In this review of Gatchaman #10, Galactor’s dual attack on the International Science Organization continues with some dire consequences.
GATCHAMAN #10
Written by: Cullen Bunn
Art: Chris Batista
Main Cover: Inaki Miranda
Variant Cover: Chris Batista
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: June 4, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Gatchaman #10 begins as the killer drone robots continue their dual attack on the International Science Conference and the ISO’s secret training facility. Unlike previous attacks that the sinister organization has launched in past issues, for Gatchaman #10, Cullen Bunn presents a ruthlessness that has not been seen in the series until now. The actions would lead to some dire consequences.
Galactor’s attack on the International Science conference is intense. there are far more drones to account for the attendees to the event. Yet with four members of the Science Ninja Team present, people’s chances of survival remain high. Bunn highlights this here and the remainder of the issue as it appears, no life is lost at the conference (although that can’t be for certain).
The Real Carnage
The same can’t be said for the individuals at the ISO’s secret training facility. Despite the intense training they’ve received, they appear far overmatched compared to the conference. Here, Bunn relies on his title as the King of Horror to truly show how vicious and dangerous Galactor is. In previous issues we’ve seen the villainous organization take dastardly steps in their mission to take over the world, only to be thwarted by the Science Ninja Team. In Gatchaman #10, however, Bunn takes Galactor’s ruthlessness to another level.
Galactor’s attack against Jinpei (who is still recovering from an injury) and the trainees come with some dire consequences. While it may appear that no lives were lost at the conference, the same can’t be said about the attack on the trainees. For the first time in this series, Bunn is able to tap into his role as the King of Horror to have the drone robots succeed in killing several trainees. They come from different angles, but the end result is the same — there are dead bodies throughout the ISO facility along with a fair amount of blood.
The cause of the carnage isn’t limited to the drones either. As we have known for this entire arc, Sensei Daiko is none other than Berg Katse in disguise. Katse infiltrated the ISO facility to lay a trap in attacking the ISO and the Science Ninja Team from within. Bunn uses Gatchaman to allow the Galactor leader to spring his final act, which we see is more successful than first expected.
As we saw in issue #8, Daiko focused on manipulating Mara, who has been the team lead of the B team since the start of the series. However, by the time we reach the end of Gatchaman #10, we see that several members of the training team have been manipulated to join Berg Katse in addition to Mara. They are as ruthless in their actions as were the drones as they too kill several of their fellow trainees in addition beating Jinpei. By the time the remaining members of the Science Ninja Team make it to the training facility, only it appears only Jinpei remains alive.
Cullen Bunn truly hit it out of the park with this issue of Gatchaman. By allowing Galactor to be successful, Bunn was able to tap into his true passion for horror to tell a story where sometimes the bad guys win.
Gatchaman #10 is clearly my favorite issue of the series, replacing my love for issue #3. While I have always appreciate the nostalgia feel of the series, to see things go further was something that was missing. Prior to this issue, we saw the same pattern that one would typically see in good vs. evil style story: the villain would get ever so close to succeeding in their plans, only to lose at the last moment. This doesn’t happen here. Galactor clearly wins the battle and has the bodies to show it.
The artwork from Chris Batista continues to shine in Gatchaman #10. One thing that always earns extra kudos from me is when a creative team is able to stick together, especially for the art. For the most part this has happened, with only Pasquale Qualano stepping in to pencil the treasure hunt interlude issue. This provide complete consistency in storytelling. And let’s not forget the wonderful colors from Carlos Lopez, another consistent presence to this series with the exception of the previously mentioned interlude. Despite Bunn’s darker turn this issue, Batista and Lopez continue to provide great visuals on each page.
Final Thoughts
Gatchaman #10 is the series’ most intense issue. It allowed Cullen Bunn to dig deep into his experience in thrillers without going overboard. Yet, it achieves the mission of showing just how dangerous Galactor is as an adversary.
