The Good: Consistent art. More plot development, better continuity and better relation to characters. Some raging issues from #2 were fixed. Killer cliffhanger ending.
The Bad: Periodic fits of lame dialogue.
The art: Tortosa seems to be hitting his stride with the title, and I think he's trying to narrow down the way he wants the characters. Mark is a bit too thin in the face and Jason a bit too big and blocky in the nose, but these can be refined in further issues. And now the in-jokes surface, such as showing the characters from "The Real Ghostbusters" on page 5. The cover, featuring the team in their civilian clothes, is Alex Ross's least successful in my opinion. I think he should have gone for a less cartoony look like he'd done with his previous paintings.
The story: The book opens with Zoltar getting a dressing-down from his leader and creator, the Luminous One, regarding his recent failure. Another voice, which drives him into a rage, taunts him that his actions are turning human, and alludes to having studied under Chief Anderson. Interesting connection. Anderson, meanwhile, is researching beyond the Iron Terrapin incident to a series of murders of powerful moguls. He consults a computer system, "Susan," for a link between the murders, but is interrupted by the news that General Tomak intends to interrogate the G-Force members in a farce of a mission debriefing. Despite his bullying, we learn some interesting details about the Spectrans and that Princess has somehow lost the intelligence retrieved from the Iron Terrapin. Keyop is the only G-Force member who escapes the interrogation, choosing to remain inside a sensory deprivation "womb" to sort out his feelings about the last battle. After the interrogation, Anderson travels to a small church to meet with Colonel Cronus and the former President Kane (the original President Kane in BotP; now the father of the comic's female President Kane), and we learn a little more about the information network behind the scenes. Anderson dispatches four members of G-Force--Mark paired with Jason and Princess with Tiny to the sites of the murders to pick up any clues Spectra may have left behind. They find a lot more than clues....
Now we're getting somewhere. Now we're getting to see a little more than, "Hey look! Seventies retro!" Now the questions regarding the failure of the first mission begin to surface. Now I get the feeling of an ominous master plan coming together and our heroes scrambling frantically to keep up. We find out more about the mysterious figure Anderson was consulting last issue. We see the "three wise men" behind the scenes--Anderson, Cronus and Kane--pick a direction to pursue. Now we have enough plot to wrap our minds around instead of fighting for breath amidst a series of scenes strung together. Now we have a story to look forward to next issue. I only wish it hadn't taken four issues to get here.
The characters: I see more polish in this issue, with the characters personalities developing a little more than their allotted descriptions. I like seeing Zoltar's battle with his alter ego and that he needs drugs to keep her locked away. Mark struggles to maintain a commander's decorum. Jason, unable to talk about sex for a change, fidgets and sways like an Italian punk. (Why do I keep hearing John Travolta's voice when I read his word balloons? Maybe it was his addressing Mark as "Yo!" at the end.) Princess holds her own against Tomak, who can't come up with a better insult than to deride the fact that she's pretty, young and female. Tiny has picked up an honest, happy-go-lucky streak that I like. General Tomak is still a flat, useless caricature whose only apparent job is to make the lives of those around him as miserable as possible. I have yet to see any evidence that he is good at his job or that he belongs where he is. He'll probably turn out to be a Spectra puppet, as per classic anime formula.
The dialogue still has its rough spots.where it doesn't make any sense. Cronus's complaining about breaking the sound barrier to get to the meeting--come on, he's a fighter pilot. Those guys break the sound barrier for fun. The conversation between Tiny and Princess regarding being in control made no sense. Being the pilot of an advanced warship does not compare with being on the back of a motorcycle careening at breakneck speed--for one thing, flying in a warship lessens the possibility of falling off your seat and getting severe road rash. I'm also not sure where he was going regarding the issue of control. On the other hand, I thought the clips from the interrogation, where the characters spoke in sound bites, was very effective.
The repairs: There are several things about this book that indicate repairs to issues brought up in Issue #2. For example, in interviews, the staff discussed how the team was going to be shown in their "rough, unorganized form" for the first mission. Suddenly, in Issue #4, they're a team. Mark is being supportive instead of derisive. Jason has suddenly turned professional and obedient to his commander. There is no transition time to show how Mark came to the decision that he didn't trust his teammate, or to show how Jason went from trying to beat Mark up to letting Mark be the leader. I suspect his comment about his virgin ears may have been a dig about the fan reaction to Issue #2. The staff could argue that the changes had been meant all along, but saving the explanations for later indicates an attempt to patch a sloppy plot. In any case, I'm glad these problems have been addressed. Time to finish the story.
Other comments: A lot of fans have asked whether 7-Zark-7 will make an appearance in this book. From the way Susan was introduced in this issue, as a computer system rather than a silly humanoid robot, I see a hint of the Zark to come. If he does. One thing's for sure, though: he won't be obscuring the action here with endless, self-promoting prattle.
I can't stress enough how Battle of the Planets appealed to a massive female fan base because of the characters--not the bird suits or the mechs or the explosions. These fans want to know what makes all these characters tick, and it's important to make these characters live as people, not as set stereotypes. As a Jason fan, I'm still irritated by the character, although now he's merely annoying on a smartass level. I hope the emphasis on his libido stays absent so we can focus on other things, like how he does his job and how he can be more than just an ambulatory temper tantrum. I have a lot more hope for him now than I did in previous issues.
The bottom line: Good issue, and I can't wait for #5.
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