Red Mass For Mars

A Red Mass For Mars #1-4

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer, Colourist), Ryan Bodenheim (Artist)

"Eternity, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity... the logical progression of perfect societal evolution. Is utopia achievable? Let's find out together... With capes, and laser beams shooting out of our eyes."

From the mind of comic book innovator Jonathan Hickman and the pen of super-talent and Image debutant Ryan Bodenheim comes the visually stunning Red Mass For Mars. In a world that has survived every catastrophe imaginable, a new threat from the beyond stars looks to be the end of all humanity. Red Mass For Mars tells the story of the last days of Earth and the one man who could have saved us all - but didn't!

Collecting: Red Mass For Mars 1-4

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2011

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 2 out of 5]

i wish that i liked this one more, as it was a gift from Dave... overall it was enjoyable but also something of a disappointment. the plot was a combination of comic strip action and far-future space opera... essentially, the aliens from Aliens vs. a bunch of Kingdom Come-style super-assholes. the sense of Saga, of Epic Scale, of The End of the Earth - all very well-done. the art was splendid. sadly, the usual achilles' heel for the genre raises its tired head: cheesy, corny, hammy dialogue.

__________

Super Template Action!

* Superman: Mars
* Wonder Woman: Valkyrie
* Batman: Praetor
* Superboy: Phobos
* Doctor Strange: Lightbender
* Captain Atom, i suppose: Cosmos
* apparently no template but let's just say Ozymandius: Doctor Thaddeus
* is there a template for a super-rich albino who can see the future?: The Benefactor

[Red Equis · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿Es la utopía alcanzable? Se tuvo que descubrir juntos.

[G. Spinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like if it was something like 6 chapter instead of 4, this story might have a chance. I will say the last chapter was the best and the art seemed to get progressively better as well. I only read it because I want to read all of Hickman’s stuff, and I feel like that’s the only people who should read this. I don’t know much about Hickman but I’d wager a guess he had a few scripts he had written prior to getting picked up by image, once he landed The Nightly News, they probably said “what else ya got?” he gave them a few short stories like this. This seems way less polished than East of West or Black Monday Murder, and for a new writer, this is expected.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful art and interesting story but not something I'd generally pick up for myself. Read on a whim. Somewhat dark and disturbing.

[Luís Fernandes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was disappointing... Having read the huge run that Hickman did in The Avengers, and being currently dwelving through the Secret Wars story line, I had high hopes for this book, after reading the synopsis, and being a fan of Hickman's work with the Avengers. Unfortunately, those hopes fell short. While the concept of the story is good, it's not well executed... I found it quite short, which made me not care for the characters at all. Most of the characters don't even have the right to have a name, they're just there. So, great concept, big ideas, poor execution. Underdevelopment of characters was the major letdown, no doubt. As art goes, the art itself is good, with some great looking costumes, but unfortunately, Hickman decided he wanted to play colorist, and we got this grey, blue, pink and orange color palette that is used everywhere... The art called for something very colourful and very bright, and in that aspect the book didn't deliver. If you don't read it, you won't miss anything.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light read a good but not as epic as some of his earlier and later works. Extinction event for Earth must be battled by the last 33 supes on the planet, including a demigod who retreated to Mars. Interesting hints at many of the heroes, but mostly this is an examination of close parallels to Reed Richards, Irredeemable and a Batman/Elijah Snow type. they get to live long lives, have meaningful and not-hopeful adventures, and come together in a way to fight off the impending horde of space aliens.

Did I enjoy it? Sure, a soldier book. Is this among Hickman's best? Certainly not. Is mediocre Hickman better than most creators' average work? Definitely.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ultimately suffers from a lack of "content". There is a rich, interesting future world built, but then very little done with it. Most likely it is due to the brevity of the story, as some additional length could have added a lot. There's also the problem that the story is a bit muddled and lacks something to truly get you engaged and connected despite the gravity of the overall situation posed. It is Hickman, though, so you do get treated to fascinating world-building, one of his staples. Although, I'm starting to wonder if it would be better for him to create a fleshed out world that someone else could then write stories within...

