page), but also spares a young one who showed fear, which is apparently an act punishable by death in Martian culture. 

Sadowski has become a stalwart artist for Dynamite. I can’t say his work has knocked me out yet, but he seems to improve with each project, and his work on the Carter section was very strong. Obviously, seeing what happens to Carter once he gets to Mars will decide if the book is worth following, but it’s a good first issue. 

— Christopher Allen

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