Written by: unbilled: Pencils by Wally Wood. Inks by Tony Coleman, Dan Adkins.
Colours/letters: unbilled.
M.A.R.S. Patrol: Total War 2004 (SC TPB) 112 pages.
Written by: unbilled: Pencils by Wally Wood. Inks by Tony Coleman, Dan Adkins.
Colours/letters: unbilled.
Additional notes: intro by Batton Lash, afterward by Dan Adkins.
Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Published by Dark Horse Comics
Originally published by Gold Key comics in the mid-1960s, M.A.R.S. Patrol (originally titled Total War for its first two issues) was a short lived mix of sci-fi and military adventure. Despite the mis-leading acronym, the MARS in questions stands for an elite, fictional American military branch -- the Marine Attack Rescue Service -- and the action starts up when the U.S. is invaded by a mysterious army. At first it's assumed it's a foreign nation...until they get reports that nations all over the world, including the U.S.S.R., are likewise besieged.
This TPB collection from Dark Horse Comics reprints the first three issues that were drawn by comics legend Wally Wood, and they are fast paced action pieces as the core, four man MARS unit is sent to one hot spot after another as the invaders attack, then retreat, with equal mysteriousness. The characters even end up in Canada for a sequence, aiding the Canadian army when the invaders strike at both sides of Niagara Falls.
Why Dark Horse should choose to reprint these obscure stories now is a question. Perhaps with their recent successes publishing Marvel's old Star Wars and Conan comics, and a massive Magnus Robot Fighter hard cover on the way, Dark Horse is just hot for reprints these days. There is a modest enjoyment level to the stories -- they're fast paced and crisply illustrated by Wally Wood. But although Gold Key has had its peaks, it's not exactly known for its thinking man comics, and in the 1960s, it seemed happy to hold its ground of simplistic stories even as DC and, especially, Marvel, were attempting to break new narrative ground when it came to plotting and characterization in comics.
The plotting is pretty rudimentary, as the invaders attack various bases or towns, and our heroes fight them off. There are clever strategies, occasionally, but its all told with brevity -- barely do we know what the invaders next strike will be when, a couple of panels later, our heroes have devised a counter-strategy. There's little attempt to milk suspense from a sequence in favour of just keeping things fast and furious. It's also a combat/action series, so there's little (in these issues at least) of change-of-pace stories, either emphasizing suspense or human drama. Nor is there much obvious science fiction -- despite the back cover extolling Wood as a master of drawing SF comics. There's little characterization to speak of -- the MARS patrol men are a fairly generic lot where even the letterer and colourist sometimes had trouble recognizing who was who, occasionally with word balloons pointing to the wrong speaker, or one character wearing another's colours. Sgt. Ken Hiro seems the most likely to threaten to become an individual...and even he is mainly just a little feistier than the others.
Yeah, you read right -- Ken Hiro. An Asian-American. Whatever MARS Patrol lacked in sophistication, it gets point for its multi-ethnic heroes (also including a black guy and two whites). Practically unprecedented in 1960s comics -- and contemporaneous movies and TV. And they were of equal importance to the action, not just a white guy and his minority sidekicks (best exemplified in the third issue, where we follow each of the four on separate solo missions). The comic also touched on the idea of racism and, at least in the first issue, the grim realities of war, as the heroes (briefly) struggle with the morality of striking at the enemy, knowing innocent American civilians will be "collateral damage". All that stuff is surprisingly sophisticated, adult concepts...for a comic that, otherwise, isn't particularly.
The first issue is the best, creating a genuine sense of danger and paranoia, as the invaders strike without warning. Scenes of the heroes coming upon the aftermath of battles, or hearing gunfire in the distance, create an eerie sense of plausibility, moreso than if the heroes were always in the thick of it.
But by the end of these issues, you still don't know who the invaders are (though that may've been revealed in the subsequent, non-Wood issues that Dark Horse may or may not plan to collect). And there isn't even a sense that we're building to a revelation. Each issue ends with the characters reiterating that know nothing about the enemy...but it's not like there are any clues or hints accumulating from issue to issue.
