After the Sharg’s violent return, the Sky Corps Central Command scrambles to deal with the crisis but not before grounding Stanford, Park, and the others. The cadets continue to train under Skip in secret but it’s not long before the Sharg strike again—this time, in a form mankind has never seen before.

If you’re not reading Mech Cadet, you’re missing out. Take Pacific Rim and mix it with Top Gun, but with kids, and you’ve got the series by writer Greg Pak and artist Takeshi Miyazawa.

Mech Cadet #5 kicks off the second arc of the series with the kids finding out their fate after disobeying orders and taking on the Sharg.

Things go generally how you’d expect and not so much. There’s surprises here as to their punishment and also some solid twists and turns. The kids need to learn to be a team. They need to deal with their punishment and there’s lots of scheming going on as well. The series as usual mixes all-ages fun with some layers.

The art as always is fantastic with a mix of East and Western influences. The style looks great with a cartoonish look mixed with some awesome looking robots. There’s some things we’ve seen elsewhere, like the Sharg themselves, but the look flows well and it’s a great mix of art and story.

The series is one of my favorite out there and if you haven’t checked it out, the trade is out this week as well. Mech Cadet Yu has an amazing amount of depth for an all-ages series and whether you want to take it on one level as giants robots versus aliens and on another it’s about class. No matter how you take it, it’s entertaining and a must get.

Story: Greg Pak Art: Takeshi Miyazawa
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review