The Good: The story arc is pretty much over.
The Bad: Poor pacing, overcrowded panels, sloppy layout, disappointing conclusion.
The story: The citizens of Central West have been brainwashed into obeying Spectra. Anderson has a run-in with Zoltar, who sends him to the hospital with the name Dr. Lewis Arden carved in his chest. G-Force is sent to Central West to find Arden, and the Phoenix is shot down by the city's mechanical watchdog, "T.H.O.R." Mark and Keyop are swept off the Phoenix and have become Zoltar's prisoners while Jason and Princess find themselves surrounded by hostile, brainwashed civilians and Spectran goons. General Tomak reveals his secret to Chief Anderson, and all the obscure little references back to Issue #1 are put together.
This is the conclusion of the story that has been set up and set up and set up since Issue #1. Now we understand why Spectrans took over that oil rig, why Mark had to investigate the oil magnate's office and get blown up. And we get to learn all of this in one issue. As a result, all this action is crammed together in one overwhelming, overcrowded, disorganized lump. And don't forget the footnotes. A fellow fan came up with an interesting comparison: "It's the equivalent of a two hour long wedding video that spends the first 110 minutes watching the bride and groom get dressed and ride to the church, 5 minutes on the ceremony, and then 5 minutes on the wedding reception." The writeup on Central West and T.H.O.R. could have been done in 10% of the space it took, leaving more room open for the real meat of the story: development of G-Force, explanation of Spectra's motives and the chance to see both in action.
Let's also not forget that General Tomak, the bane of Anderson's and G-Force's existence all the way from Issue #1, finally reveals his deep, dark secret. Anderson shrugs him off and ignores him. Much as I dislike Tomak, I found this scene embarrassing. However, we are sure to see more of the aftermath of Tomak's big announcement in the next three issues, in line with the retroactive "damage control" method the writer employs.
Did I like anything about this story? I enjoyed seeing Anderson pulling an extra ace out of his bandages and siccing S.U.S.A.N. on T.H.O.R. I liked Jason's and Princess's exchange when she rescued him. I liked Mark calling Zoltar a queen.
The art: The art suffered this issue. Panels were busy, overcrowded and confusing, and there was no place for a reader to rest the eyes and take a deep breath. Facial expressions were overexaggerated--Tiny didn't smile so much as pull his lips back to display acres of teeth in a saccharine anime grimace. Artistically, a wisp or two of hair peeking out from beneath the bird helmet is attractive, even sexy, but here, the heroes had gobs of hair hanging out from their helmets--are their helmets too small? The quarts of fan-service blood flying around the battle scenes reminded me a lot of how Jameson Brewer, the original writer of the Battle of the Planets TV series, described the original Gatchaman: "Rivers of blood and gore." But there was more blood in this issue than in the entire Gatchaman series. The Mark vs. Zoltar battle in the beginning climbed into the realm of the ridiculous, with Zoltar borrowing OAV Katse's habit of throwing lightning bolts from his hands. Though it's pointless to wish this title bore any resemblance to the original TV series, I miss the old Zoltar, the overdramatic, sneaky, elusive leader of Spectra who possesses excellent reflexes and a strong sense of self preservation. Heck, I even miss Berg Katse, who had the sense to disappear the moment the Gatchaman's chains started snapping. The comic's Zoltar is a cookie-cutter, super-powered mutant "madman." I miss the suspense of two athletes matching skill for skill, not superpower for superpower.
Dead Cat vs. Detonating Child: The scene that has put a good deal of angry email in my mailbox--the most since the "infamous dead cat scene in Issue #2"--has to do with Princess's rescue of Jason. Jason is busy getting shredded in his battle with the brainwashed citizens and goons, when suddenly, the brainwashing wears off. The goons turn on the disoriented citizens of Central West, and Jason hurls himself over a screaming little boy to protect him from the flying bullets, taking several in the process. Princess comes to the rescue, then props Jason up (Oh look! Panty shot!), and with the little boy sitting behind them, she casually tosses a handful of bombs behind her. Technically, these bombs were supposed to detonate the goons, but the panels are positioned so that, at first glance, it looks like she just blew up the little boy Jason had just mulched himself to rescue. Sloppy.
The cover: Alex Ross features Keyop this issue. Nice pose, but his face looks like Son of Chucky. Granted he's a caricatured character and he's hard to draw, but his facial expression was poorly handled.
The bottom line:A very frustrating issue, probably the worst since #2.
