The Good: Consistent action. Total absence of General Tomak.
The Bad: Annoying footnotes.
The story: After assisting on the cleanup of Central West, G-Force goes on leave to have other adventures (Mark's stint as substitute leader of Red Impulse(1) and G-Force's meeting with some "feline friends"(2)). Plagued by cryptic nightmares, Mark visits Chief Anderson in time to see Jason storming out of Anderson's office. Anderson cuts the meeting short and summons a large security entourage, and Mark discovers there had been an assassination attempt on the Chief.(3) A closer look at the satellite photos of the attempt site give Mark an unpleasant shock.
Tiny sees Jason pouting by the window and attempts to thank him for finding Spinner's daughter(4) (who now has a name: Carla). He leaves shortly after Jason snarls at him.
En route to a world council meeting, Chief Anderson talks to Red Impulse about an unnamed fugitive, and Red finds some clues before being rudely interrupted in the same fashion as Mark.(5) At the meeting, Anderson accuses the prime minister of some unknown country of aiding Spectra. In secret, the accused summons the latest Spectran monstermech,(6) and both Chief Anderson and President Kane are taken hostage.(7)
I'm both irritated and intrigued with the plot device involving Jason. Annoyed because I think Mark should be smarter than he's acting (if Jason had been serious, Anderson would not have survived the assassination attempt), and intrigued into how both Mark and Jason will handle this in future.
The characters: As long as they stick to business, the characters are well represented, though they occasionally fall prey to some clunky lines. It's too late in the game to hope the author will ever get a handle on character voice.
The art: Maybe I've been looking at Edwin David's work too long, but the art for this issue seems strange. The heads on the people are too large, the bodies awkwardly proportioned. It seems a lot more "anime" than previous issues. Also, after reading the Jason one-shot, I got spoiled by the character's excellent range of expression. In #11, Jason seems to have spent the entire comic wearing the same pout. A pouty Jason takes a bit of getting used to.
The cover Mark does his classic "Transmute" pose. There are also two alternate covers; one of a group pose and one of Princess in "chan" manga style with the "Battle" title in katakana.
The bottom line: The story seems overly concerned with promoting and explaining back issues while leaving gaping holes in the present story to "entice" the reader. This bogs down the whole book. In total, a rather frustrating issue.
The Footnotes:
1. See the Mark one-shot story.
2. See the Top Cow BotP/Thundercats crossover
3. See the Jason one-shot story
4. See issue #10.
5. See issue #3.
6. See BotP series episode: #22, "The Sea Dragon"
7. See how annoying these stupid footnotes are?