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was kinda disappointed by it. I was expecting bigger things, but it was ultimately just plain.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickman does it again.
In my eyes his talents are best put towards sci-fi, and as you can probably tell from the title of the book, Red Mass For Mars is most definitely sci-fi. I really, really enjoy most of Hickman's books, and the 3 out of 5 rating I gave this title wasn't because it was of 'average' quality... I just found it to be WAY too short, and it felt a bit rushed. the material itself however, was excellent as usual.

Anyone who wants an introduction on Jonathan Hickman's awesome mind for sci-fi/fantasy needn't look farther than a graphic novel called The Red Wing off of Image. truth be told, I looked this book over and ignored it many, many times because of the cover artwork! I thought it was sort of bland and boring. "don't judge a book..." right? Apparently I don't follow excellent advice very well. I finally picked it up, and, wow. I also remember writing a ridiculously long and gushing review on the book on this very site, goodreads, and for some reason when I clicked "save" the site fucked up and erased it... the review was so bulky that I couldn't replicate it (and was very frustrated) so I just graded it and moved on. but don't get me wrong, I LOVED The Red Wing, for so many reasons.. and I love Red Mass For Mars for similar reasons. "What reasons are those, Dave?" shush, I was getting there.

Hickman's stories don't talk down to you. Hickman writes assuming that you're a smart guy and that you can keep up with him, and I really enjoy that. His work is intelligent, thorough, expansive, and brilliant... he creates worlds, situations, characters, vehicles, conflicts, and governments that are so believable. there's a common thread running throughout all of his work; from an organizational standpoint to graphic design layout, he really makes you feel as if he gives a shit about everything having to do with his work. For example, each individual cover of his Manhattan Projects comic with Image is the same structure but with different designs every month... it's very interesting. His other Image books (Red Mass, Red Wing, Transhuman, The Nightly News) have the same overall design to them. Marvel feels so strongly about his work that they actually handed over the keys to the book of what is probably their most successful IP right now, The Avengers (you might have heard about the small, low budget indie flick about The Avengers that came out last year, it did moderately well at the box office ;) ) - and even Hickman's version of the Avengers book has some entertaining Hickman-esque graphics inside that reflect the current state of the Avengers team. it's hard to explain but once you start reading him, you'll see what I mean.

without spoiling too much about it, Red Mass For Mars is an awesome glimpse into a galaxy I wish we had way more material about. it's about a man who can see the future of the human race and sees it's impending doom due to an alien invasion. it's about the most brilliant man in the world, a scientist, who is going to help him stop it. it's about both of them trying to collect all of the world's remaining superheroes and super-entities into one large force (sound familiar?) to work together and try to stop the near-impossible to defeat alien armada.

the book goes extremely quick, I think I read it in one hour-long break at work. I loved each and every page though, par for the course with Hickman. Thoroughly enjoyable, please check it out, and his other material.

[Mely · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read some of Hickman's work for Marvel -- mostly The Ultimates, a little of The Fantastic Four -- and I love the science fictional nature of his writing, the grand scope of it, the scientific and philosophical questions, the way he structures stories to start with independent intriguing threads and then lets them inevitably and explosively converge. His writing is big in the very best way. It has some of the traditional vices of hard sf as well as the virtues: his dialogue/narrative can be horribly portentous and pretentious and sometimes the dialogue is just too stiff and expository. There's a sort of coolness to his approach to characterization for The Ultimates, a bit of distance, but it works for the series and its after all not necessarily trustworthy characters; so far The Fantastic Four characterization seems to have more warmth. (And, honestly, after Mark Millar's superheated in-your-face brutality and Jeph Loeb's incomprehensible fervid melodrama, a little cold was welcome.) I was worried that his original work would suffer from lack of characterization (it is always praised for concept and never for character), but I was also intrigued by the hard graphic design stamp of the art.

