Devil’s Due’s newest attempt at raping the eighties comes in the form of their newly acquired property, Voltron. If you are not familiar with the source material, Voltron (or Go Lion in Japan) was a cartoon about six teenagers given the responsibility to pilot the savior of the universe and fight a different monster every week. Think Power Rangers, but animated.

This comic will send you back in time, but not in an “Oh no! I’m kissing my mom!” kind of way. This is a throwback to the days of creators saying “That old stuff is stupid, I’m going to have it make sense. That way, when the alien flying in his underpants saves people from a pants-less alien computer, it will seem realistic.” Which is unfortunate, because Voltron actually had potential. This book suffers from Devil’s Due’s knack of trying to instill a gritty sensibility into a goofy cartoon universe. Instead it gives played out reasoning where it isn’t needed. In this case a band of ragtag misfits are given one last chance to redeem themselves by saving the universe. After that it becomes the A-Team in space, with each members' special ability ranging from expert marksman to champion ham swallower. Except the dialogue lacks the wit of “Murdock, you crazy fool!”

This book goes nowhere fast. Granted, you get from crew introduction to finding the first lion. All the main characters do get introduced as well. However, in the end, nothing has really happened. This is mainly due to the writer’s poor attempt at focusing on the characters rather than the robot or the war that is vaguely hinted at. Voltron isn’t supposed to be a touchy, feely, what-makes-a-pilot-tick story. Voltron is about a giant robot beating the crap out of giant monsters to save the universe, and this book does little to prove otherwise. What you get is a series of ho-hum events that don’t take you very far, and you’re treated to bad movie dialogue the whole way through.

The art doesn’t make up for this, either. Voltron is filled with stiff poses, boring panel design, and a general lack of talent. The painted backgrounds are laughably bad, and the characters never stay on model. Also, giant robots and spaceship crashes should feel big and dynamic. Instead you’re taken on an unexceptional trip with Hunk’s amazing shape changing head.

Mishandling the property is what makes this book terrible. There’s really no excuse for this either, as the consequences for this have already been proven in the late nineties incarnation Voltron The Third Dimension. That show did fine until they got the bright idea to redesign Voltron in the form of eggs. In the end you’re left with just a mediocre comic. You know what is good? That new Criterion Kurosawa set. Go buy that instead.

To Put It Bluntly--Beyond the source material, Voltron is just another bland jaunt into space. The writing is poor and the art is good enough to not be horrible. If you’re a fan of Devils Due’s Micronauts, you’ll probably like this. If you prefer your comics to be less crappy though, give it a pass and go form your own head.

--Mike Suarez


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