Writer Ron Marz has been delivering some exciting story lines in his Dynamite book JOHN CARTER: WARLORD OF MARS. Marz discussed the book and his upcoming story lines with the publisher, Dynamite.
DYNAMITE: Ron, how have you enjoyed your stint on John Carter? It will certainly be regarded as a classic run with the characters.
RON MARZ: Loved it! I've had such a great time playing with all these toys, my only regret is that we're unable to keep it going. I have a lot more stories with John and Dejah and Tars rolling around in my head, and I hope to be able to tell them.
DYNAMITE: Any surprises along the way?
RM: I think the only surprise was how much of a role the landscape itself ended up playing. I knew Barsoom was going to be a character all on its own, but the landscape ended up taking on an even larger role than I expected. It's almost like the landscape in the best Westerns, like "The Searchers."
DYNAMITE: How has it been working with Ariel Medel (who is doing #14, which comes out this December) as well as the rest? Would you say the art was one of the highlights of this book?
RM: The art has absolutely been a highlight, both the interiors and covers. Working with Ariel Medel and Abhishek Malsuni has been great. They're in the same ballpark stylistically, so I think the look of the series has a nice cohesion to it. There's a classic sensibility to their lines, which I think is quite fitting for the series. We're trying to tell classic adventure stories, and what Ariel and Abhishek do is perfect fit for that.
DYNAMITE: I thought the Tars issue was well done and a great experiment. Have you receive any reactions, because there were raves around my LCS.
RM: I just got back from a couple of conventions, and I got positive feedback from some hardcore Edgar Rice Burroughs fans about the series in general, and the Tars issue in specific. That's really gratifying, to be getting that kind of reaction from what you would expect to be the most critical segment of the audience.
DYNAMITE: In the upcoming #14 in December, after their little jaunt through one- and two-issue stories, return to Helium but the city is deserted. Can you give us any background at all, non-spoilery of course?
RM: Well, obviously the story is a mystery, so I don't want to say too much. But the genesis of the story was me getting the mental image of John and Dejah in a completely deserted Helium. The image of their tiny figures in the vast, empty cityscape kind of bubbled up from my subconscious, and the whole story grew from there.
DYNAMITE: Finally, an overall plot thread: Do we ever discover a solution for the vanishing atmosphere of the Red Planet? IS there a solution?
RM: That's not the kind of problem that should be solved quickly, or without great struggle. Heroes have to earn their victories, and that's a big one to earn. Maybe someday we'll get to tell that story.
JOHN CARTER: WARLORD OF MARS #12 will be on sale October 28.