Mech Cadet Yu

What's the point of using all this paper to print a separate volume if it's gonna contain only 4 chapters? Well, I mean, profit, obviously. But I find it so annoying. What do you get in four chapters? Usually, barely anything. So that's where I am with this comic.

The premise is very cliche - you have an academy for young people where they are trained to pilot giant robots so they can defeat evil aliens. Yes, it has some cosmetic differences from the other books of the genre, but as I was reading this volume, I kept getting Voltron flashbacks. And as someone who thinks that Voltron was a disaster of a cartoon (ruined by whoever was trying to profit from it and a horrible, toxic fandom), this isn't exactly the association I enjoy.

And here's the thing - this is only the initial feel of the comic. It feels like it can be so much more than that, like it has tremendous potential, but the publisher wants you to get the next brochure volume to see if it actually develops into its own thing.

I guess I'm just being ranty. I'm sure sure it will. It's just I've seen other examples on Boom! Studios works with tiny volumes go sour before and maybe got a little bit cautious.

There are several things I like about the first four chapters. I like how the characters are introduced and the fact that we get to learn so much about two of their personalities in such a short span of pages. I like that the mean (possibly corrupt) angry general guy is Korean- American, and not another Evil White Man™. Heck, the ethnic representation is really great in this comic! I also like that the robots are more than just battle suits - they are intelligent and have feelings! Although some of the designs are veeery lazy. But visuals is something I get used to easily.

The volume ends on a cliffhanger and I'm pretty sure I'll read the next one to find out what's gonna happen, but at this point it's very hard to properly tell how I feel about it, when so little has happened.