MECHA-NATION # 1

[SebastianPiccione]

Title: MECHA-NATION # 1
Rating:
Publisher Website: APE ENTERTAINMENT

Writer: Greg Weisman
Pencils: Antonio Campo
Inks:
Colors: Aleksandr de Payewsky
Number of pages: 32
Price: 3.95
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: A - Appropriate for age 9 and up.

Publishers Blurb:
MECHA-NATION #2 (of 3)
By Cook, Guler, Weisman & Campo.
32 pages, full color, $3.95
High School students Kevin, Marcus, Ray, Zehra and Susie have only recently discovered they’re true natures as STEALTH, BLAST!, TANK, CHARGE and FAHRENHEIT… and already their secret identities are at risk. Is there a mole inside Glass Lake High School? Be on time for “First Bell” – and join the MECHA-NATION!

From the supervising producers of the Spectacular Spiderman cartoon and featuring cover art by Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, Mecha-Nation is an all new take on the super hero genre. Not evolution... REVOLUTION!

Reviewer Comments:
APE is putting out an all ages book, and you can't go wrong with one written by Greg (Spectacular Spiderman, Gargoyles) Weisman. Better yet, the series is created by Greg Weisman and Vic Cook (Hellboy: Blood and Iron), and Greg Guler (Phineas and Ferb). Yeah, I'm hooked right there!

MECHA-NATION introduces us to the yet unnamed team (they're working on it) of high-school Mecha-sapiens, STEALTH (Kevin), TANK (Ray), CHARGE (Zehra), BLAST (Marcus), and FARENHEIT (Susie). These kids have the ability to turn into super powered robot-kids, or Mecha-Sapiens. The problem is, they all ready have enemies, being FIRST WAVE (Marcus fears their team will be labels SECOND WAVE), consisting of FLOOD, GRUNT, PULSE, CRANE, and VELOCITY. FIRST WAVE are the lackeys of THE FACTORY, a group of potential Aliens trying to win over mecha-sapiens for their own agenda.

The book is a lot of fun, and reads like a Saturday morning cartoon (for obvious reasons). And one of the GOOD cartoons, the kind that are fun for the kids without dumbing it down and alienating their parents.

Antonio Campo's art is clean and crisp, with that Disney's Kim-Possible look to it, which really works here. Aleksandr de Payewsy's colors really add to the animated look of this book. It has that "solid" cartoon feel, ya know?

For everyone who has wondered what comics would help usher in the new generation of readers, this is it. It's the kind that families can read together, and everyone will enjoy. Yeah, I'll be reading this with my girls.

Plus, the title's a pun. You KNOW how I love puns and word-play! Oh, yeah, I'm in.

Five stars for MECHA-NATION.

[leomartin6]

Campo’s art has a Manga flavor blended with a cartoon style, and the characters have a retro MegaMan look to them, especially when in their attractive, angled Mecha form. The wide, pupil-less eyes of the characters add to the straightforward plot, and the sharp colors make the panels and super beings really pop. Weisman is certainly not the first author to present super-powered teenagers in the fight for their freedom, yet MECHA-NATION has several aspects which set it apart and make it a worthy read for fans of the genetically superior team of teens genre.