Mars Attacks: First Born #3 Review

Written by: Chris Ryall

Art by: Sam Kieth

Publisher: IDW

Mars Attacks: First Born has been an interesting mini-series so far. It’s largely forgotten the camp humor of the film to tackle some rather large issues and this third issue (out of 4) hits a peak that makes you eager for the coming conclusion.

The series has dealt heavily with loss and coping, and how people deal with tragedy as well as what they find small glimmers of hope in. In the case of the main character Clare,  it’s been taking care of Baby – the first Martian to be born on Earth. While other issues teased the fact that the Martians would ultimately be coming back for their child, its within this issue that we really get a good look at it and can draw parallels between the Martians and the humans. Uncle Woody has done all he can do to keep Clare safe so we can understand, in a way, exactly why the Martians may resort to violence to get their child back.

The whole series has been rather heartbreaking in terms of Clare’s loss of vision and her neighbor who seems unable to come to terms with the fact her husband was killed. The third issue in this series confronts both of these head on in a big way and I consider it to be the highlight of the series thus far. It puts a lot of things in perspective and its somewhat heartbreaking.

Oddly enough, this issue probably had the least amount of overall action and was mostly made up of dialogue and internal thoughts. Chris Ryall does an absolutely fantastic job at expressing these things though and I am constantly amazed at how well he continues to write children. Clare is remarkably grown-up, which is expected given the circumstances, but he still manages to add in that childlike innocence to her dialogue and inner monologues that cements the fact that she’s still a child which makes everything even more sad than it already was. Sam Kieth’s art fits right along side this. His artwork is reminiscent of a child’s drawings, with certain panels drawn as if Clare herself was illustrating her story, and I fall in love with it more and more as the series progresses. It’s a far cry from the culty, campy image we have of Mars Attacks but it gets us closer to Clare and fits the overall plot of the story extremely well.

Overall, this is an issue that most people are probably either going to love or hate. With its slower pace and lack of real action, it fails to deliver that fast and dangerous Mars Attacks action we’ve come to expect. However, what it lacks in explosions it more than makes up for in character progression and important personal breakthroughs. I imagine that most people who are still reading First Born will be in the category of loving it as these breakthroughs are going  to have an enormous impact on the final issue which should be nothing short of stellar.