Voltron Volume 1: The Sixth Pilot

Voltron #1

by Brandon Thomas, Ariel Padilla (Illustrator)

Ultimate victory has never been closer for the Voltron Force. King Zarkon's brutal regime has been pushed to the edges of the galaxy, left to wage a series of desperate and losing battles to claim innocent victims while they still can. But Zarkon

Genres: Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2012

About the author

Brandon Thomas is the writer and co-creator of critically-acclaimed comics series EXCELLENCE (Skybound/Image), HORIZON (Skybound/Image) and THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY. Previous work includes the comics series NOBLE (Lion Forge), VOLTRON (Dynamite), and FANTASTIC FOUR TALES (Marvel).

NOBLE #1 was awarded the Fist Award for Best International Comic by the 2017 Lagos Comic-Con, in recognition of best usage of characters/stories based on persons of African descent. NOBLE was also nominated for 2019 Glyph Comics Awards in six categories: Story Of The Year; Best Cover (winner); Best Writer; Best Artist (winner); Best Male Character (winner); and Best Female Character.

Since 2003, Brandon has written comics for several publishers, including Marvel, Lion Forge, Arcade, Dynamite, and DC Entertainment, and has published over 300 original columns as part of the Ambidextrous series. His first creator-owned project THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY shipped from Archaia Entertainment to widespread critical success, leading to his biggest comics projects to date — the sci-fi conspiracy thriller HORIZON (co-created with artist Juan Gedeon), and the action fantasy series EXCELLENCE (co-created with artist Khary Randolph) — both published by Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.

Brandon also hosts The Two Brandons podcast with Eisner-Nominated writer Brandon Easton (Transformers: War For Cybertron, Star Trek: Year Five, Vampire Hunter D: The Series).

He lives and writes in Southern California with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Gary Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

23rd book read in 2017.

Number 297 out of 588 on my all time book list.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm only slightly familiar with the old Voltron cartoon, but I don't think that's why this book made absolutely no sense to me. I expected lots of space robot battles and all I got was a villain origin told in the most convoluted, talky and confusing way possible. Also it did not help that this Zarkon fellow is one whiney annoying SOB. We hardly got got to see Voltron or Voltron Force at all. I guess this was an attempt to make a serious adult Voltron comic, but the result is a boring mess.

[Matthew Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to have the good ol' bot back! A few new takes on the classic tv show, but it's good and interesting.

[Jeremy Bautista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this backstory for Zarkon. The commentary at the back of the book covering issues #1 and #2 help explain his motivations to some things I was confused by or didn't catch. An okay entry point for me as an old school Voltron cartoon watcher.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so convoluted and odd. There was hardly any action, and this was an action show back in its day. This was mostly a history of how the villain got to be a villain. I remember the Voltron series making little sense, and this set of six issues made little sense too. The narrative was revealed in flashbacks, but the flashbacks were hard to deal with. The placement of the dialogue bubbles was also awkward. It was also always difficult to keep track of who the characters were because their space suits never matched the colors of the lions they piloted. I had a lot of trouble figuring out who was talking. There was nothing about the Voltron crew as kids would have known it on TV, and I have to say I find that very odd; the show wasn't about the villain. Boring and messy.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't claim to have ever been a Voltron fan, which may seem odd since most guys my age seem to be, but it's true. Still, this volume gave the reader some interesting backstory about how and why Voltron was built and even managed to connect it to other Voltrons (yes, the car one), plus Voltron's connection to King Zarkon. Fun stuff fans would probably enjoy more than me.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda fun, not much more.