NEAR MYTHS: MARS ATTACKS POPEYE (2013)

 

I wasn't paying much attention to current comics in 2013, so I was unaware that IDW had released five or six one-shots that crossed over the franchise MARS ATTACKS with other properties. I came across MARS ATTACKS POPEYE, and though there's not a lot to say about it, it's a pleasant callback to both franchises. The Martians attack the Earth of Popeye's universe, and the sailor-man's old enemy The Sea Hag abets their wave of conquest. Mad genius Professor Wottaschnozzle comes up with a way to nullify their disintegrator  rays, so that the rays only annihilate clothing (but only to a decent level!) Thanks to this leveling of the playing field, Popeye and his irascible daddy Poopdeck Pappy eat their spinach and drive the skull-headed raiders back into space.

ATTACKS is moderately amusing though not laugh-out-loud funny, and is primarily admirable in that writer Martin Powell shows great facility in emulating the voices of Popeye and several of his cast-members, some of whom may be appearing for the first time in a 21st-century comic. Terry Beatty's style is more openly "bigfoot" than Segar's but he's faithful to the designs without being slavish. It might've been amusing to contrast the Old World feel of the Segar strip-- created when a huge portion of American comics-readers were immigrants-- with the "space-age" vibe of the Martians, but one can't have everything.