The Creators – Chuck Brown – Writer, Emiliana Pinna – Artist, Ellie Wright – Colours, Jeff Eckleberry – Letters

The Players – Dejah Thoris, Rroo, King Moak

The Story – Set a thousand years before John Carter would ever step foot on Mars, it finds Dejah Thoris but a young princess, learning her craft and trying to survive what looks to be an assassination attempt.

The Take – When it comes to Dynamite and their library of characters, there are only a few who they continually go back to the well again and again with and Dejah Thoris just so happens to be one of them. That is a good thing if one is a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs though for some because the material is not one hundred percent faithful in any way shape or form, there are some that tend to pass on it. Be that as it may, it sells well enough that readers continue to pick up new series featuring the character and that is a good thing for those who enjoy the work and here, Chuck Brown and Emiliana Pinna craft an adventure book that sees Dejah Thoris on the run. True, that does not happen until the end of the story though and before then Dejah is introduced to old and new readers alike, a setting comes into play and before long, everything that is established is disrupted as the castle is attacked by spiders and not the everyday kind one finds in the house. Chaos ensues, lives are taken, some are ensnared in the webs of the creatures and Dejah along with her handmaiden Rroo manages to escape thanks to the sacrifice of her teacher. Brown writes an enjoyable, quick story that never overstays its welcome though it would have been nice if it had been just a bit longer or there was just a little more meat on the bones as it was a reasonably breezy affair. That being said, it did everything it needed to do to make sure people might come back for more, leaving it on a cliffhanger with a few hanging threads to make a person curious about what might happen. The artwork by Pinna is excellent, different from most Dynamite books and many of the titles on the stands at the moment. It is somewhat refreshing to see, especially given the colour palette used by Ellie Wright who really enhances Pinna’s work. One might hazard a guess as to how things play out and they are most likely right but the fun is in getting there and as it stands, this book is off to a good start.

Worth It? – Yes.