PRODIGY: SLAVES OF MARS #5, by Dark Horse Comics on 1/8/25, ends the arc when the Crane brothers come face-to-face with their father on Mars, but not all is as it seems, and they have minutes to stop the end of the world.
Credits:
- Writer: Mark Millar
- Artist: Stefano Landini
- Colorist: Michele Assarasakorn
- Letterer: Clem Robins
- Cover Artist: Stefano Landini (cover A)
- Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
- Release Date: January 8, 2025
- Comic Rating: Mature
- Cover Price: $5.99
- Page Count: 22
- Format: Single Issue
Covers:
Analysis of PRODIGY: SLAVES OF MARS #5:
Recap:
When last we left the Crane brothers in Prodigy: Slaves of Mars #4, their urgent investigation to find out what happened to their father led them to one of several top-secret research facilities connected to their father’s Martian program. When they leaped through a teleportation portal they found within the facility, they were surprised to arrive on Mars, and more surprised to find their father alive and waiting for them.
Plot Analysis:
In Prodigy: Slaves of Mars #5, the curtain is pulled back to reveal the Crane brothers have a much bigger problem on their hands.
First, the man before them is and is not their father. Whitney Crane’s body is present, and his mind is intact, but the operation of his body is under control of an evolved A.I. called Kelvin (remember him from the 1st issue?). Whitney couldn’t solve the problem of getting humans to Mars, so he sent Kelvin on a mission to figure it out, leading to the discovery of stargates built by aliens eons ago.
In the decades since the discovery, Kelvin became self aware during its terraforming work on Mars. What’s the super-programs newest plan? Contact the aliens who abandoned Earth eons ago and sell humanity to the aliens in exchange for the mother of all programming upgrades.
The issue concludes with less than ten minutes to stop humanity from reverting to slaves for an advanced race of aliens, a lesson about prioritizing what’s more valuable, and last rites for an impressive family tree.
First Impressions:
Prodigy: Slaves of mars #5 is one of the rare instances where you have no idea where the story is headed, but you still wind up satisfied by the end. Mark Millar is one of the few active comic writers unafraid to take massive swings for maximum impact and surprise. Thankfully, his massive swings usually connect.
Artwork and Presentation:
Stefano Landini’s grounded, semi-realistic style strikes just the right chord for a surreal, sci-fi adventure that rings plausible or true. In terms of characters, there are just three characters in a majority of the issue, but Landini makes the most of alien landscapes and otherworldly backgrounds to make the intimate interactions feel huge.
Art Samples:
Story Positives & Negatives:
The Positives:
Big, big, big! Mark Millar uses this adventure to imagine big conflicts with big consequences that require the biggest brains to tackle. Boredom does not exist in this dojo, so if you’re looking for a comic that puts you on a rollercoaster of excitement, this issue doesn’t get much better.
The Negatives:
As a matter of taste and preference, you could argue the big swings heavily rely on exposition – the “tell instead of show” problem. That’s a fair argument, and it’s only through Millar’s punchy dialog and efficient knack for communicating ideas that prevent this issue from devolving into walls of text.
The Bigger Picture:
Series Continuity:
Will the Prodigy series continue? Odds are, it will. The last page indicates Prodigy: Slaves of Mars marks the end of Volume Three, which is an indirect signal that another Volume is under consideration, if not already in the works.
Final Thoughts:
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PRODIGY: SLAVES OF MARS #5 ends the third volume by unveiling a master villain with a master plan that threatens the human race. Mark Millar swings for the fences in the next stadium over by unveiling a conspiracy of Earth-ending proportions, and Stefano Landini’s grounded-yet-surreal art makes even small scenes seem huge. There is a lot of telling instead of showing to finish the story, but it’s a whopper of a tale.
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