Ultraman, Vol. 1: The Rise of Ultraman

Ultraman by Kyle Higgins

by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Francesco Manna (Artist)

In the darkness there lurk Kaiju - terrifying and unfathomable monsters. Between them and the rest of us stands the United Science Patrol! But who are these enigmatic defenders, and how do they perform their miracles? Shin Hayata and Kiki Fuji have spent half a lifetime trying to find out - and now, their quest drives them toward a decades-old dark secret, and a collision course with a mysterious warrior from beyond the stars! Kyle Higgins (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Mat Groom (Self/Made) and Francesco Manna (AVENGERS) reimagine the classic origin of a pop culture icon as Ultraman rises at Marvel! The histories of two worlds, the experiences of two lives, and the destinies of two heroes must reconcile as Ultra and Man struggle to become one - and if they don't, neither will survive! The Rise of Ultraman (2020) 1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Science Fiction, Adventure, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2021

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marvel have acquired yet another licence: Ultraman, a famous (in Japan) superhero franchise, that they’re softly rebooting with this first book, The Rise of Ultraman, for a new Western audience. This one really tugged on my nostalgia strings because I grew up with Ultraman - I had the toys, the stickers, the books, and a whole raft of merch crap that’s long gone (sobs) - so I really wanted this one to be great, even though I’ve yet to come across a genuinely good Ultraman comic. And I’m still waiting unfortunately!

The biggest problem with The Rise of Ultraman is how goddamn long it takes writers Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom to set things up. It’s well over the halfway point before Ultraman finally swings into action and it takes the entire book for the premise to be established: kaiju flood into Earth and it’s up to Ultraman to stop them.

That’s far too long. Because Ultraman is not a difficult concept for anyone to grasp: there’s an ordinary human who turns into a superhero (which is 99.99% of the superhero genre) who then fights monsters with superpowers - basically Hellboy. The United Science Patrol are basically SHIELD, right down to the VTOL jets, which are just Quinjets, with its own questionable head of the organisation, the Fury-esque Ichinotani.

Higgins/Groom fill up the space extensively focusing on Shin Hayata, the new host of Ultra, and his buddy Cadet Kiki Fuji, as they rush around in a convoluted, and ultimately pointless, plot, until Shin becomes Ultraman and fights some monsters. It’s really very boring. But then, looking at Ultraman as an adult and not a fanboy kid, there isn’t much to the character besides Ultraman punching monsters, so I can see why they felt the need to do more. Nor do I know how to make a good Ultraman story, having never really come across one before - all I knows is that reading about Shin and Kiki and all the dull USP conspiracy crap wasn’t at all entertaining.

I suppose it’s a decent introduction to the character for new readers, it’s just disappointing that this first book is essentially only table-setting. That said, it doesn’t really explain how kaijus keep escaping from their limbo and continue coming to Earth, which is a major question that really should’ve been addressed (it was ignored probably because then there’d be no series if Ultraman/USP figured that one out)!

I had no problems with Francesco Manna’s art, or any of the artists contributing pages to this book - it’s a great-looking comic with a gorgeous Alex Ross cover. And that final battle did make me smile as Ultraman went giant-size to battle Bemular (the poor man’s Godzilla) outside Tokyo, which was classic Ultraman.

Hopefully with all this setup out of the way, the next book, The Trials of Ultraman, due later this year, will be more fun, but Ultraman, Volume 1: The Rise of Ultraman didn’t do much for me besides make me ultra-yawn far too often.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel picks up another license and I breathe a deep, weary sigh. You'd really think they'd have learnt their lesson from the loss of all the licensed properties they gathered in the '80s that they can now no longer reprint or include on Marvel Unlimited. Oh, well... Once bitten is apparently not twice shy.

