Comic Book Review: Battle of the Planets #3
by R.J. Carter
Published: September 23, 2002
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Battle of the Planets #3 |
"Trial By Fire" |
Munier Sharrieff, Edwin David, Wilson Tortosa |
Top Cow |
$2.99 $4.60 CAN |
B |
For more information: Top Cow Comics link |
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Mark. Jason. Princess. Tiny. Keop. The team supreme from my Japanimation childhood are back, this time in comic book form. They're a fledgling team of super ninjas, and their first mission--attacking and destroying an Iron Terrapin from space--is going down in flames. Mark takes desparate measures, but is undermined when Jason goes against orders to try a plan of his own. Which results in the desparate first transformation of their ship into its "Fiery Phoenix" configuration. In downtown Hontwahl. Expect massive collateral damage.
Meanwhile, the pilot of the Iron Terrapin has eluded capture, having been presumed dead. Long-time fans of the series can expect this character to be a well-known villain from the planet Spectra, but the creators are still being cagey at this point.
The art is bright and colorful, the rendering done in an animated styling, and there are subplots galore. In fact, the subplots are probably the one drawback to this single issue--there are several, fast-moving subplots that, added together, form a seemingly slow-moving overall plot. There are 22 total pages of story, 4 of them taken up by double-spread splashes of conflagration. Within the remaining 18 pages, we get Mark's secret origin, his post-battle confrontation with Jason, the rescue of the team, Anderson's secret meeting with a mysterious figure, an alien encounter by a band of criminals... that's a lot of plot to digest in little bite-size chunks. The series will undoubtedly read more smoothly when the books are collected into a single volume. Just a little more meat is all this book needs to get an 'A' rating from me.
Expect sales to be brisk. The series is under the artistic direction of fan favorite, Alex Ross, who also provides the painted covers, which will prove to be more than enough to move these books off the shelves.
 Probably the best part of this book is the nostalgia value it carries with older readers and hardcore fans of Gotchaman manga. The large panels and dynamic layouts gives the book a widescreen action movie kind of feeling. In short, this single issue is just enough to make me try a few more before passing final sentence on this series.
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CD Giveaway - Paper Bird, "Rooms"
Ends May 28, 2013
Drifting ever so slightly away from traditional folk music, this Colorado band delivers harmony and energy aplenty. |
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