Big Science Action
Big Science Action by Mike Becker
14 years ago - Dai Yokohama is left alone in the final battle of the Monster War when the computers containing Zotaro are destroyed. He is finally able to unlock the Ultraspark and become Ultimon but is overwhelmed by the final surge of monsters before he is joined by Hiro Kunikawa, Mai Kusanagi, & Grr saving Japan. They help to rebuild Neo-Tokyo & build the Halo, their headquarters on My Fuji, founding Big Science Action.
Membership: 23-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 17-year-old Mai Kusanagi, & 19-year-old Hiro Kunikawa
Membership: 23-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 17-year-old Mai Kusanagi, & 19-year-old Hiro Kunikawa
11 years ago - Big Science Action is forced to stop Hiro Kunikawa's friend Tensai Hitori as his powers consume him as he grows and rampages through Neo-Tokyo.
Membership: 26-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 20-year-old Mai Kusanagi, & 22-year-old Hiro Kunikawa
Membership: 26-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 20-year-old Mai Kusanagi, & 22-year-old Hiro Kunikawa
10 years ago - Naoko Shinzokesa fights a full invasion of the Black Empire alongside Big Science Action, and joins them.
Membership: 27-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 21-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 23-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, & 15-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa
Membership: 27-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 21-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 23-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, & 15-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa
6 years ago - Grr's creator, Lord Zarok, contacts him, revealing that his mission on earth was to prepare it for conquest. As Zarok’s invasion fleet arrives in outer orbit of the solar system, Grr defies his Star Father and fights the invasion along with Big Science Action and the Justice League.
Membership: 31-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 25-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 27-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, & 19-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa
Membership: 31-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 25-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 27-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, & 19-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa
4 years ago - Heino Okata is the only person able to observe the actions of the Helix corporation, as they take over public perception and turn them against Big Science Action. He helps expose them as an alien psychic virus, and becomes BSA’s newest member.
Membership: 33-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 27-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 29-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, 21-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa & 23-year-old Heino Okata
Membership: 33-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 27-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 29-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, 21-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa & 23-year-old Heino Okata
1 year ago - Big Science Action joins the battle against Mageddon.
Membership: 36-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 30-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 32-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, 24-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa & 26-year-old Heino Okata
Membership: 36-year-old Dai Yokohama, Grr, 30-year-old Mai Kusanagi, 32-year-old Hiro Kunikawa, 24-year-old Naoko Shinzokesa & 26-year-old Heino Okata
Noteworthy Teams
Complete Membership
Finding ways to expand our version of the world of DC beyond the United States has been interesting. Superheroes are a decidedly American invention, like Jazz or Cool Ranch Doritos, but only because they’re an American expression of something that just looks different in other cultures, with their own language of heroic fiction. The example I ALWAYS point to when I have this conversation is Japan, since we’re all so wildly familiar with the wonderful output of stories from that particular country. We know what Japanese heroes look like.
Which is what was so interesting about Big Science Action. The literal idea here was that, even though they didn't really appear in the comic pages, they didn't HAVE to. We recognized them anyway. They are an absolutely perfect inclusion in our project, but they had so few appearances that in some cases you could argue they barely existed at all. We technically had a lot of content to draw on, since all of these characters are based on very prolific Japanese heroes, but putting all of those influences together into our takes on these characters was WILDLY fun. I always ask you guys to tell us what you think? But this time I have to insist :)
Which is what was so interesting about Big Science Action. The literal idea here was that, even though they didn't really appear in the comic pages, they didn't HAVE to. We recognized them anyway. They are an absolutely perfect inclusion in our project, but they had so few appearances that in some cases you could argue they barely existed at all. We technically had a lot of content to draw on, since all of these characters are based on very prolific Japanese heroes, but putting all of those influences together into our takes on these characters was WILDLY fun. I always ask you guys to tell us what you think? But this time I have to insist :)
Big Science Action's Comic HistoryIn Grant Morrison's 2008 crossover series Final Crisis one of the main story elements was that the characters of the Fourth World, Jack Kirby’s classic New Gods, were being reborn on Earth. This includes the Forever People, a team of counter-culture young heroes rebelling against the previous generation. Morrisons spin on this idea was Super Young Team, a group of young, trendy Japanese heroes. For them to work, though, they needed their own previous generation of heroes to rebel against, so we were introduced to Big Science Action, a team of classic heroes that theoretically had been active in Japan all the way back to the Silver Age… even though they technically only ever really appeared in one flashback panel. Most of what we know about this team actually comes from the Final Crisis Sketchbook, a behind-the-scenes look at the series that includes the original designs of this Superteam that never technically existed, and the Japanese characters that influenced them.
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There actually are a few appearances we can find if we dig, however. One of the spin-off miniseries from Final Crisis was Final Crisis Aftermath: The Dance, a story about Super Young Team that features appearances of the modern day Big Science Action, which includes a few of the classic members. More recently a new crossover series, Doomsday Clock, features lots of references to international teams and as such a few members of Big Science Action pop up in there. (They’re not really worth looking for. Trust me. Friends don't let friends read Doomsday Clock.)
Also, if we're going to be listing major appearances of these characters, I think we can also safely include the artwork done by Mike Becker, commissioned by this very website and paid for by our actual readers! Thank you everybody! |
Our Big Science Action StoryWe tried very hard to maintain the ideas of these characters as they were presented in the Final Crisis Sketchbook. The whole thing was just so wildly innovative, it really just needed a LOT of fleshing out. It imagines a Japan that is regularly plagued by monster attacks, which was the battleground for the Monster Wars, which destroyed old Tokyo in the events leading up to the creation of Big Science Action. We deliberately made those events around the same time as the classic satellite era of the Justice League to make this one of the longest-standing heroic teams in the world.
The comic version of Big Science Action included a few other characters that have appeared in DC comics previously; specifically the Global Guardians character Rising Sun and the Grant Morrison creation Goraiko, but we were way more interested in focusing on the characters that feel like references to classic anime. In fact, one noticeable gap in that collection of influences was one of the most important Japanese Superheroes ever, and we actually grabbed a character from a completely separate part of DC continuity to adapt to this team. |
Overall this was just a ton of fun. The goal was to make characters that feel like they fit in DC, but who also are immediately recognizable, as though you already knew them.