I don’t know how many mecha series there are in comics every year, but I always make an attempt to dive into as many as I can. Could it be the residual impact of Pacific Rim on my psyche twelve years later? Perhaps. But it’s also just the allure of giant robots and the suite of stories you can create with them. It’s why I was so excited when I covered a first issue last year and can now dive into its conclusion since Dawnrunner by Ram V, Evan Cagle, Dave Stewart, and Aditya Bidikar may be one of the best mech series this decade.

Moshaus One is one of the few human settlements left after the Tetza came through a rift over Guatemala. In response to the devastation caused by the aliens, the world pushed their remaining resources into the hands of five corporations and tasked them with protecting the world left behind. Their response was the Iron Kings—giant robots linked with pilots that could push back against the Tetza when they wandered too close to city walls. Anita Marr is one of the best pilots to ever step into a IK and with Dawnrunner, she’s able to fight better than anyone else in the world. But there’s the secret of the system that powers Dawnrunner: the mind of a former solider from when the Tetza first invaded that helps to bridge the gap between flesh and steel. As Anita fights, she dives deeper into the memories of Ichiro Takeda as he journeys to bring his children to safety.

For Dawnrunner, though, we need to consider its ending and what that tells us about the mech genre and much genre work in general. We have Anita fully integrating into Dawnrunner as she reaches the end of Ichiro’s memories—and as the Tetza have sent a being that has destroyed every other Iron King. In terms of mech stories, this gets us to a Miyazaki-esque feeling. Not in the cottage-core aesthetic lauded online, but more in that vein of Nausicaä. The world going to pieces being the platform for those whose hunger for money and power supersedes their basic humanityshows us corruption inside and out. Even with an external threat as massive as the Tetza, there is only a coming together under people who desire more for themselves. The world can fall apart, but as long as they’re safe, then it doesn’t much matter. And it’s only from under their thumb can someone push back against the patterns that brought us to this predicament.

While Dawnrunner began last year, its themes are evergreen. Even if we can’t swath ourselves in steel to fight against the monstrosities around us, then we can at least work to make things incrementally better for the people we love. Because, even with its eye on pushing against power, the core of this story has always been love. A love for the people closest to us and a love for the people we’ve never met but still wish to protect. 

Get excited. Get big.

Drew Barth (Episode 331, 485, 510, & 651) resides in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida.