Barbalien: The Red Planet - Tate Brombal
From the pages of Black Hammer. Warlord of Mars turned superhero, and tissue-paper-veiled Martian Manhunter clone, Mark Markz has found his place on Earth as both a decorated police
officer and as Barbalien. But in 1985, the midst of the
AIDS crisis, hatred from all sides makes balancing these identities
seem impossible. As a young white man, he explores
the gay night scene with some Hispanic gay activists. But even as he explores this side of his already fractured identity, he comes into conflict with his police coworkers. He tries to make peace between the activists and the cops, pleasing no one. Meanwhile, a murderous bounty hunter from Mars comes to track him down. This is a superb story, taking Lemire's character and exploring a whole new facet of his personality, while also grounding him for the first time in the real world of AIDS awareness and intolerance. Brombal uses the story's parallel structure deftly to show that Earth, too, is the red planet. [4.5]