Wood apparently worked on the infamous "Mars Attacks" trading cards from a few years previous to these comics, and one can see the influence, as plot and characterization is tossed aside in favour of what seems more like visual set pieces, as if MARS Patrol was all ready to be featured on its own set of trading cards (though it wasn't). Wood's art is good -- I've certainly been an appreciator for years. But I'm not sure it's good enough to justify this collection all by itself, particularly as that's what Dark Horse seems to be selling. Wood has a clean, clear style, but it works best when serving a stronger script. Who actually wrote the stories is a bit vague. Certainly some have implied it was Wood himself (the cover even says "Wally Wood's MARS Patrol"), but scenes where the visuals clash with the script (like having a Canadian flag flying overhead...after the characters have already returned to the U.S. side of the border) would suggest a miscommunication between a writer and an artist.
There's also a certain roughness to the presentation. Visually, it looks almost as though Dark Horse reprinted this from the comics, rather than the original galleys -- the reproduction is bit smudged at times. It still looks good, just not as crisp as you might expect. And there are even a few pages, in the second issue, that are printed in reversed order! On the plus side, although this only reprints three issues, each one was 32 pages, making the story page count a full 96 pages. But it's still kind of pricey for what it is, particularly given the lack of care taken in reprinting the issues.
Still, the book can be moderately fun, particularly for its fast paced tempo that means that it never slows down enough to be boring. And there's an appealing, childish innocence at work. At the same time, it is a war comic more than a science fiction one, and a violent comic at that. It's not gory or anything, but it is a brutal depiction of kill or be killed, total war (as the title indicates) -- a fact that then clashes a bit with the cavalier jingoism of the heroes, who seem to be able to take on any number of invaders and receive nary a scratch.
Cover price: __ CDN./ $12.95 USA.
Marvel: 1602
see me review here
Written by Greg Potter. Art and colour by Ron Randall.
Me & Joe Priest 1985 (SC GN)
48 pgs.
Letters: John Costanza. Editor: Janice Race.
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Suggested for mature readers
DC Graphic Novel #5 (tabloid size)
This was published back when the mainstream "big boys" of Marvel and DC were first experimenting with the "graphic novel" format -- usually involving over-sized (tabloid dimensions) format and sometimes "mature subject" matter. Though Marvel, which was first, tended toward a mix of super hero and original stories, DC initially tended more towards just original stories, often SF -- this being before their Vertigo imprint.
Me and Joe Priest is set in a kind of post-Apocalyptic future -- except one not brought about by bombs, wars, or mass destruction. Rather, everyone went sterile, resulting in a zero population growth...and a swift population decline (people continued to die...there were just no new babies to replace them). Lummox, the narrator, is a kind of biker who roams about the desolate Arizona desert with his gang seeking "experiences" -- in a future that seems pointless, their philosophy is just to experience whatever they can, while they can. And a new experience is when he encounters Father Joseph St. Simone -- a priest who is the last fertile man on the planet, and sees it as his God given mission to impregnate what few fertile women are left.
Oy! I hear you say.
Yeah -- though not especially graphic in visuals, the core concept is a "mature readers" one, and seems as though it's definitely trying to push a few buttons in a cheeky, snickering way. Which is actually kind of a problem. Because Me and Joe Priest seems a little like they weren't quite sure what they were going for. The premise seems a little like it wants to tweak the nose of religious conservatives, an impression further encouraged by Howard Chaykin's cheeky cover of a smirking priest looking heavenward with two beautiful women at his side. And there is an aspect of that. But very quickly it starts taking itself seriously, too. And it wraps itself around themes of faith versus logic, the heart versus the mind, so that, in a way, it actually isn't making fun of religion at all! It's a little as if writer Potter (a guy who popped up in the mid-1980s, then seemed to disappear) heard DC was looking for "edgy" material, so he pitched his outrageous concept -- "a promiscuous priest" -- but when it came time to flesh it out, he realized you couldn't get a whole story out of a one joke gag.
The religious aspect can also become a crutch as, once you get to the end, you realize that most of practical questions (why did people go sterile, why is Joe not sterile, how did he know this was God's plan) are just glossed over with a sheen of religious mysticism.
