Spotlight on Dynamite's "Warlord of Mars", a true epic.

Thinking outside of the box is an uncommon thing when it comes to comic books, everybody seems so wrapped up in spandex clad superheroes and mutants to the point where so many fantastic comics go unnoticed and unread. It’s sad. Today I wanted to discuss some of these non-superhero based comics in an attempt to get the word out there that Marvel and DC are not the only two publishers in the industry putting out good comics and consumers within the industry need to understand that. This entry into The Thought Corner is going to focus on a series by Dynamite Entertainment called Warlord of Mars and the reasons as to why this is one of the best comics currently on store shelves, strap yourselves in because there is a lot to talk about.

First things first, I’m sure many people are wondering what the heck Warlord of Mars is all about and why I’m posting a blog revolving around this title specifically because lets face it, there are tons of fantastic comics out there that are not put out by the “big two”. I chose this title because of the effect that it’s had on me, it’s an unconventional story based off a series of public domain books that are now long out of print but with a twist on the story and original elements added to craft this tale of a man known as John Carter. The basic plot of it all is that this man, John Carter, and his friend get into a tussle inside of a bar in Virginia way back in the day when people traveled by horse back, they kill a few important people and are hunted down where they eventually kill John’s friend. Without revealing much of the story lets just say that John finds himself on Mars where he is captured and imprisoned by a barbaric race known as Tharks, not liking how he and other members of their race are being treated he kills one of the Tharks in front of the high council and is given the rank of “chieftain” among them. Even though he is one of the clans chieftains, John is still considered a prisoner and does not have complete freedom to do what he wants so he has no choice but to serve the Tharks as a leader and accept the fact that he is their captive, it’s really interesting to see how limited he is knowing that they could kill him at anytime and someone else would just take over his rank. As the story progresses John meets a princess of another part of the planet by the name of Dejah Thoris, who is not cast in the mold of an alien and looks human with a slight red tint to her skin. They become friends and their feelings for each other grow, the problem is that Dejah is held captive by the Tharks because their clan is at odds with her homeland and the capture of her puts the Tharks in a good position within this argument between the two parties. While this is happening, John grows close to one of the Tharks thanks to her kind demeanor as well as an animal that has been appointed to him, they plan an escape and decide to take Dejah along with them. Soon after they agree on the escape plan they take off like thieves in the night only to be hunted down by the Tharks and separated from each other which is where the story is as of this writing.

There really is a lot more to the story that I don’t want to discuss here because it would give too much away, I just wanted to go over the basic plot of the book and talk about some of the characters, if you do decide to read it then prepare to shed a tear at the story revolving one of the Tharks, Tars Tarkas, and his estranged daughter. It’s very tragic. Another scene that gets to me is when John Carter reveals his love for Dejah and then an issue or two later we find out that she may be forced to marry within an enemy faction to prevent a long standing war between them and her kingdom, the look on Carter’s face was that of confusion and sadness.
The book as a whole is very story driven with lots of important moments shared between all the core characters, some issues are more action heavy than others but it all comes together to create one awesome story and I can see why the book is selling extremely well. Warlord of Mars usually finds itself within the top 150 (out of top 300) comics ordered each month which is very good for a small press publisher considering that Marvel/DC combined publish an average of about 290 comics every month. The online buzz for Warlord of Mars has been favorable too with many comic book forums having dedicated threads centered around discussion for the book and there is even a movie in the works, though the movie is not connected to Dynamite or the comics published by Dynamite. The series has sold so well for Dynamite Entertainment that they have even started publishing a spinoff series for Dejah Thoris and are currently working on another spinoff called Fall of Barsoom, which will be based on ancient tales that have taken place within the same continuity. The fact that this book is doing so well proves that there is a market for non-superhero titles in comics, it’s just up to the bigger publisher to realize this and publish more books that think outside of the box, but I’m not holding my breath on that because superheroes are still the big thing in comics and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.



