The collection is pretty fun. It tells the story of Cosmo and Orbi as they embark on the first space adventure from Mars to the mysterious planet Earth! Their rocket ship gets damaged during their first spaceflight, which detours them to the Moon for repairs.
Eventually joined by fellow Martian travellers, Prof. Thimk and Astra, Cosmo soon finds himself planet-hopping from the Moon to Earth to Venus to Saturn and to Mars again! Each planet brings new adventures and introduces crazy new alien races. I thought it might be fun to see what unique creatures live in this solar system.
Enjoy!:
First up are the Moonlings! They live in an underground city on the Moon, hidden away from the prying eyes of planet Earth. Ask someone his name and he'll tell you "Oog!" Ask him the name of his neighbor and he'll tell you "Oog!" (Sense a trend?) The Moonlings are somewhat simple-minded and quick-tempered. The only thing they fear is the Dark Side of the Moon. Don't ask them to go there. They won't do it! And even though they don't like Earthlings, they enjoy vacationing on their neighboring planet -- under the cloak of Comet Dust!
Despite their best efforts, Cosmo and his friend find themselves joined on their journeys by a contingent of Moonlings -- including...
The Gillywump! One thing I've discovered from the COSMO series is that most of the inhabited planets in this solar system have one unique creature. The Gillywump is the Moon's unique being. He has lived for generations on the Dark Side of the Moon, fighting the loneliness and the moonfrost of that area of the moon -- not to mention a really bad cold! He eventually starts feeling better after Cosmo and Orbi talk him out into the light. Eventually we learn that the Gillywump has a really cool talent. He can materialize a pop-up propeller on top of his head!
Next up is Earth! Cosmo and Orbi learned that Earth People enjoy playing a complicated game called baseball. As Oog explains, "There are nine men on each side, and they try to hit the baseball, while everybody else yells and eats hot dogs!" Cosmo and the others don't interact too much with the Earth People. For whatever reason, they think we're a violent bunch who spend most of our free time in stores spending money.
After adventuring on the Moon and Earth, Cosmo and his Martian friends decide to take a trip to the beautiful gas planet, Venus! There they meet two very different gendered folks. First, there is the lovely Queen of Venus. She appears to be the only female on the planet. Not only that, but she's human-sized -- as opposed to the male Venusians! Those guys are hairy, orange giants with a tongue so alien that nobody can understand them! They seem nice enough for a bunch of ogres, but they're clearly under the thrall of their Queen -- and the Queen wants a King! Instead of choosing from among the many Venusian males, the Queen decides that Cosmo would make a better King! He obviously manages to get away, but I won't reveal how.
Next stop? Saturn! Saturn is a strange planet surrounded by foam rubber rings! It's explained that the rings protect the planet from its many moons. Apparently, it's not uncommon for the moons to fall out of orbit towards the planet. Whenever that happens, they reflect off the rings and bounce back into place! And the natives? They're walking/talking vegetables! But they're very pleasant and eager to learn about their interplanetary neighbors.
What a dizzy space-battle!!
One last creature who appears to be unique to Mars is Squarehead! Every other Martian has a curvy, Shmoo-like body. But Squarehead is a walking cube. He appeared in a couple different gag-strips. We learned that he enjoys carnivals and bike-riding. His only other appearance so far was in the background of the "Night at the Comic Shop" story, but maybe we might see more of him if Cosmo gets launched in his all-new series.
Speaking of which, last month I shared an exciting request from the people at Archie Comics, as printed in WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #28 and repeated in the COSMO THE MERRY MARTIAN DIGITAL EXLUSIVE. Archie Comics wants to hear from its readers:
Do we want new adventures of Cosmo the Merry Martian? I have no clue how this might translate. Maybe it's a new comic book series. Maybe it's a graphic novel. Maybe it's new back-up stories in the various digests. Either way, it would be new stories featuring a really funny space adventurer! I strongly encourage you to contact Archie Comics using the methods listed in the image directly above and ask them to create more adventures featuring Cosmo and his Friends!!!