Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa’s Mech Cadet Yu was one of the best comic books to come out between 2017 and 2018. Now it is being turned into an animated series under the name Mech Cadets on Netflix on August 10th. Ahead of its debut of the animated series, Pak and Miyazawa are back with sequel to their successful series, following the name of the Netflix series, Mech Cadets. The preview for Mech Cadets #1 was more than enough to get me excited for Pak and Miyazawa to return to the franchise. We had a chance to check out an advance copy, now find out how Mech Cadets #1 turned out.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: Simon Bowland
SOLICITATION
“General Park-head of Sky Corps Academy-must assemble a team of heroes to protect humankind from alien invasions, and Stanford Yu, Maya Sanchez, Frank Olivetti, and Park’s own daughter Olivia may have been pulled into the role by fate… as they are Earth’s best hope.
But there is more to their relationships with the symbiotic, sentient giant Robos they pilot… and the alien threat of The Sharg is far more epic and widespread than any could imagine!” – BOOM! Studios
REVIEW
Taking place one year later, Mech Cadets #1 does not miss a beat from where we left the original series. There is a sense of the world moving on and our leads in Sanford Yu, Olivia Park, Maya Sanchez, and Frank Olivetti continuing to come into their own. Even if you did not read the original series the opening pages do a great job at getting you to know who each of our leads are, their standing, and relationships.
What works particularly well with how Mech Cadets #1 kicks off the story is showing the balance of being heroes that still answer to government officials. This aspect of this opening issue is best shown through how Olivia shoulders responsibility of her team as the leader. She has the most complex initial arc as she does have a sense of heroism that clashes with her father and other officials.
The struggle to protect others while following orders is one that we see the entire team deal with throughout Mech Cadets #1. Pak makes great use of how the events of the original series has impacted the state of the world. Because of that state you se that there is a distinct disconnect between normal people and the government. That disconnect creates one of the main long-term storylines for the series.
Along with all these grounded elements Pak and Miyazawa continue to open up the cosmic elements of the franchise. There are a lot of moments in the second half of Mech Cadets #1 that fully gets put over the bigger conflict having an epic scale when it comes to the action. Miyazawa does a great job at making sure that you always understand the size of the mechs being used by our heroes are a large scale. The scale of the action mixed with the grounded drama is exactly what makes Mech Cadets tap into what makes Gundam and other franchises in the genre so great.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa once again team-up to deliver a can’t miss comic book in Mech Cadets #1. The characters continue to progress as they deal with what it means to be heroes in a world where they have rules they’re told to follow. The depth in the story along with a strong artistic presentation taps into everything that makes Gundam and other mech genre franchises great.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10