This is a retold origin story for Ultraman and my first experience of the character as I've not partaken of any previous incarnations. It works well for what it is and was reasonably entertaining. The artwork was very good, which helped. I'll probably give volume two a shot when it shows up on Marvel Unlimited but I don't think I'd actually pay money for this.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excessively wordy and convoluted for what it is, but the art is really good. Honestly, you better off picking up the Power Rangers series published by BOOM! Studios, which is also being written by Kyle Higgins, way more entertaining.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite good! We pick up with a guy named Shin Hayata whose going about his life and his goal in life is to join USP, an organization that battles Kaiju but his GF Kuki Fuji has got in and so there is some jealousy but one day some weird entity comes in and when he makes contact with it, we learn the history of the ULTRA and what it is and its purpose, and there are vague hints/mentions of the 1966 incident and a man named "Dan Moroboshi". But then things happen and Fuji is kinda taken away by a Dr Yamamoto and so it falls on Shin to rescue his girlfriend, battle kaijus, learn about the powers of Ultraman, assist Director Ichinotani and even go to the "Kaiju Vault" to rescue her and batle the Kaiju "Bemular"! Its an epic story and a really great introduction and with what happens in the end, to spread the Kaiju around the world, next up is his trials! I really liked this origin and the world building here is awesome and next we have him fighting off against a whole lot of Kaijus! The art is just too good and make this comic appealing and the colors even accentuates the reading experience!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was pretty good. The art was more understated than a lot of modern comics. It felt mostly like setup, though. There had better be more kaiju fights in future volumes. Although part of me thinks I should read the Ultraman manga Viz has been putting out for years.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nunca fui fã ou conheci do que se tratavam os seriados de Ultraman. O mais perto que cheguei dos tokusatsus foram os Power Rangers, de quem era fã durante a pré-adolescência e depois deixei de acompanhar. Talvez por sentir essa lacuna no meu conhecimento pop e por este quadrinho ser uma versão "ocidental" de um personagem "oriental", retrabalhado para os dias atuais pela Marvel, resolvi dar uma chance ao título. O veredito não podia ser mais positivo. Gostei muito da forma como Kyle Higgins e Matt Grom desenvolvem a história de Ultraman e a arte de Francesco Manna não fica atrás. Fiquei realmente empolagado para saber mais desse universo de polícias secretas, cadetes em treinamento, alienígenas redentores, troca de corpos e, claro, dos monstros gigantes kaiju. A trama desenvolvida aqui tem muito potencial para mais histórias, os personagens são cativantes e no final do volume ficamos sabendo que haverá uma continuação pela Marvel Comics. Espero que seja publicada também no Brasil porque gostei mesmo de experimentar esse novo universo de histórias e possibiidades.

[Doug Bolden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I genuinely liked Kyle Higgins' take on Ultraman but it is strange how long Higgins spent building up to the character that is the central draw of the very-long-running Ultra-series. While you could say that Higgins is cleverly inverting the standard form of establish-action-then-establish-story/twists (something that could have been well used), I suspect volume two will try and have even-more-twists. It is a bit like showing up to a play only to have the first 60% be a discussion about what the play means and the latter 2/5 being only the first couple of acts of the play because they ran out of time. There's the promise of more play tomorrow, but it feels partially like a trap.

Which brings me to the central problem of this volume: the "twists" and exposition dumps aren't really new or fun. This leaves the book with an overall entertainment-deficit that relies on the reader to stick with it (when you read four issues just to get to the title character of the series, this is perhaps obvious). All that being said, the Ultra-series is very-long-running and has had a number of takes on the character so I am not bothered by Higgins striking out to do something different and the overall mix has some nice hooks and possibilities. There just has to be, you know, something actually new/interesting for that to work. Time will tell.

A minor quibble is that the ongoing Ultraman manga series has already done the whole "let's use the names, but switch up the names" fan-fic shout-outs and done it well. Seeing similar tricks here (including one that seemingly well changes Ultraseven's origin) felt more annoying than entertaining. As did the "need" to come up with a justification for the "Ultra + man" name. The volume seems torn between trying to satisfying old Ultraman fans and bring in new ones and never quite settling on either side or accomplishing either goal.

Ah, well, I enjoyed myself. I will read volume two. But, I will consider the original source material to be the superior vision for now.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultraman is a somewhat baffling addition to the Marvel universe, but fortunately this first volume doesn't attempt to tie in to anything Marvel-related. Instead, The Rise of Ultraman lays out an efficient and intelligent backstory for Ultraman while setting up further adventures. And the art is spectacular!

This is a fun read for a novice Ultraman or kaiju fan - it doesn't have any of the hokey awkwardness of the old TV show with its rubber suits and soon-to-be-demolished sets. Shin Hayata and Kiki Fuji are introduced as old friends, with Kiki working for the United Science Patrol and Shin having failed the entrance exam. Kiki has some concerns about the inner workings of the USP, though - concerns which are exacerbated when a strange meteorite crashes to Earth and Shin merges with whatever alien being is inside.

As Shin and the Ultra become one, Kiki searches for answers about USP's attempts to tackle (and cover up) the kaiju threat. Ultimately, Ultraman is revealed and mitigates the kaiju issues for the time being - but they're certain to return and the USP is still a bureaucratic nightmare. I'm sure there are lots of fun adventures to be had in future series - The Rise of the Ultraman is a surprisingly great start!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects The Rise of Ultraman (2020) issues #1-5

I picked up these issues on a whim, and ended up really liking them. I've recently realized that I enjoy kaiju stories, and I also have an attachment to the name "Ultraman" because I watched a show when I was a kid called "My Secret Identity" (starring Jerry O'Connell) in which a teenager accidentally gained superpowers and used the name Ultraman as his secret identity. That series had nothing to do with the Ultraman from Japan. Because I haven't read anything or watched anything with this Ultraman before, I sometimes felt like I was missing inside references, but I was still intrigued by this series, and I'll read on to the next collection, called "The Trials of Ultraman."

[Sarospice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I don't know anything about Ultraman but this mini took me there and got me interested. The art had moments but it was really the writing and characterization. I loved the use of kaiju and how the connection between Shin and Ultra works. The highest regard I can give is I'm excited about the next series. This felt like the people creating it were fans and wanted you to be a fan too.

[wik! · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Eu acabei lendo essa HQ (depois de 1 ano enrolando) em um timing perfeito! Qual o timing? Então… Esse ano Ultraseven está fazendo 55 anos.
O que isso tem a ver com a história? Bem, só lendo esse volume para descobrir.

Eu fui ler o que os fanboys da Marvel e os fanboys de Ultraman acharam e cheguei a conclusão de que a Marvel deu um tiro no pé, porque não agradou muito nenhum dos lados. Ao mesmo tempo que a HQ não faz referência ao formato episódico 'convencional' da franquia (já que Ultraman é originalmente um seriado criado em 1966), ela peca nas longas explicações chaníssimas e mal executadas. Eu não estava esperando uma transcrição direta de um seriado da Geração Clássica de Ultraman com uma mistura da Terceira Geração onde ia ter muito "pew pew pew" e essas coisas de sempre (sim, existem divisões geracionais na franquia ).

Acho que o grande problema foi tentar "marvetizar" a origem de um Ultraman em um contexto que precisava de uma longa explicação para fazer sentido. Sim, VÁRIOS Ultramans eram/são pilotos e membros de organizações de defesa da Terra, mas eu não entendi porque eles quiseram inventar uma organização tão específica e querer explicar no primeiro volume. Eu entendo que HQS seguem esse ritmo mais frenético e as explicações precisam vir mais cedo para o leitor, mas não custava nada abrir mão desse detalhe. A HQ seria bem mais aventuresca, e até bem mais "marvetizada" se não tivessem seguido assim. Enfim... Parece que eu sou um daqueles fanboys de 40 anos barbados que reclamam de tudo, mas essa adaptação realmente não ficou boa. Haviam outros caminhos, e uns bem óbvios, de como prosseguir sem que ficasse tão penoso pro leitor. A maioria das pessoas com quem conversei acharam um saco, e eu também achei.

Eu realmente espero que "Trials of Ultraman" e "Mystery of Ultraseven" sejam mais legais, porque o que não falta em várias temporadas de Ultraman é aventura. Sério mesmo. Você piscou e tá tendo lutinha com kaijuu gigante.

