Customer Reviews

Gear School Volume 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sometime in the future, humans are at war with an alien race that pilots giant insectoid ships. The only way to fight this threat is to use "Gears", highly advanced fighter planes. 13-year-old Teresa Gottlieb is enrolled in the highly prestigious Gear School, which functions as a training ground for future Gear pilots. Though she is very devoted to her studies, she isn't having much luck in the pilot simulations. She's always getting chewed out by her superior, Captain Tsing, for her incompetence. Besides the academic and military challenges, she also has to put up with a bully named Becky who is trying to quash any hopes of a crush she has on another student named Ben Castillo. When she overhears some of the faculty reporting that the aliens might have some sort of teleportation power, she and her best friend Moira laugh it off. That is, until a large alien ship rips a gash in the sky during her first actual Gear flight!

I picked this book up on a whim at the comic store, owing to its in your face homage to manga and anime. I mean, you can't get more Japanese than having the fate of the world in the hands of a bunch of young kid pilots that have never even been in battle before! Can anyone say Evangelion, Stratos 4, Stellvia? The art is great and the panel layout and pace is done in a much slower pace than most American comics. Both the writing and the art allows for some much needed moments of reflection and depth by the main character. There is no volume number on this book, so I hope it's not just a one-shot because it feels like a beginning, not an end. This is a great read for girls and guys alike and strikes a middle road between American comics and manga.

I had purchased another of Adam Gallardo's books, "100 Girls" and liked it, so I decided to buy "Gear School" and frankly, I liked it even more. It's a straight up aliens versus mankind book, with the twist of young, dare I say nubile? teens at the controls of huge, heavily armed warships. I loved the panel where an alien enters earth's space through a rift/unknown teleportation device. It's frickin' ominous and scary and perfectly drawn. I also grooved on the story's blend of reality (they're teens; they rebel, don't always obey orders, get frightened and fail tasks sometimes, etc). They are not robo-girls. But when it comes time to fight, at the end, some a** kicking takes place. and not without casualties. I love a good sci-fi epic and this is one. There will be more to this series so I am eagerly awaiting the sequels. In the meantime, buy one already! It's a good one.

The reviewers here have this spot on; this comic has above-average art and story, and truly is an American comic in manga form. I absolutely loved the interaction, and my only concern was the usual kids being younger than as drawn. That's still better than many mangas.

I put this up there along with Gunnerkrig Court and The Underburbs