by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Thanks for hanging in there with me. I'm back in college again and with a full time job and a baby on the way things are just hectic. I am trying to keep up with this though...
The Sentinels #6 (eternity 1989)
The Invid Hellcat pictured here is huge! It's so much bigger than the ones in the cartoon. Like 400% times bigger! When Cabel is in the Bioroid transport we see it outside... huge!
On page 5 I finally get closure on something that has bothered me for YEARS. Rem climbs down and gets into a crashed Invid Shocktrooper. Here we see the dead Invid! He is nowhere to be seen in the cartoon.
What is the floating butler thing on page 10? My my, Dr. Lang is sure living the good life!
On the next page Karen shows up. I've always thought she looked strange. Waltrip has caught her look from the cartoon exactly. I think it's the slanted eyelids/brows that make her look strange.
On page 16 Max and Miriya are having the 'discussion' as to why they are ditching their kid cause on Earth (along with Bowie Grant).
On the last page of the comic I can tell that the shadow is obviously Vince Grant.
The Sentinels #7 (eternity 1989)
Page 2... whoa!
Ok, Rick and Lisa are stark naked in bed and when someone comes to the door Rick just says 'come in'.
There's that floating butler again...
On page 12 we get to see the GMU. It is MASSIVE! People are just specks on the page compared to it. I didn't think it was quite that big. I can see how the Southern Cross people felt that the REF were taking all the good stuff with them and leaving Earth with nothing.
Page 15... really...
Overall this was a good issue. It took us all over the place, giving us bits of each set of character's story with a bunch of new stuff. We have finally moved on past the cartoon and are now in Eternity's own creation, bound only by Macek's notes (and perhaps the books).
The Sentinels #8 (eternity 1989)
This issue appears to be a mixture of pencils and watercolors. Interesting look. We've seen it before but I thought I'd mention it.
Bowie looks a bit frightening on page 1.
The pretext of Minmei just wanting to see Rick and Lisa one last time (so she steals a shuttle to do it) is a bit much. I know we have to (story-wise) get her back to the SDF-3 without doing it willfully but still...
When Rem and Cabel go into Zor's study on page 14... I think that's cool.
Whoa! Now this is getting interesting. The SDF-3 just popped into Tirol space! I must confess I haven't read The Sentinels in so long I really have forgotten what happens so you will have to forgive me for doing a lot of exclaiming from this point forward.
On page 21 Lisa acts dumb as to who the Invid are... how is this? The RDF knew about the Invid from the start (see Lang's first visit to the SDF-1). Guess we need some exposition...
The Sentinels #9 (eternity 1989)
Nice 2 page scene on page 2 and 3!
Page 7 has some great mecha art too. All the mech art in this issue is awesome.
Also on page 7... the skull symbol on Max's Alpha looks more like an alien than a skull.
The Logan fighters are kinda strange looking. You will notice that the cockpit canopy comes all the way down to seat level. It's like the cockpit is 50% canopy.
Wolf does some surprisingly detailed oxygen analysis in a split second and has some questions as to why there are 2 people in the EVA but only enough oxygen for one...
Cabel's schematics don't make sense (if you read what he is saying about what they represent).
The Invid brain is quite the comedian.
At the end of this issue it appears the Invid made quick work of nearly taking out the SDF-3. Puny humans!
The Sentinels #10 (eternity 1989)
On page 3 we see the SDF-3's council chamber. That table setup looks an awful lot like the one in Star Wars on the Death Star... And I bet everyone has to speak up to be heard... it's awfully big.
I forgot Jean was a doctor. She was always just in the background but now (in the comics) we get some more depth (a little, at least).
Page 10... ho ho ho, who is this?...
Oh snap! Dr. Lang almost got busted when Rick walked in. Lang's Janis PC looks like a cash register...
On page 14 we get to see the MASSIVE GMU again. That think is way too big to be useful.
Wait a cotton-pickin' minute... Lisa's hair... it's back to it's former... er... self. (on page 20).
The Sentinels #11 (eternity 1989)
On page 3 Cabell looks a little 'derpy' on the 4th frame here...
I though Obsim was killed a couple of issues back by the Regent... I guess those Invid all look alike.
Ah ha! So we finally get to see some of the 'newer' mecha designs. Been waiting for this...
The look on Jack's face at the bottom of page 12 is great.
I think my favorite character in this whole mess is the Invid brain. He has the smarts and the wit!
On page 17 Cabell is holding a rifle backwards. Now I understand this is a comedic point but really? Would anyone (even people who have never clapped eyes on a rifle) hold it the wrong way around?
The sentry guards around the armory look cool.
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Robtech II: The Sentinels Book I: #1-5
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Welcome to the next part of our chronological trip through the Robotech universe! We now begin with the Robotech II: The Sentinels comics (Book I).
The Sentinels #1 (eternity 1988)
Separated at birth (new Exedore and Colin Fay from Men at Work)
Just sayin'...
Once again there is an advertisement towards the end of this comic for Protoculture Addicts, one of my all time favorite magazines (up till issue 10 at least).
The Sentinels #4 (eternity 1989)
Welcome to the next part of our chronological trip through the Robotech universe! We now begin with the Robotech II: The Sentinels comics (Book I).
The Sentinels #1 (eternity 1988)
Jason Waltrip begins us off on our journey with the same characters we know and love... only looking very different.
Separated at birth (new Exedore and Colin Fay from Men at Work)
Sorry, where was I?
I always felt that new Lang doesn't look 'anime' enough.
So far we haven't gotten to see Rick's face yet. A big reveal is coming... then boom! Page 8, we see a much more confident looking Rick Hunter. Let us call him... Rick Hunter Prime.
On page 13 there is a cool shot of an Invid troop transport disgorging it's wrathful army! Although in the cartoon they are in little launch bays inside the big clam ship.
The attack on Tirol makes me wonder just how Carl Macek would have pulled off the Invid being the overall bad guy in The Sentinels cartoon (if it was to continue). I thought he couldn't get the rights so would we forever have been seeing the Inorganics? Suck.
Cabel says that Rem is a 'young Robotech Master'... really? I know the whole Zor connection but I never remember him ever being called a Robotech Master. Interesting.
You know, out of all of the different 'quests' in Robotech, the only one that actually worked successfully was the Invid's discovery of Earth. The Zentraedi failed to recapture Zor's battle fortress, the Masters failed to find the protoculture matrix, the Sentinels failed to find the Masters... but the Invid did find a world where the flower of life would grow...
The Invid scientist are drawn to represent 'smaller' versions of the Regent, but in the show they looked to be formed different. The RPG shows the scientist to be the Invid form just short of the evolution of the Regent. Just noticed that.
On page 25 Ben Dunn does some Robotech for us in an ad for Ninja Highschool. My fellow blogger (Chris) and I are business acquaintances of Ben. He has done some work for us on a game we made (and failed to Kickstart) called Zombie Death Squad, Go!
The Sentinels #2 (eternity 1988)
On page 4, Jean Grant's uniform looks very RDF. I don't remember that in the show.
The Tirol troops facing the Invid's Inorganics appear to be in a normal cockpit but in the show they are simply sitting in a spherical cockpit, simply using their minds to control the mecha. I guess that wasn't exciting enough.
On page 9 Rem and Cabel are talking about the flower of life, saying it hasn't been in that sector for generations but if you will remember in previous comics they talk about the discovery of the flower (as a source of power) and the rise of the Masters as if it only happened within the last 15 years or so. I'll just choose to play along...
The shot of the SDF-3 on page 12 is great. It really conveys the size of the ship and the size of the factory... something I didn't see the show do.
The display table on page 17 looks like something out of Return of the Jedi.
Benson is a jerk-hole. Edwards rubbed off on him real fast.
Did you see that guy get blasted on the last frame on page 22? Wicked!
The last page of the comic (once again) does what the show didn't. We see the Invid's Inorganics herding the population of Tirol. It's an awesome shot. Bravo.
In the letters column a fan writes in and he and editor talk about getting a letter writing campaign started to get Robotech re-broadcast. Oh those were the days. When you got to see something it was a treat. Something like Robotech (or any show) wasn't an instant satisfaction thing, it was an event and you were soooo lucky to get to see it on TV.
The Sentinels #3 (eternity 1989)
Some cool shots of Alphas open this issue. I have mentioned this before but the helmets (and uniforms in general) of the REF have no pizazz. They are DULL. It would have been cool to see a little more New Generation inspired uniforms.
The VR battlepods during Baker's training are not the REF versions like in the show.
Page 13... Minmei... hubba hubba (wait, what did I just say?!)
On page 15 we see a Petite Cola machine! Also I'd just like to say that I am really enjoying Jason Waltrip's attention to detail. We see the Zentraedi factory and a living-breathing home for so many (something the show didn't do). It's kinda like revisiting Macross city on the SDF-1.
Page 20, Edwards looks a little 'The Shadow'...
Once again there is an advertisement towards the end of this comic for Protoculture Addicts, one of my all time favorite magazines (up till issue 10 at least).
The Sentinels #4 (eternity 1989)
Wow, the Regent is HUGE. Way bigger than he is in the show. I need to find some sort of comparison chart of 3rd war and Sentinels characters.
What's up with this big brain? There is nothing in the Robotech universe like these Invid brains. Even when watching the New Generation episode where they blow up the big brain thingy, I was always wondering... 'what the heck?'.
The 'on the ground' Invid transport ships look cool. We have never seen them like this.
On page 15 the schematic of the Inorganic... looks a bit... dirty.
On the next page we scene right out of the cartoon but wait... where is the great 80's moustache?! It's missing!