Me empolguei, mas é isso aí!

[Oneirosophos · Rating 2 out of 5]

alt_title: The Rise Of Exposition

[Hafeji A.D · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest...meh.

But I appreciate what they did to create their very own origin story without neglecting the essence of the original series.

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am 100% sure no one asked for an Ultraman series written by Kyle Higgins and published by Marvel. I am 0% sure why I read it but here we are. This is a series about Ultraman and the first giant kaiju occurs in the final issue. It's boring. I read this so you don't have to.

[Christopher Campbell]

The newest review finds us battling Kaiju once again in Marvel and Tsuburaya Production’s The Rise of Ultraman. It is a remarkable take on the iconic hero, but there is a catch to this, and that is the story is not set in the Marvel Universe. With that said, we have an impressive creative team that is involved in bringing Ultraman to American Comic Books, writers Kyle Higgins, Matt Groom, and art by Francesco Manna. This collaboration was announced at Tokyo Comic-Con in 2019, with plans for Marvel to bring new stories and graphic novels involving Ultraman.

This Trade Paperback Collection collects The Rise of Ultraman Issues One Through Five, while it serves as a splashy debut it also serves as a way to introduce Ultraman to a new audience.

The introduction of a world where the monsters exist but humans didn’t know was a good approach to how strange and weird this new world was. Both Higgins and Groom did a good job in establishing the story beginning with a flashback to 1966, this was an interesting setup for what is to come later in the future as we’re taken back to the year 2020 in Japan. We meet the main characters as the story begins with a secret organization with a young girl who is rising in the ranks and a boy who is struggling to make it. By all means, there are sharp visuals, and intense situations, and the reader is kept in the dark at times due to the secrecy thanks to the clever way the captions give it a fun and mysterious feeling when this Secret Organization works behind the scenes to keep people safe. Another visual element that is at work is the mind meld sequence involving the dreamlike state of Ultraman and Shin floating above the ground to streaks of light that enveloped the characters.

Colorist Espen Grundetjern did a stellar job of setting up each scene with the set up of colors, mixing layers of foreground and backgrounds, it helps create a certain dynamic range and maximizes it. Francesco Manna’s linework and character design (including Kaiju) were some of my favorite moments to look at when illustrating a scene such as Ultraman fighting Belmar. Two more artists joined in, Artists Michael Cho and Gurihiru. Gurihiru’s “Kaiju Steps with Pigmon” was a clever agency instruction book page that served as a throwback to PSAs and Cho’s Ultra Q added not only depth but also shows us that the Kaiju have been around longer than were expected.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some context for these notes: when I was six or seven in the early 70s I discovered this fantastic show called Ultraman that blew me away! It was unlike anything I had seen before and sparked my love for all kinds of Japanese monster (or kaiju as I was later to learn) content for life. It was pure lightning in a bottle!

So, jump to the present day and I find out Marvel is doing a new Ultraman series. I pick it up as it was coming out, but time and other stuff gets in the way so it gets put on hold and put on hold. I finally get around to reading this and while it was good, it was not what I’d hoped for or let myself believe. After scanning the first couple of pages all that time ago I thought I had finally gotten my wish to see a “faithful” (i.e. “close to exact”) adaptation to the original Ultraman series but this was not the case. It opens in the year 1966 with a scene that was reminiscent of the way Hayata and Ultraman become fused, but upon actually reading it, I discovered the human involved was none other than Dan Moroboshi, alter ego to Ultra Seven, the hero of his own sequel series and a supporting member of other subsequent sequels. Whether he is destined for that glory in this timeline I won’t go say, except to note he is an important figure in the story. Then the story moves to 2020 and we start getting introduced to the updated cast of the original series, including contemporary versions of Hayata, Muramatsu, Ide, Fuji (but not—fortunately or unfortunately—her little brother) and others. Eventually Hayata and Ultraman become fused and we’re given the lowdown on the world including why the updated Science Patrol exists and the reason for all the kaijus popping up.

Despite it not what I was really after it was an engaging read and was steeped in Ultra-lore. I enjoyed watching the characters interact and form bonds and I hope in future stories it will catch the lightning in the bottle that the original series had. It has the potential and I am interested in seeing what comes next.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I not write a review of this? I read it. Well, I should write a review.

This is the Marvel adaptation of Ultraman, and we are living in a sort of Ultraman revival in the West, given that so many of the shows are suddenly available in English, and we have the Ultraman Rising Netflix film, and the Ultraman novel in English, etc. Marvel did Godzilla back in the 1970s, now they are doing Ultraman, and I guess Ultraman will crossover with Marvel heroes in an upcoming project.

I hope it's more interesting than this turned out to be overall.

I did like a lot in this book. I liked the art--Ultraman looks great, and we get a jaw-dropping face-off against Bemular (the first kaiju he fought in the original series). It just takes quite a while for the story to find its feet, and I found the wind-up (so to speak) uninspired. I also didn't really like the reimagining of all the kaiju as these sort of fear-eating demons from another dimension (I guess?) as anything other than blah. Come ON, the kaiju are much more interesting as the variety of threats, as prehistoric beasts and alien menaces and robot things and so on... Well, it's not all bad, there is a bit of intrigue around the idea of the anti-kaiju squad knowingly overfilling their kaiju containment unit and Ultraman coming in to save their bacon. But I was a bit disappointed.

I liked the extra comics, though. The noir-ish feel of the Ultra Q comic was cool, and there are one-page Kaiju Steps gag comics which whet the appetite.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

And now for something completely different. Ok, disclaimer – I do not like manga. I do not read manga. Don’t get the appeal.
Our library, though, LURVS manga, gets oodles of it, more so than any other form of comic books. And so, time and again, through browsing Ultraman comics are always coming up. No idea who Ultraman is. But then again, I do like to stay current on my pop culture references.
So then, this book comes up. Looks like an origin story for Ultraman and I figure, why not.
It isn’t manga, but actually, having read it, it’s mangaesque? I mean, how do you describe that style? Caucasian manga? Euromanga? No idea and I’m sure none of the words will pass muster with the woke culture, but it’s…manga-adjacent? Done for the ubiquitous Marvel.
Anyway, ok, so yeah, now I know who Ultraman is. An alien warrior merged with an Earthman in order to fight the giant monsters from beyond. Woohoo. Ok. But what if the creatures are more fun than those who kills them? It’s like who cares about the people in Godzilla movies when Godzilla is on screen?
I suppose Marvel does, they do love their superheroes, all righteous and morally rigid.
But yeah, this was ok. Didn’t love it, but learned my pop culture lesson. Now I know. Next question is, obviously, how soon until Marvel makes an Ultraman movie?

[Juanluis Díaznoriega · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is based on pure nostalgia. As a boy there was a local (and small) broadcast system in México. They bought shows and cartoons from a mayor broadcast in the country (Some of them incomplete) and have no time schedule. You can found some in the mornings, some at nights, but mostly at afternoon show with a clown (Niko Liko was his name) there’s were I meet Ultraman. All the kids watching TV hoping to watch an episode, or if you were lucky, the conclusion of one of the ones with a cliffhanger. Later, I find that there’s a Manga about Ultraman, Manga isn’t my kind of read, so I thought, Why isn’t a comic book featuring Ultraman? Years later here we are. A brand new series with a brand new origin about our hero. Loved it! And waiting for volume 2 like a child watching TV and hoping for a new episode to air. Guess something’s never change

[wbforeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a new Ultraman origin story with a mixture of winter soldier like spy story. I get what they were trying to do because the story of Ultraman is quite simple when you get to the core of it so they wanted to make it a little bit more complex to make it a bit more interesting, The set up text a little too long. I did enjoy the callbacks such as the cartoony PSA’s and the ultra Q back up story I hope there’s some resolution to the Q story in the next trade. It makes sense they would get Kyle Higgins who is known for his writing on Power Ranger’s to do this series. I also thought the art was good for what it was trying to do so no complaints there overall I think that’s a solid set up was a bit too long but I guess they were trying to ease in people who have never heard of Ultraman before

[Justin Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

PRETTY FUN. And gorgeous to look at.

