The 2003 Voltron Defender of the Universe comic reboot is my personal favrioute Voltron comic, run despite it's flaws and sudden ending it has a special place in my heart.
Similar to the 2016 Lion Forge comics this series also has a motion comic adaptation covering Volumes 0-5 and 1-5 of the second half. Below are a links to both of them.
While I personally recommend reading this specific comic run these motion comics are a unique oddity and I find the Shenmue esk line delivery rather charming.
The series would be collected into 3 omnibus the first one Revelation's collects the six issues published under image comics. Paradise Lost covers the remaining comics published by Devil Due Publishing. Same creative team just under their own label instead of Image. For some bizzare reason the Paradise Lost omnibus is printed in black and white and the back describes it as a Manga?!? The final omnibus the Complete one collects all the issues in colour as well as adds a few bonus pages.
Unfortunatly there is a mistake where some of the pages are printed out of order.
This makes collecting the 2003 comics rather difficult since no release is definitive. If you collect just the two omnibus, well ones not in colour. If you collect the single issues your missing the bonus pages from the Ultimate edition and the Ultimate edition is not only rare and expensive but also has the already mentioned printing errors. Xp
A test animation based of the 2003 reboot would also be made most likely as a pitch for an animated series. While posted back in 2012 the descricption says it was create a couple years prior. So potentially this animation was created around around 2003-2008.
The 2003 comic's defining legacy, at least in Voltron fandom, is being the first peice of Voltron media to give the main characters last names. While some surnames like Kogane are taken from Beast King Golion and have been acknoledged in later comics or shows (Voltron Force Episode 22) the other surnames exist in a grey area where some have been over written by new names like Stoker being superseded by Holt as Pidges favoured surname.
Mcclain, Garret and Holgerson haven't been widely acknowleged since this comic run but no new alternative names have been provided to overide them so they continue to be used in the fandoms lekicon.
Fanon becomes Canon
The 2003 run was written by fans of the original series and so it helped to cement certain concepts already present in Voltron fanon of the early 2000s that would in turn be adopted into modern fanon.
As the first Voltron reboot VLD would also take inspiration from this series ways of modernising Voltron, though VLD's Paladins are alot younger than DDP's Pilots which is an aspect of the 2003 series I really like cause of outside of Pidge the pilots already have jobs and experience in the "real world". Lances background I find especially amusing as hes very noncolonat about his many stupid stunts that have gotten him in trouble with the law.
One of my favrioute arcs happens at the start of the second half where after being betrayed by the Galaxy Garrision the Voltron force travels to Earth and sneaks into the Galaxy Garrison to steal the Lions back.
We can psycho analysis what this says about me but seeing everyone work together using there unique skills or connections to rescue their Lions was really entertaining.
Especially cause it aso highlights the moral ambiguity of the Galaxy Garrison who strongly beleived Voltron wasn't real when the exploration team they had no faith in found it decided that Voltron was now theres leaving Arus defenceless against Zarkon's forces.
Though another reason I love this arc is the inclusion of Vehicle Voltron.
DDP established the idea that Jeff and Keith kinda hate each other a dynamic that VLD arguable used when creating James and Keith's relationship. A point I wish ti highlight is an observation of how Keith and Jeff are portrayed, Keith who in Dotu who was seen as a bit of a square is now now a person whiling to disobey the Galaxy Garrison for the greater good meanwhile Jeff who in Dotu is quite the ruffian constintly getting into fights (ep3) and questioning Hawkin's orders(ep7) is seen as Keith's moral opposite in these panels.
However Keith could still be a square his loyalties have changed and that hes loyal to Arus but not the Galaxy Garrison meanwhile Jeff who snaps at Cliff prior to threatening Keith is still a ruffian just one whose aligned with the system.
I do feel like some of Jeff's qualitys were given to Keith in an attempt to make him more intresting as his 80s counterpart at least back in the 2000s was critisised for being boring. Though morally speaking Keith's actions in this reboot are still inline with his original characterisation.
Another thing about DDP I enjoyed was it's portrayle of Sven. I think modern fans have a warped perception of the character but the 2003 reboot really helped me to view Sven and his counterpart Shiro as two seperate entities while Shiro shares aspects of Sven, some of the Kuron stuff seems to be inspired by these comics they're still diffrent characters.
The 2003 comics had a revolving door of artists my personal favrioute is E.J. Su who did the pencils for all the panels I've shown above I have mixed feeling about Alitha Martinez the penciler who took over after E. J. Su from the oversexualisation of Merla and Allura or Keith's dramatic hair, I do like the designs they gave to Pidge and Hunk.
