Preview–Mars Attacks sends up Classics Illustrated in new IDW series

No franchise is safe from IDW Publishing’s Mars Attacks. So far mars Attacks has had mash-ups with Mars Attacks Popeye, Mars Attacks the Ghostbusters, Mars Attacks Judge Dredd, Mars Attacks KISS (yep, the band), Mars Attacks Miss Fury, Mars Attacks Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and even Mars Attacks Strangers in Paradise (Terry Moore’s long-running series).

Today, IDW Publishing releases a parody of the classic comic book series about classics themselves–Classics Illustrated–with its new title Mars Attacks Obliterated. Issue #1 takes on three classics: Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Below we’re previewing today’s release, courtesy of IDW Publishing.

As with the best parodies, the send-up often has elements that are so good you’re tricked into thinking you’re reading the real thing. That’s the case with borg.com favorite writer Phil Hester’s retelling of Moby Dick, which must have been great fun to write, including dropping Melville himself into the story. Artist John McCrea’s classic sea visuals, colorist Andrew Elder’s muted tones, and letterer Tom B. Long’s classic font choice all will make you think you smell the classic comic book newsprint of the Classics Illustrated series of decades ago.

Where the use of the Mars Attacks glass-domed, eye-popping aliens in the Moby Dick entry is more like the use of the headhunting alien in the sci-fi classic film Predator, writer Beau Smith and artist Kelley Jones bring the aliens to the fore in their Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde installment.

The distress of being stranded on a desert island is transplanted onto another Predator-like Martian visitor in a parody of Robinson Crusoe. Writer Neil Kleid and artist Carlos Valenzuela manage to do a lot with their anthology-sized short here, and its classic look nicely rounds out Issue #1.

Check out this preview to Mars Attacks Obliterated after the break: