Manga Review: HeroMan Volume 1 by Tamon Ohta and BONES, from a concept by Stan Lee.
Joey Jones is a young orphan living with his grandmother in Center City, California. He’s a sweet kid in a bad situation, who has to hold down a part-time job to help with the bills and can’t afford nice things. When he finds the latest hot toy robot broken and discarded by a spoiled rich boy, Joey takes it home and fixes it up.
Much to everyone’s surprise, when danger threatens, the toy transforms into a powerful mecha named HeroMan. Joey and HeroMan quickly become Earth’s only defense against attacking aliens.
So, Stan Lee has been around a long time. Over the years, he’s come up with a lot of ideas. Some were great, many were pretty good, some needed a bit more work to be viable, and a handful were truly awful. So by now, Stan has a briefcase full of ideas of varying quality and every time he runs a bit short of lunch money, he opens up the briefcase and sells one of his spare ideas.
A couple of years back, Stan Lee sold a couple of ideas to the folks over in Japan. This is one of them.
HeroMan was an animated series, and this is a tie-in comic for fans of the show. Fans will quickly spot the usual Stan Lee touches: underdog teen hero, bullying jock, elderly relative who must be protected, Stan Lee cameo…plus the manga staples like an enormous robot controlled by a hot-blooded teenager, and a romantic interest who wears a tiny skirt even in the most inappropriate circumstances.
The combination works pretty well, but long-time fans will find much of the material very familiar. I’d recommend it mostly to junior high kids who will strongly identify with Joey and HeroMan.
