MISC. MANGA, *Cyborg 009

Just like Speed Racer and Gatchaman, another authentic Japanese anime/manga property converted into an American comic was Cyborg 009 back in 2013 by Archaia Entertainment. This was a 5-issue mini-series(starting with Issue #0)that was eventually reprinted into a single graphic novel. The original manga by Shotaro Ishinomori who also created Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, he had birthed one of the first full superhero teams in Japanese culture during its run in 1964, and it beats out Giant-Size X-Men by a decade from having an international roster of heroes. Cyborg 009 spawned several manga volumes, video games, anime TV shows and movies, plus crossovers with 8 Man and Devilman. Archaia writers Bradley Cramp and FJ DeSanto along with artist Marcus To took some of the early story arcs of the manga and condensed them down into a limited American comic.

A young man awakens with amnesia not remembering his past and escapes from a secret facility ran by the underground organization Black Ghost who have turned him into a cyborg codenamed 009. 009 runs across eight other test subjects who are also cyborgs that break free of Black Ghost's experiments. From this point on, the nine of them use their own individual high-tech powers and abilities to confound Black Ghost's attempt at world domination and spreading their own brand of evil. Sekar is the commander of Black Ghost and had his entire body cyberized which takes the combined powers of all nine of the cyborg team to counter. 009 almost sacrifices his own life to finally stop Sekar, but the bionic heroes succeed with room for further adventures.

Excalibur and Teen Titans artist Marcus To did a remarkable job adapting the first sentai team into an American comic book, plus made it much more diversified than the original Cyborg 009 which was largely weighed down by ethnic cliches. The Cyborg 009 group manage to gel well together despite their cultural differences and unfamiliar backgrounds as they unite their amateur efforts to prevent heavily armed terrorists, which might be due to the limited number of issues in the series whereas an ongoing comic would benefit from a longer narrative. If you wanted a short-cut to understanding a classic manga that help set the stage for tokusatsu as we know it, then look up this dynamic recreation. As a bonus, Issue #0 also reprints the first few chapters of the original manga as well.