Comic Review: Dejah of Mars #4

It's time for closure, and there will be blood (lots of it).

Managing to subdue the Red Reaper's wife (yep talk about needing marriage counseling), Dejah finally finds John Carter and the Reaper. Having drunk some of Carter's blood, the Reaper is preparing to activate a series of cannons (which was last seen in the Dejah Thoris and the Green Men of Mars series) and cause massive destruction, But he reveals they are something else, something that can bring an even more deadly force to life. So it's up to our heroic couple to save the day once again.

With everything from high speed pursuits and crashes to bloody eye gouging, manic monologues and massive sword wielding mutants, this last issue has it all. In fact it has too much, giving the feeling that a planned longer series was compressed into this last issue, which results in many dangling plot threads, unexplained twists (seriously where did those mutants come from?) and Dejah and Carter slashing and blasting their way through it all. I was critical of the Green Men of Mars series being dragged out beyond the breaking point but here it might have helped to give it some breath and allow Mark Rahner and company to present a more smooth narrative.

Still it manages to complete the story, helped by the standard excellent art by Jethro Morales, which manages to capture the action and characters quite well. Also a plus to the coloring, which for once makes the red men RED and Carter WHITE. Not pink or tanned.

Fans of the first three issues will find much here to enjoy but be prepared for a lot of stuff to be dumped in your laps before it ends and brings a close to this series and the start of the new one in November, Until next time folks, that's all!