Voltron (comics)

Voltron
Publication information
Publisher	Charlton Comics Devil's Due Dynamite Entertainment
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Science fiction
Main character(s)	Voltron Characters

Voltron is the name of two past comic book series and one current series published by different companies. Both previous series are based on the television series Voltron. Voltron is the name of the robot that the main characters pilot to fight evil in space. The series stars five young soldiers who are recruited to find the title character in deep space, and to use Voltron to defend the galaxy.

Modern Comics

In 1985, Modern Comics, an imprint of Charlton Comics, produced a three-issue mini-series based on the Lion Voltron television show.^[1]

Devils' Due

In 2002, comic book publisher Devil's Due announced it had acquired the rights to publish Voltron comic books.^[2][3] Devil's Due, through Image Comics, published a five issue mini-series (preceded by a #0 issue from Dreamwave) which featured the Lion Voltron incarnation of the character and rebooted the property. This was then followed by an ongoing series self-published by Devil's Due, which was placed on hiatus in 2005 after the eleventh issue, due to poor sales.

Devil's Due announced in January 2008 that the five-issue mini-series, the eleven issues of the ongoing series, and the #0 issue would be collected into a Voltron Omnibus trade paperback that would also include the unpublished twelfth issue of the ongoing series that would wrap up all the storylines.^[4][5]

In July 2008, a new five issue mini-series was released by Devil's Due, which picked up where the ongoing series left off. This series further explored the origins of Lion Voltron's creation, from 12,000 years in the past to the present day.^[6] The mini-series showed Voltron existing as a single construct created by sorcerers and scientists, resembling a knight. During its battle with the first Drule Empire, Voltron was tricked by Haggar into landing on a black comet with the gravitational attraction of a singularity. Voltron was then attacked by Haggar, and blown into five pieces. However, the intervention of a sorcerer resulted in the five pieces becoming the five lions as they descended onto Arus.

The original five issue mini-series was adapted as the 2007 motion comic Voltron: Defenders of the Universe - REVELATIONS.^[7] Its sequel, Voltron: Defenders of the Universe - PARADISE LOST, adapted the first storyarc of the ongoing series, introducing the V-15 and its pilots.

