by Tony Rhea, Reporter

While there is nothing better than a team coming together, nothing builds suspense and drama like a team being deconstructed. This week, Greg Pak and team take us deeper into the maelstrom in Mech Cadets #3!

 Official Description: 
The cadets and robos are stuck in quarantine–desperate to find any and all information about the alien threat–and eager to get back into the fight while economic tensions on Earth rise. Meanwhile, Frank urges Olivia to breach protocol and rescue his cousin Franklin; will she cave to the pressure of someone she has more in common with than expected, or stick to playing by the rules?

Creative Team:
Written by: Greg Pak
Illustrated by: Takeshia Miyazawa
Colors by: Ian Herring
Letters by: Simon Bowland

While General Park is prepared to make a sacrifice for the sake of his daughter and the team, it’s not a sacrifice the team is ready to accept. After suffering some blows (emotional and physical), the team returns to earth to find that they aren’t exactly welcome back at HQ. Between the new management and some quarantine protocols, can our cadets find a way forward with some help from an old friend, or are they on the way to being on their own?

Pak does a great job of subverting expectations and disaster, and manages to surprise with some of his choices in this issue. While I was expecting a different outcome for the cliffhanger in the last issue, and was honestly surprised (and a little disappointed) with where that situation went, some retrospect opened my eyes to the simple fact that perhaps the choice I thought Pak was going to make would have been not only a little dark for this early in this new series, but also wouldn’t have served the overall narrative as well. The story between Olivia and her father has more room to run, and while General Park has made some positive changes in his attitude towards the cadets (and a major sacrifice on his part would have been very impactful), he’s an interesting character that hasn’t had the best opportunity to be more fully explored. I ultimately am very happy with the route that Pak chose to go in regards to his character, and look forward to seeing further development. I also appreciate that Pak isn’t afraid to play with the dynamics between the characters. A great example of this is playing with the dynamics between Tanaka and the team, where he has normally been in on (or instigating) the shenanigans, he finds himself on the other side of that in this issue. Olivia is also seeing some great character development in this new series, being given some room to grow and rebel compared to her characterization in Mech Cadet Yu. While I wasn’t sure about the more backseat role that Stanford takes in this series, Pak has masterfully switched things up and managed to slide Olivia more to the forefront in a way that makes her interesting without directly emulating the arc of Stanford’s character from the first series.

Miyazawa continues to impress with his art, and I think we were really robbed in a sense that his robo designs weren’t utilized in the Netflix series (although there are a lot of reasons to believe that series takes place in an alternate universe/timeline – I could dive into that some other time). I have also appreciated that the characters have clearly aged up in this new series, and appreciate that Miyazawa isn’t afraid to develop these characters and vary things up as the series develops. 

Mech Cadets continues to be worthy of your money and time. In a comic book world jam-packed with superheroes and powers, it’s nice to read a story that focuses on (mostly) normal characters who have to be resourceful to achieve their goals and aren’t gifted with convenient power-ups that “fix” their current problems. If you haven’t picked up an issue of this series yet, you are doing yourself a disservice. I do hope Pak takes some more risks in this series, but there is no reason to sleep on it.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Mech Cadets #3 4 out of 5 tiny robos!

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