Unfortunately, Red Mass for Mars shows all of Hickman's flaws and few of his strengths. The art and design are pretty good, if not as striking as The Nightly News; the artist does really interesting things with gradients. Sadly, the story is boring boring even more boring than that. It is more or less the tale of a superman or possibly supermen who find their humanity after the end of the world, but it's hard to care about them. It's hard even to care about the genocide of most of humanity, here just faceless masses. Any characterization comes from implicit reference to/contrast against Big Two superheroes. This examination of the selfishness and power hungriness of superheroes has been done before, long ago (Kingdom Come, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns) and more recently (Irredeemable and probably another dozen I don't know), and it's been done better.

Also: Every visible character in the book is white. Most of them are male. Every speaking character is male, except for two women with one line each: One, identified only as Mars [Superman analogue]'s wife, screams "AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH" as she dies in childbirth* and one, Valkyrie [Thor/Wonder Woman analogue], says something like "For Earth!" right before she leads troops into battle where they -- and she -- will be wiped out within two pages.

* I will correct the number of letters and the final battle cry when I get home. But you get my point.

That's not so great for a series that's supposed to make us feel hey, the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE is dying here!

[Orpheus · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up - I would’ve enjoyed having a couple of extra chapters to give it some more existential and emotional oomf.

[Relstuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed Hickman's writing. It's usually great on character development and bringing a lot of ideas together in a thought provoking way. Some of that is seen in this volume as some big questions are dealt with, what does utopia look like, what would happen if you could see the future - but the future was disastrous, what if all the heroes got together to stop the bad guys and failed? However, while the setting is interesting (an alien horde is on it's way and it does not look like we have much of a chance to beat them) there is not enough time/issues to really build the characters and create the depth and suspense that would have made this a great story.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estuvo bastante cerca de las cuatro estrellitas pero el final me lo desinfló un poco. Aun así, tanto el planteo como la narrativa en general y el dibujo en particular me parecieron muy buenos. No sé si entrará en el decálogo de "obras maestras de la deconstrucción al género super heroico" pero al menos es un buen candidato.

[Logan Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Hickman is really good at writing these kinds of short sci-fi stories (like Red Wing). The art is excellent, although it could use a more diverse color palette. Probably my only complaint was that it was too fast paced.

[Asinhar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hickman es un hijoputa.

[Shaun Meyers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intro
Going into this comic, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I'd only just recently discovered the comic and I decided to give it a read since I'm currently in a sci-fi mood.

I wasn't expecting it to be a superhero themed comic as well as a post apocalyptic one at that. This was also the first comic by Jonathan Hickman that I've read, so I'm a little unfamiliar with his previous work as of writing this review.

I found the comic relatively interesting for the most part but I wouldn't say it's the greatest comic I've ever read. It's merely, so-so, hence the three stars.

Story and Setting
The story to Red Mass For Mars is largely based on a God named Mars who is incredibly bitter over the sudden death of his wife during pregnancy (This was also a pretty gruesome scene in the comic, which was pretty unexpected to say the least).

It chronicles the invasion of a genetically superior race of aliens who is on the cusp of invading the last vestiges of the human race. Humanity wound up wiping the majority of itself out many years prior to the events in this comic and the aliens want to wipe out the rest of it.

A plan is devised by the last remaining people with super powers to detonate a bomb that will create an immense black hole which, in theory, should wipe out their 50 million strong army in one blow.

Story-wise it was merely decent. In truth, I felt it was too short to really build any real plot or character development so it mostly just focused on rather generic storytelling with lots of blood and gore and little else to back it up. There's a lot of backstory but I ultimately didn't really care about any of the characters all that much, or the plight they were fighting against.

