A Thousand Miles

Terra Formars

****

Terra Formars is an Action Horror Sci Fi Seinen manga by Yu Sasuga and Ken-ichi Tachibana. It began serialization in 2011 in Shueisha’s “Miracle Young Jump” Magazine, a spin off of “Weekly Young Jump”, before being moved to “Weekly Young Jump” Magazine proper, the next year. It has spawned numerous spinoffs and side stories, usually comedic alternate universes or depictions on missions not shown in the main manga. There’s presently 22 volumes available, with the English run being licensed by Viz Media.

Cover Appeal

Terra Formars – A portmanteau of “terraformer” and “mars”, it’s a somewhat clever nod to the overall goal of the plot. As is the case in many properties, future humanity is dealing with imminent overpopulation and dwindling resources. As such, the answer is, you guessed it, terraform another planet so we can colonize and consume it too. In this case, it’s the popular target of Mars.

The Hand of Science – The cover is pretty minimalist, with the only two elements present being the title info and headshot. Our subject is one Shokichi Komachi. The big takeaway here is the half and half state of his appearance, informing us that the overall project backing this terraforming involves a lot more than remodeling the planet. Like “body modification” amounts of more. This doesn’t explore the inner workings of the plot, but body modification and Mars terraforming are the cornerstones of the plot.

The Gist

Humanity’s continued growth has put a strain on Earth and its resources. To combat this, the aptly named “Terraforming Project”, a multinational cooperative project aiming to terraform Mars is put into place. Genetically altered algae and cockroaches are transported to Mars to alter the atmosphere in 2099. Five hundred years later, the atmosphere is deemed stable enough to start phase two: exterminating the cockroaches. The first crew of astronauts, BUGS I, have a mishap, preventing them from completing the mission. Two years later, in 2599, a second crew, BUGS II, is sent to finish the task. What happened to BUGS I? Just what awaits BUGS II on Mars?

The Cast

Shokichi Komachi – Character depicted on the cover. Ex gang member charged with killing the father of a fellow gang member. From what we get to see of him, he’s a well mannered guy that’s, unfortunately, not very fond of cockroaches.

Dr. Honda – One of the big wigs on the Terraforming Project. He’s shown lecturing a high school on the basics of the project, thus bringing the audience up to speed as well.

D.K. Davis – The Captain for the crew. He keeps everyone in line and protected. Shown butting heads with the top brass over the specifics of the mission as his type are oft to do when in the thick of things.

The Rub

I have mixed feelings about Terra Formars. The individual elements don’t exactly bother me all that much.

I do like like the art. It’s much more on the detailed side, eschewing the abstraction heavy styles of some artists. This works in its favor as Terra Formars loves its fights and its gore. The main antagonists, the mutated cockroaches, seem a little odd to me. They just look like giant cartoonish black people (oh shut up, you saw the Obunga meme too). Oh well, more’s the pity. I would’ve had them start more, roachy, I guess and progress towards human, but the juxtaposition of them transitioning from insect to humanoid with us doing the opposite isn’t lost on me. Regardless, the art style plays to the manga’s strengths.

However, being a horror property, it does employ a horror convention that didn’t initially sit well with me. At the risk of being too meta or too spoilerly, I’m going to say that employment of won ton death and destruction can be a good thing. As a tool, a creator can employ it to create a frenetic, anxiety fueled sequence or work outright. However, this literally feeds on your cast and settings. You can only break so many things, feed so many people into the metaphorical meat grinder before you have nothing left to work with for your story.

I say that to say this: Terra Formars is a gory, wild ride that feels more like a self contained story than the introduction to a grander one. I have my suspicion that that just might be what it was initially planed to be. I didn’t dislike Volume 1, I just found myself upon finishing it, saying “Wow, that was wild, but it all kinda played its course. What should I even be expecting to be expounded upon in the next volume?”

In Conclusion

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a MULTITUDE of narrative potential in this universe (have you SEEN how many volumes and side stories there are?), it’s just that the ONE metric I hold above practically all others in the ATM series is “Do I want to continue?” – and in that context, THAT’S where Terra Formars gives me a bit of pause. Is what I got in this volume a microcosm of what I should expect in EVERY volume? I hope it isn’t EXCLUSIVELY as episodic feeling as this volume was, but I think I’m in.

The combination of Suicide Squad’s won ton death, destruction and fights and Animorphs style transformation and informative asides make for an interesting, if not slightly odd, mix. If it can just slow down a bit, it’ll be golden