Summary: A young boy gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he bonds with a giant sentient robot and joins the ranks of the illustrious Sky Corps Academy to protect the world from alien threats.

Every year, giant sentient robots from outer space come to Earth and bond forever with a brand new crop of cadets at Sky Corps Academy to help keep the planet safe. But this year, instead of making a connection with a cadet, one of the mechs bonds with Stanford, a young kid working with his Mom as a janitor at Sky Corps. Stanford has the opportunity of a lifetime but he’ll first have to earn the trust of his classmates if he’s to defend the planet from the monstrous Sharg.

Review: I’m always on the lookout for new comics to read, and I was delighted to come upon Mech Cadet Yu at the library. Mech Cadet Yu follows the scrappy, handy Stanford Yu, the son of a janitor working at Sky Corps Academy. When he ends up bonding with a giant robot, it’s his time to shine — which is lucky for the planet, since it’s under attack from the alien Shargs!

I’ve never been much of a mech fan. (Voltron and Neon Genesis Evangelion went over my head.) But Mech Cadet Yu has converted. Robots CAN have feelings. *clutches heart* Stanford Yu’s story is a heartwarming one. He’s introduced at the start alongside his Cantonese-speaking mom, so you know I was immediately on board.

The comics series (there’s three of ’em) is a classic story of banding together, standing up against the bad guys, and learning the power of friendship — among fellow cadets and robots. Takeshi Miyzawa’s art is incredible, and there are countless panels that would make excellent posters to hang up. The story was a fun journey from start to finish.

This is definitely the type of comic that I wish I could see on the big screen. Think Pacific Rim, but younger, more lighthearted, and did I mention the robots have feeeelings? They do. I highly recommend this series, and pretty much everything else Greg Pak has written for. (If you haven’t read the Amadeus Cho as Hulk comics, definitely check that out.

Recommendation: Get it soon! Especially if mechs are your thing, or you want to read more comics.

Title:

Summary: There’s a brand-new Hulk in town, and his name is Amadeus Cho! Get ready for gamma-fueled entertainment as the kid genius decides he’s gonna be the best Hulk ever -and just possibly brings the entire world crashing down into chaos! Cho is taking on the biggest monsters in the Marvel Universe, but can he handle the danger posed by Lady Hellbender? What will She-Hulk and Spider-Man make of this very different Green Goliath? And what exactly happened to Bruce Banner? With monster mayhem in the Mighty Marvel Manner, all from the wild and crazy minds of Planet Hulk writer Greg Pak and superstar artist Frank Cho, this is better than incredible, it’s totally awesome! [Image and summary via Goodreads]

Review: I’ll be honest. I went into this knowing next to nothing about the Hulk (or much about superheroes in general) save for what I’d seen in the movie theater. I picked up The Totally Awesome Hulk, Volume 1 purely because it was Korean Hulk! What! Yes.

I spent a lot of the volume trying to figure out how Amadeus Cho fit into the whole superhero world, where he came from, who he was previously, and trying to reconcile it to the hormonal, green monster he was in the story. I think some of the disorientation was certainly due to my total ignorance on superhero lore.

Despite the cluelessness that I brought to the table, I still managed to thoroughly enjoy reading Amadeus as the Hulk. I especially loved his interactions with his genius sister, who helped keep him grounded with snark and remote controlled robot advice. It’s definitely an action packed, mostly light-hearted adventure.

I’m looking forward to reading more of Amadeus Cho as Hulk. I want to learn more about who he is (and was), and I’d recommend it to just about anyone — even if you’re totally clueless about superhero stuff, like me. It’s not hard to dive into, regardless of your background.

I’m loving the trend of more PoC in superhero comics, and hope to see more and more of that. Also on my list is the Superman comics starring Kenan Kong by Gene Luen Yang and more of Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel. Dipping my toe into superhero comics is going swimmingly so far.

Recommendation: Buy it now!