Let's talk about Ultraman Manga!
Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:43 pmSo there is totally a metric crapton of Ultraman manga out there and most of it looks pretty awesome, in addition to having introduced a lot of major elements of the M78 lore that we take for granted in the post-Ultra Galaxy Legends world. Long before we ever got to see the CGI wonderland that is the modern Land of Light, inhabited by the cape-wearing Ultra Brothers, the comics built that reality first! I mean, sure, you get to see the Land of Light in Ace and Taro, among other series, but the visuals we see in Legends primarily take their cues from the manga.
Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to read a ton myself. One of my biggest regrets from my last trip to Japan is that I didn't buy more books and that goes especially for manga collections. One that I DID pick up, however, was the first volume of a totally awesome retelling of the original Ultraman series called Ultraman the First.
It starts off with a bit of a recap of Ultra Q, more directly tying it into the creation of the Science Patrol and the events of Ultraman. Then it jumps straight into the action. It's fairly faithful to the original series at first but it starts making some cool changes pretty quickly (not that the original series NEEDS changing but it's still fun!). Firstly, Ultraman's color timer going off is portrayed as being extremely painful to Hayata, which I thought was an interesting concept. Then the Baltan arc is portrayed in a more dramatic tone than the more humorous TV version and Fuji is the one Baltan possesses, briefly turning her into a pretty badass-looking villain. After that it really starts to mix things up by merging the Neronga and Ragon episodes into one story, with the final battle being a three-way brawl! Ultraman has to take on both monsters while still trying to keep the nuclear bomb attached to Ragon from going off! It's pretty crazy.
The whole thing is very well paced and the artwork is very elegant. I love the style and I'll have to crib more from this artist in my future artistic endeavors!
I'll try and post some more images a little later!
So let's talk about Ultraman manga!
Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to read a ton myself. One of my biggest regrets from my last trip to Japan is that I didn't buy more books and that goes especially for manga collections. One that I DID pick up, however, was the first volume of a totally awesome retelling of the original Ultraman series called Ultraman the First.
It starts off with a bit of a recap of Ultra Q, more directly tying it into the creation of the Science Patrol and the events of Ultraman. Then it jumps straight into the action. It's fairly faithful to the original series at first but it starts making some cool changes pretty quickly (not that the original series NEEDS changing but it's still fun!). Firstly, Ultraman's color timer going off is portrayed as being extremely painful to Hayata, which I thought was an interesting concept. Then the Baltan arc is portrayed in a more dramatic tone than the more humorous TV version and Fuji is the one Baltan possesses, briefly turning her into a pretty badass-looking villain. After that it really starts to mix things up by merging the Neronga and Ragon episodes into one story, with the final battle being a three-way brawl! Ultraman has to take on both monsters while still trying to keep the nuclear bomb attached to Ragon from going off! It's pretty crazy.
The whole thing is very well paced and the artwork is very elegant. I love the style and I'll have to crib more from this artist in my future artistic endeavors!
I'll try and post some more images a little later!
So let's talk about Ultraman manga!
I like the concept of a world going to hell with giant monsters and then Ultraman arrives....
