I’d make a joke but this represents a bittersweet ending.
Star Blazers: The Magazine Of Space Battleship Yamato #5
Argo Press (April, 1996)
“The New Voyage” finale
WRITER/ARTIST: Tim Eldred
COLOR/SPECIAL EFFECTS: John Ott & Tim Eldred
COVER ART/COLOR: Tim Eldred & E.M. Kane
Our heroes come up with a plan to free Iscandar from the star’s gravity but the Dark Nebula enacts it first, claiming the planet as their prize. They want the Iscardium to power their war machines, but Desslok, after a failure to destroy it, manages to damage the enemy’s battleship enough for the Yamato‘s wave motion gun to finish it off. Starsha stops Desslok’s sacrifice, allowing the Dark Nebula to take Iscandar, but sends Alex and their daughter to the Star Force while she destroys the planet, taking the Dark Nebula’s battleship with it. Desslok vows to find a planet for his people and Alex goes back to Earth with his daughter.
What they got right: It’s a bittersweet end but one that allows the factions who actually took part in the series (from what I can tell, mind you, so if you’ve seen the show feel free to correct me–it just seems like Starsha provided the McGuffin to save the Earth) while allowing Starsha to fight against the conquest-happy Dark Nebulans. The art is still good.
What they got wrong: Even taking the articles into consideration (including the history of the real Yamato and more about the original asteroid ship concept of the show) the story just feels short, like they didn’t have enough left of the movie to adapt.
What I think overall: Taking the four parts together this is a good story and I want to see the movie…but I also want to see more than the first few episodes of the show first.
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