One thing I wanted to touch upon was the production of Warlord of Mars and just how good it actually is, especially the covers which is the first thing people are going to notice when they see the books. The series has a host of different cover each month since Dynamite loves playing the variant game so much, but there are two cover artists that have really left their mark on me with this series and those artists are Joe Jusko and J. Scott Campbell. Jusko’s covers are heroic, detailed, and incredibly painted to the point where I would actually put him on par with someone like Alex Ross, the covers Jusko has been putting out for this book are absolutely some of the best covers I’ve ever seen. Period. Joe’s portrayal of John Carter and Dejah Thoris have fans talking, they are so enthralled by his artwork that collectively they have all but named Joe the definitive Warlord of Mars cover artist, and I can’t blame them one bit since the work he’s done has been simply impressive. J. Scott Campbell on the other hand usually does not make use of John Carter on his covers and tends to stick to sexy poses for Dejah Thoris which have been a true delight to look at. Campbell’s covers are some of the sexiest I’ve ever seen for a comic book that can be purchased without having a black bag covering it and he has really drawn the fans in and made Dejah Thoris one of the most physically appealing women in all of comics.

Aside from excellent covers the interior art in Warlord of Wars is pretty darn good as well, I have read a lot of mixed reviews for this series and it's mind boggling to me because I don't know exactly what it is that people are actually looking for. The interiors pencils are on par with just about any other book on store shelves and I really enjoy the depictions of John Carter and the rest of the cast and I feel that the inks and coloring within the book are exceptionally done as well. The same goes with the writing, the script for the series is clever and intriguing and I find myself looking forward to each issue because of the way each book ends with a cliffhanger coupled with an interesting turn within the story that I feel I must follow, that is the mark of a good writer. If you're looking for a comic book that rejects the norm and paves the way for a fun adventure with interesting and unique characters than Warlord of Mars is certainly for you, I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and readers and until Dynamite gives me a reason I will continuing supporting it through word of mouth and through my wallet.

Reach for the stars and enjoy the ride.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ, CBR, and FUNI.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Memoirs of a Star Wars figure collector.

Since the early part of the 00’s I’ve been an on again off again Star Wars figure collector, it’s a hobby that I hold in high regard as one of the funnest hobbies I’ve ever had. A big part of the fun had to do with a close friend of mine, known as Stelfo64 (for identity protection), was a fellow collector as well and we would go on many adventures all across our great state in search of Star Wars figures to add to our collection. Another thing that added to the fun of collecting was that usually the figures would come out a month or so before the movies did and it gave us more fuel to be pumped up about the upcoming films and often times the toys would have clues to certain things within the movies that would make you rattle your brain in an attempt to figure it all out before you actually see the movie in theaters. 2002-2006 was a grand time to be a Star Wars collector, hundreds and hundreds of figures were being released and product from Episode 1 was still being found on store shelves, it seemed like everywhere you went there was something Star Wars related staring you straight in the face and the mania certainly added to the excitement of seeing the movies when they came out. Back in those days I was an opener, I would seek out figures and open them up for display purposes and pose them on book shelves in various stances and battle scenes, but by 2004 I was strictly a mint on card (MOC) collector and luckily much of the Episode 2 stuff I hard purchased previously was still available on store shelves, so like a man possessed I went back and bought it all again. For the stuff I couldn’t find again in stores I used eBay, BriansToys.com, and BigBadToyStore.com, so I always had an avenue to add to my collection and had spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars to ensure my collection was “impressive…..most impressive” (yikes!).

