Phantom v1 Review - manga reviews, manga news, manga information, manga comics, manga webcomics, manga artists, Dark Horse, TokyoPop, Viz, Digital Manga Publishing, CMX, CPM, Central Park Manga, Broccoli Books, Del Rey

Creators: Ki-Hoon Lee, Seung-yup Cho
Publisher: TokyoPop
Age Rating: All Ages
Genre: Action
RRP: $9.99
Phantom v1
Reviewed by Javier Lugo

I decided to try out PHANTOM when I was reviewing my February comic book order list from my favorite online comic book shop. I checked out the description and it just sounded really good: Mechas, inner city fighting and lots of shooting. Hey, I watched a few watched a few of the first episodes of Robotech when I was a kid and all of my mecha viewing taste has to compare to that. Sight unseen, I decided to give it a try.

I’m happy to say that PHANTOM was a good purchase. The story is set up fairly quickly and the protagonists all start off fulfilling their roles as expected: hot shot young man ignores the chick that likes him; hot mecha driver underestimates our hero, hero has to deal with obnoxious boss. But then the tables are turned as the bad guys are revealed to be freedom fighters, the good guys are not as powerful as you would expect and the real power brokers, called The Iron, are more dangerous and deadly than anyone expected.

The action is intense and the fights are well done. The city looks spectacular as the mechas fight among them. The art is believable and quite exquisite at times during the battles and in setting the environment. The story goes in some unexpected territory like kidnapping, snipers, terrorists, betrayal and emotional blackmail, so no complaints on my part about the story being sophisticated enough.

It’s the art that confuses me a times. At times I don’t understand what the art is trying to tell me. The art gets confusing and turns into a mess that I can’t simply identify which mecha is doing what to whom.
While the designs of the mechas are very impressive, in the fighting sequences it’s hard to tell if the “good guy” is the one beating the crap out of the bad guys. I can only assume so because the good guy is the last one that speaks in a field full of destroyed fighters.

Otherwise, it is a strong story with plenty of intrigue and plots that can go in many directions. It’s the unpredictability of the plot that is the strong point of this series, and I look forward to reading more PHANTOM whenever Tokyopop decides to release further volumes.

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