GATCHAMAN #1: The Science Ninja Team Flies Again!

I’m a sucker for a bit of nostalgia I’m not going to lie. One of my first obsessions television wise as a kid growing up in the 80s was Battle of The Planets, I only discovered Gatchaman much later in life and I have feelings about both versions which we don’t need to get into for the purposes of this review but suffice to say, that when this book was announced, I was VERY VERY interested. So let’s get down to it.

Cullen Bun and the art team of Chris Batista (Artist), Carlos Lopez (Colorist),Buddy Beaudoin (Letterer) deliver an almost flawless opener that takes the very best elements of the series and splash it across the issue in beautiful brightly colored action packed pages filled with action, high stakes, completely over the top villains and monster robots. Anyone familiar with the franchise will immediately recognize how Bunn has captured the cadence and voices of the characters wonderfully. Meanwhile Batista and the art team go full throttle on the action while also taking the time to pull off the original intro scene smack bang in the middle of the comic hitting you straight in the nostalgia center of your brain. I cannot see how anyone who remembers the original animated series wouldn’t be happy with how the creative team have structured this opening salvo. There’s solid interaction between the characters and beside all the original members and Dr. Nambu we meet Beta team ( the back up trainee team). There isn’t any deep exploration of character feelings in the issue and it remains to be seen if Bunn will dig into these characters individually later so it’s kept pretty surface without being completely wooden. Bunn does throw in a little relationship spice between Ken and Beta teams leader Mara, under the disapproving eye of Jun.

But what about new readers? It certainly will resonate more with anyone familiar with the characters but I would have no problem putting this comic in the hands of any reader who has never heard of these characters and feel completely confident that they would be able to orientate themselves immediately and I think that’s probably one of my favorite things about this first issue. The concept is straight forward easy to follow and a great jumping on point for new readers who have heard of Gatchaman but don’t know much about it.

The look of the book is immediately recognizable as being in the style of the cartoon and doesn’t take any risks in that regard, but the art team make up for this with full throttle, wonderfully dynamic action scenes accentuated by panelling choice and special effects sounds by letterer Beaudoin. It’s a bright fun look that plays to the strengths of the original cartoon series with a cliffhanger ending that’s a perfect enticement to carry on with the series.

Every cover for the series is fantastic but Inaki Miranda’s main cover pretty much exemplifies the look and fell of the book, bright and action packed!