Dakota Morgan's Reviews > Barbalien: Red Planet

Barbalien: Red Planet feels more like an important read than an actual good book. It tackles homophobia and AIDs in a mid-80s big city setting in a way that both enrages and engenders sympathy. So, the book is good for that - we could all stand to have a better understanding of what gay men and women went through in those horrific times.

Barbalien being a gay (Martian) superhero is also nicely progressive. He does naturally slot into the story as well, having to reconcile his homosexuality with his cover persona as a police officer. I think Red Planet would have worked really well if it simply stuck to this storyline. Instead, it tacks on a Martian bounty hunter stalking Barbalien with the intention of bringing him back to Mars to stand trial. This Barbalien backstory mostly clashes with the battle for AIDs awareness.

The artwork is solid throughout, with Gabriel Hernandez Walta handling character emotions especially well. Red Planet is well-written and paced, it just could have used a bit more time in the oven to even out the conflicting aspects of the story.