The last experience I had with Voltron was when people were assuming the first “Cloverfield” teaser was a hint at a new “Voltron” movie. God, that feeling of excitement at the possibility of anything was incredible. As for Voltron, I’ve always known he was a cool character with an interesting mythos, but I never really thought he’d be such a great comic book. So void of camp is this series, and so mature has it become that it’s quite different from everything else I’ve read.
Having never been able to catch the original series from Devil’s Due, “Voltron: A Legend Forged” catches the team back at a distant planet where a war is ensuing and their bots have all but been rendered obsolete. But all is not as accidental as they’d assumed as Keith and Allura have stumbled upon Lotor whom they decide to inflict mercy on when he swears his allegiance as an ally. Can Lotor be trusted? And who is this mysterious council that have picked the crew to help defend their world? What powers do they hold and will Lotor become the newest ally that will be swayed in to good by his apparent romantic interest in Allura? Things get particularly meaty when Stride arrives to lead his group into an all out assault on the Galaxy Alliance running all the pilots ragged and suck the space stations whole in a wormhole.
As Voltron and his group are stuck in the past, now the trick is to discover what Stride is looking for and why. Even in spite of the occasionally cheesy dialogue, “A Legend Forged” has an awfully confusing storyline that responds to the endless looping time stream that starts at the end, works its way in to the middle, and suddenly jumps to the start. What is going on? Damned if I know, but “A Legend Forged” has some cool art by Mike Bear whose own color scheme makes for a very bright and energetic read, while Josh Blaylock’s script is a bit creaky, but still very fluid and slick in its unique arc and the possible beginning of Voltron who is suddenly taking on his own consciousness. We’ll see how this pans out, because so far I’m enjoying it.