I've become numb to the many license acquisitions by comic book publishers as of late...and when I saw MARS ATTACKS was going to be a comic book, I winced. This entire project appeared to me like a close approximation to a slice of mall pizza: heavy on cheese and light on sauce.
Either I'm becoming nostalgic in my old age or maybe it doesn't take alot to entertain me these days, but MARS ATTACKS #1 was a damn fun read.
Colliding with an Earth Orbiter, a flying saucer is forced to crash land on Earth. One of the surviving aliens named Zar (who will later lead the invading forces) is taken hostage by a couple of drunken morons and sold to a traveling circus. The alien calls for aid and a bloody showdown commences that would make Bill Gaines proud. It's not a complicated story to understand and if you enjoy classic sci-fi stuff like WAR OF THE WORLDS, you'll get a kick out of this title.
Writer John Layman throws readers into a sci-fi story not unlike something you might have seen in a classic EC title like WEIRD SCIENCE or INCREDIBLE SCIENCE FICTION, but without the constraints of a Comic Code Authority in place to really pull the reader along for the ride. The characters and situations seem pretty true to form for me...and both the aliens AND humanity appear to be to blame for starting the hostilities between them. There's some gruesome stuff in the pages, but it's sprinkled throughout the story and doesn't feel like gore for just gore's sake. I'm familiar with John McCrea's artwork from his days on the DC title HITMAN, and his style fits this title well.
Additionally, if you want the challenge of collecting a single title, MARS ATTACKS might also be right up your alley. There are 57 different covers as of this writing to collect which mimic oversized trading cards and a SDCC exclusive you can own this year as well. According to IDW, 55,000 total copies of these comics were produced and sold out, which means that less than 1000 copies of each cover exist. Whether you call it excellent marketing or print run manipulation by IDW doesn't really matter. If you're a collector, you're going to have to shell out some extra cabbage to get them all individually OR get your hands on one of the box sets which feature all of the covers in one pretty cool looking package.
But whether for collecting or reading, I recommend you commence to your local comic book retailer at once and prepare for battle. You will enjoy MARS ATTACKS, humans...or you will die.
At least, that's what I've heard.