Terra Formars vol. 3

Yeah, this is going to be the last volume of the series I buy.  What started out as the most hilariously awful thing I’ve read in a long time actually got better and became less interesting in the second volume.  Then something happened between the release of that volume and this latest one that stole whatever enjoyment there was left to be had from laughing at this title’s shortcomings:  I started watching the anime with my buddy Steve.  For those of you with very long memories, he’s the one I wound up subjecting to got started on “Future Diary.”  So after I read the first volume and told him about how terrible it was, we decided to start watching the anime to give it the full Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment.  Nine episodes in and it still hasn’t failed to deliver ridiculous amounts of tropes, affronts to science, gaps in logic, and shameless thefts from the likes of “Aliens” and dozens of better sci-fi works.  Right now we’re both of the opinion that Michael Bay falls down weeping after each episode, utterly distraught at how he’ll never be able to equal the utter majesty of the show as he sees it.

What about this volume itself?  Well, it starts off with a guy attacking one of the roachmen with a big gun, and failing to score any headshots with his hail of bullets.  (Wherefore art thou, John Wick?)  The man’s swift “Predator”-style decapitation is followed up by a couple more, and then a couple panels of one of the female crewmembers pissing herself.  Oh yeah, there’s also treachery afoot on the ship as the question of just how these roachmen got onboard this ship — just about to enter Mars orbit — in the first place is raised.  It’s all a setup to get the humans onto the planet in a weakened state and then have them eventually turn their tide with their awesome insect powers!

If that sounds like your idea of a good time, then you’re welcome to it.  Me, I’m getting off of this not-even-as-crazy-as-it-thinks-it-is train of a series.  The only fun I got from it was laughing at its shortcomings, and mocking the anime with Steve offers more of that than the manga could hope to offer at this point.