Gigantor was a twelve issue comic series that ran throughout the year 2000, made by Antarctic Press' Ben Dunn, whom is more famous for the Ninja High School series. While trying to be a modernized adaptation of the english-dubbed 1963 Tetsujin 28 anime, it drew from Mitsuteru Yokoyama's other works, including the Giant Robo OVA series. The comic was later compiled into two trade paperback books.
Localization[]
Fred Ladd was heavily involved with the comic's creation, and as a result, all of the names from the Gigantor dub were retained, as well as some brought-over characters being renamed as well.
| Shotaro Kaneda | Jimmy Sparks |
| Chief Otsuka | Inspector Ignatz J. Blooper |
| Dr. Shikishima | Dr. Bob Brilliant |
| Kenji Murasame | Dick Strong |
| Dr. Bigfire | Mr. Ungablob |
| Dr. Dragnet | General Spider |
| Zangetsu (see Giant Robo) | Lord Jim |
| Lord Alberto (see Giant Robo) | Prince Mecha |
Emma East, from issue one
In addition, a brand-new female character was added to the cast, this being the World Justice Organization's special agent Emma East. The timeline was moved away from being set in 1955 and into the modern day, albeit with frequent wars.
Given that Giant Robo was still popular in America at the time, Kenji Murasame was drawn very closely to his appearance in the OVA series, rather than in the 1963 Tetsujin 28 anime. This included his hairstyle and bright pink trenchcoat. However, he retained the name of Dick Strong all throughout the series. One of the members of Bigfire, Zangetsu, was also brought over, but his costume was slightly altered, he was made British, and he gained the name Lord Jim.
Issues[]
The series ran for a total of 12 issues, which were put out bimonthly, over half of them in full colour. The series followed ten short plots that were two-issues long at the most.
Gigantor G3[]
Ben Dunn and Fred Ladd, following the series' end, once planned to create a sequel called Gigantor G3, which would've taken place in a more futuristic world where Shotaro/Jimmy could control Tetsujin/Gigantor directly through microchips in Jimmy's brain. Five character designs were published in the twelfth issue, showing Jimmy, Bob, Gigantor, Blooper and Dick dressed in futuristic jumpsuits and coats. At one point, a direct-to-video special was considered in 2004, but was never completed due to the 2004 Tetsujin 28 TV series being released, Mitsuteru Yokoyama's death, and general licensing problems.
Trivia[]
- In Issue 3, Gina Diggers from Antarctic Press' popular comic series Gold Digger makes a cameo on a billboard
- Various comic and manga characters cameo in the series, including-but not limited to-Cyborg 009, a hybrid between GR2 and Giant Robo using the OVA designs, Thunderbird 2 and one of the Tracy brothers from Thunderbirds.
- A minor character known as Grand Zoom (Dr. Doom) and 4 heroes parodying the Fantastic 4 appear in the second and third issue. The reason why is because writer Ben Dunn also was working on the then ongoing Marvel Mangaverse comic series and wanted to have them make a cameo.
- Some of the astronauts in issues 5 and 6 are cariacatures of the staff of Antarctic Press.