NOW! Comics's Little Sister: Gigantor the Comic

[Fauna]

I mentioned Tetsujin 28 in my Obscure Anime thread, along with its ties to the 1963 series redubbed Gigantor. Most baby boomers remember it for being badly animated, the wacky dub names (Dick Strong the secret agent, for example) and the parent council complaints over the robot violence.

About a year ago, I had this creepy, creepy feeling that there was an American comic version of Gigantor. I would have occasional dreams about it while I was working on my NOW! Comics Astro Boy reviews, and sometimes nightmares where Ken Steacy was drawing them. So, imagine my shock, delight and horror when I found there was actually an American series.
With twelve issues done by Antarctic Press in 2000, this series has moderately high quality art and retains the original character designs as closely as possible...but everybody's got the crazy Fred Ladd names and more. My personal favourite character, Kenji Murasame, has his classic cloud-shaped hair and pink suit, but is still called Dick Strong. Zangetsu from Giant Robo appears, renamed 'Lord Jim'. And the short, pudgy Chief Otsuka-- er, Inspector Blooper looks terrible with shiny anime eyes.




It's not good. :C

I've only got issues 1, 2 and 12, but the rest of the series is coming in the mail. I'll come up with some basic scans, but after I wind up my NOW! Comics reviews, Gigantor will be my next series.

[The Tawashi Bus Hat]

*dances* It's already making me feel uncomfortable!

[Dr. Jerk]

Makes me wonder if the actual artwork looks anything like the cover, which looks quite decent.

[Fauna]

Here we go, kids! Since this comic is still technically in print by Antarctic Comics (they still sell back issues from their website), there's a change in the procedures to display it. Since the comic belongs to AC but is neither in print or heavily-available, I've scanned the first six issues and put them together on MegaUpload. I am legally-required to tell you that these are totally free, and if you make money off the images within somehow, then you're...going to hell.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1N77LWA0

"But Fauna," you moan from behind your magical compu-television screen. "That's almost fifty megabytes there! What's in it for me? What can these comics give me that NOW! Comics won't?"

Well, I've looked through the whole thing, and I realize it's the NOW! Effect in reverse. If you're really into Tetsujin (or even Giant Robo), you'll be fascinated by how the one guy who loved Tetsujin (Ted Nomura) got to help with the series first, then dropped out halfway through and left it all to a guy whose true talent is drawing boobs. As you may assume, the art went from colourful and shiny and okay to ffffff. Let's have a look at what's in store for you!


Wacky dub names and okay-looking people!


Rivetting dialogue!


Sigh... Kenji Murasame!


And the happiest darn submarine in the whole world!

My reviews and the final six issues (ohhh man, wait until you see those) will be coming sometime after I finish all my exams, this being sometime after January 27th.


Ben Dunn is our Ken Steacy this time around. Except, since his assistants all draw the same, there's no one person I can hate for the artwork. This makes me feel great, since I can just relax and spaz out as much as I want over the content of the comic. To give you an idea of what Dunn likes drawing elsewhere, this here is an ad from the back of Gigantor #6 for one How To Draw Manga book...with three different covers, which supposedly make one big "mural". What's the point? The first one looks pretty good for a book telling you how to draw, but the third one looks like a gender-swapped Street Fighter yuri fan fiction cover, and the second one looks like it's going to show you how to draw different types of porn.

GIANT ROBO CHARACTERS WHO WERE RECYCLED:
Zangetsu the Midday = Lord Jim
Agent Ginrei = Emma East
Cervantes the Dazzling = Prince Mecha
Lord Alberto the Impact = Count Alberto
Chief Chujo the Silent & Professor Go Gakujin = Dr. Lazurus
Kenji Murasame the Immortal (GR design + Tetsujin role) = Dick Strong


Now, let's enjoy some Gigantor!

[Fauna]

Doublepost Because I Can't Edit My Post: In the event that Jeffbert takes the link out of the above post due to it all being a little illegal, you'll have to PM me for the link of either version.

I'll be taking every precaution with legal protection, because these are going to be some insanely-harsh reviews, you see. Now more than ever is there a risk of the person I'm yelling at to see my writing.

[The Tawashi Bus Hat]

OMG Fauna I love you. *glomptackledies* Downloading them right now. ^_^ (Psst, if they somehow get taken down by the internet police...they just might end up back online somewhere...hehehe...)

BTW, I'm saving that happy submarine picture.

[Fauna]

Well, here's the first article! It's sort of short, since the issue itself is only 16 pages and contains about half the information/lulzy material per page as the NOW! Comics issues (an explosion takes like three pages), but I tried to make up for it by making little Megaman-style "YOU GOT ____" badges each time there was a cameo.

And it's true; I did predict this series's existance through a dream.

http://audobonbridge.tripod.com/toontown/gig1.html
TEXT NOT SAFE FOR WORK, TEXT NOT SAFE FOR WORK, TEXT NOT-- *explodes*

[Fauna]

Double-posting here, but the second review is up for anyone to see.

Nine year olds can feel a giant robot's heartbeat! I can seeee~!

The only things I have to warn you about are my profuse swearing when Dunn rips off several Marvel Comics characters, and my usual brand of gay (i.e. talking about Chief Chujo and Professor Go, and their cameoing genetetically-engineereed son).



Donuts.

[Tetsuwan Atom]

Well the hole comic series is also in the Gigantor DVD set's as digital PDF's i haven't read it yet because i was kinda disepointed about the anime it started verry weird because Fred Ladd had to start with the 26th or 27th episode of the Japanese version because the guys at TMS studio's if i'm good with that where not that skilled so the firtst episodes looked to crappy in qality to sell to a american company but besides that i prefer Astro Boy The 8TH man and Prince Planet when it comes to still avallible english black and white series.

[Fauna]

Well the hole comic series is also in the Gigantor DVD set's as digital PDF's i haven't read it yet because i was kinda disepointed about the anime it started verry weird because Fred Ladd had to start with the 26th or 27th episode of the Japanese version because the guys at TMS studio's if i'm good with that where not that skilled so the firtst episodes looked to crappy in qality to sell to a american company but besides that i prefer Astro Boy The 8TH man and Prince Planet when it comes to still avallible english black and white series.

Being honest, the 1963 anime of Tetsujin 28 is seriously pretty bad...Fred Ladd could only get every episode after the first 26, since the studio was worried about the kind of content in them (it focuses on the atomic bomb, the subsequent destruction of Japan, and the misery of war). So he got to dub some of the worst-animated episodes, and had to make the story look like it was about three dudes and a kid who lived with a robot in New York.

And so the comic follows the English version too closely, so it gets pretty bad. (Personally, my favourite Tetsujin anime is the 2004 version, but it wasn't around when this comic was created to give any ideas.)