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Jeff Parker's Writer's Commentary on Warlord of Mars Attacks #5

Published Tue, 05 Nov 2019 10:00:53 -0600

Jeff Parker has a Writer's Commentary on Warlord of Mars Attacks #5, published by Dynamite and out now. He writes,

Page 1
When we left off with our cast last issue, an invisible Martian spy decloaked and attacked John Carter on a suicide mission. He didn't hit John thanks to an unexpectedly heroic move by Dr. Edgar Norman, who took the ray blast to the chest. Ouch. Tars Tarkas is here to make sure it was indeed a suicide mission, though.

Pages 2-3
That's it for your boy, as he says he's responsible for a lot of destruction and he can't complain because he got to go to Mars and see Dejah Thoris.

Pages 4-5
The Martian Moonheads, what's left of them, are down in the empty caves where they used to live, and the loss of so many compels Director Gagnus to perform the best song from Les Miserables. I don't know who out there is going to properly appreciate that, but I know someone will.

Pages 6-8
A Barsoomian Funeral. I really love how Dean drew this scene and not just because of all the scantily-clad Helium ladies. It's a nice emotional quiet beat, Ramon's digression about how the driver gets to pick the radio stations is something I deeply believe. Also it's fun to wonder who is agreeing hard with TRUE from off-panel. You can assume it's Maven, but I kind of like thinking it might be John or even Tars Tarkas.

Page 9
The Moonheads are down but not out yet!

Page 10
Tars' dudes found one of the Mars Rovers, which we kept mentioning at the beginning. Man, Dean can draw a great food scene, can't he? "That's madness, and I say that as a war-loving Thark."

Page 11
I like planning scenes, and I like when Ramon suggests them, like with BOMBS. I also like that Maven doesn't mind being considered a Princess.

Pages 12- 13
Dejah shows the gang the source of all machinery power in Helium, the "Lightning Eggs." Maven knows what to do!

Pages 14- 15
ATTACK! It looks like history will repeat, with the Moonheads taking out the Atmosphere Factory (Burroughs came up with all the best names for things, didn't he? On that subject, I also love that the main city is called Helium, which is a great name element or not.)

Page 16
But it appears Gagnus is not as self-destructive as his underlings, maybe this go 'round he thinks living might be cool?

Page 17
Carter Gang are into the caves, which seems like a bad move!

Page 18
And then… the little Rover comes rolling out? WTF?

Page 19
Now we see Maven's intent: she used the lightning egg like the EMP devices that were dropping saucers back on Earth. I like that John literally flexes to make the Martians give up. Cool flex, bro. The Moonheads stand down and there will not be a massacre.

Pages 20-22
EPILOGUE: We get to skip ahead in time and John's narration returns to show us the near future. The Martians are being taught to abandon their warring ways. It may take a while.

Ramon is doing fine, everything always works out for that guy. Maven has realized Dr. Norman's dream and brought the secrets of Barsoom to Earth, fixed the Climate Crisis and is now in charge of "The NASA" as John says. Not bad!

And John and Dejah Thoris have each other again, as well as the solar system's Best Dog. I genuinely don't know a happier ending than that. We hope you enjoyed our violent and imaginative interplanetary romp as much as we did making it. To Zook Zooka!