There's also a cult of rogue, villainous priests out to get Joe, but that too becomes problematic. They should seem like a formidable force but, other than hunting Joe, it's not clear what, if any, villainy they're up to.
After reading a number of "graphic novels", I'm beginning to wonder if 45 pages just isn't enough to tell a complete story. Barely do we feel as though we've been told all the pertinent information about the world and Joe's personal background...then we're suddenly moving into the climax. It's as if we've got Act I and Act III -- but are missing an Act II. As well, it's supposed to be a buddy story, involving the unlikely pairing of Lummox and Joe, but their relationship never quite gels into anything, and Joe inparticular never really becomes a person.
The art by Randall is basically serviceable, in that it conveys what needs conveying, in facial expressions and action, but it's not really anything more. Though the way he paints the sky line is rather striking (though contrasts with the more conventional way the people and landscape are coloured). Perhaps with a more dynamic artist, some of the weaknesses in the story could've been bandaged over a bit better.
The thing is, it's not that Me and Joe Priest is terrible (potentially sacrilegious aspects notwithstanding), but it doesn't fully come together as a drama, an adventure, a character study, a satire, or what have you.
Original cover price: $7.95 CDN./ $5.95 USA.
Written by Neal McPheeters and Victoria Petersen. Illustrated and coloured by Neal McPheeters.
The Merchants of Venus 1986 (SC GN) 48 pages
Letters: Todd Klein. Editor: Julius Schwartz.
Adapting the novel by Frederik Pohl.
Published in over-sized, tabloid dimensions.
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Published by DC Comics
In the 1980s, when both Marvel and DC were first experimenting with the "graphic novel" format, both companies toyed with over-sized volumes, and material not directly related to their main super hero lines. Julius Schwartz -- DC Comics editor and one-time SF literary agent -- oversaw a series of graphic adaptations of various classic science fiction novels.
Frederik Pohl's The Merchants of Venus is basically a kind of gold prospecting yarn, relocated to the planet Venus. An ancient, extinct race, the Heechee, left Venus dotted with hidden caches of Heechee treasures and technologies, and amateur prospectors scour the inhospitable surface looking for them. Audee Walthers is a local guide, in need of money for a life saving operation, who hooks up with a couple of tourists, an enigmatic rich man and his girlfriend, and they set out to try and find a cache that'll make them all rich.
Although adapting established stories to comics might seem like a good idea, as they're drawing upon a proven concept, the trick comes about when shoe horning a novel into 48 illustrated pages. And material that might work well in a novel, might not read as well in a "reader's digest" version.
The problem with the Merchants of Venus is that, well, not a lot actually seems to happen. Perhaps in a novel, suspense can be better generated by teasing out a scene that, in the end, doesn't really go anywhere. But in the more abrupt comic, where we sometimes get condensed overviews of scenes as described by the narrator, you kind of find yourself waiting for something exciting to happen. Maybe they needed to leave more stuff out from the novel, but then better develop what they kept, better breaking it done into panels and dialogue, relying less on voice-over exposition..
Likewise, characterization is in a similar boat. Perhaps in a novel, our interest can be maintained by treating the story as much as a charactetr study of these three people, as anything. But in the comic, you don't necessarily feel like you get much feel for them. Oh, sure, they're well enough defined that, if this was a fast-pace action adventure, they'd probably be fine. But not if the characters themselves are supposed to hold our interest.
The plot itself is a bit unblieveable in itys simplicity -- which, again, may reflect an editing into the comic, more than the original novel. But it really doesn't seem like it's that hard to find Heechee hiding places!
The art is attractive in its vibrant colours (looks almost like coloured pencils) and bold figure work -- but there's also a certain cartooniness, too. Still, I liked it more than I didn't.
I'm unfamiliar with adapters Neal McPheeters and Victoria Petersen, and I certainly don't want to give the impression they did a bad job, per se. Nor did I think this was an awful work. It just seems a bit thin, a bit lacking in oomph, and I suspect the problems stem from trying to cram a novel into 48 pages.
Orginal cover price: $7.95 CDN./ $5.95 USA
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