Comic Review: Mars Attacks (2018-) #5

Mars Attacks (2018-) #5

Dynamite Comics

Writer: Kyle Starks

Artist: Chris Schweizer

This is the fifth issue of a five issue series. While I don’t really like that this particular story is ending, i’d rather that than it continue on for longer than necessary. In Mars Attacks (like the title states) Mars attacks, and Spencer Carbutt and his dad have been looking for safety from the alien invaders. Now we see the journey come to an end for the Carbutt boys.

 This issue picks up pretty much where the last issue left off. After his father’s sacrifice, Spencer Carbutt is holding a Martin hostage. But he doesn’t entirely know what to do, so he continues on with his prisoner, heading towards a military base that will hopefully provide protection for Spencer and his dog.

There could’ve been a bleak kind of ending to this story, and that’s honestly where I thought we were heading. Without outright spilling the beans, that’s not the ending we got, and i’m glad about that. I’m most familiar with Kyle Starks from the Rick and Morty comic, but I enjoy what I read from him. I think that he nailed the ending to this comic really well. I don’t want to say too much, but the story ar for Spencer comes to a close, and we get a callback to earlier issues that are really satisfying.

The first four or five pages don’t have much dialogue in them, maybe two or three sentences total. But the art in those pages does all the talking we really need. It shows a battle between a giant Martian monster and the Air Force, all while Spencer and his hostage walk silently down a highway. I think it’s pretty cool, and the more cartoony style from Chris Schweizer adds a little lightheartedness to this issue, which is a little on the somber side. The Martian hostage can’t speak english, and there is some of that “i’m repeating your question for the reader’s sake” dialogue, the visual translation still comes through easily. The martian asks if he can eat the dog, and then he mimes out eating. That visual gave me a laugh.

This has been a really fun comic. It captures the campy feel of the 1996 movie, and it tells a touching story about a father and son facing the end together. On top of that, this issue gives us a really satisfying ending to the story of the Carbutts. There’s some cool drawings of a giant alien being destroyed by fighter jets in there as well. If you’ve been reading this comic, you’ll appreciate this ending. But if you haven’t been reading it, now’s as good a time as any to start.