True Memoirs of Docteur Mystere No. 2. The War of the Worlds. Alfredo Castelli (Writer), Lucio Filipucci (Art). SAF Comics (2005)

A very funny science fiction romp that nicely mixes Jules Verne with Star Wars and Star Trek. Docteur Mystere along with his companion, Cigale, set off for the moon and find they have a stowaway. The Lady Rowena Saint-Just Fitzpatrick, who hid aboard the rocket to travel to the moon to locate her fiancée who had absconded there. On arriving on the Moon Doctuer Mystere not only find a fully fledged civilization in place,they also find that they are not the first humans to arrive. It becomes clear that there is a plan afoot to invade Earth from the Moon and the Docreur and his companions have to act to stop it. The action is fast and funny, the jokes are well set up and the whole story has a very appealing straight faced ridiculousness. Alfredo Castelli manages to decorate the story with clever jabs at a wide variety of science fiction icons and well known images without resting on them. The story is more than a simple parody, the adventure is well enough developed to stand in its own right as an enjoyable, clever story. The history of the visits from the Moon of various spies planning for the invasion is very sharply and neatly done. The human and non-human cast are given clear voices and jostle each other nicely. The art by Lucio Filippucci is beautiful, his range is very impressive, from the variety of human and non-humans, each of whom is given an individual stamp to the detailed space battles at the climax, all are completed with detail and balance. The art gives space and life to a lot of the jokes and references in the story, in particular the Star Wars/Star Trek mash up. Clever, funny, with great art, a winner.