Are the days before Voltron really a story worth telling?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

Commander Sven has sworn to do everything possible to protect his squad from harm, but what he’s done now puts everything at risk. Backed into a corner, and determined to expose a traitor to the Alliance, Sven can only tell himself that he had no choice but to break a few rules, and use every dirty trick in the book just to survive. And what he and his team have planned from their next mission, a joint operation with the #616, provides a whole new definition to the word counter-mission. Is one Space Explorers life worth their best and probably only chance to know the truth? “Fearless Leader” turns the corner, speeding towards its foregone conclusion…

Conspiracies, missions, counter-missions, assassination attempts and drug use yield a narrative that seems to be building toward a potential breaking point for Commander Sven.  The penultimate issue of this arc paints a rather bleak situation for the eventual Voltron Force as they head on another interstellar romp.

Before we get into the meat of this review  let me first state the obvious, yes, this comic doesn’t have the giant robot but it has a very compelling story nonetheless.  And to his credit Brandon Thomas does a great job penning this little jaunt without relying on accepted motifs.  It’s a thick script that’s chock-full of character development that ultimately gives rise to some rather mature themes.

Not enough good can be said about the art by Craig Cermak.  His panel designs are simple but gorgeous, as he lavishly details this space drama.  The characters are realistic in nature, but the talent finds a way to fit their old school motifs in his rather cinematic vision.  The only visible problem is there are times where the facial expressions seem to be a bit stiff, creating moments where the characters just don’t match-up with the dialogue.

Voltron: Year One #4 is a very good comic book that will certainly entertain fans from start to finish.  Recommended.

4/5