4 out of 5

This is the perfect forum for this kind of writing – silly smart fun, the kind of over-the-top genreness that many 2000 AD strips have, with an appropriate sense of issue by issue scope for both a mini-series of 20something page entries as opposed to weekly ‘progs.’  My enjoyment of MAJD had me following writer Ewing to some Marvel titles he’d started working on at the time, only to discover that he’s seemingly set in these writerly sensibilities, which don’t work as well in a ‘traditional’ comic environment.

Beep.

I also latched on to these books because of McCrea’s art.  This is him in Hitman format, keeping a good basis in reality for setting scenes and establishing general figure references, but allowing himself his more humorous or surreal indulgences when the scene demands – the mob bosses getting overly expressive, or bulging Joe Dredd’s armor out when he strikes a dramatic pose bursting into a room.  Hitman found a nice niche between comedy and action thanks to McCrea’s skills, and the same is true here, his exciting layouts taking full advantage of the page and really giving our Judge his proper due at every opportunity.  And smartly, the characters which would’ve been easiest to go ridiculous with – our martians – are probably the most consistent, sticking to the tried and true ugly bug-eyed grimace.  Jay Fotos’ colors are also a must to mention.  I have noticed that when McCrea colors his own work, he has a tendency to lean on obvious computer blending.  Now of course I can’t say what method he would’ve applied here, but in Fotos’ hands, we can read this book as the full story it is instead of just a toss-off gag – solid pop colors for our foregrounds with subtle blends for our backgrounds, and an interesting splotting effect with the lighting (whether that would fall on Fotos or McCrea inking I dunno).  Ewing also employed a trading card theme as sorta chapter breaks, and these are “aged”, which is another easy – but smart – way to shake up the look of things.  And to run the full gamut – Tom Long’s lettering definitely deserves a nod; Ewing stuffs a lotta words onto each page but you never notice.  I’m particularly struck by some half-splash page things, where McCrea has one image bleed over smaller panels, the words from the main image filling from the top of the page to the bottom.  This could be a visual mess, but Long matches the word flow perfectly to the image pacing.

Regarding the story, Al doesn’t bother trying to explain to us how the aliens are here, which is for the best: we don’t care.  We know they’re involved because of the name of the series, no need to dilly-dally on that if its not important to your plot.  Our introduction to them is via a meeting of the Mega-Mafia, with amusing characters like Don Schnozzelli (with a large nose with a diamond piercing, of course), Don Mumbletti (think of Arseface’s speech from Preacher), Don Travolta (tries to make a movie reference whenever possible), Don Uggie Apelino (an ape) and Don Hooverbot-9000 (a vacuum, womp womp) discussing mafia matters until they’re interrupted by Crusty Smalls (finger permanently installed in nostril), with a new associate – a martian – in tow.  There’s no real reason for the martian to maintain the guise of a partnership, but their takeover plot involves installing particular items around the city, and using the mobs is apparently the most thorough method for doing that.  Dredd stumbles across the plot inadvertently in issue 1, and then its up to he and psi judge Anderson to track down the source of things through issues 2 and 3, with our showdown in issue 4.  The stakes feel legit despite the overall campy tone of Dredd and MA, and I dig that Ewing didn’t just jump to having Judge assume they were aliens, which would follow in a world with mutants…  He also gives the mobsters something to do and includes interesting procedural notes, again adding a legitimate feel to what could’ve just been an alien-punchin’ slog.  Still, there are some bumps: the trading card transitions sometimes cut right in the middle of the scene, and Mumbletti’s dialogue isn’t necessary, but there are some scenes where he talks at length and you half want to make out his words and its not all that easy.  And then a bit of misdirection when storming the mobsters that’s used to escalate the martians into attack mode, but the way its depicted on page feels a little random.

A lot more enjoyable than I was expecting, and definitely pegs Ewing as an ideal write for this kinda kooky stuff.