This week Shaun tackles a John Carter property that didn't lost Disney 200 million dollars.
No, not every comic I buy features a male lead with the name of John. That said, I picked up this comic completely on a whim. Two things initially drew me to this title. One, I was curious if Disney’s flop movie from last month, John Carter, fared better in comic form. Second, the comic interwebs were abuzzin’ last year about Sam Humphries, the author of a somewhat controversial one shot, Our Love is Real. That story featured an analogue of Judge Dredd who fell in love with his pet dog. Critical consensus was overwhelmingly positive. I’ll get around to reading it someday. In any case, Humphries is a comic author to watch in 2012 and is slated for a number of projects, including helming Jonathan Hickman’s relaunch of The Ultimates from last year. Quite a meteoric rise from man on dog love to Earth’s Mightiest!
Before reading this comic I knew practically nothing about Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famous novelized character John Carter, who debuted a hundred years ago in A Princess of Mars (I haven’t seen the film either). To the uninitiated, all you really need to know is that he is a veteran of the American Civil War who, while hiding in a cave from Apache Native Americans, falls asleep/dies and is transported to Mars (or Barsoom to the natives). Awaking on this foreign planet, he finds that he has increased agility and strength due to the low level of gravity. Essentially he is an ideal “fish-out-of-water” character who gets to discover the new wonders of Mars first-hand with the reader. Along the way he marries a princess, leads an uprising, and establishes a dynasty. In other words, white male wish fulfillment (see Avatar).
This comic mini-series is an adaptation of the second novel in the franchise, The Gods of Mars. At the beginning John Carter, who has been absent from Mars for a decade, awakes on Barsoom for the second time in his life. The basic plot of this issue follows John being reunited with his four-armed, green-skinned pal Tars Tarkus and their journey to find Carter’s beloved, Dejah Thoris. The backdrop is a looming war between the Therns and the Omeans (I don’t know the mythology, but it is explained in the script so don’t fret). Not unlike Prophet, I was impressed with how much story occurs in just 20 pages and yet nothing is confusing or happens too jarringly. All in all, the script by Humphries is terse and effective. Ramon Perez provides beautiful cartoony artwork and his style is reminiscent of American Vampire artist Rafael Albuquerque. The comic is definitely worth a look for those who enjoy everyman lead characters who get to explore a diverse foreign landscape. Epic and enjoyable, I look forward to discovering more about the world of Barsoom in upcoming issues.
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