With Sam Keith recently tapped to relaunch a remastered version of his cult hit The Maxx through IDW, it only makes sense that the publisher would try to bring the famed creator in on another one of their franchises. While licensed titles with most companies fall flat, IDW is one of the few to take them and run to success by staying true to the original content but working well within the confines of comics. It ends up seeming like a natural pairing to put the man who created a purple clad giant with perpetual middle fingers that roamed the outback to take on one of the most comically messed up invasion forces ever.
Mars Attacks: First Born takes place in the aftermath of the failed Martian invasion. With the world devastated, people must begin to rebuild but the Martians have left something behind in a secluded neighborhood. Found by a group of kids, there is a Martian infant left amongst the rubble and the aftermath that follows it. The miniseries was written by Chris Ryall and coplotted by Sam Keith and Ryall with Keith taking sole duties on the covers and artwork.
“This series is a multi-tiered love letter,” said series writer and IDW Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall. “Every page shows not only the love Sam and I have for Mars Attacks, but also wild science-fiction tales from the past, the sorts of things Wally Wood drew in the pages of Weird Science-Fantasy and other EC comics. Our adoration of Wally’s work is front and center in this series, but it’s also a great next move for Sam and I after the working relationship we developed on The Hollows. And it surely gives Mars Attacks fans something special, in addition to also giving them some of the wanton carnage and gallows humor they’ve come to expect.
Mars Attacks: First Born launches from IDW with its first issue in a four issue miniseries in May.