Main Characters

• Keith Akira Kogane: The comic book version of Keith depicts him as 26 and a very anti-social character in the beginning. Born to a Japanese father and a Chinese mother, his father trained him in kung fu until Keith's parents died tragically in an accident when he was 12. Afterwards, Keith continued to practice many other forms of martial arts until he turned 18 and enrolled in the United States Marine Corps, spending several years as a reconnaissance specialist. When he was 24, he met and proposed to Beverly Hagel, who died 7 weeks before their wedding date in a plane accident. Two years later, he was approached by Colonel Hawkins to join a team of outcasts to search for the legendary robot Voltron on the distant planet Arus. During the course of the series, he begins to form a comradeship with his teammates, and begins to develop feelings for Princess Allura and vice versa.
• Lance Charles McClain: The comic book version of Lance depicts him as 24 with a criminal record. For most of his life, Lance grew up as an adolescent daredevil and drag-racer. His life changed forever when he won a gift certificate for 10 free flying lessons in a radio contest. These lessons displayed that he had a natural talent for flying. At age 18, he joined the navy, and flying became his obsession, but his hot-headedness landed him in deep water when his jetstar buzzed the penthouse of a vindictive senator. Three months into his five-year sentence in a military prison, Lance was approached by Colonel Hawkins to join a team of outcasts to search for the legendary robot Voltron on the distant planet Arus. The comic book version of Lance is given the catchphrase of exclaiming "holy cats!", or sometimes "ho-leeee cats!".
• Tsuyoshi "Hunk" Garrett: The comic book version of Hunk depicts him as 24 and born to an American father and Japanese mother. His nickname "Hunk" comes from his 4 brothers, of whom he's ironically the smallest, despite his own great size. While his brothers sought activities to take advantage of their physical prowess such as football and sumo, Hunk found a knack for all things mechanical. He was not very social, though, and would spend most of his time tinkering in garage workshops. Later he put himself through college on the G.I. bill, and after gaining a Master's in engineering, he discovered the equipment that fascinated him most was military in nature. However, he remained rather anti-social, establishing himself as someone who it was unwise to harass, until he was approached by Colonel Hawkins to join a team of outcasts to search for the legendary robot Voltron on the distant planet Arus.
• Darrell "Pidge" Stoker: The comic book version of Pidge depicts him as a growth-stunted 16-year-old, and as an Earthling (as opposed to his cartoon counterpart hailing from the planet Balto). He's also depicted as an orphan abandoned outside a convent when he was six weeks old (however, he may yet have a family because later he talks with Vehicle team member Chip about the similarities that exist between the two of them, he remarks that '[they]'re one DNA test short of discovering [they]'re brothers' which is a nod to the cartoon establishment of Pidge and Chip as twins). During his years at the orphanage, his scores on a state-mandated IQ test caught the eye of the New West Point military academy, who promptly enrolled him to put his awe-inspiring understanding of computer systems to good use. However, his life at NWP turned out to be worse than at the orphanage, and was the subject of regular beatings by his intellectually-threatened peers, until he was approached by Colonel Hawkins to join a team of outcasts to search for the legendary robot Voltron on the distant planet Arus. Pidge didn't have to be asked twice, and promptly agreed.
• Sven Holgersson: The comic book version of Sven depicts him as 27, the oldest member on the team. Unlike his cartoon counterpart, the comic book Sven is given much further depth, and plays a major role. Much of Sven's past remains unknown, except that he was a former member of an elite Navy squad similar to the SEALS. During an insurrection in a small South American country, a serious miscommunication caused a foreign national Sven was supposed to extract to believe Sven was an assassin and opened fire. Sven was left with no choice but to fire back, protecting himself and eliminating the extraction target. He was then placed on "administrative leave" until he was approached by Colonel Hawkins to join a team of outcasts to search for the legendary robot Voltron on the distant planet Arus. Sven was possibly the most anti-social of the group, but this is possibly due to being the oldest and most mature. Unlike in the cartoon, Sven never got a chance to properly form Voltron, or even get to wear his classic black uniform (the only comic book image of Sven in his uniform is in a promotional picture in the back of Issue #0, although Allura did offer to find him a uniform, possibly in black, when the team plus Allura finally attained their own familiar uniforms). This is due to him having a brain defect that caused the magic of Voltron to somehow reject him. This brain defect caused him to fall under the influence of Queen Merla and Haggar, under which he betrayed his friends and Arus by stealing files from the Castle of Lions' control room. He was then placed on a mission alongside Prince Lotor, during which the two found themselves having to survive together and try to trust each other. During a conflict that erupted later, Sven apparently crash-landed on planet Pollux, where he was discovered by Princess Romelle. Due to the comic's hiatus, what path Sven's tale would have taken from that point remains a mystery.
• Princess Allura: The comic book version of Allura places her at age 19, and depicts her with a much stronger backbone than her cartoon counterpart. When her home planet Arus was ravaged by the forces of Zarkon and her parents murdered by Zarkon's own hand, she was taken in and raised by Coran, a retired combat instructor in the royal army, and was forced to grow up much too fast. Years later, she would renounce her title of "princess," answering only to "Allura," until her people are liberated from Zarkon's tyranny. Visions while she slept showed the spirit of her father King Alfor promising that five young men would come to Arus in search of the legendary robot Voltron. When Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Sven arrive on Arus and speak of the mighty robot, Allura instantly knows that they are the ones spoken of in her visions, and helps them to find the five hidden lions that will unite to form Voltron. When Voltron fails to combine properly due to a brain defect within Sven, Allura mans his Blue Lion, and with her royal Arusian blood, the unification of Voltron is finally a success, and she becomes a member of the Voltron Force. During the course of the comic, she begins to develop feelings towards Keith and vice versa.

References