IDW
is certainly no stranger to crossing over their properties. With the many licensed books they have, they’ve
done events like Infestation, which ran through many of their properties
(twice!) and crossed over Star Trek with Doctor Who and the Legion of Super
Heroes. With Mars Attacks IDW, the Martians,
well, attack four licensed properties, along with one of IDW’s originals.
Because
this is an anthology comic, I think it’s fair to look at each story individually. The first is Popeye (written by Martin Powell,
art by Terry Beatty), which has the Sea Hag controlling the Martians against
Popeye. I know the bare minimum about
Popeye, and that’s from the cartoons.
With this comic taking place in the comic-verse, I knew even less. What’s really interesting with this story is that
it’s toned down to be family friendly.
Martians zap people, but they just lose their clothes instead of
dying. Unfortunately, this ends up
making the story a bit too tame. If you’re
a big fan of the Popeye comics, you might get a kick out of this, but I got
nothing.
Second
is Kiss (written by Chris Ryall, art by Alan Robinson), where the band members,
before becoming Kiss, end up fighting against Kiss-powered Martians. That sentence is about as nonsensical as it
sounds. Again, all I know or care about
with Kiss is their music. I don’t know
any of their comics-verse stuff, which is a big problem here since I honestly
can’t tell the tone of this story. If it’s
meant to be taken seriously, it’s ridiculous.
If it’s meant to be a comedy, it’s taking itself too seriously. There are some nice moments in here, but it’s
too in-between on what it’s doing.
Next,
we finally get to a property I know, the Real Ghostbusters (written by Erik Burnham,
art by Jose Holder). In case you’re
wondering why the Ghostbusters are fighting Martians, well, they’re ghosts,
naturally. This is another low-violence
tale, but it works. The dialogue between
the Busters is witty, the Martians get some nice powers, and it’s just a fun
story in general.
The
book’s strongest story, though, is definitely Transformers (written by Shane
McCarthy, art by Matt Frank). A lull in
the battle between Autobots and Decepticons gives the Martians an opportunity
to attack. The great part of this story
is that, while most of the stories here seem indecisive about how funny they’re
being, Transformers nails it down perfectly.
This is laugh-out-loud funny, willfully taking both the black humor of
Mars Attacks and having some good-natured fun at Transformers’ expense. You also don’t need to know much about
Transformers to get the jokes, which is good.
It also doesn’t forget to tell an interesting, well-built story. While most of the stories just translate the
Martian dialogue for the readers’ benefit, Transformers actually gives a reason
for it. Definitely the must-read here.
We
end on the original property, Zombies vs. Robots (written by Chris Ryall, art
by Andy Kuhn). The Martians think they
have a perfect invasion plan, only to find the world overrun by…you know. While I know nothing about the actual ZvR
comic, the title about says all you need to know. Without the humans, Mars Attacks definitely loses
something, but it does give a good look at the Martians themselves. There is also plenty of violence here, in
case you feel you got short-changed on that front from Popeye.
Mars
Attacks IDW is a mixed bag. There’s high
points (Transformers, Ghostbusters) and low points (Kiss) throughout. If you love any of these franchises, though,
and wouldn’t mind seeing Martians tear through it, give the book a shot. The better moments make it worthwhile.
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