I wasn’t really aware of Mars Attacks books, but I know IDW has put out quite a lot of really good stuff- I was reading Colonized, the aliens vs zombies series when it released in 2013, but beyond that I wasn’t really too big into Mars Attacks comics. I was a fan of the movie growing up, and even went so far as to have some of the Mars Attacks toys… I know, I am probably one of the few people ever to have owned Mars Attacks toys, but I was a very well-cared for only child for much of my life, so I had TONS of random toys- Darkwing Duck, Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa, Biker Mice From Mars, Street Sharks, Ronin Warriors… the list goes on SO LONG. But I liked Mars Attacks, and I saw this was a $1 reprint of the more recent Mars Attacks series, which was originally printed the summer of 2012, so I thought I would jump on it. It is written by John Layman, of Image Comics’ “Chew” notoriety, so I thought, at the very least, it would be a well written story about shrieking, murderous alien things with brains on the outside of their skulls, who make Kang and Kodos from the Simpsons look like Milo and Otis-level cute and cuddly.
But this was actually a really fun, interesting book, and had plenty of moments that actually intrigued me. I was glad that the story wasn’t quite as straightforward as “out of nowhere- space men bent on extinguishing all life on earth!” and actually gave the Martians a bit of agency, and showed that they were actually characters with personalities (even if one major personality ends up being a murderous psychopath set on revenge and the extermination of all life on earth).
This book was really good, and you can’t beat a good first issue, and some classic nostalgia AND a well-written story for a buck.