By: Ziggy Marley (creator), Joe Casey (writer), Jim Mahfood (art & letters), Justin Stewart (colors & design)
The Story: An evil pharmaceutical company is pushing a synthetic mood-altering pill. The good citizens of Exodus aren’t going to stand for this ignorance of good, natural weed and enlist their hero, Marijuanaman in the fight for righteousness.
What’s Good: This is a book that is going to appeal to people on a very personal level. The overall story of the book comes very strongly from the Rastafarian religion and the great Bob Marley’s “One Love” mythos that we should commune with nature, love our brothers and sisters and, of course, smoke lots of marijuana to expand our consciousness. Even if you don’t practice that type of creed in your daily life, it is hard to deny a certain attraction to it. I’ve certainly been on vacation and seen those dudes in Jamaica and thought, “Those dudes seem to have a LOT less stress than I do….”
Of course, if this were just a religious pamphlet for the Rastafari religion, it wouldn’t be a very good story, so Ziggy Marley and Joe Casey came up with this story of an evil pharmaceutical company that is selling a mood altering pill. Naturally, the pharma company is very threatened by sweet, natural weed and hires a mercenary – who is meant to further embody mechanized industrialization – to take out the resistance fighters of Exodus. The good guys aren’t without resources as they have on their side an alien from another planet, whose lifeforce is based upon THC (the active compound in marijuana). Whenever someone smokes weed around him, he turns into Marijuanaman and gains superpowers that help him take on evil and win the affections of an attractive female love interest.
It’s a pretty fun and whacky story and even if you’re kinda a proponent of free markets and industry (like I am), it is always educational to see how some other, more laid back folks may see things.
One of the highest honors I can give art is that I can’t imagine anyone else drawing the comic. Jim Mahfood is the absolute perfect artist for this title. His raw, chunky and visceral style makes this comic just throb with energy. There are more than a few panels in here where you almost suspect weed might have been involved in that actual art because they are so out there. I’m a huge Mahfood fan and this is pretty vintage stuff. One of my favorite things about his art is the way he draws women. He can insert a woman who is quietly very beautiful right in the middle of one of his pages that is just full of heavy ink, dot overlay, and aggressively messy characters and backgrounds. It’s a real treat to look at.
What’s Not So Good: Well, like I said above, this is going to be a personal comic for people. I hate to say that narrow-minded people won’t like it, because I don’t want to call everyone who doesn’t care for it: “narrow minded”. But, I really don’t think narrow minded people are going to like it and if you’ve never read anything buy Marvel and DC superheroes, you’re not even going to know where to start with a comic like this one.
At places, it does get a little preachy about the religious overtones of the story. That’s fine with me, because I’m a Marley fan, but folks who have strong Christian (or other) beliefs may not appreciate having a slightly different belief system shoved down their throat (although the experience won’t kill them). Likewise, Mahfood’s art is kinda an acquired taste. I love it, but other folks may see his messy lines and think he just doesn’t know how anatomy really works.
Conclusion: A real treat. Everyone who enjoys alternative comics and stories should treat themselves to this artistic collaboration between Ziggy Marley, Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood.
Grade: A-
-Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion