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Reviews from the Webmistress

BotP Manga #3 - Wrapping Things Up
December 27, 2003

The Good: Lots of action. "On character." Dialogue flows well. Both heroes and villains are highly competent.

The Bad: Two important action scenes unclear. A teeny bit too much "fan service" from Princess.

The Story: When we last left G-Force, they had been assigned to ferret out suspicious activity within a popular amusement park full of people. As of the end of Issue #2, they had fought and defeated a giant morphing mecha only to have every single android and mechanical critter gang up on them. Here, we see how G-Force mops up--and you know they will. The action of each member is featured before they gather for a flashy finale. And yet, if you're paying attention, you'll know that while Spectra lost this battle, their war is only beginning.

David Wohl touches on most of the prevailing themes in both BotP and Gatchaman TV series: children in danger (Gatchaman), G-Force destroying androids (BotP--remember Zark telling audiences the dead were only robots?), Jason's reminder of the dark side of war (Gatchaman), and our heroes using a dazzling trick to win against overwhelming odds (I won't spoil things by telling what they did). Each character is shown in action, then all five join together for the grand finale. The plot of the manga is mostly fluff, with no weight or long-standing angst in it, unlike Munier Sharrieff's long and wandering epic with its "cast of thousands" in the previous BotP comic series. It's a short, pleasant, action-oriented romp with a team of favorite characters.

Which leads to what I like most in this series: it offers a chance to see the characters in action, to get reacquainted with them. The characters are at ease with each other in this series and demonstrates another prevailing theme of Battle of the Planets: how teamwork best gets things done. I like the attention paid to Jason and Princess. Jason is written with a lighter touch, making him more playful, but no less tough. Princess is given more "air time" and backbone as well, though I could have done without her "incredible shrinking mini skirt." And since when did she start wearing butt-floss? Her famous undergarment is lacking its traditional "coverage." Please, guys, save the fan-service for the pin-up shots.

As far as the villains go, Issue #3 offers a cameo appearance by Zoltar, and I wish he'd shown up earlier in the story. Also, I kind of miss the Spectran "freak of the week" general in the silly costume. Just a little. For the nostalgia. No, really. On the other hand, it's nice seeing the regular green goon soldiers use their brains for a change. These guys are nasty.

This issue's art shows Edwin David solidifying his own style. The characters' eyes and mouths (other than Keyop) are smaller, closer to a western comic style. I see influences from "Slam Dunk" and "Hokuto no Ken," both of which featured cameos in previous BotP books. David also utilizes more areas of solid black in this issue, making the panels much easier to read. The faces are wonderfully expressive, as always. There were a couple of problems in the action scenes: the mecha fighting scenes seemed vague, and I had no idea what Jason did to the big goon to make him back off until I read the accompanying script at the back of the book.

Obligatory nitpicks: While I can see Keyop beating up armed goons twice his size because he has the implants and the training, I have a hard time believing the group of kids he rescued would so readily join the fray. In the scene where Jason is called a maniac, I would have liked to have seen a bigger frame, with a shot of the woman reacting to her child's endangerment--it would have led more impact to the scene instead of making it look "tacked on." There's still too much lip and teeth on Keyop.

Title: Battle of the Planets Manga #3 Release Date: December 2003 Produced by: Top Cow Productions Art Director: Alex Ross Writer: David Wohl Art: Edwin David Lettering: Robin Spehar, Dennis Heisler and Mark Roslan Associate Editor: Scott Tucker Managing Editor: Renae Geerlings Editor in Chief: Jim Mclauchlin Writing Assist: Brian Buccellato Special Thanks To: Philip Oldham (Sandy Frank Productions), Jason Hofius, Nicola Barrucci

Instead of promotions of other comics, this issue features the story rough sent from David Wohl to Edwin David. This treatment is different from the previous BotP series, where Munier Sharrieff had script plotted out in full, with dialogue. Here, David Wohl outlined the action he wanted to see in the panels, then after the art was done, added dialogue to fit the panel. It works, and the informal communications between writer and artist show nice enthusiasm for the book and the series.

The cover:Edwin David's latest cover is his best of the three. Less emphasis on airbrush and more on detail. Nice work on Mark.

The bottom line: BotP Manga #1-3 is the best BotP comic treatment I've ever seen on paper. Fluffy, but still satisfying in the spirit of the original show. If Top Cow continues with the BotP franchise, I hope they continue with it in the same vein as this manga series.

Read reviews of the other BotP comics here.

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