Written & Illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Published in the west by Viz Comics (right to left), $7.95 (US) max, available from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk and any other suppliers of Gundam books.

Overview

The second volume of this manga picks up where we left off in volume one, with Amuro looking intently towards the trailer-ridden Gundam. Amuro gets into the Gundam and starts it up, this time using knowledge he remembers from his hacking into Tem's files, not a manual on his knees! The resulting conflict with Gene goes much the same as in the show except that it's his father via radio that prods him to using the beam saber. The combat with Denim goes much the same and the post-battle activity sticks closely to what I know of the TV series version of events. The one change that springs to mind is the Captain Paulo's sortie in a gunboat with Ryu Jose and another crewman. It's this that results in his fatal injury and his orders before leaving in the boat place Bright in command. There is no meeting with Char inside the colony (which is certainly where he and Sayla meet in the movies) and the second volume finishes as Char's gloriously depicted Zaku is racing towards the White Base.

Opinion

The art in this volume is as strong as it was in the previous one. The colour sections appear three times here and I think they're even better than the colour art in volume one. The first one covers Amuro's dangerous dash and scrabble to the Gundam cockpit and looks suitably cloudy and tense. The second depicts the frustrating slow rise of the Gundam and finishes on a beautiful full page painting of the mobile suit stood up for the first time. The final colour section finishes this volume and is perhaps the most spectacular of the lot. The battle looks fantastic with gorgeous beams arcing after missiles and great explosions in space. The tense bridge scene as they realise they're facing Char is followed by the absolutely wondrous paintings of the charging (in traditional shoulder first manner) Char's Zaku. There is some very nice lineart with commentary to finish off the manga.

As there is more dialogue to be found in this volume its disjointed, spread across the page, nature is much more apparent. However if you're reading these one after the other then you'll find it irks you less as you get used to it. The pace of the first volume (despite it not even covering the first MSG episode's events) is maintained here as we flick from the centre stage of Amuro and the captain's heroics to the chaos of evacuation and Sayla & Fraw's last minute refugee hunting. Kai's introduction here didn't really work for me as an ignorant westerner. Sayla's anger at his casual speech patterns seemed unwarranted and merely resulted in me disliking her as a character so far. The initial sortie for Amuro in the Gundam feels suitably messy (in the sense that Amuro doesn't know what he's doing) and is well represented visually. The leaving Side 7 is nicely tense and sets things up properly for the first conflict with Char in the next book. So far this series is progressing well at its appropriately slow pace (I prefer seeing everything get the time it deserves rather than rushing through just to advance the plot). The art adds more to the value for money in this issue as you get many more gloriously painted colour pages. I'd once again recommend picking this up to any Gundam fan.

Written to Blur - Black Book