I think this particular incarnation of Ultra is a little knotty, plot wise, but the only whole ethos is still intact and that’s the most important bits anyway. An impetuous, but good hearted goofball inherits the spirit and powers of a literal god and then uses them to fight monsters with his friends. Learning lesions and making even more friends as he and The Man From The Land of Light fight for Justice and Understanding.

That’s kinda unfuckwithable in any medium. The essay on Tsuburaya was a nice touch for back matter but I really wish they would have kept the Ultra Q shorts (despite Kaiju Steps with Pigmon being so adorable I could die). A very neatly packaged “crash course” on Ultra (that works even better when read along with the original shows).

[Andrew Bevelhymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyle Higgins/Mat Groom never fail to deliver with character driven stories. I love the way this book takes its time and lets us get to know the characters. Combine that writing with the beautiful artwork, and the big moments (like Hayata and the Ultra merging) feel so grand.

One of my favorite moments was towards the end, when Hayata and Kiki are having dinner. Hayata says to Kiki, "You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to make the real change. That's how you take responsibility. You have to face it head on." That followed by him laying out the plan to solve the Kaiju vault problem was a pleasant way to both wrap up this first run and tease what's coming.

I'm very excited to continue with Trials of Ultraman!

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally read this just because it was available on Marvel Unlimited, and was kind of thinking I wouldn't enjoy it. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I mistakingly though that Kaiju as a genre was just big monsters smashing stuff. I really liked the layers it brings to the topic of power. How do we borrow from the future by not dealing with the facts facing us in the present day? What happens when you just stuff monsters into another dimension so that the public doesn't get freaked out by it? How long can you keep doing that? What happens when eventually it comes back to the forefront? There must be a public health analogy in there somewhere...but relevant to many topics we deal with every day.

I look forward to more work from these creators.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no history with Ultraman in a medium whatsoever, but I thought this was pretty fun. Kaiju, aliens, secret military organizations. What's not to enjoy. Kyle Higgins did a good job of explaining what was happening and why it was important but it did read as an info dump at times. I wished we got more Ultraman on panel. Francesco Manna's art fit perfectly and his Kaiju looked like they should. Overall, the story was pretty basic but I had fun with it.

[Yuuto · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part of this was the Kaiju Steps with Pigmon comics, honestly.

I feel like they took the concept of Ultraman and made it so much more complicated that it needed to be. Too Marvel-y and completely missing the charm of the actual Ultraman franchise. If you know absolutely nothing about Ultraman, then maybe you’ll enjoy it. Me, I personally think Marvel needs to stop Americanizing toku into bland comic form.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third time I've read this and it's still damn good. I'm genuinely convinced that people who didn't like it saw marvelput it out and then decided it would suck. I'm not even a marvel fanboy but people don't know what they're talking about. This has great art and storytelling and a excellent reimagining of the original characters. It is a great read and interpretation of Ultraman

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I expected. Ultraman was never really big here in the U.S. It never crossed over like Power Rangers did. But who better to write Ultraman than the writer of Power Rangers and his own Japanese inspired comics in the Radiant Black stuff, Kyle Higgins. I thought he and Mat Groom did a solid job of updating this and giving it a solid footing.

[Cuchillo Lope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Ultraman since I was a kid and to see him get a comic book from Marvel is still a little wild. It’s a fun read that is a good primer to get people into Ultraman. I think it could have got to the kaiju smashing action a lot sooner, but hopefully the story starts picking up in following issues.
I’m excited to keep checking it out.

[Ritvij Tiwari · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I read this was my nostalgia for the TV show. I guess we'll never know why we like the things we do as a kid... oh wait, yeah we do: because children are half wit midgets! The final issue was kinda fun but the rest was just generic stuff which Marvel loves to churn out now days.

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like how I was quoted on the back of the book (when writing for Monkeys Fighting Robots): "Phenomenal art and eep references from Higgins and Groom make this comic a must-buy." I stand by those words.