Marvel's not the only big publisher trying tap into the lucrative manga market in North America. Image Comics is doing the same. Last month, it released The Agents, and now we've got Rotojin: Junkbotz. Sure, these are far from the publisher's first forays into comics with a manga style, but they're definitely part of a bigger push. Though energetic, manga storytelling doesn't often appeal to me because, more often than not, it lacks in more grounded characterization elements. As for Junkbotz, it's got that energy, but it boasts that flaw as well.
Underground robot fighting is a hugely popular, though brutal and illegal, sport in the city of Nalus Tokycom, and tonight's match promises to be exciting. It's a three-way battle among a seductive female driving star, a dirty deviant and a scientist who's developed cutting-edge new 'bot technology. Unfortnuately for Asper, the criminals who run the show have opted to hold the match at his workplace, and his girlfriend -- Dokota, a wiz with robotics herself -- comes looking for him when he doesn't come home from work.
Korim's artwork delivers when it comes to the backgrounds. I love the slick look of the city of the future and how it contrasts against the more everyday, dirty surroundings in which the main action takes place. The characters are overexaggerated, though, and there's really no need. The
robots and action are fulfill the book's over-the-top quota. Korim also falls into the trap of turning every female character into a sex object. The protagonist arches her back for no apparent reason other than to draw the reader's attention to her breasts, and the female 'bot driver's near-naked outfit is blatantly gratuitous.
Another surprising aspect of the book is how we really don't get a chance to get to know the apparent protagonists. Still, what we do know about them is enjoyable. I like Dakota's tomboy leanings, and the relationship between her and Asper works, at least on the superficial level we're presented with here.
One must also admit that the 'bot fighting is fun and exciting. Given the airing of such television shows as Battlebots, Junkyard Wars and Robot Wars, the concept of robot fighting as something of a bloodsport is a fairly plausible concept. There's plenty of potential in the concepts that serve as the title's foundation. It's just the execution that's a bit lacking.