The Sentinels #5 (eternity 1989)
Harry Penn is such a worry wart! It doesn't help that Lang openly pours salt in the wound by telling Karen he wants her on the mission as a fighter pilot... jerk!
What's up with Cabel's head? It's so misshapen.. true, not as much as Exedore's was but still...
On 14 Minmei shows up again in her 'not suitable for outer space' clothing.
When Bradley drops off Baker's invitation to the wedding, it is on some sort of cassette (that he puts into a PC that looks a lot like a TRS-80 (or trash 80 as we used to call them in middle school). In the show it is on the traditional note card.
All in all not much happened in this issue other than the flight test accident.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
The Malcontent Uprisings #7-12
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
The Malcontent Uprising #7 (Eternity 1990)
The cover looks promising. We see Breetai in full battle mode, looking not-to-happy.
First off we see Breetai's new Sentinels helmet... man on man does it suck! I have always hated that piece of junk. Let's not even get to talking how they turned around and gave Edwards a Breetai-like mask either... sheesh. Sorry, I got carried away.
Breetai puts down his cowl and we get a peek on the back side of it. Neat.
On page 4 we get an excellent drawing of an Invid Shock Trooper (and Breetai looking like a dork right before getting his face shot off).
On the next page we see Breetai in the micronization tank. This brings up an interesting point... when someone is shrunk or enlarged, is their old body melted away? Having read a bunch of sci-fi over the years that has been one method writers explain how teleportation work; the conscience is transferred across distances and the left-behind body is disposed of. Kinda freaky but it makes sense.
Next page we get... Dork-a-tron! Yes, I know Harmony Gold couldn't get the rights to the looks of the Macross characters so they had to change them drastically for The Sentinels but still...
Spangler wrote off this drastic change in character-look explaining that Breetai wanted to travel incognito... so new mask.
I'd have to admit that some of the Southern Cross armor is cool, but not much of it.
The Petit Cola van on page13 hovers... does everything after 2015 hover... wait no, next page...
Jevna Parl shows up on page 16. If you remember, he was aboard the factory satellite in The Zentraedi Rebellion. He was the first Zentraedi Lisa had seen bald and with a beard.
On page 22 things start falling apart story-wise. Jevna is going to use Breetai to 'test' the sizing chamber by force. Ok, say it works... Breetai at full size? No one can stop him after that. Next, Breetai see the battlepod and jumps to the conclusion that there MUST be a full size Zentraedi in there. Why? We know that Zentraedi can operate pods in a team of 3. Finally Breetai comes to the (right) conclusion that Jevna is the one in the pod. Why? Re-read this whole paragraph and that theory is shot down (and dumb). Sorry, things just got crazy there for a second.
As many gripes and such as I had for this issue, it was fun. That's what makes this stuff fun for me. I like nit-picking but I do it only in FUN. I'm not angry about it or anything. Just fun!
The Malcontent Uprising #8 (Eternity 1990)
Miriya finally gets to meet up with Seloy. It took long enough!
The Bartley family is reunited on page 6. I wonder if we will get to see where Rook ends up before this is all over. I'd think she'd be a bit younger though... yep, in the book she is like 6 months old. That would put her around 16 when the Invid attack. She looks to be about 6 or 7 here. That would make put her in her 20's when the Invid attack.
On page 16 Wolff talks to Max about deserting. In the book Max is shocked and talks Wolff out of it, here it is turned into some sort of mission.
We get to see a Veritech take on a Hovertank, nice.
Not a whole lot of talk in this issue (aside from Seloy revealing her plan to Miriya).
The Malcontent Uprising #9 (Eternity 1990)
Greg Lane takes over as artist in this issue. He has a very different look for Wolf... more hair, less forehead.
The Centaur tanks looks awesome BTW.
I really like Lane's work here. There is a nice technical look as well as nice character renderings too.
At the top of page 9 are some music posters on the side of a building. One is for a Minmei album and the one below it is for Bon Jovi called 'still rockin'. So Bon Jovi survived the Rain of Death? In the picture he seems to be leaning on a cane and at the bottom the title says 'Ben Gay Blues'. lol!
On page 11 Ron Bartley looks a little Roy Fokker-ish.
The Zentraedi on page 16 couldn't find armor in his own size.. it's a bit big on him.
Miriya looks much more... Miriya in this issue (with her tight Zentraedi uniform on and her hair in normal fashion).
That is a cool Stinger on page 20. An armored Veritech hybrid.
Well, that situation with Seloy and Hirano turned bad fast... As I thought before, the idea of Hirano's lineage would have made for some interesting story since he was the only other (besides Dana) hybrid Zentraedi/Human. Kinda strange that they just got rid of him like that.
The Malcontent Uprising #10 (Eternity 1990)
As we begin we see that Miriya's uniform has been ripped quite 'sexily'.
Wow on page 8, the stinger on the left is a real hybrid! It's part Destroid, part battlepod!
There is lots of mech battling going on in this issue. Lane does a pretty good job.
At the bottom of page 22, Max looks a bit Minmei-ish.
I wonder if General Nichols is related to Louie Nichols (from the 2nd War)?
Rolf and Frank appear to be wearing Southern Cross uniforms which appear to be fairly close to the REF uniforms. I never noticed that before.
The Malcontent Uprising #11 (Eternity 1990)
John Waltrip did the cover of this issue. It is a bit over the top.
Greg Lane is back as the artist... lookin' good.
There's Leonard's blimps on page 6 (*snort*). Beware of those 'Battle Blimps'!
The art is good all through this comic but the rear view of the stinger on page 12 is awesome.
On page 14 one of the micro-disease carrying things gets inside one of the pilot's cockpits... isn't that impossible? Aren't those things air-tight?
What the heck... Breetai, again?! This was not in the book (and rightly so). The guy is getting shrunk every ten minutes!
On page 25 it shows Miriya's Veritech opened up. I never knew the VF-1A (or any Veritech) opened up like that (with the head forward). Have I just been blind? I guess so. Just must be so rare to see it.
The Malcontent Uprising #12 (Eternity 1990)
Also known as... 'new looks are in'.
Those toys Dana is playing with are awesome. I wish real Robotech toys looked as good.
Marla's helmet on page 19 looks familiar but unfamiliar... it must be some sort of hybrid (like the stingers).
Is that some 'tommy tongue' I see between Max and Miriya?
The transformation of the game Dana is playing from child's toy to the screen of her hover tank is pretty cool. A nice transition of what is to come for Dana... but not for us!
Join me next time as I watch the next item in the Robotech universe (chronologically, anyway)...
The Sentinels!
The Malcontent Uprising #7 (Eternity 1990)
The cover looks promising. We see Breetai in full battle mode, looking not-to-happy.
First off we see Breetai's new Sentinels helmet... man on man does it suck! I have always hated that piece of junk. Let's not even get to talking how they turned around and gave Edwards a Breetai-like mask either... sheesh. Sorry, I got carried away.
Breetai puts down his cowl and we get a peek on the back side of it. Neat.
On page 4 we get an excellent drawing of an Invid Shock Trooper (and Breetai looking like a dork right before getting his face shot off).
On the next page we see Breetai in the micronization tank. This brings up an interesting point... when someone is shrunk or enlarged, is their old body melted away? Having read a bunch of sci-fi over the years that has been one method writers explain how teleportation work; the conscience is transferred across distances and the left-behind body is disposed of. Kinda freaky but it makes sense.
Next page we get... Dork-a-tron! Yes, I know Harmony Gold couldn't get the rights to the looks of the Macross characters so they had to change them drastically for The Sentinels but still...
Spangler wrote off this drastic change in character-look explaining that Breetai wanted to travel incognito... so new mask.
I'd have to admit that some of the Southern Cross armor is cool, but not much of it.
The Petit Cola van on page13 hovers... does everything after 2015 hover... wait no, next page...
Jevna Parl shows up on page 16. If you remember, he was aboard the factory satellite in The Zentraedi Rebellion. He was the first Zentraedi Lisa had seen bald and with a beard.
On page 22 things start falling apart story-wise. Jevna is going to use Breetai to 'test' the sizing chamber by force. Ok, say it works... Breetai at full size? No one can stop him after that. Next, Breetai see the battlepod and jumps to the conclusion that there MUST be a full size Zentraedi in there. Why? We know that Zentraedi can operate pods in a team of 3. Finally Breetai comes to the (right) conclusion that Jevna is the one in the pod. Why? Re-read this whole paragraph and that theory is shot down (and dumb). Sorry, things just got crazy there for a second.
As many gripes and such as I had for this issue, it was fun. That's what makes this stuff fun for me. I like nit-picking but I do it only in FUN. I'm not angry about it or anything. Just fun!
The Malcontent Uprising #8 (Eternity 1990)
Miriya finally gets to meet up with Seloy. It took long enough!
The Bartley family is reunited on page 6. I wonder if we will get to see where Rook ends up before this is all over. I'd think she'd be a bit younger though... yep, in the book she is like 6 months old. That would put her around 16 when the Invid attack. She looks to be about 6 or 7 here. That would make put her in her 20's when the Invid attack.
On page 16 Wolff talks to Max about deserting. In the book Max is shocked and talks Wolff out of it, here it is turned into some sort of mission.
We get to see a Veritech take on a Hovertank, nice.
Not a whole lot of talk in this issue (aside from Seloy revealing her plan to Miriya).
The Malcontent Uprising #9 (Eternity 1990)
Greg Lane takes over as artist in this issue. He has a very different look for Wolf... more hair, less forehead.
The Centaur tanks looks awesome BTW.
I really like Lane's work here. There is a nice technical look as well as nice character renderings too.
At the top of page 9 are some music posters on the side of a building. One is for a Minmei album and the one below it is for Bon Jovi called 'still rockin'. So Bon Jovi survived the Rain of Death? In the picture he seems to be leaning on a cane and at the bottom the title says 'Ben Gay Blues'. lol!
On page 11 Ron Bartley looks a little Roy Fokker-ish.
The Zentraedi on page 16 couldn't find armor in his own size.. it's a bit big on him.
Miriya looks much more... Miriya in this issue (with her tight Zentraedi uniform on and her hair in normal fashion).
That is a cool Stinger on page 20. An armored Veritech hybrid.
Well, that situation with Seloy and Hirano turned bad fast... As I thought before, the idea of Hirano's lineage would have made for some interesting story since he was the only other (besides Dana) hybrid Zentraedi/Human. Kinda strange that they just got rid of him like that.
The Malcontent Uprising #10 (Eternity 1990)
As we begin we see that Miriya's uniform has been ripped quite 'sexily'.
Wow on page 8, the stinger on the left is a real hybrid! It's part Destroid, part battlepod!
There is lots of mech battling going on in this issue. Lane does a pretty good job.
At the bottom of page 22, Max looks a bit Minmei-ish.
I wonder if General Nichols is related to Louie Nichols (from the 2nd War)?
Rolf and Frank appear to be wearing Southern Cross uniforms which appear to be fairly close to the REF uniforms. I never noticed that before.
The Malcontent Uprising #11 (Eternity 1990)
John Waltrip did the cover of this issue. It is a bit over the top.
Greg Lane is back as the artist... lookin' good.
There's Leonard's blimps on page 6 (*snort*). Beware of those 'Battle Blimps'!
The art is good all through this comic but the rear view of the stinger on page 12 is awesome.
On page 14 one of the micro-disease carrying things gets inside one of the pilot's cockpits... isn't that impossible? Aren't those things air-tight?
What the heck... Breetai, again?! This was not in the book (and rightly so). The guy is getting shrunk every ten minutes!
On page 25 it shows Miriya's Veritech opened up. I never knew the VF-1A (or any Veritech) opened up like that (with the head forward). Have I just been blind? I guess so. Just must be so rare to see it.
The Malcontent Uprising #12 (Eternity 1990)
Also known as... 'new looks are in'.
Those toys Dana is playing with are awesome. I wish real Robotech toys looked as good.
Marla's helmet on page 19 looks familiar but unfamiliar... it must be some sort of hybrid (like the stingers).
Is that some 'tommy tongue' I see between Max and Miriya?
The transformation of the game Dana is playing from child's toy to the screen of her hover tank is pretty cool. A nice transition of what is to come for Dana... but not for us!
Join me next time as I watch the next item in the Robotech universe (chronologically, anyway)...
The Sentinels!
Sunday, March 1, 2015
The Malcontent Uprisings #1-6
By Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
We are now continuing our quest to cover all the Robotech comics/shows/books in chronological order. Initially this was going to be a one year deal... you know how life gets. Anyway we are back on track with Eternity Comics: Malcontent Uprising. This was a mini series written by Bill Spangler (who will head the unfinished journey into to the Sentinels. I am guessing he had access to Carl Macek's notes as this series (and his Sentinels work) appears to be canon. Jack McKinney also took his (their) basis for: The Zentraedi Rebellion from Bill's work as well.
This mini series take place during (about 2 years into) the book: The Zentraedi Rebellion so I have placed it after reading the book (for ease of following along). In the book these comics begin in chapter 23.
This mini series take place during (about 2 years into) the book: The Zentraedi Rebellion so I have placed it after reading the book (for ease of following along). In the book these comics begin in chapter 23.
The Malcontent Uprising #1 (Eternity 1989)
Eternity's Robotech comics are in black and white and that is fine with me. I like this style. Michael Ling does a great and confident Anime-style job with the art.
On page 5 there is a reference (or no-so-subtle copying) of Return of the Jedi 'Zentraedi have died to deliver this tape to Monument City.'
A bit of Max and the '4th wall' at the top frame of page 7. Don't know what I am taking about? Look it up.
On page 13 we see one of the new mecha made for this series.
There is a cool shot of a Veritech pilot and cockpit on page 25. Love it!
On the last page there is a 'bonus pinup!' of Myria in a very unconventional jumpsuit. Not sure if an RDF uniform needs to have so much visible cleavage! lol
The Malcontent Uprising #2 (Eternity 1989)
The Malcontent's mecha looks like a cross between a Veritech and a female Zentraedi power suit.
Wow, on page 6 Rick looks like he's about 6 weeks past needing a hair cut (and for him, that's saying something)!
Apparently everyone know Miriya got a 'tape' message and she left but she erased it before she left... a tape... what's that? lol
On page 13 we see Cavern City.. whoa look out for those streets, there are no barriers between the narrow streets and the abyss below. The government must have faith in good driving.
They discuss how the 'Southern' Grand Cannon is being dismantled. What is this 'Southern' Grand Cannon of which you speak?
We meet one of Wolff's men named Ron Bartley. Yep, the dad of Rook.
On page 20 we get our first look at the relationship of Jonathan Wolff and his wife. This helps flesh out his character more and his regrets year later when he is back on Earth during the 3rd War.
The tank Wolff is in looks really cool (page 24).
The Malcontent Uprising #3 (Eternity 1989)
The pilot's helmets look strange and pointy here...
Wolf's tank (on page 6) looks insane. What the heck would you use that thing for?!
On page 8 there is an overhead shot of Max's cockpit and it looks cool. An angle you never see. I'm all about angles you never see!
I swear that Max looks like Myria on page 11 at the bottom right frame. I think it's the hair.
On page 15 Wolff looks like Herman Munster.
On the last page of the comic we get a history of some of the Malcontent groups and an overview of the new mecha featured in this min-series.
There a bunch of nice mecha drawings in this comic. Ling does a good job with the mechanical components.
The Malcontent Uprising #4 (Eternity 1989)
I can't imagine that Dana Sterling was the ONLY half breed out there. Certainly Zentraedi/human coupling would have started taking place right away. If I remember correctly Jack McKinney wrote it off to 'the workings of the Protoculture'.
I'm not sure of the shot of the Veritech on the next to last frame on page 11. Confusing since it had nothing do to with what was going on.
Page 15... nekkid Zentraedi.
The birth of the Southern Cross is really an interesting thing. It really does parallel events in real life were a segment of the populace were treated with suspicion and fear. I also see some interesting real life Civil War parallels with the birth of the Southern Cross. I'm sure someone has written about it. Too bad all that interesting stuff deals with my least favorite part of the Robotech saga.
Doesn't Max have a fancy helmet on page 27?
Before the fan mail pages there is another page of backstory about camp Alpha and they picked up on the same thing I did (about the internment camps of WWII).
The Malcontent Uprising #5 (Eternity 1990)
Page 1 looks awesome. The 'techno feel' of the whole page is well done.
On page 3 did Kimball just punch that tech in the nuts?!
There is a can of Petit Cola starring in the 4th frame on page 4... next to 'Tuns of Donuts'.
Max and Wolff (on page 7) talk about the music broadcasting from the Lorelei satellite causing Zentraedi to defect. This is right of out left field (I'm sure we will find out more about it later).
The guy on with the glasses on 9 looks a little too 'cartoony'. In fact the next 2 pages look that way too.
There's a lot of hair in this issue...
It's nice to get a little detail about Wolff's and Catherine's issues here. There are also a few 'cheap' pages during the CCTV viewing about the city coming apart at the scenes but I'm sure drawing this much can be exhausting and having some easy pages is a relief.
The Malcontent Uprising #6 (Eternity 1990)
In steps the Army of the Southern Cross in giant... blimps?!
The Zentraedi Data Retrieval expert (the one with the RDF/Zentraedi overlay symbol on her tunic) looks a lot like Lynn Kyle.
On page 14 Jonathan Wolff's forehead has reached new heights. He looks like Sinestro from the Green Lantern comics.
On page 20 is a shot of that gawd-awful looking SDF-3. Looks like a mutated cucumber.
This is the first issue were we get to see some of the hover technology that was not apart of Robotech until the 2nd war (or until shortly after the end of the 1st).
Monday, November 19, 2012
Robotech (Comico Comics) #25-30
By Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Let's continue on with my 2012/2013 voyage in the Robotech Universe with the next six comics in the Comico Macross Saga. Yeah, things have slowed down quite a bit but we are still moving along. Enjoy!
Robotech #25 (Comico 1988)
Max and Miriya look like they are dancing at the top of page 4.
In the middle of page 7 Rick has a Derp look on his face. In the last frame there appears to be a mix up with the coloring because it looks like Rick has been drinking urine.
Page 9 is a full page of Max's ship flying to the SDF-1. It looks great!
Even the comic seems to have glossed over the fact that it appears that Max and Miyira seemed to have been wed the very next day (or something)...
Breetai and Exedore go into much more detail in the comic than the show but it's a good thing. The comic in general explains more of what seems rushed concepts in the show. Breetai's talk of 'being defeated by love' is pretty good.
They don't bother with Minmei's song this time. The comic just does some exposition while she blathers on.
At the top of page 18 is a neat shot of the bridge of the SDF-1 and the arm of the Prometheus way in the background. I like it!
Robotech #26 (Comico 1988)
Strange shot on page 2 of the back of the SDF-1. You NEVER see it from that angle.
Rick's uniform has changed piping on page 10. It's Robotechnology! On the next page it appears that Bron has pooped or peed in his pants. Interesting... must be... Robotechnology!
Page 12 is an advert for a sweet satin jacket from Comico's Mage series. Only in the 80's...
Apparently Gloval's uniform is full of Robotechnoloy too, his collar changes color a bit.
On page 16 Rick's clothes are at it again. Below Azonia must be so scared her hair has turned white (that or the color person was getting sloppy).
Azonia tells Breetai that sending Exedore to the SDF-1 for peace talks was Dolza's plan. I don't believe this at all. Dolza would attempt to stop the 'infection' where ever possible. It is pretty obvious (in the show) that the peace offering was made by Breetai after he put 2 and 2 together and came to the conclusion that Dolza was going to destroy them all.
In the Editorial (which I have complained about before) the editor goes on to tell you about the fantastic evening she had at a Jethro Tull concert... really?!
On page 25 Claudia fills Gloval in on events taking place on Earth including mass suicide. This is kind of strange and didn't happen in the show or book. Maybe the writers wanted to include something about the inhabitants of Earth since they didn't get much coverage in the show.
Robotech #27 (Comico 1988)
It appears Miriya's uniform found it's purple color.
On page 3 both Rick and Minmei grow a pair... well, you know what I mean. They both finally figure out that keeping it inside is doing no one good. This would have been a nice ending bit if the series hadn't kept going.
The attack on the Earth by the grand fleet (on page 7) looks like they are spraying water on the planet.
There is a far bridge shot on page 14 that looks cool.
The 3 Super Veritechs firing on page 17 looks good too.
The look on Lisa's face at the bottom of page 25 is really goofy.
There isnt' a lot to say about this issue. It plays it pretty close to the show and takes few liberties. The art is decent but just like the show they had to make things happen fast to get through it all. It's a pity because this is such a BIG event to take place that you could make several issue cover the events that unfold.
Robotech #28 (Comico 1988)
The art on page 5 of New Macross City is great. I like it!
Ready for some REAL nitpicking!? The calendar on the wall shows May 1st to be on a Tuesday. There was a May 1st in 2012 but not another one until 2015 (in the real world). The year in the series at that particular time was around 2013 so the calendar is wrong... sheesh, what a geek I am!
In the flash back about 'the day Rick joined the service' we see another goof (just like in the show). We are looking at the day Rick first arrived on Macross. Must be Rick's faulty memory...
Right after page 11 is an ad for the 'Dana's Story' comic and I have always been interested in the photo for the cover of it. I'm sure I'll cover it later in my look at the Robotech Universe but I wanted to comment on it here. There is a lot of stuff going on in this picture. I'll just touch on the fact that the cartoon is showing on a computer screen. This was probably not even possible in the mid eighties but I will leave it at that. Check out my review of that comic and I will comment on the strangeness going on in the picture.
On page 13... ahhhh! What the heck is Max holding? A mutated cat? It's TINY. It can't be a baby. If it is it needs to be put back in an incubation chamber, it's not ready yet!
Right below that Lisa's imaginary baby is the correct size but man, what a lot of hair!
Kyle does this very inappropriate impression on page 15. That wasn't in the show...
The final shot of the SDF-1 makes it look as if it's sinking or something.
Robotech #29 (Comico 1988)
When Minmei tries to kill herself by getting out of Kyles car at like 70 miles per hour because she wants to go to Aunt Lena's restaurant Kyle gives in and tells Minmei he will take her... this is a change from the show where Kyle says he will drive her as far as the county line. Nice to see Kyle be a little nicer here!
The top frame of page 8 looks neat. To have the huge SDF-1 in the background, rising high over the city is a shot we don't see often.
Just like in the show Minmei's memory (on page 13) seems to have been muddeled by the horrific events of the last couple of years.
On page 14 we meet up with the old Zentraedi spies Rico, Konda, and Bron. I mentioned in the review of the show for this episode that I thought it was cool that Rico had glasses on (that the shows creators changed the look of Rico... making him appear more 'human') but here Konda comments that Rico is wearing them to 'look smart'. I like the thought that Rico needed them as opposed to the comics take that he is wearing them to look smart.
There is a lot of use of the 'sound' PAF! in this issue! Lol.
The show manager on page 24 (on the show) is Vance Hazlewood, Minmei's old manager. At least I think he is. He seemed to be (to me) but I could be wrong.
On page 25 Exedore says the ships being built on the Robotech Factory Satellite could 'devastate' the earth with one blast. On the show he says 'destroy'. I always had an issue with that.
On the next page Exedore's hair color changes to blond... it Robotechnology!
Did you ever notice that the RDF's 'battle blouses' (LOL) are different on men and women? The men's open on the right and the women's open on the left... just pointing that out.
Robotech #30 (Comico 1988)
The opening panel of this comic is great. The SDF-1 stands mighty in over New Macross City.
On page 12 Dana's hair is blond! I wonder if this was on purpose...
You can tell we have different artist on this comic. The last comics back cover said that Robotech was becoming a monthly comic so I guess they have rotating artist working on it as this point.
The drawings of the Super Veritech's a the top of page 19 are cool.
Actually there are several more drawings of the Super Veritechs in this issue (a few obviously from the art books) but they all look great.
On page 29 Reno talks about 'hostages'. If memory serves me right when Khyron takes Minmei and Kyle hostage (in an upcoming part of the next novel) it is pointed out that Zentraedi don't take 'hostages' since it is a foreign concept to the warrior race.
On page 30 Breetai's ship opens up to fire it's neutron cannon (unlike the show where it is just lasers coming out of the bow of the ship). I think this might be a nod to Do You Remember Love where the Zentraedi ships actually split open to fire their 'main cannons'.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Vermilion Issues #1-4
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Welcome to my peek into the Robotech Universe in 2012 & 2013! At this point in the Robotech Timeline we are taking a pit stop after Comico issue 14 with the Vermilion mini-series from Antarctic Press. Let's 'press' on... get it?
Vermilion #1 (Antarctic Press 1997)
We start off with a much more modern 'anime' look to these comics. We have been thick in the world of Comico's 80's comic book look and to be thrust into the future of comics is jarring. It's nice, just different.
Duc Tran is our artist here and his style is 'long and skinny'. Everyone look 2 meals shy of anorexic. This is just his style and it looks very artistic... just sayin'.
The art is black and white (which I happen to like) and has a somewhat 'sketch' appearance. There is a lot of cool detail on the character's surroundings.
Page 11 shows the SDF-1 and it looks great! You know how much of a sucker I am for the SDF-1 by now...
Page 17 starts the 'Mospeada Diary' by Joe Weltjens. I don't what to say about this. It is 'written' from Scott Bernard's point of view and is simply a picture (of original animation quality) and a sentence underneath it. There really isn't much here. It is kinda wasted space. It seems they needed several pages of filler and turned it over to Joe.
Vermilion #2 (Antarctic Press 1997)
Joeming Dunn is COO of Antarctic and Ben Dunn is the Publisher. I run into Ben three times a year at Dallas Comicon and trade him Macross/Mospeads stuff for drawings. It works out well for both of us! Anyway Antarctic Press seems to have been Ben's baby and perhaps I will get him in an interview on our main According To Whim Blog one day.
Page 7 is a shot of the bridge. I love those.. and this one has a lot of outer (and inner) detail.
So this RDF guy is in cahoots with Khyron (not really a Zentraedi trait but I'll roll with it).
Ben Dixon makes a cameo on page 12!
The shots of Battlepods on 17 and 19 are very detailed and they look great!
The story stops and on page 21 is Robotech: Unsung Heroes by Brian Farrens. The art work is Joe Weltjens (like the Mospeada Diary from last issue).
The art in this piece looks more 90's 'comic book traditional'.
They call a Legioss 'Legios' so I am not sure. That happens a lot with Robotech, a name will be spelled here one way and there another.
Speaking of there is a cool shot of one on page 23!
Cool shot of Invid on page 24 and 25 too.
Vermilion #3 (Antartic Press 1997)
The story continues with Rick and Lena discovering the hidden Zentraedi ship.
On page 7 there is a shot of a restaurant in Macross and it looks fantastic, such detail! I love attention to detail at this level!
The Bridge Bunnies make an appearance on page 16. They sure are cute...
'Unsung Heroes' picks back up on page 20 with some cool shots of Invid Shock Troopers.
It's over quickly but it looks great all the way. This is some great art!
Vermilion #4 (Antarctic Press 1998)
There is some fantastic artwork throughout this comic. It is very reminiscent of Evangelion in character design with the skinny people but like I said before it's the artist's style.
The overall storyline is good enough but it might have fit better in a large one-shot or perhaps a graphic novel. It's got nice art and the 'extra' characters they added for the story don't stick out like sore thumbs (like some of the Academy stuff).
In this final story Rick and Lena foil Khyron's plans and help expose the traitors.
There is a direct attack on the bridge. We have never seen that before, cool.
Ugh, page 21...
After the story ends we see the end of 'Unsung Heroes'. Right on the first page we get an awesome shot of an Alpha in Battloid mode!
Ouch! This story ends on a super bummer of a note!
Welcome to my peek into the Robotech Universe in 2012 & 2013! At this point in the Robotech Timeline we are taking a pit stop after Comico issue 14 with the Vermilion mini-series from Antarctic Press. Let's 'press' on... get it?
Vermilion #1 (Antarctic Press 1997)
We start off with a much more modern 'anime' look to these comics. We have been thick in the world of Comico's 80's comic book look and to be thrust into the future of comics is jarring. It's nice, just different.
Duc Tran is our artist here and his style is 'long and skinny'. Everyone look 2 meals shy of anorexic. This is just his style and it looks very artistic... just sayin'.
The art is black and white (which I happen to like) and has a somewhat 'sketch' appearance. There is a lot of cool detail on the character's surroundings.
Page 11 shows the SDF-1 and it looks great! You know how much of a sucker I am for the SDF-1 by now...
Page 17 starts the 'Mospeada Diary' by Joe Weltjens. I don't what to say about this. It is 'written' from Scott Bernard's point of view and is simply a picture (of original animation quality) and a sentence underneath it. There really isn't much here. It is kinda wasted space. It seems they needed several pages of filler and turned it over to Joe.
Vermilion #2 (Antarctic Press 1997)
Joeming Dunn is COO of Antarctic and Ben Dunn is the Publisher. I run into Ben three times a year at Dallas Comicon and trade him Macross/Mospeads stuff for drawings. It works out well for both of us! Anyway Antarctic Press seems to have been Ben's baby and perhaps I will get him in an interview on our main According To Whim Blog one day.
Page 7 is a shot of the bridge. I love those.. and this one has a lot of outer (and inner) detail.
So this RDF guy is in cahoots with Khyron (not really a Zentraedi trait but I'll roll with it).
Ben Dixon makes a cameo on page 12!
The shots of Battlepods on 17 and 19 are very detailed and they look great!
The story stops and on page 21 is Robotech: Unsung Heroes by Brian Farrens. The art work is Joe Weltjens (like the Mospeada Diary from last issue).
The art in this piece looks more 90's 'comic book traditional'.
They call a Legioss 'Legios' so I am not sure. That happens a lot with Robotech, a name will be spelled here one way and there another.
Speaking of there is a cool shot of one on page 23!
Cool shot of Invid on page 24 and 25 too.
Vermilion #3 (Antartic Press 1997)
The story continues with Rick and Lena discovering the hidden Zentraedi ship.
On page 7 there is a shot of a restaurant in Macross and it looks fantastic, such detail! I love attention to detail at this level!
The Bridge Bunnies make an appearance on page 16. They sure are cute...
'Unsung Heroes' picks back up on page 20 with some cool shots of Invid Shock Troopers.
It's over quickly but it looks great all the way. This is some great art!
Vermilion #4 (Antarctic Press 1998)
There is some fantastic artwork throughout this comic. It is very reminiscent of Evangelion in character design with the skinny people but like I said before it's the artist's style.
The overall storyline is good enough but it might have fit better in a large one-shot or perhaps a graphic novel. It's got nice art and the 'extra' characters they added for the story don't stick out like sore thumbs (like some of the Academy stuff).
In this final story Rick and Lena foil Khyron's plans and help expose the traitors.
There is a direct attack on the bridge. We have never seen that before, cool.
Ugh, page 21...
After the story ends we see the end of 'Unsung Heroes'. Right on the first page we get an awesome shot of an Alpha in Battloid mode!
Ouch! This story ends on a super bummer of a note!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Robotech (Comico Comics) #7-12
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Robotech #7 (1985 Comico)
Once again this is a great front/back cover. There is a cool shot of the MACII outside Sera Base's window.
Ugh, there's that Carl Rieber again. Why would you bother joining the military if you were so opposed to war? Just asking...
On page 11 the alien recon ship somehow knows the name of the base (Sera). There is also one of those rare 'under' shots of the SDF-1. I like it. Oh yeah, finally on that page the Zentraedi screen is in English.
On page 12 there is a full page advertisement for the dorkiest sweatshirt ever. Anyway this is the first clue that Cark Macek had bigger plans for Robotech. The title Robotech Oddesy referred to the '5th' part of Robotech which was to take place after The New Generation and The Sentinels. Basically the further adventures of the SDF-3 which would end in the REF going back in time and basically becoming the Robotech Masters, thus creating an infinite loop. Clever idea but it never came through... cause The Sentinels SUCKED! Oh, sorry... lol.
When Khyron shoots down his own troop (that tried to attack early) another one of the troops reported that he was dead. In the series he is still alive (just moaning).
On the final page of the comic Rick asks Lisa a question and she responds. It's a much less poignant moment than in the show since there (the show) they don't speak to each other, it's just the announcer.
Robotech #8 (1985 Comico)
The opening box calls the Mars base Sara, not Sera... not sure what it is supposed to be.
Reggie Byers does the art in this issue and you can tell he has a hard time with the character's looks.
On page 12 is a sign up form for the Official Robotech Fan Club. I wasn't a member back then but somewhere in the early 2000's I got the membership kit off Ebay. It was all water damaged but I still enjoyed it.
On page 14 the overhead announcement (presumably from Lisa) calls Veritechs 'varitechs'. She calls them that later too.
On page 16 Gloval orders all 'battloid' teams out. He meant destroid teams. Oh well, he's busy and under a lot of pressure. Claudia then tells Gloval that the defender team has been destroyed. Oh the name confusion!
Rick's Veritech is a strange color.
Robotech #9 (1986 Comico)
On the inside cover they advertise the upcoming movie and 65 new episodes of The Sentinels.
On page 5 Rico calls it operation 'Miss Macross', not 'Blue Wind'.
On page 16 we see Minmei fall because of her broken heel. We don't even get to see this in the show. As I read through this issue I am really seeing an almost scene for scene and word for word adaptation here, good work.
On page 24 there is something DEFINITELY not in the show. The host is singing the cheesiest song ever to Minmei.
Robotech #10 (1986 Comico)
In this comic the front/back covers are gone. Too bad.
On page 3 (and in the show) the narrator mentions that because of constant battle much of the technology aboard the ship is no longer working. This little factoid seems random and made only to take up time on the show since there is no other reference to problems of this nature anywhere else in the series.
While reading this comic I am getting an sense of real order from the layout artist. I forgot that in a previous issue they said that Mike Leeke was going to be drawing the comic (he is the guy who drew the covers). The art is sharp and well done. The previous issues were fine but Leeke has taken it up a notch.
Diana Shultz (the Editor) has a different and amusing title in each issue. This issue she is listed at Gamemaster.
On page 10 the narrator (I'll just call it that to keep any confusion out) says that Breetai is loyal "The Supereme Dolza". It almost seems like it is a title instead of his name.
On the same page the asteroid the Zentraedi destroy is called an asteroid here as opposed to a planet (like in the show).
There is a frog in the fountain with Rick after the radar tower is hit.
The bridge structure of the SDF-1 seems to be on a pedestal or something. It is sitting higher here than I have ever seen it before. I don't think it's like that in the show. It always appears to be resting right on the deck.
Starting on page 17 is a REAL BUMMER of an article by the editor about child abuse with some real graphic information. Were they sure this was a good fit for a kid's comic book?!
On the 2nd pane of page 18 we can see where Disney stole Lightning McQueen's catchphrase from Cars. Also, Lisa calls the chunk of asteroid 'planetary fragment'. I was too quick to thank the comic makers for fixing that faux pas. Then all the sudden the chuck of rock becomes a Zentraedi cruiser and then suddenly it becomes a chunk of rock again (like in the show).
Robotech #11 (1986 Comico)
If memory serves Lisa did not volunteer for this mission as it says on the first page.
On page 8 is some nekkid images of Lisa! Woo woo!
On page 12 there is an ad for the F.H.E. Robotech VHS tapes. A deal at only 9.95 per tape (per episode)! Do you realize that would cost you almost $400 for JUST the Macross part of Robotech?! If F.H.E. released it all you would have been paying $850 for it all! Wow.
When I got into Robotech F.H.E. had already moved on to selling the condensed version of the Macross Saga on 6 VHS tapes. These were crudely edited together episodes with a lot of stuff cut for time. I never owned the single episode VHS versions you see here.
Dolza is supposed to be even bigger than Breetai but when Dolza holds Lisa, she is pretty big in his hand (about the size of a Barbie doll). When Breetai holds Rick after capturing him in his escaping ejection seat, Breetai can close his hand around Rick and the ejection seat...
On page 26 and in the show Dolza goes into a speech that confuses me. I thought the Zentraedi were the unthinking clones of the Masters but his speech leads us to believe that the Master don't even exist and all this stuff with getting their hands on the SDF-1 is his idea and not a simple direct order of the Masters...
The petition on page 29 is interesting... I wonder how that turned out.
Robotech #12 (1986 Comico)
On page 3 Exedore suggests they send spies into the SDF-1 but if you remember he is most adamant about not have any contact with the Micronians.
On the bottom of page 12 it looks like Rick and Lisa are nekkid and Rick is wearing a bra... lol.
The show cut out the Zentraedi getting blasted by the Rick (using a Zentraedi rifle) but the comic shows it... right in the faceplate!
As I stated in the video review I am confused as to why there are men and male battlepods on the female Zentraedi ship. I thought they were very segregated.
On page 24 there is a copyright at the bottom of the page stating that Minmei's lyrics belong to Harmony Gold... sheesh.
On page 27 (the letters page) the Editor in Chief rips Robotech fandom a new one! There was a 1986 'Galaxy of Stars' Robotech promo mini-convention in New York and apparently the fans there were very rude and it was more of frenzied free for all than an well ordered promotional event. One of the promoters was a local New York radio station that was broadcasting from there, giving out stuff and asking trivia. Although it sounded like a hot-mess it also sounded like a great time for Robotech (wish I was a little older back then... and living in the area).
Page 29 is cool. I love advertisements for comic books stores, conventions, etc.. ahhh old school.
Robotech #7 (1985 Comico)
Once again this is a great front/back cover. There is a cool shot of the MACII outside Sera Base's window.
Ugh, there's that Carl Rieber again. Why would you bother joining the military if you were so opposed to war? Just asking...
On page 11 the alien recon ship somehow knows the name of the base (Sera). There is also one of those rare 'under' shots of the SDF-1. I like it. Oh yeah, finally on that page the Zentraedi screen is in English.
On page 12 there is a full page advertisement for the dorkiest sweatshirt ever. Anyway this is the first clue that Cark Macek had bigger plans for Robotech. The title Robotech Oddesy referred to the '5th' part of Robotech which was to take place after The New Generation and The Sentinels. Basically the further adventures of the SDF-3 which would end in the REF going back in time and basically becoming the Robotech Masters, thus creating an infinite loop. Clever idea but it never came through... cause The Sentinels SUCKED! Oh, sorry... lol.
When Khyron shoots down his own troop (that tried to attack early) another one of the troops reported that he was dead. In the series he is still alive (just moaning).
On the final page of the comic Rick asks Lisa a question and she responds. It's a much less poignant moment than in the show since there (the show) they don't speak to each other, it's just the announcer.
Robotech #8 (1985 Comico)
The opening box calls the Mars base Sara, not Sera... not sure what it is supposed to be.
Reggie Byers does the art in this issue and you can tell he has a hard time with the character's looks.
On page 12 is a sign up form for the Official Robotech Fan Club. I wasn't a member back then but somewhere in the early 2000's I got the membership kit off Ebay. It was all water damaged but I still enjoyed it.
On page 14 the overhead announcement (presumably from Lisa) calls Veritechs 'varitechs'. She calls them that later too.
On page 16 Gloval orders all 'battloid' teams out. He meant destroid teams. Oh well, he's busy and under a lot of pressure. Claudia then tells Gloval that the defender team has been destroyed. Oh the name confusion!
Rick's Veritech is a strange color.
Robotech #9 (1986 Comico)
On the inside cover they advertise the upcoming movie and 65 new episodes of The Sentinels.
On page 5 Rico calls it operation 'Miss Macross', not 'Blue Wind'.
On page 16 we see Minmei fall because of her broken heel. We don't even get to see this in the show. As I read through this issue I am really seeing an almost scene for scene and word for word adaptation here, good work.
On page 24 there is something DEFINITELY not in the show. The host is singing the cheesiest song ever to Minmei.
Robotech #10 (1986 Comico)
In this comic the front/back covers are gone. Too bad.
On page 3 (and in the show) the narrator mentions that because of constant battle much of the technology aboard the ship is no longer working. This little factoid seems random and made only to take up time on the show since there is no other reference to problems of this nature anywhere else in the series.
While reading this comic I am getting an sense of real order from the layout artist. I forgot that in a previous issue they said that Mike Leeke was going to be drawing the comic (he is the guy who drew the covers). The art is sharp and well done. The previous issues were fine but Leeke has taken it up a notch.
Diana Shultz (the Editor) has a different and amusing title in each issue. This issue she is listed at Gamemaster.
On page 10 the narrator (I'll just call it that to keep any confusion out) says that Breetai is loyal "The Supereme Dolza". It almost seems like it is a title instead of his name.
On the same page the asteroid the Zentraedi destroy is called an asteroid here as opposed to a planet (like in the show).
There is a frog in the fountain with Rick after the radar tower is hit.
The bridge structure of the SDF-1 seems to be on a pedestal or something. It is sitting higher here than I have ever seen it before. I don't think it's like that in the show. It always appears to be resting right on the deck.
Starting on page 17 is a REAL BUMMER of an article by the editor about child abuse with some real graphic information. Were they sure this was a good fit for a kid's comic book?!
On the 2nd pane of page 18 we can see where Disney stole Lightning McQueen's catchphrase from Cars. Also, Lisa calls the chunk of asteroid 'planetary fragment'. I was too quick to thank the comic makers for fixing that faux pas. Then all the sudden the chuck of rock becomes a Zentraedi cruiser and then suddenly it becomes a chunk of rock again (like in the show).
Robotech #11 (1986 Comico)
If memory serves Lisa did not volunteer for this mission as it says on the first page.
On page 8 is some nekkid images of Lisa! Woo woo!
On page 12 there is an ad for the F.H.E. Robotech VHS tapes. A deal at only 9.95 per tape (per episode)! Do you realize that would cost you almost $400 for JUST the Macross part of Robotech?! If F.H.E. released it all you would have been paying $850 for it all! Wow.
When I got into Robotech F.H.E. had already moved on to selling the condensed version of the Macross Saga on 6 VHS tapes. These were crudely edited together episodes with a lot of stuff cut for time. I never owned the single episode VHS versions you see here.
Dolza is supposed to be even bigger than Breetai but when Dolza holds Lisa, she is pretty big in his hand (about the size of a Barbie doll). When Breetai holds Rick after capturing him in his escaping ejection seat, Breetai can close his hand around Rick and the ejection seat...
On page 26 and in the show Dolza goes into a speech that confuses me. I thought the Zentraedi were the unthinking clones of the Masters but his speech leads us to believe that the Master don't even exist and all this stuff with getting their hands on the SDF-1 is his idea and not a simple direct order of the Masters...
The petition on page 29 is interesting... I wonder how that turned out.
Robotech #12 (1986 Comico)
On page 3 Exedore suggests they send spies into the SDF-1 but if you remember he is most adamant about not have any contact with the Micronians.
On the bottom of page 12 it looks like Rick and Lisa are nekkid and Rick is wearing a bra... lol.
The show cut out the Zentraedi getting blasted by the Rick (using a Zentraedi rifle) but the comic shows it... right in the faceplate!
As I stated in the video review I am confused as to why there are men and male battlepods on the female Zentraedi ship. I thought they were very segregated.
On page 24 there is a copyright at the bottom of the page stating that Minmei's lyrics belong to Harmony Gold... sheesh.
On page 27 (the letters page) the Editor in Chief rips Robotech fandom a new one! There was a 1986 'Galaxy of Stars' Robotech promo mini-convention in New York and apparently the fans there were very rude and it was more of frenzied free for all than an well ordered promotional event. One of the promoters was a local New York radio station that was broadcasting from there, giving out stuff and asking trivia. Although it sounded like a hot-mess it also sounded like a great time for Robotech (wish I was a little older back then... and living in the area).
Page 29 is cool. I love advertisements for comic books stores, conventions, etc.. ahhh old school.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Robotech (Comico Comics) #1-6
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Welcome to my 2012 Robotech Experience! I am reading and watching everything Robotech during 2012 and am reporting it to you through this series of Blogs. I have just started watching the TV series and now (at the same time) I am reading the comic adaptations and reading the books.
It's interesting that apparently Harmony Gold does not consider the adapted Comico comics to apart of 'Official Continuity' since they are adaptations of the show (probably the closest representation to it that exists AND it's actually at the end of the show's credits). Perhaps I will discover why they decided this while I read them. Like I said in a much earlier post I am not big on what is canon and what not. I am going to enjoy Robotech in it's entirety (even crap like Aftermath).
Macross / Robotech #1 (1984 Comico)
This is a strange issue. It is actually titled Macross and reads to be an adaptation of the Japanese show Macross (not Robotech). The issue was released with no 'Robotech' anywhere on it. Maybe this is why Harmony Gold decided it wasn't good enough to be apart of the 'Official Continuity'. Anyway the powers that be decided to rename the series Robotech Comico didn't bother to create a new issue #1, they just told people that Macross #1 was Robotech #1 so just get over it. So the characters names will be different from this issue to the next.
On the cover there is a WAY over sized Veritech... and is that New York complete with the twin towers?
On page 8 Claudia boasts that Roy shot down 5 planes during the war, however Roy claims to Rick that he shot down 108.
The art in this comic is good for its time, and the fact that Comico wasn't one of the big comic companies with massive resources. It's strange to see scenes right out of the show in comic panel format. The story and dialogue is altered a bit but nothing too drastic.
Rick and Roy's interchange right after the SDF-1's main gun fires fits better in the comic than in the show. In the show their reaction doesn't seem to have much interest in something so monstrous as the main gun going off. They just seems to be like... meh. In the comic there is a little more concern. I would imagine in real life something so violent would be met with real shock and dismay. Something like: "Oh shit! Oh my God, oh my God! What the hell was THAT!?"
The bottom left cel on page 23 is confusing.
When Lisa tells him to pull B for battloid he pulls G.
Robotech #2 (1985 Comico)
Comico has switched to a more 'traditional' form of comic art as opposed to the more involved way they were doing it for the first issue. I like it this new (old) way. I think it looks cleaner.
Issue 2 picks up the Robotech storyline where the Macross comic ended. No biggie, the changes are so slight that it really wasn't worth reprinting the old comic with only a couple of changes.
When Russo comes in and he talks about the SDF-1 there is a curious gap in his words. It looks like 'Macross' was probably there and they replaced it with 'SDF-1' so the gap between words is bigger.
I did notice that Lynn Minmei's first name is still Lin and Lisa's last name is still Hayase (until later). Guardian mode is still called Gerwalk too.
On page 12 there is a neat view of the SDF-1's conning tower.
On page 14 the comic font is gone and more hand-drawn font is being used... strange.
Robotech #3 (1985 Comico)
The Comico comics actually had some pretty awesome covers. I never noticed that they wrapped the book. In the CBR program I am using you see this automatically. The covers are pretty cool.
I find it funny that the comic kept closer track to continuity than the show. On page 8 you can see the holes where the anit-gravity pods tore from the ship. The show didn't bother with them after the event.
