DEJAH THORIS (VOL. 4) #5, from Dynamite Comics on 7/19/23, finds the ragtag collection of Kangaroo Men and Green Martians coming together behind the Princess of Helium to face the Kaldanes.
The Details
- Written by: Chuck Brown
- Art by: Emiliana Pinna
- Colors by: Ellie Wright
- Letters by: Jeff Eckleberry
- Cover art by: Jung-Geun Yoon (cover A)
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: July 19, 2023
Is It Good?
No, DEJAH THORIS (VOL. 4) #5 is not particularly good. Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news, but all the problems this series has weathered so far get amplified in a big way in this issue, particularly with a jarring shift aq the midway point that doesn’t make any sense.
When last we left Dejah Thoris and her weird collection of friends, they found refuge with the cowardly Kangaroo Men. Prince Talfart endeavored to throw off the cowardly reputation of his people by capturing and breaking in a Malagor bird as a gift for Dejah. Now, Prince Talfort teaches Dejah how to ride the Malagor while the Green Martians assemble en masse to fight with Dejah against the approaching Kaldanes.
What’s great about this issue? Well, DEJAH THORIS (VOL. 4) #5 certainly isn’t humdrum and boring. You get giant flying birds, a hunt for giant lizards, and white apes enhanced with Kaldanes tech. If you like weird, wild, sci-fi visuals, there’s a fair bit of creativity in this issue to give you something to consider.
What’s not so great about this issue? Chuck Brown’s writing and Emiliana Pinna’s art are woefully sub-par. There’s no nice way to put it. This comic is disjointed and sloppy.
On the writing front, the scenes are largely incomplete, don’t transition smoothly, and don’t always make sense. Brown’s dialog is stiff, and the plot in this issue can be summed up as “bringing the tribes together to fight with little motivation or convincing.”
The most bizarre aspect of this issue is a hard cut into a completely different narrative to describe the background of a warrior who betrayed Helium but used his betrayal to find repentance. The cut comes out of nowhere and has nothing to do with the preceding page. It’s as if two completely different stories were spliced together at a random point.
On the art front, Pinna’s line and figure work are loose, poorly defined, and oddly proportioned. Rob Liefeld gets heat for not knowing how to draw feet, but this issue has some of the worst-looking feet we’ve ever seen in a professionally published comic. Pinna has offered much better work than this, so it’s a shame to see a professional artist submit such unprofessional-looking work.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Check out our DEJAH THORIS (VOL. 4) #4 review to find out how Dejah and her friends fell in with the Kangaroo Men.
We begin with Prince Talfort of the Kangaroo Men teaching Dejah Thoris to ride the giant Malagor bird he captured for Dejah as a gift in the last issue. The Prince demonstrates how riding the bird involves a combination of skill and becoming in sync with the bird.
Elsewhere, Rroo and King Anakok exchange heated words over the King’s unwillingness to help Dejah Thoris in her fight against the Kaldane usurpers. The King is aware of his people’s reputation for cowardice, but there’s a practical side to his reluctance, as redirecting his people to fight breaks his truce with the purple people eaters (yes, that’s a real tribe in this story).
Suddenly, the story shifts in the middle of a narration about a warrior who first betrayed Helium and then used his relationship with the Kaldanes to feed Rroo information. We conclude the issue with white apes and an assembly.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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In the nicest possible terms, DEJAH THORIS (VOL. 4) #5 is a mess. Chuck Brown’s writing is stiff, scenes come out of nowhere without setup or a point, and the book’s hard transition after the midpoint feels like a separate comic was spliced in at random. Worse still, the art is well below professional standards.
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