Review by Frank Plowright

When Jeff Lemire began the mysteries of Black Hammer, he surely never anticipated the appetite for more stories about the entire cast, yet appetite there is, and possibly greater than even Lemire’s prodigious capacity to maintain if wanting to complete other projects. This is the first spin-off where Lemire collaborates with another writer, Tate Bromball, who co-plots and provides dialogue for a look at the past of gay Martian Mark Mark’zz.

There may be an expectation that Lemire’s seeming lack of hands-on involvement might result in a weaker story, but Eisner Award nominations indicate otherwise, and this is considerably better than some Black Hammer spin-offs where Lemire was fully on board. Bromball looks back to the USA in the 1980s, when AIDS was endemic, yet the public perception was that it was a disease confined to the gay community, and the perception in the gay community was bigotry responsible for too little being done to end the affliction. Masquerading as human, gay policeman Mark’zz is conflicted during protests, and part of the reason a Martian is hiding on Earth in the first place is due to his own society’s attitude to same sex relationships.

Stunning art from Gabriel Hernández Walta brings alive a shameful period in the USA’s history, where the inexplicable fear aroused by who puts what where meant the least of it was the blind eyes turned when other humans died. Bromball guides Mark through the social minefield, emphasising all the while that it’s not just a case of complications arising from a double life, as Mark is leading a triple life. It’s something he’s stumbled into rather than sought out.

In a couple of places good intentions cross the line into preaching, but otherwise the cleverly titled Red Planet supplies much food for thought while also ensuring there’s a solid action story. That’s because Martian intolerance arrives on Earth as well, and the preface sets up a counterpointed final chapter where plots separate rather than unite. The actual ending is well conceived, the halt not called where some writers would have left matters, with emotional button-pushing symbolism that characterised the well intentioned superhero stories highlighting AIDS in the 1980s. That’s partly because it’s easier to make a statement with a superhero not tied to corporate interests and decades of continuity.

While set in the past Red Planet is relevant because who puts what where remains an obsession for too many people not directly concerned. Would the same people respond to a similarly irrational idea like a pressure group whose purpose was to campaign against people who like tending their allotment?