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Junk
Force #1
1/JAN/2004
Publisher: ComicsOne
Writer: Hideki Kakinuma
Translation: Toshi Hosaka
Art: Yusuke Ken
Mecha Design: Kenichi Matukawa
Price: $9.95 US/R70.00 SA
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ComicsOne is fast developing itself as a top competitor
in the diverse English Manga marketplace. One of their new titles
for 2004 is Junk Force, a sci-fi comedy adventure
described as ‘Tanks, guns and feisty young women…’,
what more could you ask for?
It’s the year 2100 and the Earth is a wasteland after the
LWW [Last World War] has destroyed most of the
surface world. Large factions of survivors have left Earth in an
attempt to colonize Mars while the rest have been left behind. The
government is purifying the planet via the use of nanomachine
technology, but these machines have gone awry and started
to kill the surviving humans. Now it’s up to four young adventurers
to fight back and stop the total destruction of humankind on planet
earth…and have some fun along the way!
When a manga is advertised as having the three ‘essential
ingredients’ of guns, girls and tanks you kind of
get the idea straight away of what to expect next. Action, fan service,
action and more fan service, with just enough of a storyline to
hold together just a little bit more action. Although this book
starts out in this manner, boobs galore and fight scenes all over
the place, I was pleasantly surprised to see it gather itself and
focus on some back story and scene setting as well as character
and relationship development in it’s second half.
Around the middle of the first volume the story changes from zany
over-the-top comedy and action to the interesting back
story of the primary character Louis. His escape from the
nanomachines and the subsequent explanation of the demise of the
planet and the L.W.W. It’s like this book was split into two
halves, in which the flippant and almost confusing first half does
little to match the well constructed second half. The humor is still
around but the second half of the book just seems so much more purposeful
in its design and implantation than the first.
Although this book is highly comedic for the majority of the time
there are neat one page ‘tech notes’
slipped in between each chapter. These help to build up and offer
some explanation for the sci-fi world in which the story is based
and help to keep it grounded so as not to become a complete farce.
The artwork is standard comedy based manga stuff, it does the job
but is no great shakes. A lot of the action scenes are way too confusingly
drawn with bad angles, small tight overlapping panels and enough
sound effects to sink the Titanic. The sound effect overlapping
between Japanese and English character sets end up disrupting and
blocking out the action in parts and thus making it very confusing
to see exactly what is happening.
If you are one of those people who dig three hot chicks and one
guy stuck in a ‘Star Wars Tattooine’
landscape with nothing but a few giant mecha to play with, then
this is right up your ally.
Score 5/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
