Dejah Thoris is published by Dynamite. It is written by Amy Chu with illustrations by Pasquale Qualano and colors by Valentina Pinto.
Dejah, Kajas, and Sajad are finally on their way to Ephysium with the help of the green Martian. After they scale down the very, very deep hole, blow up an unstable wall, and walk through a glorious light, they finally find what they have been searching for: water. A quite a bit of it at that. This isn’t all they find though, within the water lurks something even more dangerous than the giant white apes.
I wish I could go in to more detail about what happened in this issue, but there would be a lot of spoilers…and honestly, outside of the spoilers, there isn’t a lot that really happens. I mean, our characters fall down a lot while going into the hole, but nothing very enticing happens. We get some character development, but this comic seems like a set up for the next issue more so than anything.
I think my favorite part is the green Martian turning out to be not a total jerk. He betrayed Dejah, challenged her to Jetan, tried to cheat and kill her, and yet he saved Sajad when he didn’t need to and he blew up a wall even though he knew it was risky. For someone who seems ruthless and unfeeling, he seems like he actually does want to help them. Sure, in front of others he talks about being a warrior and needing to fight, but maybe he does want peace for the planet? Or maybe I’m totally wrong. I’m going to stay positive though because I like him either way. I’m up for bloodthirsty, heartless warrior, but also low-key considerate ruler who loves the planet and wants it to survive.
I am enjoying the way Amy Chu is developing these characters. I have always liked that Dejah isn’t falling into the stereotypical “warrior princess” role. I mean, yes she is a princess and she is brave, courageous, and determined to do whatever it takes to save her people, but I wouldn’t call her a warrior. Not yet, at least. And that’s okay. She doesn’t need to be a killer to be great, and I feel like that is something really important to show.
Yes, she still needs help from Sajad sometimes, but she also jumped into the clearly dangerous water to save Kajas without hesitation. That being said about Dejah, I would really like to see more from Kajas. She has been through so much, she lost her entire team, yet she’s still pushing forward for the sake of science. If she was given more spotlight, I feel like she could really shine as a character.
Pasquale Qualano’s art continues to be gorgeous and I love how the green Martians look and everyone’s clothing/armor. Every time I see it I’m reminded how much I like it. I understand that we had to, but I do wish we didn’t have to spend so much time in a cave where everything looks rather similar everywhere they went. It put a lot of limitation on the environmental design that I always look forward to.
OVERALL SCORE: 8 / 10
This wasn’t the most engaging installment of Dejah Thoris, but it still gives us necessary plot development and a step towards to obviously soon-to-be big event. So make sure you pick up a copy of Dejah Thoris #4 from your local comic shop! Happy reading!
