By Travis Beacham, Sean Chen, Yvel Guichet, Pericles Junior, Chris Batista, Geoff Shaw & various (Legendary)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5394-8
It’s summer – which means movie blockbusters – and just for a change here’s a collection of comics stories based on a film rather than the other way round.
The filmic Pacific Rim is set in the third decade of the 21st century and details a protracted battle between humanity and a procession of monolithic monsters which perpetually erupt out of the oceans to smash our cities. To combat these creatures – whose blood is devastatingly toxic – science has devised colossal anthropomorphic machines piloted by teams of bold but essentially doomed soldiers…
This slight but stunningly fun hardback companion compilation, set simultaneously before and during the events of the silver screen saga, features a triptych of short tales drawn from the unused backstory material to fill in detail and character necessarily sacrificed to the exigencies of keeping the motion picture action moving along.
According to the Introduction by writer Travis Beacham, he and co-scripter/Director Guillermo Del Toro are both manic fans of the venerable Japanese genres of Kaiju (literally “strange beasts†or ,more popularly, humongous city-stomping monsters) and their frequent opponents in anime and manga, Mecha (super automaton/vehicles piloted by noble human heroes).
Pacific Rim is thus a way to reintroduce these ever-cool concepts to a new generation of fans who might have missed out on the sheer vicarious joy and thrills of such planet-shaking spectacle.
The revelations begin in 2024AD as journalist Naomi Sokolov, en route to an interview with legendary figure Stacker Pentecost, meets another veteran of the anti-Kaiju initiative and learns how technician Tendo Choi survived humanity’s first encounter with the marauding horror which eradicated San Francisco and changed the path of mankind on August 13th 2013 – ‘K-Day’…
In the decade since, giant Jaeger war-suits have protected the surface world but now they’re being phased out in favour of a new solution – “the Wall†– and Choi’s account of that fateful first contact gives powerful argument as to why that’s a bad idea…
Naomi’s next interview is with Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld, the engineering genius who first came up with the concept of immense ambulatory uber-tanks. His revelations in ‘Turn of the Tide’ explain the role and sacrifices of his all-but-forgotten lab partner Caitlin Lightcap, whose brilliance and passion turned the idea into a workable reality – and also detail the appalling cost to the Jaegers’ unique riders…
Sokolov finally gains her time with inspirational project leader Pentecost in ‘The Bond’ but is quite unprepared for the great man recognising her and the role she played in almost destroying a crucial part of the Jaeger Academy team in the early days of recruitment…
Even though packed with blockbusting Mecha vs. Monster action throughout, this book primarily provides a subtle in-filling and shading of character in vignettes unavailable in the rip-roaring on-screen avalanche of action. Moreover, illustrators Sean Chen, Yvel Guichet, Pericles Junior, Chris Batista, Geoff Shaw, Mark McKenna, Steven Bird, Matt Banning, Guy Major, Tom Chu & Dom Regan work wonders blending these quiet, informative moments with the overall thrust of paralleling the movie mayhem.
This volume also includes an expansive segment charting ‘From Script to the Final Page: The Creative Process’ as Beacham’s typing progresses through Guichet’s rough sketches to full pencils and inks before ending as coloured and lettered final art. And as if that wasn’t enough, there’s even a full colour feature on ‘Kaiju’ with a handy guide for distinguishing Belobog from Scissure, telling apart Trespasser from Kaiceph and knowing your Verocitor from Karloff…
Furious fun for monster-lovers of all ages…
© 2013 Legendary Comics LLC. All Rights Reserved.