Artwork
The artwork for Red Mass for Mars was easily the most impressive part of this rather dreary comic book. It was beautifully drawn, especially the backgrounds, those were very impressive. The character art was quite good as well. I don't have any complaints regarding this part of the comic.

Pros
1. Gorgeous Artwork
2. Interesting Backstory
3. Pretty Cool Fight Scenes

Cons
1. Merely Decent Story That Felt Pretty Generic
2. Very Little Character Development So I Wound Up Not Caring About Any Of Them
3. Mostly Just Focuses On The Use Of Blood And Gore, Which Doesn't Really Impress Me Much

Final Verdict
Overall, I'm pretty mixed regarding this comic, though I will admit that it's not really something I'd read normally. The story felt generic, the characters were uninteresting, and I didn't really care about anything that happened in the comic so... not really my thing.

In the end, I give the comic 2/5 stars.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickman war ehrgeizig in seinem Skript und die künstlerische Darstellung kommt gut rüber, aber am Ende der Geschichte fragt man sich schon, ob diese mehr in Richtung Science-Fiction oder doch eher Superhelden-Genre tendiert, oder ob es eine Mischung von beidem ist.

In der nahen Zukunft wird die Menschheit von einer außerirdischen Invasion bedroht. Und angesichts der Verwüstungen, die ein einfacher Aufklärer angerichtet hat, indem er New York dem Erdboden gleichgemacht hat, scheint die Zukunft der Erde in Gefahr zu sein, die Überlebenschancen der Menschheit scheinen gering.
Es ist die Aufgabe des reichsten Mannes des Planeten, eines Mutanten mit der Fähigkeit, in die Zukunft zu sehen, die Verteidigung der Menschheit zu organisieren. Die Strategie ist einfach: Eine Gruppe der stärksten Helden soll in die Mitte der feindlichen Flotte eindringen und ein kleines schwarzes Loch schaffen, das die außerirdische Bedrohung in einer Singularität verschlingt. Nach einem erfolglosen ersten Versuch liegt das Schicksal der Menschheit in den Händen des scheinbar unsterblichen und allmächtigen Mars. Doch dieser Held, der von der Menschheit angewidert ist, lebt als Einsiedler auf der Marsoberfläche.

Diesem Comic hätte gut und gerne zwei, drei Kapitel mehr gut gestanden, in der Kürze waren der Großteil der Charaktere nicht gut ausgearbeitet und relativ unterentwickelt. Die Story ist zu kurz, um eine wirkliche Handlung oder Charakterentwicklung aufzubauen, so dass sie sich größtenteils auf eine eher universelle Erzählung mit viel Blutvergießen konzentriert. Es gibt zwar eine Menge Hintergrundwissen, aber letztendlich hat mich keiner der Charaktere wirklich interessiert, oder die Notlage, gegen die sie kämpfen.

Das Artwork von Ryan Bodenheim ist mit Abstand der beeindruckendste Teil dieses eher tristen Comics. Es ist wunderschön gezeichnet, vor allem die Hintergründe, die sehr beeindruckend sind, auch die Charakterzeichnungen sind sehr gut. An diesem Teil des Comics habe ich nichts auszusetzen.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this contained too many concepts all at once, and concluded with a deus ex machina to replace a failed deus ex machina. I could forgive one of those two, but not both in the same story. In fact, I think I would have given it a fourth star if the ending hadn't been so forced.
I picked this up along with a couple of his other graphic novels because I had enjoyed his mainstream comics, and this was a truly ambitious story, but I think it felt a bit rushed in execution. My concern with the way the conclusion was portrayed is that it doesn't guarantee the elimination of the danger...only the part of the danger we saw in that one panel. Unlike the original solution, which seemed pretty certain, this replacement one came completely out of the blue and didn't quite make sense as a working solution.
Since the human race had just come through several catastrophes in a row, that made this a little hard to swallow. Still, the story was exciting and interesting.

