Sandy Frank had imported the anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman to America in 1978, retooling it as the syndicated Battle of the Planets with instant success.

[4] Due to the lack of reference material passed on to the creative staff, the artwork was often variable, colouring errors were frequent and the plots were often considered lightweight.

[7] Ross contributed designs and cover artwork; the series itself was written by Munier Sharrieff and featured art from Wilson Tortosa.

Due to growing knowledge of the show's origins as Gatchaman and the desire to find a more adult audience for the book saw several of the elements added by Sandy Frank, such as the robot 7-Zark-7, omitted.

[6] Initial sales were strong; Top Cow reported the first issue of the ongoing sold 150,000 copies,[8] and the company swiftly planned a number of spin-off one-shots.

To resolve the cliffhanger from the regular title a two-issue mini-series, solicited first as Coup De Gras and then Endgame, was planned but never made it into print.

[16][17][18] However, in a 2022 retrospective article for Comic Book Resources, Gene Kendall questioned the series' willingness to shock fans, but praised Alex Ross' covers.