Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Writer: Ron Marz and Ian Edgington
Artist: Ariel Medel
Release date: OUT NOW!!!!
Price: $3.99

When something nasty is killing your animal herd, who ya gonna call? Well….John Carter Warlord of Mars of course!

So, this is the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character that’s not Tarzan. Hate to suggest ERB was a one-trick pony, but there ain’t much new under this Martian sun that couldn’t have been done better by everyone’s favourite jungle lord. Even though John Carter can leap tall buildings at a single bound, the character just isn’t in Tarzan’s league and the high-tech trappings in John Carter Warlord of Mars #8 seem at odds with this particular well-worn plot.

Writers Ron Marz and Ian Edgington, along with artist Ariel Medel, give their best, but this still results, unfortunately, in a by-the-numbers enigmatic stranger saves grateful villagers plot. The creative team need to come up with something more inventive if there is going to be an injection of new life into a fast developing stock character, like John Carter.

Visually pleasing, but too ho-hum in the story department; more inventive oomph needed.

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker