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Martha Washington #2
Martha Washington Goes to War
Martha Washington -- prisoner, runaway, lunatic, soldier, and now seditionist -- has seen the future. It looks great on paper, but it doesn't work. The U.S. government is controlled by power-hungry nutcases. The ecology is a shambles. Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it . . . nobody, that is, except PAX and the very expensive weather-control satellite, Harmony. In Martha Washington Goes to War, it's Martha vs. PAX and the United States government, and the odds are more even than you might think!
117 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Frank Miller
1,371 books5,435 followersFrank Miller is an American writer, artist and film director best known for his film noir-style comic book stories. He is one of the most widely-recognized and popular creators in comics, and is one of the most influential comics creators of his generation. His most notable works include Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One and 300.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 6, 2011
Oh, Frank, I don't think your Atlas Shrugged homage quite works out the way Rand would have seen it.
Which is okay, because it means I don't hate this.
Which is okay, because it means I don't hate this.
August 3, 2015
Violent but oh-so-Frank-Miller-pretty, as expected.
And I enjoyed it, especially the ending. I will pretend I didn’t read the afterward where he says thanks to Ayn Rand (ICK!) Ayn Rand would have had Raggedy Ann euthanized. Ayn Rand would not have a Native American love interest, much less an African-American protagonist. So yeah, screw her.
And I enjoyed it, especially the ending. I will pretend I didn’t read the afterward where he says thanks to Ayn Rand (ICK!) Ayn Rand would have had Raggedy Ann euthanized. Ayn Rand would not have a Native American love interest, much less an African-American protagonist. So yeah, screw her.
April 22, 2019
Amazing artwork and very relatable in 2019 to a potential civil war in the United States. I was surprised this graphic had less traction and notoriety until I read the dedication. Knowing what I do of Ayn Rand’s work, this is not exactly an Objectivist super hero story and more of an intelligent sci-fi war piece that any mindset could enjoy. No direct smack of Flavor-Aid one way or another. I recommend the graphic to anyone scared and paranoid of our darkest timeline future and anyone who needs to see a fresh take on a female hero.
February 1, 2020
Le pongo 3, pero serían 2 y media. Hay personajes y situaciones interesantes, pero el conjunto no me ha convencido. Demasiada acción y poca ambientación. Tengo la siguiente entrega preparada y la voy a leer más por continuidad que por interés.
March 5, 2018
This gets an extra star for being an open homage to Atlas Shrugged.
February 21, 2021
Dave Gibbons art is perfect in Watchmen, every panel is a joy. Here sometimes it's up to that standard, just so satisfying to look at, perfectly composed, perfect anatomy, beautiful lines. And it's helped by Angus McKie's colours. But there pages that look stiff and awkward, much of it seems rushed (by Gibbons' standard), sometimes McKie uses that liquid effect in Photoshop which has not dated well.
In Frank Miller's story, the president has been replaced by a robot simulacrum, 'Nobody elected the people who are in power right now... The president was assassinated on the night of his inauguration.'So Martha goes to overthrow the fake government, 'My name's Martha Washington. I'm a traitor. This is the second American revolution.' After recent events, this has not aged well. And even not considering that, it's a crass story with nothing particularly interesting in it. There are desert mutants like a cheap knockoff of the Cursed Earth. Not sure why Sin City is so good and this is so bad.
In Frank Miller's story, the president has been replaced by a robot simulacrum, 'Nobody elected the people who are in power right now... The president was assassinated on the night of his inauguration.'So Martha goes to overthrow the fake government, 'My name's Martha Washington. I'm a traitor. This is the second American revolution.' After recent events, this has not aged well. And even not considering that, it's a crass story with nothing particularly interesting in it. There are desert mutants like a cheap knockoff of the Cursed Earth. Not sure why Sin City is so good and this is so bad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2025
A bit more straightforward than the original series, which doesn’t necessarily make it more enjoyable. Some good art in parts but I didn’t like the colouring as much, which was a real highlight of these comics previously. Other reviews here mention that this is an homage to Atlas Shrugged. I’m not sure if that reference only applies to this 2nd series, or to the Martha Washington story in general, but I have no intention of reading Rand so I may not ever find out. Washington continues to be a badass character so I might continue following her on her journey.
February 2, 2019
Miller’s politics are pretty solidly libertarian. Sometimes I find the political commentary spot on, and other times a little frightening. This book was inspired by Atlas Shugged so... yeah. But I like Martha Washington. I can’t help it.
June 18, 2018
Rollicking good fun! Frank Miller's bombastic interpretation of American history and adventure has a touch of the topical despite being enacted by relatively flat characters.
