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.

There are only so many times I can repeat the same comments about every issue of Origin, so I'm expecting reviews of this series to be much shorter from now on. Looking over the finished review, I realise the futility of this idea. I've also dispensed with summarising the overall goings on in each volume, you can read Chris' reviews at MAHQ for that kind of information. Instead I shall summarise. Volume six continues the White Base and Char's arrival on Earth as the ragtag bunch of Feddies try and make their way to friendly territory whilst Char and Garma take every opportunity to try and take them down. It's a period of chaos, naked Char and the appearance of Matilda. Yes, naked Char - try and contain yourselves.

The tensions on the White Base are running high, and the continued feeling of chaos is nicely maintained. There's a good juxtaposition of disorder and upset amongst the Federation amateurs and Char & Garma of Zeon, relaxing in the sun. Yas is good (or perhaps it's just that the original Mobile Suit Gundam series was?) at showing that both sides of the war are just as human as each other. Speaking of "being human", everyone's favourite introvert, Amuro, is ill at ease with his role as saviour of the ship (of which he is less than in the movies, which I continue to appreciate) and flicks between feeling embarrassed and being arrogant about it.

The usually beautiful colour artwork that Yas usually kicks off a volume with is... well, muddy for a few pages and then wishy washy for the rest. It's an unfortunately drab effort compared to some of the excellent pieces that have appeared in previous books. As if to make up for it there's an excellent page of Char standing on his Zaku hatch midway through this volume, which I'd have loved to see in colour but still looks great in black and white. Yas' art continues its relaxed style, which results equally in great characters and occasionally empty panels. However, it always surprises me how well it suits mobile suits and the action scenes. They have the energy and expression that permeates the original animated series too, which I love to see. He also makes good use of smoke and dust in the battles, which gives the correct atmosphere of chaos and confusion.

One thing I've certainly not missed by not reviewing Origin is the pacing of the dialogue. The conversation between Char and Garma at the start of the book nearly had me throwing out of my open window in frustration. It's embarrassingly badly done to spread simple two beat sentences out across multiple balloons like this. It's true that you get used to it as the pages go on, but you shouldn't have to and it's my biggest complaint with Origin so far. Despite that, this volume did start to click with me with regards to how it works as a series. It would appear Origin is the closest Japanese Comics can get to a serious Gundam comics tale and it's satisfactory. It's got a much more sedate pace than G-UNIT and Astray, for example (which work on a much more fun, fast, action-packed pulpy track). It's the only way to tell the kind of involved stories, such as the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, that Gundam is so good at. Basically this is another solid volume of Origin, a series that I continue to enjoy but still fails to really light my world on fire.