Thinking back on the great times I had as a collector I often think about the memories of me and Stelfo64 scouring Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Toys R’ Us, Toy Works, and various other stores over the course of a day as we tried to find everything we could, often times just trying to find 1 figure would cause us to go crazy and put some serious miles on the old car. One day in particular I remember driving all over the state, we would hit up a series of stores in one part of the state and then drive 40 minutes to an hour down to another part of the state and do it again just so we could travel another 30+ minutes out of the way to visit another group of stores and so on. It was a lot of driving but I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. I even remember him running out of cash because he purchased so many figures, that one day alone he must have bought 20-25+, so he would call up his credit card company to see how much money he had on his cards so he could buy even more. Was it a sickness? Possibly, but he would do these kinds of things with comic books and vintage video games as well, we called it “pulling a Stelfo” and whenever he was in the mood to add to his collection it was always a fun time had by all. Heck, I remember one time we went into a comic book store and we were looking around and I decided to grab a few books off of the new arrivals shelf and when I turned around he had a giant stack of about 20-30 comics in his hands and we had only been there about 5 minutes at best. That day he ended up purchasing over 120 comics, a giant comic box, and a bunch of protective supplies such as bags and boards. It was insane, fun but insane.




Some other great memories I’ve had as a Star Wars figure collector came around the time that Revenge of the Sith was coming out, the ROTS figures were everywhere and I remember store hopping to find all the latest figures and often times I would bump into the same people who were doing the same thing. A few different times I would see someone scouring the Star Wars figures at Wal-Mart and then I would grab what I needed and then bump into him at Toys R’ Us, and then once again at Target mere moments later, it was really interesting. Sometimes I would get into conversations with these people and we would discuss the different aspects of collecting and how we display our collections and whatnot, it was really engaging and I miss that about being a collector. The worst part about it was the re-sellers who would often be visiting stores in search of the rare figures that they could make the most money on from eBay, more than a few times I would visit a store and see someone searching pegs for a rare find, often they would try to block you from going near a peg they haven’t searched yet to the point where they would even scowl at you to come back when they were done. I would often laugh and barrel my way through and have even ticked one or two re-sellers off when I located a figure that they’ve been searching for, one time to the point where the guy tried to order me to give it to him because he was there first claiming it was his right. Yeah, needless to say I was the one who left with the rare find and not him.

One thing I started doing in an effort to find rare figures and early releases was joining a popular Star Wars collectors forum, much of the forums were broken up by state and people would post findings and availabilities they’ve come across within the forums along with pictures and locations to tip off the serious collectors. More than a few times I was able to use this information to hunt down something I really needed, I just feel sorry for the young children who want to go to the store and grab a Yoda or Darth Vader figure and show up to find pegs filled with Battle Droids because all the hardcore collectors have blown threw the stores like a tornado in the south.



Sadly, after about 5 years of hard work building my Star Wars figures collection it was maliciously given away by an ex-fiance` back in 2007 who saw fit to decide what to do with my belongings and suddenly everything I've spent my hard earned money on throughout the years was gone. I was very up but since it happened during an off period of collecting for me I wans't too devistated since my sights were set on collecting comic books as well as Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings action figures, but that giant hole in my heart was left unsatisfied as I knew that someday I would want to collect Star Wars once again. After the collection was gone I actually made it a point not to watch the saga or involve myself with much of anything to do with Star Wars because I knew my love for collecting would return and I would have to start over from scratch, finally last week the bug has bit me once again and I took to the stores in hunt of current figures as well as small collectors shops and the internet for figures that I've had before that I wanted again. I have a long way to go before my collection is anything like it once was, but it's something that I want to do and I feel like it's something that I have to do if I'm ever to get over what was done to my previous collection and move forward with filling the void that was left in it's place.

I've already jumped back into the fray with a couple very successful hauls last week which consisted of 9 Saga Legends figures as well as 4 Vintage Collection figures I've gathered from a Wal-Mart and Toys R' Us, I've also put an order into BigBadToyStore.com for some old Power of the Force 2 figures and have located 3 small collectors shops in my area that have a decent selection of figures from the early 2000's. I can't wait to make my next haul and I'm hoping that when the Star Wars films are re-released in theaters starting in 2012 that the mania will be as high as ever and the collectors will be out in droves which will in turn help to create the next chapter of memories in my Star Wars collecting memoirs.

Reach for the stars and enjoy the ride.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ, CBR, and FUNI.

Take care,
***Manga4life***

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC