Book 4: Robotech: Battlehymn

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

Welcome to the next post in my 2012 Robotech experience. Today I will be covering the fourth book in the Del Ray Robotech series: Battlehymn.

The book covers six episodes but I am watching the show one episode at a time then reading only the part of the book that covers that episode. Finally I will be reading the comic that corresponds to that episode.

The opening chapter is an invention of the author and it deals with what it might have been like to be on Earth when the SDF-1 showed back up after it's long voyage. It was neat to consider the surprise and panic it would have caused.

How even more fantastic would it have been for the people of the city who the SDF-1 first flew over (in the show). That would be awesome!

Yes, the two authors must be doing alternate books. This is the author that paraphrases what's going on as opposed to the other guy who is sticking very close to the show.


One thing I liked is that more emphasis was placed on the SDF-1's departure from Earth. It was a big moment in the story and in the lives of everyone on the ship and it was nice to see it given more here.

Dolza recalls Azonia and puts Breetai back in charge of the mission. If you payed attention you would have noticed that Azonia did absolutely nothing during her command. It was Khyron that kept going in and getting his ass handed to him.

I'd like to know where the spies got the ship to escape back to the fleet... in the previous book they mention that the pod dissolves so no trace is left but no one seems to know where the escape pod came from. My guess is that in the series it is the same pod they arrived in.

When Gloval announces that the SDF-1 has been ordered back into space Minmei breaks out in song... right there in the middle of the newscast. What an entertainer!

The writer makes a goof here when he is writing about Rico and the other spies talking. He says that Rico has only 'one good eye'. It's almost like he got Breetai mixed up with Rico.

When Rick and Lisa are trapped in the SDF-1 during the battle/drill/what the heck ever it was the book doesn't handle it as well as the show. The language is a little more natural but the feelings conveyed are not a 'blooming love' as they appear to be in the show.

I'm still stunned that Breetai would use his own ship and risk its destruction when he tries to get his troops inside the SDF-1 via the Dadelus attack. Seems awful risky...

I don't have a lot more to say about Minmei in this book. She takes a back seat to the action of the spies, Rick and Lisa, as well as the Zentraedi bungling.

It's funny the way the writer deals with previously unaddressed things in this book. Myria sees the defected aliens working right after their arrival on the ship and assumes (wrongly) that they were planted there for sabotage. Khyron is stunned to find out that Myria is there and assumes (wrongly) that she is there to find and kill the defectors. All the while Breetai takes credit for Myria being there, never telling Khyron it wasn't his idea.

Reading and Viewing Experience: Robotech Genesis-The Legend Of Zor

by Chris McGinty (AccordingToWhim.com)

I’ve started reading in chronological order, and I’m a little bit behind Nathan. I will presume as I write that you’ve seen the original series, and have at least read the material I’m talking about. If not, then this is your official spoiler alert. I have seen the original series, read the novels of the original series, and some of the comics of the original series. I have seen “Robotech: The Movie.” I’ve not read all of The Sentinels or anything else prior to this reading extravaganza. I’ve not seen “The Shadow Chronicles.”

Going by the chronological list, I started by reading the “Legend of Zor’s Fall.” Or whatever it was called. I almost thought that I was going to be reading the issues a little bit at a time, and then I got into the story, and read all six issues in one night. It wasn’t a bad story to be truthful.

Nathan draws some comparisons to the Star Wars prequels, which may have a lot to do with drawing on Roman history, and like the Star Wars prequels, if I have one complaint it’s that there aren’t too many surprises. In Star Wars, the problem was that we knew most of the major events already. This is partially true for the Zor story as well. The most enjoyable parts of either set of prequels for me were the things that I knew nothing about.

Issue #1 of the Zor mini-series was particularly tough for me. Some of the exposition dialogue was cringe worthy. One of the senators suggests that they mine the really big planet, and Zol responds with something like, “Now you know that the gravitational pull would kill anyone stepping on the planet.” It felt to me like the next panel should have been other senators saying, “This is why we shouldn’t let senators get their family hired to run this world.” And then the next panel should be the foolish senator sulking, saying, “They said there are no bad ideas in brainstorming.” But it’s ok, because later, when they create the Zentraedi, I’m sure he was going, “Hmm. I seem to remember suggesting mining the big planet, and everyone was like, ‘Oh no, we can’t do that!’”

I was also a little perplexed by the whole Arla thing at first. Zor takes her out to park on Blueberry Hill, and it was just odd to me. The character did serve her purpose as the story went on, though if I’d been writing the story, I would have delayed her death until the time of Zor’s death, along side Zor. The fact is that I thought the timing of Zor’s father’s death was pretty poignant. Zor has done so many things against his will, and then the one thing he asks in return, he is denied. Arla’s death as part of the rebellion didn’t carry that same weight.

Then there were the “Legends of the Fall” moments of the story where its like, “Many years passed after that day. Anthony Hopkins got older and started collecting ailments. Brad Pitt’s brothers got older and some of them perhaps died. Brad Pitt… well, he grew a beard.” Like Nathan said, it feels like there might have been some story to be told in those “years later” plot movements.

Aside from these complaints though, I enjoyed the story. It’s a hard balance to strike between just filling in the details of a back story, and writing something that will compel people to keep reading. I think this mini-series got the balance mostly right.

The Legend of Zor: Issues 1-6

Today I will cover thoughts about reading through Legend of Zor mini series. This is the first entry into the complete "Robotech Experience" (I should copyright that). Who knows, if I'm really lucky Harmony Gold will come in with the SOPA and shut my site down! Anyway... this is Eternity's comic and was released around the time of their Sentinel's series.

Legend of Zor: Issue 1 (Eternity/Malibu) 1992

Right off you can tell that Jason and John Waltrip (probably the most famous Robotech comic artist team) worked hard on this comic. Aside from the dopey look on Zor's face the first few pages sets the scene on Tirol. Some of the wide shots would make George Lucas happy. The 'Neo-Roman' look of Tirol society is painstakingly drawn and seriously looks like something out of a Star Wars comic set on Coursant.

The first few pages neatly sets up the energy shortage and the need for a new power source to fuel this techo-society. It also quickly establishes the need to create the Zentraedi race (to overcome the massive gravity of close-by planet full of valuable ore.

In the middle of the first issue there is an interesting section that shows the original pitch and art work that the Waltrip brothers sent in to Harmony Gold trying to get The Legend of Zor approved. It was a neat look into the industry.

Legend of Zor: Issue 2 (Eternity/Malibu) 1992

The story continues with Zor traveling as just another scientist in a ship that looks suspiciously like the R.E.F. design for the Ikazuchi Class Heavy Cruiser. I guess you could suggest that whatever was left inside the SDF-1 when it crashed on Earth was used (such as ship designs) by Lang and his engineers...

On page 4 the colorist mis-colored Zor's purple sideburns the same color as his skin... it's a giant skin tag!

On page 19 there is a character that is there simply to ask where Zor is. Since he is there for that reason alone, he literally doesn't have a face. I found that interesting...

This comic somewhat undermines the whole point of the mini-series. It is designed to explain the origins of all this mess and the Regis mistakes Zor for the person who originally gave the flower of life to the Invid (thus starting the evolution of their race). This makes this story not the 'true' origin of Protoculture... sheesh. So who is the person who gave the Invid the first flowers of life? Who?! Who damn it!!!?

I know this was year before Star Wars Episode 3 but the WHOLE changing of the Tirolian Republic to a Galactic Empire is a bit of a red flag. I think the Waltrip brothers need to sue George Lucas. It's obvious he read these comics and then wrote his Star Wars prequels... no really...

Is it just me or does Zor look like Minmie with purple hair?

Legend of Zor: Issue 3 (Eternity/Malibu) 1992

This issue is the return of the exploration team to Tirol and Zor's ridicule by the new ruling class. Not much to say here. Zor works with the samples he brought back from Optera and can't find how to unlock their power (at least not until the very end of the comic).

Legend of Zor: Issue 4 (Eternity/Malibu) 1992

Zor unlocks the flower of life's energy and the Tirolian society has transformed. Quickly the ruthless Elders devise a plan to develop a slave race of clones as well as a race of gigantic soldiers with their new found power. The Elders (now called the Masters) unleash their Zentraedi from their mining work on Phantoma to quash a rebellion rising aganist the government. We see a fully-eyed Breetai and Exedore on the last page.

Zor says something strange on that last page too. He says 'the Zentraedi have returned', which doesn't make sense because they haven't played any part in the story so far. Perhaps he means they have returned to the place where they were created.

Legend of Zor: Issue 5 (Eternity/Malibu) 1992

Right away on page 2 there is an homage to The Empire Strikes Back when Zor kneels before the Masters and utter's Darth Vader's line: 'What is thy bidding my masters'.

When Zor returns to Optera we find the Invid transformed into more that just slugs. For the next several pages (when Zor's forces harvest the flowers) it looks like something out of a Hannah-Barberra cartoon. The Invid look very cartoon-like. It doesn't help with the Zentraedi walking around, unknowingly stomping around on the whole Invid society.

At the end of this comic the Invid have evolved and it shows the Invid in their eggs? Their sights set on revenge for the rape of their planet by Zor and the Masters. The last frame shows an egg cracking and what do we see... an Invid scout eye. Not an Invid, but the mecha they fly around in... what the heck? I assumed that the Invid were inside the craft, not born in the craft... this is getting strange.

Legend of Zor: Issue 6 (Eternity/Malibu) 1992

In this final issue of the origins of Protoculture and Zor's role in the whole debacle we see several things come together. The Masters built the SDF-1 which they call the Super Dimensional Fortress-One. The name and the reason for its creation is a mystery (another mini-series!) but they shunt Zor off in it to basically get rid of him while keeping him around when they need him.

Breetai is here again, undamaged until the Invid attack on the base where Zor gets fatally wounded.

This final part seems a bit rushed. It all seems a bit rushed actually. There is enough material here to have a full run of comics but if you can only get 6 issues in which to do it you have to cut corners. The basics of what it laid out in the books and show (about Zors involvment) is expounded on just enough to get by with. It would have been nice to see Cabell working with Zor more and how the technology Tirol evolved into the weapons we see during the Robotech Masters part of Robotech. It would have also been nice to see the Masters make the Zor clone that Cabell works with in the Sentinels.

Overall this mini-series gives you a little glimpse into how everything started and how the SDF-1 came to be on Earth and why the aliens came back to recapture it.

Next on my reading list is the Graphic Novel. I have a physical copy of this book and I have sort of already begun to read it. I will review and comment on it as well as the first several issues of Return To Macross in the next week or so.