 |
| Art by John Cassaday |
“The
Fire of Creation, Part Five”
[ link
to previous issue ]
Well,
I was wrong last month about which boat exploded! Lamont Cranston,
Margo Lane, and the useless Limey are left hoofing it. Nevertheless,
they catch up with Kondo and Wong at a village where Wong is
basically scamming the Japanese into thinking they're mining the
weapons mineral. The Shadow does a lot more of the supernatural
stuff to wipe out the bad guys, ultimately including Wong. Kondo
discovers that he was deceived, but he swore to the Emperor that he
would bring the mineral back. So he prepares to show his aide a
lesson in Japanese honor. Along the way there are plenty of graphic
depictions of the outlaws and Japanese and atrocities against the
Chinese peasants.
 |
| Art by Alex Ross |
“Children
of the Dragon”
This
is a standalone tale of great evil in the form of childlike innocent
come from the Far East to US, which the Shadow must destroy. This
Annual solidifies Dynamite's take on the character as a supernatural
figure, an agent of fate, with mystical dreams and powers. Perhaps –
I suspect that – this owes far more to the radio Shadow
than to the pulp magazines' more human crime fighter. I'm not sure
I'm going to stick with this title, at least in monthly issues.
By
the way, isn't Margo Lane a blonde in the main series?
Review:
http://www.comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dynamite-entertainment/the-shadow-annual/1
 |
| Art by Lucio Parrillo |
Warlord
of Mars #21
“The
Shadow of the Temple, Part 1 of 5”
[ link
to previous issue ]
Wow!
This is a gorgeous
cover by Lucio Parrillo. I could do without the fresh clawmarks on her thigh, but I
can easily see that face as “The Most Beautiful Woman of Two
Worlds.” I don't know about butterflies, but insects do exist on Barsoom, according to John Flint Roy's A
Guide to Barsoom: “Barsoom harbors a wide range of insects – from dainty, beautiful
creatures that move silently from flower to flower, to giants with a
wingspread well over thirty feet” (Kindle edition at 53%, location
1298 of 2425). I'm not sure if the title given above is of just this
issue, or properly part one of a multipart story by the above title.
Effectively, it seems to be part one of Dynamite's adaptation of
ERB's third novel in the Mars
series, The
Warlord of Mars.
It actually tracks closely with the novel, which I would not really
have expected. Rather, I was expecting to see an expansion of how
John Carter got to the point where the narrative drops us right in to
him eavesdropping on Matai Shang and Thurid.
 |
| Art by Fabiano Neves |
[“The
Exile of Dejah Thoris,” Part 1]
[ link
to previous issue ]
On
the journey undertaken after her traumatic possession by the Boora
Witch, which she herself seems undecided between being penitential or
punitive in nature, Dejah Thoris is dozing on a boat on the River Iss
when she hears a child's scream as it is taken by one of the giant,
insectoid bumblebee-like siths in the Kaolian Forest. The route of
the River Iss is quite mysterious, as is its relation to the Kaolian
Forest – also difficult to place from the information given across
the Mars series
by ERB – as discussed by
Woodrow Edgar Nichols, Jr. on the online ERBzine Vol. 3386. The
princess of Helium takes flight, thanks to the flight pack she still
possesses from the first story arc, and saves the child, who leads
her through the Forest to the city of Kaol, where she ends up helping
the Kaolians defeat a growing infestation of siths. After which she
moves on. So this looks to be a multipart grand tour of Barsoom,
which could be interesting.
Once
again, as seems to be by and large the case for covers to Dynamite's
comics, the image by Fabiano Neves has absolutely nothing to do with
the story inside. Once again, it's basically a pin-up, this time
with a bondage theme that would
actually be appropriate for the story contained in the next issue....
 |
| Art by Fabiano Neves |
[“The
Exile of Dejah Thoris,” Part 2]
Three
months into her self-imposed exile, Dejah Thoris has wandered from
the equatorial region where Kaol is located up into the barren north.
There, on the ice (and as scantily clad as ever, just like in the
southern ices 'way back in “Pirate Queen” – oh, pardon me, she
has a tiny little fur parka!), she is attacked by one of the
gargantuan, savage, white-furred apts. A yellow man – an Okarian
of remote Barsoomian legend, comes to her rescue … then promptly
declares her his slave, imprisoning her in what looks for all the world like a
frontier ranch cabin from the US Old West. She does manage to
escape. The Okarian gives chase. They end up fighting each others
and apts in the Carrion Caves which John Carter will himself pass
through four centuries later in the novel The
Warlord of Mars.
Ultimately, however, she is more chivalrous than he in that she
saves his life from a pride (?) of apts, winning her freedom as the
Okarian grudgingly points out that he would not have done the same
for her. Almost as soon as she emerges from the Carrion Caves,
however, she is overshadowed by a vaguely bat-winged air ship, and we
are left this month with a teaser title: “Next: The Vampire Men
of Saturn” – !?
Cheers!
… and Thanks for reading!
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