InsaneJournal

The story begins in #16 with Frank playing an open mike night. It's a nice two-page splash, but I simply don't have the room for it. We pick up on the next page. Adam has a pretty heavy monologue running throughout both issues, but the scans I've chosen keep it surprisingly light, but that's what the purple boxes are, just so you know.

But what is this? A crossover?!

We've seen a billboard for Red Rocket 7 before, in the background of Madman/Superman Hullabaloo #1 (not in one of the pages I posted back in March, though), so there is a precedent for them co-existing, but it raises interesting questions. More on that in a minute.
Notice how Gum is trying to play it cool here. He is clearly squeeing on the inside, of course.

Anyway, it turns out Red just kind of disappeared in front of Connor and Mikey's eyes, so they've decided to move on and try to reform their band. Lucky for them The Atomic are suddenly a band now instead of a group of super-powered adventurers (which is kinda funny considering Adam was the only one interested in music before, though i guess they put one together after he came back) and going through some moving and shaking of their own.

Now this is the part that's really weird. Is Snap City now Portland? Did the Gear move to Snap City? Did Frank & Joe and the gang all move to Portland? All I know is they're both in the same city now, and I really can't decide which one it is.
Also, obvious Dandy's reference is obvious.

The next day gives us the scene from the cover (which might have worked better for #17 maybe for this reason?)

Fun fact! You can buy any of these shirts directly from the Allreds! Well, except Gail's, of course, and I can't tell what Adam's wearing under that jacket. I personally own the one Frank's got there, it is super-nice.

I can only get four pages from #17 since it's new (even though the chances someone else will post it are slim), so I dunno how well I can carry a narrative here, since that might've been trouble even if I could post two more pages, given how decompressed Allred typically isn't (he does like taking time visually sometimes, though). Whatever.
Scans are mine, but you could prolly guess that from the quality.


More Gum squee contained? More Dandy referencing?
It gets me wondering how much of the story was inspired by Allred's recent time in the Odditorium recording the new IRL Gear album. My guess is "A lot."

Anyway, Frank, Adam and Gum get inducted into the band, and after some practicing they take up a gig. The clients turn out to be aliens, and bring the guys to the venue through a tunnel in the moon. Adam makes an interesting observation as they come out the other side.


Finally, they meet the people who invited them for the gig. The revelation is inevitable, but delightful enough to get me to scan the spread.

And they make the moon's night. The end...for now.

MAC has been an interesting series. Seven issues of one big arc, six of loose ends tied, damage control from said arc, and the remaining four have been kind of a cool-off period following, rather down-to-earth stories of the characters just living their lives and being happy. I'll be waiting to see what Allred does next time he revists the characters.

Goodnight, sweet prince.