April 29, 2021
Miller tries to inject Great Purpose into this next installment in the Martha Washington saga, but instead gives us a weird tale of sedition, as a government war hero does some stuff and encounters some crazy circumstances that encourage her to lead the fight to take down the crappy US government, which seems composed entirely of lunatics who are safe and secure in letting the world fall apart for everyone else.
(That "everything is falling apart because of lazy union people letting it do so, and all the actual productively intelligent people out there have flown off to a libertarian commune" makes for the most boring, most polemical, and most overused _deus ex machina_ aspect of the series. On multiple occasions, including the climax of the series, the "nothing works right and fails as the most (in)convenient moment" plot device, is what drives Martha's involuntary failures and her involuntary triumphs. )
Miller thanks Ayn Rand in the afterword for giving him the plotline of cool, courageous free-thinking thinkers saving the day against the forces of corruption and incompetence, which is nearly all you need to know here.
(That "everything is falling apart because of lazy union people letting it do so, and all the actual productively intelligent people out there have flown off to a libertarian commune" makes for the most boring, most polemical, and most overused _deus ex machina_ aspect of the series. On multiple occasions, including the climax of the series, the "nothing works right and fails as the most (in)convenient moment" plot device, is what drives Martha's involuntary failures and her involuntary triumphs. )
Miller thanks Ayn Rand in the afterword for giving him the plotline of cool, courageous free-thinking thinkers saving the day against the forces of corruption and incompetence, which is nearly all you need to know here.
May 13, 2020
Hace unos quinces años leí los tres primeros volúmenes de la historia de Martha Washington y tenía un buen recuerdo. Ahora de decidido releerlos, aprovechando que también me he hecho con el cuarto, y el resultado ha sido algo decepcionante. Alguna de las ideas originales son interesantes, pero están escasamente desarrolladas y prima la acción sobre la especulación mucho más de lo que recordaba. El cuarto volumen, que reúne las historias sueltas de la protagonista, es particularmente flojo. Una lectura entretenida, pero que deja una frustrante sensación de que podría haber dado mucho más juego con un enfoque más ambicioso.
July 21, 2020
I'm not sure what the Martha Washington #2 means in the title but this review is for the tpb that collects issues #1-5 from Dark Horse from 1998 ISBN: 1569710902.
When Frank Miller could still write he came up with some real zingers and this is no exception. Miller gives Martha Washington a real personality even if she doesn't have the time to mourn, reflect, love, or hate. Spurred on by duty and a desire that only she can feel she is a true hero, and a true fighter that is compassionate for others more than for herself. All rendered with clear quality by Dave Gibbons.
When Frank Miller could still write he came up with some real zingers and this is no exception. Miller gives Martha Washington a real personality even if she doesn't have the time to mourn, reflect, love, or hate. Spurred on by duty and a desire that only she can feel she is a true hero, and a true fighter that is compassionate for others more than for herself. All rendered with clear quality by Dave Gibbons.
March 15, 2025
The 3 stars mainly focus on the design and the pictures. Without been an expert I can say that the level of Mr Gibbons on this comics (colorful, detailed) is something that a server pays attention.
Which on the other hand also reflects on a mediocre story provided by Frank Miller.
Is not a bad idea and some of the political background is well thought (better than his later extremist works) but at the end, this volume feels more like a constant moving from here to there, fighting, dialogue and more fighting.
It doesn´t take time to explain more of the things and although at the end it has some interesting turns, I am not fully following this with the interest as I should.
Aside of that, luckily, Martha Washington is a great character. All the force of the narrative is on her.
This is the closest I can think of Mad Max: Fury Road, great depiction of the world that wants to show but story level is nothing more than sufficient at maximum.
Which on the other hand also reflects on a mediocre story provided by Frank Miller.
Is not a bad idea and some of the political background is well thought (better than his later extremist works) but at the end, this volume feels more like a constant moving from here to there, fighting, dialogue and more fighting.
It doesn´t take time to explain more of the things and although at the end it has some interesting turns, I am not fully following this with the interest as I should.
Aside of that, luckily, Martha Washington is a great character. All the force of the narrative is on her.
This is the closest I can think of Mad Max: Fury Road, great depiction of the world that wants to show but story level is nothing more than sufficient at maximum.
March 15, 2017
No está a la altura de Give me liberty. Mucho más simplista en su planteamiento y su mensaje, probablemente para llegar a más público. A eso se suma un color en los primeros momentos del coloreado digital, con degradados que dan más tonos, pero que no se ve realmente bien (al menos en mi opinión).
