Ultraman Tiga (Issues 1 & 2)
Story: Tony Wong
Interior Art: Khoo Fuk Lung
Cover Art: Alvin Lee, Alan Tam, and Arnold Tsang (issue 1)
                    Mark Brooks, and Arnold Tsang (issue 2)
Adaption: Kin Siu-Chong, Michelle Lee, and Thomas Andrews
Published Domestically by: Dark Horse Comics
Review by: JR the Comicmonster

Story

30 million years ago, an ancient but advanced civilization faced the destructive threat of an onslaught of invading giant monsters. Their salvation came in the form of 3 giant warriors from space, known as Ultraman. Now in the 21st century, the invasion of giant monsters has started once again and Earth’s only defense, a small, elite group known as the Global Unlimited Task Force (or G.U.T.S. for short) finds itself taxed to the limits handling this unexpected threat.

However, hope comes in the form of a message from the past. A holographic message instructs G.U.T.S to revive their one hope of combating the monster, the heroes of old, the Ultraman. This message strikes a particular chord with hot shot G.U.T.S. pilot Daigo, a descendent of the ancient race of beings. Thus driven, the young pilot finds and resurrects the Ultraman known as Tiga to fight on humanity’s side. But as the other two Ultra-statues are destroyed, will Tiga’s strength alone be enough to turn the tide in humanity’s favor?

Review

After an absence of around 10 years or so, Ultraman returns to the U.S. comics’ market with Dark Horse’s adaptation of the ULTRAMAN TIGA comic originally published in Hong Kong and to be blunt, I liked it, a lot. While some of the past Ultraman offerings may have (admittedly) come up a bit short, Tiga really delivers with some breathtaking & impressive artwork and pacing that really makes the story move.

Art

Before these issues had been released I had read several times that Khoo Fuk Lung had won awards for his artwork (it mentions this in a letter column in the first issue as well), and now having seen 2 issues, I can really see why. I must have spent several minutes gazing over the 2 page kaiju spread at the beginning of issue #1 alone. The comic uses a mixture of pen and ink stylings with what looks to be watercolour works, sometimes in the same panel, and makes for a rather captivating visual. Though this technique isn’t rare in Hong Kong, its use here seems to really add to mood of Ultraman, effectively being awe-inspiring or intense when it needs to do so. Action sequences give off both a sense of speed and impact while dialog scenes maintain a sense of being dynamic. The world of Ultraman is given an appropriate sense of larger than life scale in terms of both size and destruction caused. Some of the panels could be turned into posters, and I personally hope Dark Horse chooses to make the back cover to issue # 1 as some form of wall-art.

I should note that the G.U.T.S. team is represented by characterizations rather than trying to capture likenesses of the actors like most film to comic adaptations do. While this might be a tad off-putting or confusing to some at first, I feel it helps give a sense of G.U.T.S. being a global organization. There is a character guide on the interior front covers (of both issues) to alleviate any potential confusion, a good move on the publishers part. Issue 2 also provides a character profile page at the end of the comic.

Story

These first 2 issues of the mini-series are a retelling /reworking of the first episode of the Ultraman Tiga television series, so no prior knowledge of the character is really needed. Though those, like myself, who are already familiar with the story will find that the comic goes into more depth than the show tended to. Things like showing us the events of Yazure’s society of 30 million years ago, and having Daigo involved in a battle with the monster Golza before actually becoming aware of Tiga (among other touches) help to really flesh out the characters and personalities.

Those worried about some of the same, often criticized, changes that plagued the show’s Fox Box airing from last year, need not fear too much. While there are some alterations in terms of the timeline (the year 2040 is used instead of 2007) and names (Dark Horse’s website alludes that they’re using “omni-mode” instead of the original “multi-mode”), none of the horrendously awful, just plain juvenile, dubbed in humor (mother-in-law and fart jokes) rears it’s ugly head in these pages. So please don’t let any such fear stop you from picking this comic up

Conclusion

Make sure to pick up this comic up, as it’s an enjoyable read that is great to look at.

JR the Comicmonster