Review - Teenagers from Mars

Teenagers From Mars
Written by Rick Speares
Art by Rob G
Publish By Gigantic Graphic Novels

Luckily, the library budget has been increased and there is more money for me to pick up graphic novels for our collection. I can be a little more experimental in selection and get some of the less well known publishers books. And when the book Teenagers from Mars came across my selection list, I decided to add it to the months book order.

Written by Rick Spears with art by Rob G, this is a story set in a town called Mars. Originally an eight issue series, this book collects all the issues in this one volume. Mars is where teenagers who are on the outside of "normal" society are ostracised by adults who just don't understand. Two teenagers, Macon who is a comic book creator who gets fired from MallMart for refusing the order of his manager to remove the comic books because of a mothers complaint about the "disturbing and totally inappropriate" comic. The other teen is a punk girl named Madison who joins with Macon and they become partners fighting against the establishment creating a group called the Comic Book Liberation Army. As they marshal the nerdy subculture of Mars against the establishment, the level of stakes in their revolt become more pressing.

This book is not subtle. On initial reading, I actually thought it was too blunt in its message. I found it distracting how the action ratcheted almost to an unbelievable level. But Rick Spears created characters which are not too deep, but they do represent the greater feeling of persecution outsiders might feel. And as I pondered this book for a couple days, I grew to appreciate Spears' passion for free speech and expression that is expressed. He even talks about the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and a case they helped defend. I think his bluntness of the message is in direct correlation to his belief in the message.

It took me a little to grow into the artwork. It's not strange or anything, but coming off reading Marvel and DC books for the past couple weeks, I had to adjust to the black and white pages. His figures are dynamic and the faces are expressive and interesting. The backgrounds are sparse, but that's ok because the setting is not relevant to the message of the story.

I'm going to put this book the adult non-fiction area. There is profanity and nudity that could, if a sensitive mother of a 13 year old sees it, turn this book into a real live version of itself. I think its great for our community because I know there is a teen subculture that appreciates expression and free thought which this book celebrates. And hopefully an adventurous teen will find this and appreciate its blunt message.