ZIGGY MARLEY’S MARIJUANAMAN OGN
Story by: Ziggy Marley & Joe Casey
Art by: Jim Mahfood
Letters by: Jim Mahfood
Colours by: Justin Stewart
Cover by: Jim Mahfood
Publisher: Image Comics
It’s hard to not scoff at this and roll your eyes when you see a Ziggy Marley comic about a superhero who powers up around those smoking pot to become Marijuanaman. This comic should have collapsed on its face and be forgotten about on the face of it but for some strange reason it actually succeeds somewhat.
Writer Joe Casey said while doing press for the book that it goes beyond what a comic is and becomes an experience and that point is hard to argue. This is one of those books where the art supersedes anything the writing can do and as such the ‘story’ of the book is the art itself. Jim Mahfood is actually the perfect fit for the art. On the face of it, it looks like it is all over the place but the style is deliberate. In actuality it is full of energy and life and in all probability Mahfood was as high as some of the characters in the book while drawing it. There are some beautiful images all the same within the book. There is a kissing scene near the end that explodes off the page with its colours and vibrancy and the image alone is a marketing opportunity as it wouldn’t look out of place on a T-Shirt at a Ziggy Marley concert.
Speaking of Marley (and Casey), the bones of the story are pretty pedestrian and really isn’t much worth talking about. The book is a fair bit preachy in religious tones in places and that pulls you out of the story a bit when you realise it. The evil pharmaceutical company trying to alter the mood of the public with a pill is something you would have seen done before in other guises and the back story of Marijuanaman arriving on Earth seems a little familiar. But in this case, all the story does is serve as an alter to the really rather good art.
If you are a reader who only reads the Big Two and rarely buy outside of your comfort zone, you will not be able to comprehend this book in the slightest. That is not an insult to you but rather it is a comment on the minority of people that the book is aimed at who will lap this up and proclaim it as a milestone. And they won’t be far wrong. Books like this tend to be self published or at least published by smaller houses. It is actually quite a coup that the book ended up at Image and able to reach the audience that it did.
This book was released as an oversized hardcover at 48 pages long a couple of weeks ago and is a book that I would tentatively recommend to readers who like the alternative to the superhero.
Story: Overall 6
Art: Overall 8
