Wonder 3 - Osamu Tezuka
Things are so bad however that the Milky Way League aren't even sure the Earth is worth saving. They decide however to send a superhero Space Patrol Squad team The Wonder 3 to monitor the planet for one year and if it doesn't show any sign of being worthy of redemption, they are to use their Antiproton bomb to destroy the place. It's too much of a risk to the rest of the universe. Arriving on Earth the three decide to disguise themselves as animals in order to blend in (the idea of taking human form too disgusting to contemplate).
The transformations also help make the book rather more cute and comedic as Corporal Nokko becomes a horse, Lieutenant Pukko a duck, and Captain Bokko a cute rabbit. Their first impressions with the planet and its inhabitants aren't favourable. They almost get taken for food by an unscrupulous lorry driver, but are rescued by a brave young boy called Shinichi Hoshi. Bokko, the captain is taken with the beauty of the planet and thinks the boy's actions alone are enough to redeem the planet, but unfortunately Pukko - keen to end the mission to this horrible place - has already initiated the one hour countdown to set off the Antiproton bomb.
There's more to Wonder 3 that it just being a SF adventure and there is of course a moral about truth and justice winning out over violence and evil. This comes through in the war-espionage adventure that actually makes up the bulk of the adventure, where Shinichi's older brother is the guiding force in directing his anger against the injustice of the world. Koichi is supposedly a manga artist but his cover is blown, and in reality he is agent F7 of a secret intelligence agency called Phoenix fighting for justice and world peace against a corrupt militaristic nation A. Koichi gets all the best action sequences in the first half of Book 1, taking on masses of gangsters and then getting involved in a mission to destroy a military base about to launch a satellite.
As if to make up for the dark conclusion of Book 1 where Koichi is executed by his enemies by firing squad - an event that is related by Pukko who has witnessed it all - the beginning of Book 2 is a little lighter and comedic. Shinichi, who it has to be said has a wild and combative temperament, doesn't fit in at school, so the Wonder 3 decide to try and help him out. Or at least two of them do, as the duck Pukko is still a little unstable and unpredictable and can't wait to just blow the whole planet up and be done with it. The aliens end up revealing who they are to Shinichi and help him deal with the news of the loss of his brother. Meanwhile A have acquired the Antiproton bomb and are aware of its capability. Learning that his brother may not be dead after all, Shinichi plans to go to the dangerous Judah islands to see if he can help the Phoenix agents.
Wonder 3 seems to me to be closely related to Astro Boy (1953 - 68) in its look, using familiar Tezuka character types drawn from Tezuka's 'Star System' of recurring cast members, with Shinichi a double here for Astro Boy, and as such it is of course fantastically entertaining. The art is beautiful, showing Tezuka at his peak. It's very anime-like - and indeed was developed with the intention of being made into an anime - cartoony but fast, dynamic and attractive, the three animal-disguised aliens ripping through the adventure like something out of a Tex Avery cartoon. It gets a little dark with the Nazi-like evil agents of A, murdering, torturing and plotting terror, but it's beautifully balanced, mixed with considerable humour, the story as dynamic as the art. It never lets up, and like all Tezuka of this quality, draws you into its world in an utterly immersive way.
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