I had the pleasure of reading this book after a bad day of work. One in which, much like the main character Macon Blair, made me want to punch out my manager. Unlike him, I refrained. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind and start from the beginning. Not about that day, but about the book.
Teenagers From Mars takes place in the conservative town of Mars where main character Macon works his day away at Mall-Mart but really rather be doing comic books. There is also Maxwell Carpenter who robs graves with his friends so they can pawn old confederate items for enough money to buy comics. Finally we have Madison Lee, a girl who’s bored with her home life and is out looking for some excitement with her friends. The story starts at Macons job at the Mall-Mart. Here Madison gets arrested for beating up a pervert and Maxwells mom comes in to complain about the comic Macon sold her son. After his manager decides to pull all comic books from the stands Macon objects by starting a fight with the manager. A fight he loses.
The story starts off slow but begins to pick up when Madison and Macon, after meeting at a party, decide to go vandalize the Mall-Mart. In a fit of inspiration Macon tags “Comic Book Liberation Army” across a wall. This leads to a movement in the town against comic books believing they corrupt the youth. The community forces a local comic chop to close while the cops track the vandalism down to Macon and also charge him with creating and distributing obscene material. Macon decides to take up and arms and fight for the rights of comic books. With the help of Madison, Maxwell, and a few others he retrieves his comic and then leaves the town with Madison.
What starts as a fairly believable story turns into a pseudo-action flick towards the end. This didn’t really deter my enjoyment for Teenagers From Mars. I really liked the characters fighting for something they believed in against a close-minded community. Teenage angst and the desire to rebel for something are feelings I understand. The creative team really makes these characters feel real. Macon just wants to be an artist and wants to get the girl. Madison is looking for some thrills to lighten up her life. Who can’t relate to that?
The art by Rob G. reminds me of David Lapham of Stray Bullets. Gritty and very expressive just with less heavy shadowing. Great visual story telling. The designs on the characters (even background characters) are always a treat. I loved to just stare at the clothes the characters wore and go “hey, I heard of that band” or “I had that shirt.” Can’t forget Spears wonderful dialogue between the characters. The interaction between Madison and Macon shows the anarchy their relationship is based on. The way he has Macon solve a particular squabble with Madison made my jaw drop.
This is a great comic book and one of the best things I’ve read this year. It captures teenage angst and boredom perfectly. It also has a high reread value. Upon the 9th read through I started noticing elements of Peter Pan, but I’ll leave those for you to spot. A terrific read and I look forward to the next go around with Comic Book Liberation Army.