Carl Macek was the script writer for these comics and I found it interesting that he changed Lisa being called 'Old Sourpuss' with 'Old Woman'. I guess the word sourpuss was too nastily looking or something...
On page 16 is a Matchbox advertisement. Notice anything out of place? First off Lancer is called Lance, The Alpha's Guardian Mode is called Diver (the original Mospeada name), and all 3 1/2" Cyclone riders have their heads on backwards. I guess the advertising company didn't have a Harmony Gold rep on site during the shoot... lol.
Robotech #4 (1985 Comico)
On page 10 Kim has the biggest cup of coffee ever (more like a mug)!
While stuck in the bowels of the ship Rick tells Minmei he left the water rations back at the plane. In the show he didn't have any water rations on the plane. Ah ha! Now I see why Harmony Gold decided this wasn't good enough for 'Official Continuity'! jk.
Wow, I'm surprised the decided to keep the Rick peeping at Minmei showering in the comic. I figured they would just pass it by. Well, they have been mildly cussing so it should be no surprise really.
Robotech #5 (1985 Comico)
This is a fantastic front/back cover! Nice work.
On page 6 Lynn Minmei's hair is all in her eyes. I guess maybe the artist messed up and decided just to put hair over part of her face.
One of the RDFComico.
When Lang tells Gloval about the transformation he acts like he won't know what will happen to the city. He has the schematics on the screen, he should know exactly how the transformation will affect the city! I always wondered why they didn't adress this anymore. I guess it was just a plot point for the city to get wiped out again during the transformation.
On page 17 when Breetai is looking at the videos of the Earthlings, the one that is getting knocked off the building has a Mage shirt on (one of Comico's other comic books).
On page 24 there is an ad for a free Robotech poster from Comico. I got ahold of one of these and it was taped to the window of my comic book store back in 2001. I loved that poster, it was really awesome.
At the bottom of page 27 Lisa's uniform has changed colors.
On page 34 is a backside view of the SDF-1. I have never seen this view before. It's pretty awesome and well drawn. Bravo.
I just noticed that there are numbers on the pages now. I have been referring you to the page number that shows up on my comic book reader program. Sorry for the confusion.
Robotech #6 (1985 Comico)
On page 3 is the pantie and bra scene. I love it!
When Captain Gloval is taking about his battle plans he calls the enemy Zentraedi. I don't think they knew what to call them yet (in the animation). They just kept referring to them as the enemy.
The camera robot actually had a thought bubble.
Diadalos???
Oops, they are still calling Guardian mode Gerwalk.
On page 21 the Zentraedi talks. He didn't do this in the show. It's not like Rick could have understood him anyway (although he appears to have understood him) here.
Welcome to my 2012 Robotech Experience! I am reading and watching everything Robotech during 2012 and am reporting it to you through this series of Blogs. I have just started watching the TV series and now (at the same time) I am reading the comic adaptations and reading the books.
It's interesting that apparently Harmony Gold does not consider the adapted Comico comics to apart of 'Official Continuity' since they are adaptations of the show (probably the closest representation to it that exists AND it's actually at the end of the show's credits). Perhaps I will discover why they decided this while I read them. Like I said in a much earlier post I am not big on what is canon and what not. I am going to enjoy Robotech in it's entirety (even crap like Aftermath).
Macross / Robotech #1 (1984 Comico)
This is a strange issue. It is actually titled Macross and reads to be an adaptation of the Japanese show Macross (not Robotech). The issue was released with no 'Robotech' anywhere on it. Maybe this is why Harmony Gold decided it wasn't good enough to be apart of the 'Official Continuity'. Anyway the powers that be decided to rename the series Robotech Comico didn't bother to create a new issue #1, they just told people that Macross #1 was Robotech #1 so just get over it. So the characters names will be different from this issue to the next.
On the cover there is a WAY over sized Veritech... and is that New York complete with the twin towers?
On page 8 Claudia boasts that Roy shot down 5 planes during the war, however Roy claims to Rick that he shot down 108.
The art in this comic is good for its time, and the fact that Comico wasn't one of the big comic companies with massive resources. It's strange to see scenes right out of the show in comic panel format. The story and dialogue is altered a bit but nothing too drastic.
Rick and Roy's interchange right after the SDF-1's main gun fires fits better in the comic than in the show. In the show their reaction doesn't seem to have much interest in something so monstrous as the main gun going off. They just seems to be like... meh. In the comic there is a little more concern. I would imagine in real life something so violent would be met with real shock and dismay. Something like: "Oh shit! Oh my God, oh my God! What the hell was THAT!?"
The bottom left cel on page 23 is confusing.
When Lisa tells him to pull B for battloid he pulls G.
Robotech #2 (1985 Comico)
Comico has switched to a more 'traditional' form of comic art as opposed to the more involved way they were doing it for the first issue. I like it this new (old) way. I think it looks cleaner.
Issue 2 picks up the Robotech storyline where the Macross comic ended. No biggie, the changes are so slight that it really wasn't worth reprinting the old comic with only a couple of changes.
When Russo comes in and he talks about the SDF-1 there is a curious gap in his words. It looks like 'Macross' was probably there and they replaced it with 'SDF-1' so the gap between words is bigger.
I did notice that Lynn Minmei's first name is still Lin and Lisa's last name is still Hayase (until later). Guardian mode is still called Gerwalk too.
On page 12 there is a neat view of the SDF-1's conning tower.
On page 14 the comic font is gone and more hand-drawn font is being used... strange.
Robotech #3 (1985 Comico)
The Comico comics actually had some pretty awesome covers. I never noticed that they wrapped the book. In the CBR program I am using you see this automatically. The covers are pretty cool.
I find it funny that the comic kept closer track to continuity than the show. On page 8 you can see the holes where the anit-gravity pods tore from the ship. The show didn't bother with them after the event.
Carl Macek was the script writer for these comics and I found it interesting that he changed Lisa being called 'Old Sourpuss' with 'Old Woman'. I guess the word sourpuss was too nastily looking or something...
On page 16 is a Matchbox advertisement. Notice anything out of place? First off Lancer is called Lance, The Alpha's Guardian Mode is called Diver (the original Mospeada name), and all 3 1/2" Cyclone riders have their heads on backwards. I guess the advertising company didn't have a Harmony Gold rep on site during the shoot... lol.
Robotech #4 (1985 Comico)
On page 10 Kim has the biggest cup of coffee ever (more like a mug)!
While stuck in the bowels of the ship Rick tells Minmei he left the water rations back at the plane. In the show he didn't have any water rations on the plane. Ah ha! Now I see why Harmony Gold decided this wasn't good enough for 'Official Continuity'! jk.
Wow, I'm surprised the decided to keep the Rick peeping at Minmei showering in the comic. I figured they would just pass it by. Well, they have been mildly cussing so it should be no surprise really.
Robotech #5 (1985 Comico)
This is a fantastic front/back cover! Nice work.
On page 6 Lynn Minmei's hair is all in her eyes. I guess maybe the artist messed up and decided just to put hair over part of her face.
One of the RDFComico.
When Lang tells Gloval about the transformation he acts like he won't know what will happen to the city. He has the schematics on the screen, he should know exactly how the transformation will affect the city! I always wondered why they didn't adress this anymore. I guess it was just a plot point for the city to get wiped out again during the transformation.
On page 17 when Breetai is looking at the videos of the Earthlings, the one that is getting knocked off the building has a Mage shirt on (one of Comico's other comic books).
On page 24 there is an ad for a free Robotech poster from Comico. I got ahold of one of these and it was taped to the window of my comic book store back in 2001. I loved that poster, it was really awesome.
At the bottom of page 27 Lisa's uniform has changed colors.
On page 34 is a backside view of the SDF-1. I have never seen this view before. It's pretty awesome and well drawn. Bravo.
I just noticed that there are numbers on the pages now. I have been referring you to the page number that shows up on my comic book reader program. Sorry for the confusion.
Robotech #6 (1985 Comico)
On page 3 is the pantie and bra scene. I love it!
When Captain Gloval is taking about his battle plans he calls the enemy Zentraedi. I don't think they knew what to call them yet (in the animation). They just kept referring to them as the enemy.
The camera robot actually had a thought bubble.
Diadalos???
Oops, they are still calling Guardian mode Gerwalk.
On page 21 the Zentraedi talks. He didn't do this in the show. It's not like Rick could have understood him anyway (although he appears to have understood him) here.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Return To Macross #26, Academy Blues #4, Romance #1, and Academy Blues #5
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
So Spring is just around the corner and by looking at the reading/watching order list I am not doing so well. I think that once I get into the shows things will speed up a lot so never fear!
For those of you who don't know what the heck I am talking about check out my first blog post about my 2012 'total Robotech experience' and feel free to join in.
You will probably notice (if you haven't already) that I do alot of griping about the comics. Don't get me wrong, I love Robotech! There are places you can go on the net and see synopsis about the comics and such and I didn't want to do that. I wanted to throw my perspective about the comics and not just retell them to you in boring blog format. I might whine about art or bad lettering but I am enjoying the experience so just accept it! Let's roll out!
Return To Macross #26 (Academy 1995)
Michelle Birchfield is back as artist. Like I said before she isn't bad, at times she draws beautifully and some of her characters look great but they aren't very anime-like. At some points he art is a little 'iffy.
On page 7 Brian Bernard looks a little retarded. Derp!
Macross city seems VERY futuristic in Ms. Birchfield's panels. A little too futuristic at times!
Many of the drawings in the middle of the comic of Brian are very '80's' looking... like some thing out of an A-ha video! I like them.
