“Wait, are they leaving without us?”
Star Blazers: The Official Battleship Of Space Battleship Yamato #0
Argo Press (March, 1995)
“Scarlet Scarf”
WRITER/ARTIST: Tim Eldred
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Bruce Lewis
COLORIST: Albert Deschesne
MANUFACTURING: John Ott
VIDEO ARCHIVIST: Jerry Fellow
The Argo has returned to Earth with the Cosmo DNA machine, restoring the planet. Now Derek Wildstar is about to be sent out to protect the planet, though not all of his former colleagues will be going with him. This has put him into such a funk that even Nova can’t seem to reach him. However, Dr. Sane gives him Captain Avatar’s log book, recalling the events of the first two seasons and their trip to and from Iscandar. Seeing these events through the Captain’s eyes is finally what breaks Derek’s funk. He may be off to outer space…again…but this time someone is waiting for him, Nova and her scarlet scarf.
What they got right: While this is just a full recap of the show for those like me who never saw either version of Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers, it uses a framing device that will also benefit those who have, by reliving events through Avatar’s experience as he watches Derek earn his place as the deputy captain. There’s also a section in the back (where the “magazine” part of the comic’s title comes in) filling in other details, like the significance of a scarlet scarf as the show’s ending theme and one scene of the dub is “The Scarlet Scarf”. It also fills in information on the history of the Yamato franchise (the previous issue discussed the old WWII ship that was used for the anime) and upcoming projects. The original art in the comic also does a good job replicating the art style of the TV series.
What they got wrong: There are a few panels that the font color makes it blend into the background because they didn’t put captions. This wasn’t fixed when part of the story was used as part of the Special Edition, so it’s a mistake made twice.
What I think overall: This is a good way to give the readers the info they need to follow the original stories to follow, while the next issue will fill in a few more bits of information.
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