Dark Horse Comics reviews 8/7/24 – Prodigy: Slaves of Mars #1

Prodigy: Slaves of Mars #1 kicks off the latest arc starring Mark Millar’s super genius Edison Crane. Prodigy has been one of the strongest of the Millarworld titles. Check out Prodigy: The Evil Earth and Prodigy: The Icarus Society on Amazon. Edison doesn’t have any cool superhero powers that make him especially formidable. His power is his intellect.

With Slaves of Mars #1, Millar raises the question what would the world’s smartest man do if someone outsmarted him? Early on, Edison starts experiencing some weird circumstances. He miscalculates something that should have been child’s play to him.

Gradually, Edison realizes more circumstances including calculations and algorithms he’d worked out a year in advance are suddenly unraveling. And what, if anything does it have to do with the device his father created 20 years ago?

Millar also introduces more of the Crane family namely his brother, Elijah and father, Whitney. Another fun twist here is Edison might not actually be the smartest member of the family. When one of them turns up dead thanks to their secret role in NASA’s space program, Edison finds himself on the run with his business empire and political stroke wiped out in moments.

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As is the case for most Millarworld titles, Millar has recruited a new artist for this series. Stefano Landini handles the art with colorist Michele Assarasakorn and letterer Clem Robins.

Occasionally, there’s some roughness with character faces, but Landini wonderfully establishes the tone and paranoia aspects of the story. This is the first Prodigy story where Edison is on edge and actually rattled. Landini’s artwork is the key here bolstered by solid color choices from Assarasakorn.

One of the more impressive aspects of Prodigy is that Millar has avoided making Edison so infallible a character that he can’t ever take a loss. He’d be too boring a character if he always outsmarted everyone on every occasion. Slaves of Mars #1 shows some real potential to be Edison’s most challenging adventure yet.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Dark Horse Comics

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