Special Thanks To UDON Entertainment and NetGalley for the ARC.
HEADS UP! Before you read this review, please be sure to read the first volume and its review. Thanks, and enjoy!
When we left our heroes in the last volume, Sapphire and her Space Pirates boarded a mysterious space vessel, but unbeknownst to them, the vessel was overrun with a mysterious parasitic infection. As a panic breaks out, it is up to cyber-surgeon Black Jack to stop this infection and save the crew with his unmatched scalpel skills. Can the heroes of Team Phoenix pull together a strategy to rescue the so-called Patient Alpha from the space citadel?
If you were looking for a Sci-Fi Space Mystery filled with drama and suspense, then look no further, Team Phoenix Volume Two has answered the call! Black Jack arrives on the mysterious spaceship, Project Phoenix, which has been taken over by a techno-organic parasite. Aside from using the works of Osamu Tezuka uniquely, Team Phoenix’s Second Volume is a step up from the previous volume. This is not a bad thing because like Television Pilots, sometimes it takes a couple of episodes (or in this case, a certain amount of chapters) for the story to get interesting, which in this case brings medical suspense into a futuristic universe filled with robots, humans, and anthropomorphic creatures. Kenny Ruiz continues to honor Osamu Tezuka’s work and legacy with a great script accompanied by wonderful artwork.
As I have mentioned before beginning this review, you might need to reread the first volume to help you keep up to speed with the story, it’s not the kind of story that you can jump in and get an understanding of what’s going on. There are certain moments when the story gets muddled with way too many characters that look too similar in certain situations in each chapter. I had to catch my breath and pay closer attention to each panel, which led to the greatest heist in the galaxy, Patient Alpha. Now, it doesn’t take much to figure out who this is, but the bigger mystery is what brought him to this tragic state.
While getting lost in the admiration of the universe of what Ruiz is building, the artwork was stellar. Tezuka’s iconic characters keep their charm while being given a modern touch and how they interact with each other. The scenes with Black Jack using his surgical skills made me yearn to read more of his stories, finding myself once again a fan who is familiar with these characters, their legacies, and how important it was to do research first. The action sequences were drawn with great detail, accompanied by clean linework and well-drawn expressions. Team Phoenix finds themselves in a war with Astro Boy’s greatest rival, Atlas.
Team Phoenix Volume Two is available now in bookstores and e-retailers.
Final Grade:
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