Warm Fuzzies and Sharp Shuriken
Reviews from the Webmistress

BotP Manga #2 - G-Force Vs. the Big Grey Fog
November 17, 2003

The Good: Lots of action. "On character." Both heroes and villains are highly competent most of the time.

The Bad: Action scenes unclear; art was better in Issue #1.

The Story: There isn't one per se; this issue consisted of one big fight scene from start to finish. G-Force battles Keyop's evil doppelganger and a giant robot mecha in an amusement park while Keyop escapes from his Spectran captors and tries to rescue some of the other children taken prisoner. The focus here is on fighting action and character interaction. Oddly enough, in while high octane fighting action is a trademark of the mainstream comic industry, in this comic, the character interaction works and the fighting action doesn't.

What's going on here? I had to go through two readings to figure out who was doing what. Yes, G-Force is shooting at the mech and the mech is shooting back, but there was no rational process--like watching a movie half blind. I remember Jason shooting at the thing with a huge weapon, Princess kicking a mechanical devil dog, and Mark and Jason getting stuck under the giant robot's hands, but I'm not really sure how they wound up that way, how the robot exploited their weaknesses, or where Tiny found the giant gun he threw to Jason

And I can't help it, but the Freudian way Jason was holding that huge gun... Was somebody compensating for something?

The chief problem with the manga style seems to lie within the reproduction method being used. Usually, original pages are much larger than their comic counterparts, and unfortunately, the finer lines used for detail and shading in the manga appear to be washing out. The resulting effect looks bleached and obscured. Black and white art issues its own challenge, and there need to be areas of black, white and grey that are more clearly blocked in. There needs to be much more contrast between the white and grey areas.

The art has other problems. Keyop seems to have devolved into a two-dimensional blob with buck teeth (the problem lies in David's tying the line of the upper lip to that of the side of the boy's face). Tiny's eyes are too big and detailed. Princess's helmet doesn't fit her head--her face seems to be protruding out of it. The markings and proportions are all wrong (and to be fair, those helmets, especially Princess's, are tough to draw). Jason's face goes through weird shifts in proportion. The overall effect reminded me of the first few episodes of BotP, or episodes of Gatchaman Fighter: When the art is good, it's very, very good. When it's bad, look out. I thought the art was stronger in Issue #1, where G-Force spent most of their time in civilian attire without those helmets complicating things.

The writing and dialogue helped make this thrill ride worth the price of admission. I can't stress enough how wonderful it is to see G-Force and Spectra in character and portrayed as formidable adversaries. Instead of bracing myself for the train wreck that passed for characterization in the color BotP comic, I could simply enjoy the fun. The character quips and anime references worked and fortunately stopped before the joke wore out. And the comic took humor in itself without being derisive ("How hard is it to find a kid with a big '4' on his shirt?"). If I have any concern, it's that the buildup in this issue may overshoot the allotted space for the conclusion. However, if it means there'll be an Issue #4, I won't complain.

An interesting note about the head villain: Zoltar has yet to make an appearance in this storyline, and the chief goon is dressed like the other green goons. This commander's refusal to dress like the "Freak of the Week" we'd seen on the cartoon and his ominous similarity to the Blue Chief--one of the most formidable Gallactor sub-captains to ever appear in Gatchaman--work to his credit.

Title: Battle of the Planets Manga #2 Release Date: November 2003 Produced by: Top Cow Productions Art Director: Alex Ross Writer: David Wohl Pencils: Edwin David Lettering: Robin Spehar, Dennis Heisler and Mark Roslan Associate Editor: Scott Tucker Managing Editor: Renae Geerlings Editor in Chief: Jim Mclauchlin Editorial Story Consultant: Chris Carlisle Special Thanks To: Philip Oldham (Sandy Frank Productions), Jason Hofius, Nicola Barrucci

Instead of outside advertising, Top Cow has reserved space for inside promotion of other Image titles at the back of the comic. This is fine, actually preferable to having a video game ad interrupt the action smack in the middle of the book. However, I was surprised and even annoyed to find the previews for the same titles that had been previewed in Issue #1--it seemed like a waste of space. On the Top Cow message board, Scott Tucker addressed this as an anomaly. There will be other promotions in Issue #3.

Speaking of promotions, this book is still sadly under-advertised, and it's a shame. From what I've seen on message boards, some comic shops haven't even bothered to order this title, and fans are having a hard time finding the second issue.

The cover:Edwin David does the cover for this issue.

The bottom line: I have gotten good feedback from fans who also read Issue #1, and I would give the same recommendation for this issue. I think it's a fun ride for BotP fans and worth reading.

Read reviews of the other BotP comics here.

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