Lord of the Jungle #1
Written by Arvid Nelson
Illustrated by Roberto Castro
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Colored by Alex Guimaraes
Covers by Alex Ross, Ryan Sook, Paul Renaud, and Lucio Parrillo
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 18, 2012
Cover Price: $1.00

Just about everyone knows the basic premise behind the story of Tarzan. For some reason, that’s NOT the loincloth, he’s always been one of my favorite characters since I was a kid. That’s why, when I got the chance to review Lord of the Jungle #1, I jumped at it.

Writer Arvid Nelson had a pretty humongous task ahead of him. Since the 1940s pretty much any incarnation in any entertainment medium of the Tarzan character has been a bust. Thankfully, Nelson took what everyone knew about the character, chose the best parts, and wrote a comic.

The latest trailer for John Carter, the big-budget adaptation of the classic 1912 sci-fi novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, has been released and you can watch it here below.

When the first teaser trailer for the film was released back in July it was greeted with a decidedly mixed reception. The casting of Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) in the coveted lead role of a Confederate soldier who finds himself on Mars (called Barsoom by its inhabitants) caught between two warring Martian groups didn’t seem justified. The filmmakers’ visualization of Mars resembled those same desert vistas we’ve seen in hundreds of movies since the invention of the moving image and lacked imagination. Most of the fantastic elements of the book were missing, either due to the fact that the effects weren’t completed in time or were left out.

Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom #2
Written by Robert Place Napton
Illustrated by Roberto Castro
Colored by Alex Guimaraes
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Covers by Joe Jusko, Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 31, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

“100,000 years before John Carter first arrived on Mars…” I present to you Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom #2. The atmosphere is depleted and the only way for the races of Mars to survive is to artificially create a new one. Of course, it would be easier if they weren’t constantly trying to kill one another.

I have to say this has to be the most unfriendly read I have had in a long while. Between the lack of a lead-in and the overabundance of storylines, I was thrown into a mess of a comic. I quoted the entire printed premise at the beginning of this review, by the way. Given that I was very familiar with the the original books, I felt I would be able to catch up quickly and obtain some semblance of the plot. I was mistaken.

Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris #6
Based on the writings by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Written by Arvid Nelson
Art by Carlos Rafael
Colors by Carlos Lopez
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Covers by Joe Jusko, Paul Renaud, Alé Garza
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 8, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris #6 is the beginning of a five-part arc called “Pirate Queen of Mars.” The start of the comic has Dejah Thoris walking through the streets of Greater Helium with Tardos Mors and his advisors surveying the damage done by the Colossus of Yorn. As the conversation turns to the water pumping stations and how the canals are drying up, they determine that immediate action is needed. Dejah Thoris volunteers to lead the expedition to the polar ice in the south to find out what is going on.

The name Frank Frazetta may not immediately jump out at you, but there’s a very good chance that over the duration of your years on this planet, you’ve probably seen something that was born from his mind. Frazetta was an artist who was responsible for countless comics, posters, music albums, and some of the most popular book cover art ever created.

On Monday, Mr. Frazetta passed away at the age of 82 in Florida. The artist died after complications arose from a stroke he had suffered.