The epic space cuisine competition continues this month. Will we get danger, intrigue, and jaw dropping food making montages?! Based on our recent interview, we’re going to certainly get more cannibalism!
Space Battle Lunchtime #4: is it good?
SPACE BATTLE LUNCHTIME #4 (Oni Press)
So what’s it about? The Oni summary reads:
Peony’s gotten through two grueling rounds of Space Battle Lunchtime, the hit cooking competition with more sabotage than you could shake a spoon at. But this next challenge may very well be her last. It’s a… TEAM CHALLENGE! And working with aloof Neptunia is no cake walk, especially when the fishy alien doesn’t like any of Peony’s recipes!
Why does this book matter?
Writer and artist Natalie Riess has proven she has the chops to make an all ages comic sing due to great pacing, fun moments, and most importantly an endearing charm. Let’s see if she can go 4 for 4 shall we?
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Literally…
We finally get a teamwork challenge (one of the best types of food challenge show tropes) and Reiss pulls it off splendidly. That’s partly due to her building up protagonist Peony’s relationship with one of her competitors that buds nicely in this issue. Nothing like teamwork to bring people together! This also includes a genuine moment between the characters as they determine they must work together to proceed. The crazy thing is this is only the third competition and the next is the last. Judging by the cliffhanger though we might be further from the end of the game than we think.
As is customary with this series at this point, Reiss includes a breakneck, fun, and somehow (it’s alien food after all) tasty cooking montage; it includes panels that will make you smirk as Peony attempts to be cool when her teammate is far from it and generally brings the awesomeness of alien food into the kitchen. The concept of alien food is so strange to begin with and Reiss makes it look cool and fun.
It can’t be perfect can it?
Things decompress a bit in this issue and while the panels aren’t wasted per se (cool alien city street for example in one) I counted four pages that slowed things down way too much. Obviously things were screeching to a halt due to the cliffhanger, but it made this issue feel lighter than previous issues.
Be friends guys!
Is It Good?
Space Battle Lunchtime continues to be the most charming comic on the shelf. While this issue gets quite slow near its end, it continues to bring excellent pace, good character moments, and above all else — fantastic cooking montages!
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