Voltron #6 Review

By Harrison Rawdin on Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

This month we get the origin of King Zarkon, but is it a story worth telling? Read on.

The official description from Dynamite:

How did a brilliant scientist go from being a devoted husband and father to becoming the worst despot the universe has ever known? In issue #4, you witnessed Zarkon pushed to the edge of sanity by crushing loss and absolute failure—now, learn how a quest for revenge took everything else from him, leading down a dark path that claimed countless lives and terrorized the galaxy for decades. One of his many victims demands answers, but will anything he hears change his mind about the fateful decision made well before he put the gun to Zarkon’s head? Two stories of pain and retribution collide in ‘Devil You Know’, as the first arc of Generation Voltron comes to an impossible end…

So we have the latest issue of Voltron taking time away from our intrepid team to focus in on our series villain. The story of Zarkon is a depressing tale of family lost, lies told and a crusade began. It’s a powerful narrative that will keep any Voltron fan glued to this book from start to finish.

Praise must go to Brandon Thomas for delivering a competent story that successfully evolves a two-dimensional villain into a full-fledged character. If you are looking to add depth to an antagonist, you don’t discard what the fans already know but you add subtle details that make the perception of their focus shift a bit. You use familiar situations and simple emotional ques to sell this new character depth in the quickest way possible, and thankfully for this issue the script is up to the task.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I saw Ariel Padilla‘s art, I immeditaely judged it as odd and just too plain. Beyond that it just didn’t look like it would be suited to work with any narrative interpretation having to do with Voltron. Thankfully I was wrong, because after reading this issue the art worked just fine. It fit the tone and the story well and at the end of the day what more can you ask for?

Overall Voltron #6 is a good issue that continues this old robot’s mythology for a new generation. Highly recommended.

4/5

S#!T Talking Central

http://twitter.com/starwarsfans Marc Morrell

It’s amazing to see the similarities between Zarkon and Anakin Skywalker, when you talk about family lost, lies told, and a crusade began. They mirror each other in many ways. When we see the transformations of good people into villains in books, comic books, TV and movies, it is always intriguing to see what the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was in each instance. I actually prefer when it is a more subtle change that you might not necessarily understand. It leaves more to the imagination that way.
- Harrison Rawdin
  
  I completely understand that perspective. There are so many ways to approach the psychology of a villain, and there are a great many more opinions on what to reveal and not reveal. The less revealed is usually more, but I felt like this issue needed to divulge as much information as possible to the reader especially considering the final pages therein, but that’s just my two cents.