Writer’s Commentary: Chuck Brown On ‘John Carter Of Mars’ #3 From Dynamite

This week’s exclusive Writer’s Commentary courtesy of Dynamite comes from Chuck Brown, writer of John Carter of Mars, which takes us behind the scenes for the third issue. As ever, there are spoilers, so go buy the book, read it and return back here.

Take it away, Chuck:

Page One:

This was a really fun idea. The white Martians use their powers of transformation to transform their hand into synthetic ninth. I love how George Kambadais designed the hands and the comet.

Page Two:

This page demonstrates how Martians of all races can come together in a crisis—also a quick shout-out to the letterer Jeff Eckleberry. I’m really digging these borderless balloons in the series.

Panel Three:

As fans know, John and Dejah are always on each other’s minds. Although Dejah is busy tying to save the world, the last panel reveals where her heart is.

Pages Four & Five:

I remember that I needed to rewrite these pages. In the first draft, Hines and Charlie were too lax about being on an alien planet. I needed Charlie and Hines to ask more questions and be confused because your average person would.

Pages Six – Eleven:

There’s a lot of amazing action on these pages. The first scene shows humans and aliens working together and taking care of one another. Something I’d like to see in the real world…but anyway. At the end of this scene, I wanted to show that John Carter isn’t all kill kill kill. Like in the novels, he doesn’t kill the innocent or kick a man when he’s down. And on Page 11, we get George’s amazing red Martian ape! I’m not sure if this has been done before because these apes don’t exist in the books. The transformation is a demonstration of how powerful Etor has become.

Pages Twelve – Seventeen:

Here was another great opportunity for Hines and Charlie to have a fish out of water moment. Dejah is teaching them how to jump. I absolutely love how these pages came out. At the end of the scene, our heroes find other humans stranded on Mars. One of them is the love of Hines’ life, Thai. The embrace and kiss on Page 17 is just perfect.

Pages Eighteen – Twenty-Two:

We’ve all seen John Carter as a badass with powers. These scenes show green men taunting and torturing a powerless John Carter. The final pages show his old foe Eite calling him out for a one-on-one fight… a fight a powerless John has no chance of winning.

John Carter of Mars #3 is out now from Dynamite Comics