Title: Pokemon
Volume(s): 4
Creator(s): Toshiniro Ono
Format: Flipped; Left-to-Right
Publisher: VIZ, LLC.
MSRP: $12.95
Genre(s): Action/Comedy
Rated: All Ages

The mid 90's started to make comic book companies worry. Comic books were dying as adults left their childhood hobby behind and started moving on to their real lives. The big worries for the comic book companies were the kids though. Very few kids of the new generation were into comic books, and with such interactive forms of entertainment like video games this situation didn't look like it was going to change anytime soon. The comic book world needed a savior, and that savior came in the form of one of the biggest franchises in the last ten years: "Pokemon." Now if you don't know what Pokemon is then I suggest you get out of the cave you've been living in (Sorry Bin Laden) and do a Google search and educate yourself. Pokemon arrived on the shores of American in 1999, and immediately became the most profitable franchise in history all over the world.

Spawning games, toys, a hit TV show (That is still a hit to this day), movies, videos, DVD's, trading cards, and yes even comic books, Pokemon was a strong force back then, and despite the fact that Pokemon has fallen in popularity recently it still remains healthy to this day. Well getting back to the lesson comic books were dying as a big interest for kids, and then one day Viz struck a deal to bring the various Pokemon comics to America. And so after all the translating, flipping, and digital painting was done, the first four issue's of what would be the first Pokemon graphic would hit the shelves in comic book stores around America...and the sales would fly! Kids would be coming back to comic book stores to read the latest issue of Pokemon, and comic books were almost single handedly saved by the yellow rat Pikachu. As if it had happened overnight, comic books become the "in" thing once again (For awhile anyway)!

Pokemon was a hugely popular series back then with a lot of power, and after reading this its not hard to figure out why. Because what's most surprising about this series is not how commercial like it feels (The way critics talked about this franchise you'd think it was the most shameless commercial to hit the airwaves since "Transformers"), but that this book is actually pretty good. The story opens up with young Ash Ketchem who has been awoken from his sleep from a noise coming from underneath his house. When Ash goes to inspect the noise he see's a Pikachu living under his house, chewing on the electric wires for some much needed energy. Well Ash puts on some rubber gloves, captures Pikachu, and is about to set him free in the wild when his lifelong enemy Gary shows up at his door. Gary has been Ash's rival for many years, and does everything he can to make sure that he makes Ash's life a living hell.

Today's topic to bring Ash down? Apparently Gary's grandfather Professor Oak has given Gary his very first Pokemon, and now Gary is off to begin his journey to become a Pokemon Master. Well Ash just can't let Gary go and get the one up on him, so he takes the Pikachu he found under the house, gets his life savings, says good-bye to his mom, and leaves to begin his own Pokemon journey. However Ash is unprepared for the journey that awaits him, and with little to no experience in travel, low income, and with a Pokemon that won't even obey him, Ash might have his work cut out for him. Having watched the Pokemon TV on a regular basis I can compare this comic version of Pokemon to the TV series, and I can confidently say that the comic series is much better then the TV series.

In this version of “Pokemon” Ash has to worry about more then just how many Pokemon he catches, he has money he has to figure out how to earn, he can only be gone so long before he has to return for school, and watching him drag his Pikachu along with him on a rope makes us wonder if he's really up to this journey. The fact that he initially goes on this journey just to one-up his rival speaks volumes in itself, and when he meets his nemesis/love interest Misty, she can't help but feel the poor boy is a little in over his head, and usually follows him around because she's worried that he's not ready for what lies ahead. This is surprisingly a very human series sometimes, with very believable characters and realistic situations (At least as realistic as your going to find in the Pokemon universe). And also there's humor, lots and lots of humor! Despite the fact that the story itself is kind of serious the book is filled with many puns, facial gags, and lots of other humor sprinkled throughout the series!

Chances are you're bound to laugh at least once while reading this. The artwork is also surprisingly excellent, with detailed worlds and characters, Toshiniro Ono is a very talented artist. He's also a very perverted artist though as he liked to draw the breasts of the girls rather big and, um...pointy. And this disturbing artwork had forced Viz to make some "artist changes" with the second printing of the books. Still this is probably the one time the censoring actually helps the series as the big breasts were kind of distracting, and the changes made do far more good then they do bad. Censorship and the flipping of the artwork aside "Pokemon" is still easy to recommend. Its got a great story, great art, believable characters, and enough humor to satisfy everyone. Check it out sometime, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you read.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -