Comic Review: COWBOY BEBOP issue #1

Cowboy Bebop Issue #1

Written by Dan Watters

Art by Lamar Mathurin

Published by Titan Comics

The comic book, based on the 2021 Netflix show, based on the 1998 Anime.

This book has a lot of targets that it is aiming for, introducing comic readers to the world of Cowboy Bebop, bringing in concepts from the original anime, all while sticking close to what’s being represented in the live action tv show. The opening pages use very strong visuals to assist with these challenges. It also opens up with very little dialog, but with a nice tribute to the original anime.

The crew of the Bebop are exactly where fans of either of the shows would expect them to be, trying to catch a bounty in an establishment that is providing some tense gambling, and some cool jazz. Of course things start to go sideways as they try to complete their task. Spike, Jet, and Faye are butting heads as they try to work together so they can get paid. It’s nice to see that the little fur ball Ein might also get to play a part in this adventure. A new sci-fi element gets introduced in this story that although it seems a bit odd, it actually fits right in with the Bebop universe. It will be interesting to see how that develops.

The artwork is bold, stylistic, and very noir-ish with plenty of black ink being used. The characters more resemble their live action counterparts rather than the animated drawings we’ve been accustomed to seeing over the years. This gives the comic world a bit more sense of danger. The colors are also very stylized, reminiscent of the Anime’s opening title sequence. I’m also surprised they’ve kept up with the “R” rating from the tv show. Personally I’m still not used to these characters dropping the F-Bomb. 

Since the first season of Cowboy Bebop on Netflix is only 10 episodes, this adventure seems to be taking place somewhere around episodes 5 through 8. An intriguing start to the newest version of these bounty hunting tales.

See ya Space Cowboy…

3.5 out of 5