Space Pirate Captain Harlock #3

Space Pirate Captain Harlock #3

Ablaze Publishing 2021

Written by Leiji Matsumoto & Jérôme Alquié

Illustrated by Jérôme Alquié

Translated by Fabrice Sapolsky

Lettered by Dezi Sienty

Harlock and the Arcadia race against the clock and around the Earth to find anyone who can help them face the newly unleashed Mazon threat head-on and prevent the planet’s destruction before the enemy fleet even arrives!

I am loving this series. This makes me want to seek out and watch every animated episode or film that has these characters in it. This is without a doubt one of the closest versions to an anime feature that comes on paper and identical to the source. As I am reading this I can hear voice actors saying the dialogue and I have to tell you I’m going to be crushed when I finally do hear their voices because it’ll be nothing like in my head lol. Regardless of all that, this story itself is utterly amazing and the concept and execution that we see is so utterly flawless that I feel like I’m reading a film, or at least an episode. I do like that comics are essentially cartoon episodes in and of themselves and the parallel couldn’t be any more obvious than it is right here.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to flesh them out as people we know or can relate to. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we are drawn deeper and deeper in and have that innate desire to see and learn more.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. The avenues we see opening up are sensational and to see the Space Traveller as if she’s straight out of Doctor Zhivago is beyond incredible. How all of that adds this depth, dimension and complexity to the story is fantastic. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is perfectly achieved.

The interiors here are a masterpiece of animation turned comic book art. It is almost like seeing Cel’s on the page; it's just that brilliantly rendered. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this kind of detailed work throughout the book is a stunning display of talent. I love how backgrounds are utilised throughout as they expand and enhance the moments beautifully as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to this story is magnificently rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is bloody brilliant all on its own. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show someone who understands how colour works and knows how to maximise its effects to their fullest.

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This feels so much like a classic anime brought to comics and it makes me want to see Wolf’s Rain (or Bubblegum Crisis) brought to the medium as well. I mean the writing and characterisation are perfectly done and the interiors are bloody brilliant and altogether it creates the perfect storm. I want more of this with each issue that comes out, heck even a double sized issue would make me want to see more as this series is just that well done.