[Aidan]

Very cool concept of Superman landing in the middle ages, plus a lot of classic Hickmanisms like men talking in rooms making Big Decisions, the fate of the world at stake, one wild and crazy guy, sci fi invasions, and Paul Atreides rip offs. Sadly this book hinges around the Superman stand in’s wife (who never has a word of dialogue and exists for 2 pages) dying in childbirth to motivate the Supe stand-in to get angry, kill people, and abandon the planet to live on Mars. Does stuff Watchmen did better 20 years prior, and does some fridging that’s problematic and at this point deeply unoriginal (Injustice and The Boys have done essentially the same thing, plus theres that viral essay about Superman’s sperm that’s way more interesting and funny). Hickman’s vendetta to push plot over character meets its limit here. Great ideas, fun first issue, middling to bad overall. Art’s definitely a highlight, and as always it was an easy breezy read.

[Stephen Adkison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely lesser Hickman, most likely due to how early in his career this is. You see a lot of his usually lefty tics (the repeated use of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity here), but on a very straightforward level. It is some fun superheroics that ultimately comes down on the anti side without devolving into violent self-parody like a lot from the early aughts.

The art here is stellar. You can really see Bodenheim flexing when it isn’t needed. Absolutely gorgeous spreads full of detail and character, and characters. Truly a showcase. The lettering, however, is not. I think Hickman is self-lettering here, and the bubble shapes and placement is often distracting. Glad he stopped doing that.

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 1 out of 5]

A great idea, rushed through in far from enough pages.

I have become used to narrative jumps in comics. It comes with the page count. But the progression of ideas here is so rapid, with so many missed story elements (How? What? etc.), that the whole thing couldn't have been more frustrating.

Either missed entirely or powered through story. Enormous and consequential plot development delivered in three pages: utopia achieved, love, children, tragic death, furious abandonment. And that was just one example.

Frustrating ultimately because all the elements COULD have made a meaningful and adult take on life, death and superheroes.

[Craig Lotter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest of efforts, hampered by its short length (only 4 issues), minimal dialogue (means no character becomes relatable), and strange color palette choice which cheapens the art by making it feel like a rushed job. It's easy enough to follow but just not rich enough as we hurtle from start to end using an alien invasion to tell a high brow tale of what makes for Utopia. Bodenheim's art is really good to look at, so it is a real pity that he wasn't paired up with a decent colorist on this one.

[JCRD]

Hickman aquí apenas tiene tiempo o espacio suficientes para desarrollar nada. Apenas sabía muy bien de qué iba la movida para cuando lo terminé. No para de lanzar dardos a una diana esperando que eso dé lugar a *algo*, pero no sé, a mí me parece el trabajo más flojo con diferencia de lo que llevo leído suyo.

El dibujo de Bodenheim me ha gustado bastante más, y lo mismo digo por el color, que le da un toque muy distintivo. Es lo que más rescato, porque lo demás meh.

[Ben Shee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps this is an indication that I should read Hickman's Fantastic 4 - its always the case that these 4 book series never go as deep as I would like them to, like a short story... this one in particular was an interesting take on a Superman - a powerful being who has little interest in the day to day of pitiful humanity. It is horrific and philosophical - but a little linear.

[Kevin MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short for all of its ideas. The art was really great and Hickman does interesting coloring, but the story kinda fell flat despite its cool concept. I still have liked all of Hickman’s independent comics he’s written, this one just didn’t quite reach the same levels as his others.

[Nicholas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was someone not able to get the rights to "Supreme"?

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of Hickman’s Image miniseries that managed to be slightly less than stellar. A decent story that may have benefitted from a bit more fleshing out in character and plot.

[Jason Mays · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent art, but another lame story. Suggest starting almost anything different.

[Christopher Funk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching story. Surreal art. Wonderful

[Pochodnia fandomu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh wow znalazłam komiks Hickmana, który wybitnie nie był dla mnie