December 1, 2025
This 5-issue series was inspired by the novel Atlas Shrugged, which is a kind of libertarian manifesto and heralded as a conservative classic. It has certainly been an inspiration for many conservatives in politics today. But as for this chapter in Martha Washington’s life? When it originally came out, I loved it. I adored the take-down-the-authoritarian-government attitude. And was just as caught up with the adventurous life of the titular character as I was the end of the dystopian regime that the US had become. But now, I’m seeing this for the weird Starship Troopers kind of presentation it is. That might take some explaining. When Robert A. Heinlein wrote the book Starship Troopers he was not apparently trying to be sarcastic or satirical. It argued that he probably thought he was offering what he saw as a good system for dealing with threats to society. It is debatable as to how much of that is true. Because the book reads like a campy ridicule of the very notions of military effectiveness that it seems to want to personify. This dichotomy is more blatant in the film adaptation (1997) of the book. There it is pretty obvious that the director is laying into the high camp and farcical aspects of this philosophy. But, and this is the big failure of the film (or is it the greatest success?), many fans of the film come away thinking the film is a actually a tribute and glorification of the military, war, and violence in general. The perspective that violence will solve all of society’s problems (this becomes increasingly the message in the numerous sequels (7, I believe). One can also see this kind of weird misinterpretation of messaging when listening to fans of the TV show The Boys, as there are an enormous number of viewers who firmly believe that Homelander is the hero of the series. This is the same kind of realization I’ve now come to about Martha Washington. I series and a character I had loved dearly when it was originally coming out, but I now see how much her character lacks agency and autonomy. How much she is merely a tool to be used as a delivery system for the author’s conservative, libertarian beliefs.
July 6, 2010
When I finished "Give Me Liberty," Frank Miller's comics that started the story of Martha Washington, I didn't know what to think. The moral of the story seemed to be that in politics - or at least a murdering dictatorship - the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
It was really rather upsetting.
But "Martha Washington Goes to War" completely redeemed Martha (and Miller) in my mind. And now I think every girl - especially young black girls - should be required to read it before they graduate high school.
In the not-too-distant future, a president is elected who later becomes a dictator. Martha Washington is a black girl who is born and grows up in the projects in Chicago. She is uneducated and victimized on a regular basis. But she grows up to become a super-smart super-soldier who does not let fear get in the way of her objective. Note that I did not say she is "fearless." Martha is a real character - she has fear, she just doesn't let it stop her.
"Martha Washington Goes to War" intentionally parallels Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." (Maybe that's why I love it so much.) Martha spends much of the comics fighting on behalf of her government as a PAX soldier to take over Texas and the Southwest. But she and her fellow troops are being sabotaged by "Ghosts." Martha is smart enough to realize that the "Ghosts" are actually people in suits that make them invisible. And she follows one into a nuclear wasteland - only to find an Atlantian paradise, and the truth about her government and herself.
It was really rather upsetting.
But "Martha Washington Goes to War" completely redeemed Martha (and Miller) in my mind. And now I think every girl - especially young black girls - should be required to read it before they graduate high school.
In the not-too-distant future, a president is elected who later becomes a dictator. Martha Washington is a black girl who is born and grows up in the projects in Chicago. She is uneducated and victimized on a regular basis. But she grows up to become a super-smart super-soldier who does not let fear get in the way of her objective. Note that I did not say she is "fearless." Martha is a real character - she has fear, she just doesn't let it stop her.
"Martha Washington Goes to War" intentionally parallels Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." (Maybe that's why I love it so much.) Martha spends much of the comics fighting on behalf of her government as a PAX soldier to take over Texas and the Southwest. But she and her fellow troops are being sabotaged by "Ghosts." Martha is smart enough to realize that the "Ghosts" are actually people in suits that make them invisible. And she follows one into a nuclear wasteland - only to find an Atlantian paradise, and the truth about her government and herself.
February 3, 2017
This is basically Atlas Shrugged on steroid, Martha Washington goes to War against the government of United States of America. In this case Martha is basically Dagny trying to find the "ghost" which everyone fears. It's a pretty awesome homage though not exactly sure if that's what Rand would have wanted. Well done Frank Miller nonetheless.
Want to Read
February 2, 2011Bucletina me lo regaló en la edición de dos tomos de Deux, que esperemos que zafe. Cuando lo lea seguro escriba su correspondiente reseña.
September 6, 2011
Enjoyed the all the Martha Goes to Washington. This was no exception.
July 31, 2012
Graphic Novel 7-30-12
April 7, 2013
My first Martha Washington graphic novel. What a cool heroine to introduce to the genre!
December 15, 2015
Book 29 of 2015: 3/5 Stars
Fast-paced, enjoyable. I loved the heroine and the concept but I think it could have been orchestrated more smoothly. The plot often felt rushed and unclear.
Fast-paced, enjoyable. I loved the heroine and the concept but I think it could have been orchestrated more smoothly. The plot often felt rushed and unclear.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews