Queen of Mars Book 2: Queen of Therns is a comic created by Mick Beyers. As Phaidor attempts to obtain the throne for the good of Thern she runs into some unexpected opposition. This is the second issue of this series that takes place in a world inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs. We have four main characters here: Phaidor, the princess of Thern, Kahr Kagot, a Thark Warrior, Isdar, the Jeddara(queen) until her father returns, and Eretor Durog, a man who basically serves as an advisor. This is a slow-moving plot with a good amount of twists and suspenseful moments. There are many different sides and loyalties change with the weather. It reminds me of some of those large-scale fantasy movies from the 70’s and 80’s. But let me tell you up front, this is a very wordy comic. Those movies I just mentioned liked to slow down the action and talk for a while and this comic is no different. Yes there is still a decent amount of action but most of the fighting is done with words. You will get lost sometimes and have to reread a few speech bubbles but the story is thick and the drama is high. And like most fantasy tales on this wavelength the speech is full of college words and spoken like much older English. To sum this up, this is a good story-driven comic with an emphasis on verbal sparring and hamming it up.
Now there are two versions of this comic: Barsoomian and Jasoomian. What’s the difference? Well in the Barsoomian version, everyone is nude. And that’s the version I have, because during the campaign it was the only version until the Jasoomian was added. So I saw/see everything. This is a black-and-white comic that puts so much detail into everything that it all feels alive. This is a one of those fantasies that feature buildings that are very tall, very wide, and very deep, with a feeling of grandness about them. Though they will fade into the background occasionally. This is an extremely expressive comic, which is almost necessary with characters that talk so much. The looks they give add credence to their words which helps you play these scenes out in your head. Faces are drawn with decent detail but that level goes up when it is necessary. There is some slight face sameness but that is only with the extras, there are a bunch of people in this comic. We see some weird animals here but the oddest creatures to me are the Thark. They look two torsos stacked on top of each and they are very large and are at least(by my eye test) ten feet tall. This comic has two main weapons: A sword and a gun. The action scenes are very up close and unafraid to get nasty, and the flow is great. Last but not least I’ll talk about the outfits. These folk wear belts above the chest and above the waist, and that’s about it. You will see a bunch of titties. You will also see flaccid penises. A lot of flaccid penises. I don’t recall seeing vaginas. But is any of this oversexualized? No. This isn’t even regular sexualized. No acts like anyone is attractive, no one leers, no comments on beauty, everybody is just naked and living.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like high fantasy tales with story-driven plots starring a woman and a male alien with tons of palace intrigue and a bunch of dialogue that’ll make you have to pay attention this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R for both versions.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Never have I met such a people as would talk their enemies to death, rather than run them through.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hmyc/a-queen-of-mars-1-2/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 43
Violent Pages: 17, for 0% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 4
“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”
“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”
“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”
“This was a tournament arc.”
“All my life I had to fight.”
Gore Level – 4
“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”
“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”
“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”
“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”
“This is a slaughterhouse.”
Death Level – 3
“And everybody lived happily ever after.”
“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”
“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”
“Yeah this was a tragedy.”
“Think Gettysburg.”
Porn Level – 1 or 3, depending on version
“Everybody kept their clothes on.”
“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”
“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”
“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”
“Oh. This is porn.”
