Dreamer Of Mars: Warlord Of Mars Attacks #3 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
The Martian Moonheads continue their reign of terror across the Earth while Norman, Mave, and Ramon try and parse out what happened to John Carter and why he was in hibernation on Earth. He remembers his life on Barsoom, but he believes the battle with the Moonheads to have been a dream. Thankfully, they find someone who knows how to use hypnosis to extract memories of dreams. There, they find the truth about where John Carter has been and what happened to him and Barsoom. They plan how to respond from there.
Warlord of Mars Attacks #3 finds John Carter getting back into the fight against the Moonheads, even if there is a bit of confusion on his personal history with the species as well as how Norman and Ramon know about his time on Mars.
Some of that has been explained to the reader already; the dream hypnosis and John Carter thinking he dreamed up the Moonheads complicates things to an unnecessary degree. I guess it’s to preserve the integrity of the old Warlord of Mars canon, but it still serves only to give this comic a digression that doesn’t add anything to the overall tale.
The hypnosis sequence does show us the origins of these Martian Moonheads, and it does tie into an preexisting Warlord of Mars character, but it still needlessly slows down the book.
Warlord of Mars Attacks #3 is also exceedingly wordy. While I’ve tried to restrain that criticism in more recent months, I found myself teetering on boredom while navigating the text of this book. It would be something if it added more meaning or intrigue to the book, but, as it is, it mainly overexplains then re-explains the plot points of the book.
The artwork of Dean Kotz still serves the book well. It gives the comic a classic and, at times, somewhat gritty aesthetic while preserving the abject ugliness of the Martian Moonheads. Omi Remalente gives the book a lively palette that preserves a nice color balance while contributing a nice atmosphere to the visuals.
Warlord of Mars Attacks #3 isn’t a very strong comic. The story spins its wheels too much, the wordiness badly hurts the pacing, and the art is the only real saving grace of the book. Unfortunately, I find myself unable to recommend this one.
Warlord of Mars Attacks #3 comes to us from writer Jeff Parker, artist Dean Kotz, color artist Omi Remalante, letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, cover artist Dave Johnson, and variant cover artists Rags Morales with Roshan Kurichiyanil; Ramon Villalobos; and Ben Caldwell.
Final Score: 4.5/10
