But is he a ninja?
Gamera #2
Dark Horse (September, 1996)
WRITER: Dave Chipps PENCILER: Mozart Couto INKER: Mike Sellers COLORIST: Art Knight COVER ART: Mitsuaki Hashimoto LETTERER: Clem Robins DESIGNER: Mark Cox EDITOR: Randy Stradley
His conscience getting the better of him, Lutz goes after Asagi and she gives Gamera a plan for taking the Gyaos out. He leaves her with the doctors but takes the amulet, telling himself it’s to protect the teenager but when he tries to use it to help Gamera against a new monster (that apparently is named Zigra and some alien lady is coming for) Gamera gets his butt kicked. Meanwhile, Dr. Nagamine makes her escape from Doctor Karbone and Gusano by blowing up part of the island. The two bad guys make their getaway but Karbone only wants to save one monster, Viras–who is slowly taking control of Karbone!
What they got right: Viras and Zigra are from the original movies but never appeared in the rebooted universe like Godzilla’s famous foes did and didn’t appear in another film outside of stock footage in Gamera: Super Monster. So seeing them in this new universe in comic form was nice to see, and they do a good job with it. Viras is part of a continuation of the Atlantis kaiju that ends up taking control of his creator while Zigra is now an escaped superweapon. Zigra also gets to be unique in that he is more of a sea monster than the flying threat of the original movies.
What they got wrong: Which I’m sure will annoy classic Gamera fans. Also, alien lady’s written and spoken language has to be translated–BY THE READER using a code at the back of the book. I’ve never seen that in a comic that obviously isn’t targeted to kids. This is also how I know Zigra’s name and brief backstory at this point.
Recommendation: I’m still enjoying this comic. Gamera fans should give it a look.
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