"The message was clear: we are far bigger than we look."
— Jasper
Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero is the graphic novel prequel to Pacific Rim. It was written by the film's screenwriter Travis Beacham and edited by the film's director Guillermo del Toro. It was released on June 18, 2013.
The comic is set about a year prior to the events of the film. Journalist Naomi Sokolov, aiming to write a puff piece on the dwindling Jaeger Program and its history, interviews several key figures in its development. The stories are:
- "K-Day": Tendo Choi recalls his experience in San Francisco when the first Kaiju attacked.
- "Turn of the Tide": Jasper Schoenfeld recounts the development of the neural link used to pilot the Jaeger, which he developed alongside his former graduate student, Caitlin Lightcap.
- "The Bond": Stacker Pentecost discusses his life philosophies and why he adopted little Mako Mori from the wreckage of Tokyo.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The graphic novel is a series of flashbacks about some of the characters from the movie and how they came to be part of the Jaeger program.
- Badass Boast: Stacker's penchant for grandiose motivational statements that evoke the apocalypse recurs here.Pentecost: I've never believed in the end times. We are mankind. Our footprints are on the moon. When the last trumpet sounds and the Beast rises from the pit — we will kill it.
- Comicbook Adaptation: Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero acts as a prequel to the film covering the events of the first Kaiju attack, how the Jaegers were created, and goes into detail about the backstories of characters, such as Stacker Pentecost and Mako Mori.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Lampshaded. Naomi asks Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld, who helped develop the Jaegers, to recount the development of technology. She refers to the anecdotal story that he got the idea to build giant robots to fight the Kaiju when watching his son play with action figures as his "famous Eureka moment".
- Family of Choice: Stacker somberly says that family is sometimes built, not chosen, as he recalls his copilot's rapid deterioration from radiation sickness.Stacker: Tamsin was family to me. We fought monsters together. We experienced each other's emotions. And suddenly, she was gone.
- Framing Device: The graphic novel is comprised of stories being told to journalist Naomi, and are presented as flashbacks.
- Meaningful Name:
- A sievert is a measurement of radiation exposure, which is what killed Tamsin Siever.
- Dr. Caitlin Lightcap, the inventor of the Jaegers' neural interface system.
- Monumental Damage: Unlike in the film where this is glossed over, Tendo's flashback to K-Day devotes several panels to the kaiju plowing through the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Mother Nature, Father Science: This is how the Jaeger program was made. Two scientists were behind it. The man came up with the idea to build giant robots, but he himself admitted that the key to making it work (love) could never have come from him. The neural handshake came from his female co-worker and she ended up becoming one of the first Jaeger pilots in the process.
- My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Variation. While studying Segrio's brain, Caitlin notes a dopamine spike. She wonders if it's OCD before realizing he's attracted to her.
- Sacrificial Lamb: The graphic novel reveals that Luna Pentecost, Stacker's sister, was one of the pilots who died fighting the first kaiju. This is presented early on in the comic, to up both the narrative and personal stakes for the characters.
- Sibling Triangle: Naomi flirted with both Beckett brothers back in the day. It caused issues in their drift, because Raleigh could see that Yancy was thinking of Naomi and was jealous.
- Tears of Joy: Tamsin, dying of cancer, breaks into tears once she sees the little girl she helped save on her last outing as a pilot in front of her.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Jasper Schoenfeld had an affair with Caitlin Lightcap, one of his grad students, while being married. They pick it up again while collaborating on the Jaeger, but she breaks it off after she starts drifting with Sergio.
