“I’d like to see that mosquito survive THIS!”
Crusher Joe #1
Ironcat LLC (January, 1999)
“The Legend Of St. Germi” ORIGINAL CREATOR: Haruka Takachino ARTIST: Fujihiko Hosono TRANSLATOR: Kuni Kimura TEXT CLARIFICATION: Sachiko Uchida TOUCH UP ART: Steve Bennett COVER ASSEMBLY: Hitoshi “Otagod” Usami LAYOUT: Mark Hofmann EDITOR: Kevin Bennett
In the 2160s, Crushers take on dangerous cargo missions. The novels this comic miniseries series and the anime were based the novels following the crew of the Minerva–title character and ship captain Joe, former princess (and occasional love interest for Joe) Alfin, cyborg Talos (who served with Joe’s famous father, Dan), young engineer Ricky, and robot aide Dongo.
This tale begins with a ship called the St. Germi, a space freighter that went crazy three years ago and warped out of control. It constantly reappears in normal space and has taken to be called a ghost ship. The former captain has hired Joe and his team to find the ship and blow it up so he can collect the insurance money finally. Unbeknownst to our heroes, another survivor has hired mercenaries to find the ship and the illegal ore it contains. When our heroes find the ship, he and Alfin board to investigate and finds the crew long dead before being attacked by the robots, and Dongo seems to be affected as well even though he’s back on the Minerva!
What they got right: The mystery of the St. Germi is setup nicely. The art is pretty good.
What they got wrong: Maybe tomorrow’s read will explain this, but the story ends with Joe flashing back to a time he was a kid joining his dad on a routine mission that I guess is going to go wrong. Will it serve a purpose? Also, the whole crew isn’t named in the story so unless you read the novels (unlikely in the US) or saw the anime you won’t know who these people are. Finally, exposition is rather clunky. For example, Joe comes out and asks if there is anything illegal on board and specifically mentions a banned ore, Decale-B “which is banned from transportation” with no reason to say it like that. (As it turns out the ship WAS carrying Decale-B, although whether or not the captain knows it is to be determined.)
Recommendation: We’re off to a good start, but we’ll see tomorrow where things go.
BW Media Spotlight 
Thanks for the trip down memory lane with the review of Crusher Joe. I think I might have had a Japanese imported model from Crusher Joe of a space ship.
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