NOW Comics Astro Boy - Issue Eighteen

Talk about all things Astro Boy!
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Fauna
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Postby Fauna » 13 years ago

"The Tawashi Bus Hat" wrote:Gosh, you're almost done with them! xD What are you gonna do afterward? Review the ACTUAL manga lol?


I'm either going to relax for a few months and get through some other kinds of articles - maybe make a photo comics series with my Revoltech figures - or get into reviewing a different comic series that was created under similar circumstances as NOW!'s Astro Boy...

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I have all the issues. That girl on the cover never appears anywhere in the series.

This is Tetsujin 28, rechristened under the name of its 1963 dubbed alternative, along with all the characters within. Sometimes I do like to follow under dub names if they're infamous enough (I mean, I call Astro that and not Atom, and sometimes Serena/Bunny is easier to say than Usagi), but I can't do it with Tetsujin. Especially not if people are named Bob Brilliant, Inspector Blooper, or...snrk...Agent Dick Strong.

I'm going to go work on the second-last review. I might not be as harsh in this one, but I'll probably have something for the last one and plenty for all of Gigantor.
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Postby AprilSeven » 13 years ago

"Gigantor the space-age rooobot! Heeee's at! Your command!"

I watched the 60's anime (along with Kimba, Speed Racer, and 8th Man -- none of them appealed to me as much as Astro Boy (although I recognized the voice actors in Kimba, which I found strangely comforting. I guess I thought just MAYBE Astro would return. I had to wait over 40 years!!!)

I'll bet I enjoy Gigantor more in it's original form -- it just seemed like "something was missing" -- like, WHY, would such a powerful robot be "remote controlled" and by a little boy...?" AND YET -- this is more true to reality than Astro Boy -- think of all the little "drone" robotic spy planes the military uses now. hmmmm... :shifty: :ninja:
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Postby Fauna » 13 years ago

"AprilSeven" wrote:I'll bet I enjoy Gigantor more in it's original form -- it just seemed like "something was missing" -- like, WHY, would such a powerful robot be "remote controlled" and by a little boy...?" AND YET -- this is more true to reality than Astro Boy -- think of all the little "drone" robotic spy planes the military uses now. hmmmm... :shifty: :ninja:


There's actually a whole chunk of story that got cut out of the original American version...the Japanese studio asked Fred Ladd not to dub the first 26 episodes because of dark wartime material, so I applaud him for trying to make a story come out of what he had access to.

In super-short, Gigantor/Tetsujin was made during WWII as a super weapon by a Dr. Kaneda hoping to replace his supposedly-dead son (Jimmy/Shotaro). He died when his lab was bombed, but the robot was discovered a decade later by Shotaro, the police chief (Otsuka/Blooper) and Kaneda's former assistant (Shikishima/Bob Brilliant). Shikishima decides Shotaro should be the master of Tetsujin by default...and elsewhere, Dick Strong/Kenji Murasame and his older brother Ryusaku were gentlemen thieves who tried to steal Tetsujin, up until Ryusaku dies in an accident.

And then, it became the story of Jimmy living on an island with Blooper and Dick, and Brilliant was now related to him. :lol: The comic series takes bits from the original origin, but not very much.
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Postby The Tawashi Bus Hat » 13 years ago

Oh my god, I've wanted to read those so bad. xD (I'm a secret Tetsujin 28 fan. Used to watch it all the time when I was little.) Saw those at the comic store a long time ago, but never actually got them.

I can't wait for you to tackle those! I don't think they could be as bad as the NOW! comics though....right?

...right?
*dust*

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Postby Fauna » 13 years ago

"The Tawashi Bus Hat" wrote:Oh my god, I've wanted to read those so bad. xD (I'm a secret Tetsujin 28 fan. Used to watch it all the time when I was little.) Saw those at the comic store a long time ago, but never actually got them.

I can't wait for you to tackle those! I don't think they could be as bad as the NOW! comics though....right?

...right?


Yay, another Tetsujin fan! :w00t: I'm so excited that I call this thread to be temporarily no longer about Astro.

The comic is...well, a little disappointing, depending on who your favourite characters are. I'll break it down quickly for you...

Issue 1-3: Gigantor's origin in full colour, with a bit of flashback. Several Giant Robo characters are pulled in and modified, including what I absolutely swear is the Aryan offspring of Chief Chujo and Professor Go. I kid you not:
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Issue 4-6: Inspector Blooper shows up, looking terrible, with a face shaped like a butt and giant shiny moe eyes. Everybody goes to space, and Shotaro gets help from two kids that look like they're from Digimon.
Issue 7-9: Surprise, everything's in black and white now! These issues remake the first English episode of Gigantor, and the art quality goes down.
Issue 10-12: New artist, whom is so different it's jarring. The last issue features Jimmy Sparks beating up a man until he falls asleep (I almost wrote "feels asleep" there), and previews for a "Gigantor-G3" series that never happened.

It's worth mentioning that Agent Dick Strong/Kenji Murasame has the worst action phrases ever. This is terrible because he's my favourite Tetsujin character.

"Time to make the donuts!"
"Ah, here comes my pigeon now!"
"Looks like it's time to put that canary back in his cage!"
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Postby Fauna » 13 years ago

My eye hurts, I'm double-posting, I'm nervous about finding an affordable animation college, and I think a midget may have been hitting on me. But I have an article ready tonight, and that's what counts. Image

http://audobonbridge.tripod.com/toontown/now19.html
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Postby Dr. Jerk » 13 years ago

Is Toon Town your own website? Looks good, I'll be sure to follow it.

And, good luck on your collage search.

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Postby Fauna » 13 years ago

Well, it's done. I let loose on this article, hinted at the upcoming review series, issued an apology to Steacy in case he ever sees the article series, and talked crap about Caputo. More importantly, everything is done.

http://audobonbridge.tripod.com/toontown/now20.html
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Postby The Tawashi Bus Hat » 13 years ago

*applause* Congratulations! Bet it's nice to be able to put those comics in an oh-so-small shoebox for the next 30 years, eh? :D

Is it just me, or does it seem like this final issue had the crappiest color job? I mean, most panels have...what, 3...4 colors, max? :shifty: I think they knew the series was going to die. Yeah...they knew...

Excited about those Gigantor comics. :lol: My mind is riddled with the possibilities of how awful it will be.

(That picture you posted with the guy holding the pipe made me think of Ace Attorney for some weird reason...which of course made me think of Professor Layton...which of course made me want this right now...)
*dust*

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Postby Dr. Jerk » 13 years ago

"The Tawashi Bus Hat" wrote:*applause* Congratulations! Bet it's nice to be able to put those comics in an oh-so-small shoebox for the next 30 years, eh? :D

Is it just me, or does it seem like this final issue had the crappiest color job? I mean, most panels have...what, 3...4 colors, max? :shifty: I think they knew the series was going to die. Yeah...they knew...

Excited about those Gigantor comics. :lol: My mind is riddled with the possibilities of how awful it will be.

(That picture you posted with the guy holding the pipe made me think of Ace Attorney for some weird reason...which of course made me think of Professor Layton...which of course made me want this right now...)


I can't help but ask if you're also an Ace Attorney fan.

And, congrats Fauna. I imagine it certainly took quite a bit out of you to review all of those issues. Then again, they also look pretty short, so... but I could be wrong.


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