After what I had to say about Issue #2, I expect a couple of readers will come here looking for more fireworks. I really don't have any. Issue #3 was okay. Good in spots, stupid in spots, but generally okay.
The Good: Excellent art. Definite improvement of dialogue. Better relation to characters. Interesting teasers.
The Bad: Continuity problems continue. Jason suffers "character homicide" yet again.
The art: Once again, the art is the highlight of the book. The Ross cover is predictably excellent. The interior art also excellent. Wilson Tortosa has retained the general visual feel of the series while going his own way in spots. The oversized lips that infected some characters in Issue #2 are gone.
The scripting: The scripting and planning have improved over Issue #2 (the dialogue is much improved), but still leave room for improvement. The story begins on a promising note, with an interesting hook on Page 1: "I'm G-1, Mark. The commander of a team of scientifically enhanced ninja and... I'm afraid to die." Oooh. Okay, I'm turning the page, and... what's Cronus doing? Can't we go back to Mark? Next, we switch to Anderson, whose little earpiece is smoldering and who is nursing a bleeding ear. Next we switch to the firebird coming very close to slamming into a building. Now I don't know if I would have noticed this so much if a couple of fans had not mentioned it already, but this close to the anniversary of September 11th, it's bad timing to show aircraft in danger of crashing into buildings. Our heroes manage to pull the flaming ship out of harm's way in time and return home to nurse their wounds and receive another dressing-down from Tomak. And then finally we get back to Mark. But not before we see the Iron Terrapin's commander--now burnt to a crispy critter, yet still alive--wash up on a distant beach. The scenes switch manically from location to location before the reader can figure out where he or she is. They also leave me with a lot of questions: How does Keyop's wounded bird survive an experience that came close to killing Keyop and his team? What bloodied the Chief's ear? Does the Chief have the authority or even a decent reason to stall General Tomak by ordering him inoculated with some placebo? Why would Mark and Jason end a perfectly good fistfight merely due to the entrance of the little one-armed janitor? What, they'll be devastated by his complaints about the mess they just made trashing the locker room?
The characters: This issue showed a little character potential, but these guys still have a long way to go. As we are trying to figure out what makes the commander tick, Jason walks into the scene and drops the stupidest line I've seen in this series yet: "If you want to let off steam, why don't you try girls?" Nothing like a good roll in the sheets to take your mind off your problems. Sheesh. I see we're still going with the "Jason is a sexpot" stereotype, and that's a crying shame. Especially when none of his predecessors from any series (BotP, G-Force, Gatchaman or Gatchaman OAV) were overly preoccuplied with "getting some." Why not say, "You should have taken it out on the enemy while you had the chance"? That fits, and it would have been a classic Condor Joe line as well. Of course, Jason could have said "Hello" and gotten punched in the mouth for it, the way Mark was on such a hair trigger. And he would have deserved it. The sex line also distracted from the key issue that had Mark worked up--Jason betrayed him that mission because of his own selfishness. Jason had what he thought was a valid reason, but you don't really think about it because of the stupidity of his opening line. Jason is a big audience draw, in some ways bigger than Mark. He shouldn't be messed up. As it is right now, the 1994 OAV version of Joe (tall, surly, no shirt, speaks in monosyllables) is showing more personality than Top Cow's Jason. And by the way, the whole anime-style licking-the-blood-off cliche has been done and done and done.
There needs to be more to Tomak and more to Jason and more to Keyop than we're seeing now. The good news is that there's still a chance for it.
The bottom line: The book deserves a second chance. Improvements on the horizon.
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