Mars Attacks IDW

Mars Attacks IDW

by Martin Powell, Chris Ryall, Erik Burnham

The Martians of 'Mars Attacks' invade five different IDW timelines and universes. Popeye, Zombies vs Robots, Kiss, The Real Ghostbusters and The Transformers all must fight off the threats to their own worlds!

Genres: Graphic Novels

136 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. This entry is for Martin ^ Powell.


Martin Powell is the author of hundreds of science fiction, mystery, and horror stories. He has worked in the comic book industry since 1986, writing for Marvel, DC, Malibu, Caliber, Moonstone, and Disney, among others, and has been nominated for the coveted Eisner Award. Martin also writes children’s books, and frequently contributes prose for many short story anthologies. He resides in Saint Paul, MN.

Reviews

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection of crossovers where the Mars Attacks Martians attack the worlds from various other fictional franchises. Four of the five stories follow this same basic premise, with only slight variations, although one - the Real Ghostbusters tie-in - does something different (making it probably the best in the collection). The other four (Popeye, KISS, Transformers, and Zombies vs. Robots) are fine, but likely work best for fans of those franchises (for example, I like Transformers, and the Transformers tie-in was the only other one I would rate as above-average). The book wraps up with a neat cover gallery suggesting further crossovers (and there's also a hint at one point that a Rocketeer tie-in may have been planned, between the Popeye and KISS issues). (B)

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Very silly, with hugely variable artwork; the last story, featuring Zombies Vs Robots is the one I liked the best, but overall this is just mildly divertng fluff (which is obviously damning with supremely faint praise).

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, sometimes loopy comics crossover idea that works for the most part, IDW has taken the iconic characters from the Mars Attacks Topps trading card series (and the later Tim Burton movie) and mashed them up with four of their other properties. In this comic series, the martian invaders with the oversized brains meet characters from Popeye, Zombies vs Robots, Kiss, The Real Ghostbusters, and The Transformers.

I loved these kind of crossover comics as a kid, and I still think their fun. An imaginative "what if" story. In all five the martians invade and have strange encounters. I think the Popeye story was my favorite and worked the best. I was less familiar with the Zombies vs Robots comic, but loved the zombies going crazy over the martians with their huge brains. The Kiss story is the only one that didn't work as well, and maybe that's because they tried to play it straight instead of going for a more campy feel. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Art styles vary throughout. Again, my favorite was the Popeye story with it's washed out color panels, but all the art was quite good. Some of it might be hard to follow without reading some of the other properties, but a fun, light read nonetheless that took me back to the summers of my youth.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is really a book? This is a cross over compilation of short stories from various properties. Popeye, Stargate (Zombies?!?), KISS, Ghostbusters and Transformers. I don't know that the stories themselves are necessarily bad, it's just that they're short and it generally feels contrived.

Actual dialogue from a panel
Optimus Prime: You realize...
Megatron: Don't.
OP: ...if we're to escape this...
M: Just don't.
OP: ...we need to work together as a team.

Next panel:
Megatron: Guhh.

I don't know anyone who enjoyed the Mars Attacks movie sufficiently to recommend this title to. I kinda hope that person doesn't exist.

The art style is acceptable. The writing isn't great. It's short.

I'm giving it a negative review, but I'm more indifferent than anything else.

[Charlotte Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

If graphic novels are your thing, then this would be a brilliant one to read. ‘Mars Attacks Idw’ is a fun graphic works consisting of five different scenarios, the Martians from Mars Attacks, attacking other well-known characters such as Popeye, Kiss, Zombies vs Robots, The Real Ghost Busters and The Transformers. I read this quite quickly and being familiar with all of the mash-up subjects really helped to understand the story. Definitely a 4 out of 5 stars for me, but I can understand that if you don’t know much about the other cultural, it might not be to your taste.

[Steven Leatherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this concept, but I felt that the stories could have been stronger.