Dynamite Entertainment 2019
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Vasco Georgiev
Coloured by Dearbhla Kelly
Lettered by Simon Bowland
“Secrets Of The End Winter”
A new jumping on point for the new hit series! Dejah senses a great loss in her family, but there is no time to mourn. For a storm is coming…an awful, horrible storm…
I fell in love with this series from the get-go and this creative is the reason why. We get to see a world without John Carter but with Dejah and her lineage of women. There are so many different little things that happen or have happened that create the overall mood, tone and feel of what we see here. It isn't easy being a Royal on Barsoom and when you are on the wrong end of a coup and then exiled well we all knew it wasn't going to end there. I love seeing this world and how those who are the rightful line of rulers have begun to ensure their survival. The revenge part, even if we don't necessarily call it that, that can wait for a bit because right now we're getting to see this utterly fantastic storytelling at the moment.
Just the fact that Kurz Kurtos is afraid of the family even after the voluntarily let him step up into rule and didn't complain about being exiled says a lot about him. That we now see just how much this realisation comes to a certain character is powerful. I mean powerful, this is why we love Dan's writing and how well he understands the characters and how they would and should react to the situations and circumstances they are finding themselves in. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development is just mindbogglingly good. Between these two Dan is weaving one of the strongest and best stories involving this family and of Barsoom. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way helps to create this strong, gripping ebb & flow for the book.
The older I get the more characters I am enjoying. Once upon a time I would have stayed away from scantily clad women and thought of them as boys in the basement material. Now I am in love with Dejah for her smarts, willpower, determination and sheer audacity this is a role model for the ages, male or female, in regards on how to behave and conduct yourself.
The interiors here are so gorgeous. The linework is a combination of strong and soft lines show how the varying weights are able to spotlight the level and quality of attention to detail that we see. I am impressed with how we see the backgrounds being utilised within the composition in the panels. This gives us a nice view of the depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellous, marvellous eye for storytelling. The colour work is impressive in it's own right here as well. To see how the various hues and tones within the colours are utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is lovely. How the flesh tones are utilised to highlight the musculature is beautifully rendered.
Then there is lettering. If Simon is responsible for the Tik Tak that we see along with how we see the words in the balloons then he's doing far more impressive work than folks realise. I mean the emphasis on words, the tones and inflections that come with that are superb. This is above and beyond work we are seeing here.
Dejah Thoris is the most underrated female heroine in comics. She is the type of person everyone should strive to be like. Strong, powerful with poise and grace make her someone you don't not want as an enemy. Don't Poke the Bear!