Page 20... wtf...
On page 25 they talk about Robocon 10 which happened the month before.
Academy Blues # 4 (Academy 1995)
The artist for this issue is Frances Birchfield. I am not sure if Frances and Michelle are the same person or sisters or something. A quick look on the net resulted in no extra info. Michelle did attend Robocon 10 but no mention of Frances.
Frances' art is rough at times. Character's heads are way too big for their bodies and there are times I think I might have drawn a particular panel better (and that's saying something). I realize Academy didn't have big bucks to hire mega stars of the art world.
On page 8 is an advertisement for the 'swimsuit issue'. I have never liked that. Sure I am a guy and all but Minmei in those kinds of bathing suits... sheesh. She would be FAR too prudish to wear any of that!
On page 9 Roy has a super mullet... wait a second! Oh man... I just noticed that their 'pages' don't match up. The story line is numbered but the pages in between (the ads) are not. When I tell you guys to check out the ad on page 8 (or 9, or whatever) I am looking at the last numbered page and adding whatever number onto it. Well, just try to keep up. I'll just continue to do it that way...
On page 14 Simon Lebon makes an appearance... wait that's Roy.
When Claudia leaves the UEG building Roy follows and tells himself she went down 'Gibson Street'... is that a little nod to himself (the writer of the comic)?
So the guy that was following Lisa confronts Roy outside the UEG building which on a few pages back was guarded by armor-clad troops. Roy and this guy fight right out there but conveniently the guards are gone.
Romance #1 (Academy 1995)
Question answered! Both Michelle and Frances Birchfield are drawing this issue so they ARE separate people. You may all breath normally again.
Romance is an comic of shorter comics. A one shot of one shots if you will. With Gibson, the Birchfield Sisters and Seripo Calm (who is a first here) come together to write and draw 'the more romantic side' of Roboteh.
The fist segment presents itself as one of Lisa's old roomate's songs and is simple artwork with accompanying lyrics to various scenes in Lisa's love life.
Why o why was Karl Rieber in the military? What a puss, always wining about war and crap but still joining up!
Two Beers with a Skirt Chaser is the next tale and it's about Roy (of course). The art from Calm is... very.. Disney XD. It looks like Disney redesigned Robotech for their weekday Clubhouse Disney or something, very cartoony.
Roy drinks his way to near un-coherentness in this little tale. Rolf Emerson tries to talk some sense into the lush but nothing is working. Roy is hung up over Claudia and finds his woes are lessened in some cheap booze.
The final story is 'When the Going Gets Tough' by Gibson as well. It's about someone named Georgia (you may remeber that she works at the Academy with the simulators. Apparently she needs to seriously get laid (I kid I kid)!
She is having some very strange dreams about Rolf Emerson and the 'Bridge Bunnies' before they were actually bridge bunnies. I think Georgia just needs to NOT eat at least four hours before bed... that will stop those freaky dreams. Either way I am even more confused when at the end of the dream it's Sammie who is dreaming (and was at the beginning of the comic).
One page 7 is a STUNNING announcement from Academy. They write to everyone that they will no longer be doing Robotech comics in the coming year. After December of 2006 they will no longer be publishing or selling back issues. Oh the horror!
Academy Blues #5 (Academy 1996)
I can certainly see the differences between Michelles and Frances' art. Michelle uses softer edges while Frances' art has more straight lines.
Sammie is bummed because she is having to earn a living and Vanessa and Kim are free to be perverts.
We also see more simulator hijinks at the Robotech Academy with Georgia and the man she hankers for (Tom, who just don't look right). Lisa is barking at the other cadets (what's new) and life goes on.
We get a bookend to this issue with the explanation as to how someone so young (Lisa) could have become a Lieutenant in the RDF. She along with Rolf Emerson are promoted in the Academy and will graduate with those positions.
So Spring is just around the corner and by looking at the reading/watching order list I am not doing so well. I think that once I get into the shows things will speed up a lot so never fear!
For those of you who don't know what the heck I am talking about check out my first blog post about my 2012 'total Robotech experience' and feel free to join in.
You will probably notice (if you haven't already) that I do alot of griping about the comics. Don't get me wrong, I love Robotech! There are places you can go on the net and see synopsis about the comics and such and I didn't want to do that. I wanted to throw my perspective about the comics and not just retell them to you in boring blog format. I might whine about art or bad lettering but I am enjoying the experience so just accept it! Let's roll out!
Return To Macross #26 (Academy 1995)
Michelle Birchfield is back as artist. Like I said before she isn't bad, at times she draws beautifully and some of her characters look great but they aren't very anime-like. At some points he art is a little 'iffy.
On page 7 Brian Bernard looks a little retarded. Derp!
Macross city seems VERY futuristic in Ms. Birchfield's panels. A little too futuristic at times!
Many of the drawings in the middle of the comic of Brian are very '80's' looking... like some thing out of an A-ha video! I like them.
Page 20... wtf...
On page 25 they talk about Robocon 10 which happened the month before.
Academy Blues # 4 (Academy 1995)
The artist for this issue is Frances Birchfield. I am not sure if Frances and Michelle are the same person or sisters or something. A quick look on the net resulted in no extra info. Michelle did attend Robocon 10 but no mention of Frances.
Frances' art is rough at times. Character's heads are way too big for their bodies and there are times I think I might have drawn a particular panel better (and that's saying something). I realize Academy didn't have big bucks to hire mega stars of the art world.
On page 8 is an advertisement for the 'swimsuit issue'. I have never liked that. Sure I am a guy and all but Minmei in those kinds of bathing suits... sheesh. She would be FAR too prudish to wear any of that!
On page 9 Roy has a super mullet... wait a second! Oh man... I just noticed that their 'pages' don't match up. The story line is numbered but the pages in between (the ads) are not. When I tell you guys to check out the ad on page 8 (or 9, or whatever) I am looking at the last numbered page and adding whatever number onto it. Well, just try to keep up. I'll just continue to do it that way...
On page 14 Simon Lebon makes an appearance... wait that's Roy.
When Claudia leaves the UEG building Roy follows and tells himself she went down 'Gibson Street'... is that a little nod to himself (the writer of the comic)?
So the guy that was following Lisa confronts Roy outside the UEG building which on a few pages back was guarded by armor-clad troops. Roy and this guy fight right out there but conveniently the guards are gone.
Romance #1 (Academy 1995)
Question answered! Both Michelle and Frances Birchfield are drawing this issue so they ARE separate people. You may all breath normally again.
Romance is an comic of shorter comics. A one shot of one shots if you will. With Gibson, the Birchfield Sisters and Seripo Calm (who is a first here) come together to write and draw 'the more romantic side' of Roboteh.
The fist segment presents itself as one of Lisa's old roomate's songs and is simple artwork with accompanying lyrics to various scenes in Lisa's love life.
Why o why was Karl Rieber in the military? What a puss, always wining about war and crap but still joining up!
Two Beers with a Skirt Chaser is the next tale and it's about Roy (of course). The art from Calm is... very.. Disney XD. It looks like Disney redesigned Robotech for their weekday Clubhouse Disney or something, very cartoony.
Roy drinks his way to near un-coherentness in this little tale. Rolf Emerson tries to talk some sense into the lush but nothing is working. Roy is hung up over Claudia and finds his woes are lessened in some cheap booze.
The final story is 'When the Going Gets Tough' by Gibson as well. It's about someone named Georgia (you may remeber that she works at the Academy with the simulators. Apparently she needs to seriously get laid (I kid I kid)!
She is having some very strange dreams about Rolf Emerson and the 'Bridge Bunnies' before they were actually bridge bunnies. I think Georgia just needs to NOT eat at least four hours before bed... that will stop those freaky dreams. Either way I am even more confused when at the end of the dream it's Sammie who is dreaming (and was at the beginning of the comic).
One page 7 is a STUNNING announcement from Academy. They write to everyone that they will no longer be doing Robotech comics in the coming year. After December of 2006 they will no longer be publishing or selling back issues. Oh the horror!
Academy Blues #5 (Academy 1996)
I can certainly see the differences between Michelles and Frances' art. Michelle uses softer edges while Frances' art has more straight lines.
Sammie is bummed because she is having to earn a living and Vanessa and Kim are free to be perverts.
We also see more simulator hijinks at the Robotech Academy with Georgia and the man she hankers for (Tom, who just don't look right). Lisa is barking at the other cadets (what's new) and life goes on.
We get a bookend to this issue with the explanation as to how someone so young (Lisa) could have become a Lieutenant in the RDF. She along with Rolf Emerson are promoted in the Academy and will graduate with those positions.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Academy Blues #1-2, Tempest #1, and Academy Blues #3
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.Com)
Welcome back to my year long look into the world of Robotech! This post is going to start out with Academy Blues #1-2, then jump over to Tempest #1, and then back to Academy Blues #3. If you are wondering why I am splitting these up you just need to refer to my post about the reading order of Robotech for 2012. This format is chronological to the storyline and Tempest is set between the 2 issues of Academy Blues 2 and 3. Let's get going!
Academy Blues #1 (1995 Academy)
Sean Bishop is the artist again and this comic looks great. He really has a nice grasp on the look of Robotech. Many of the character art is DEAD ON to the cartoon. His skill is unsurpassed.
The first page has Lisa remembering the past and the type setter used cursive writing for those few thought bubbles and it was really hard to decipher.
The title art is a 2 page spread of the SDF-1 with Lisa looking down on it from atop a building (the academy possibly). It's a nice visual but the SDF-1 looks a little out of proportion.
In the grand scheme of things the early days of the Robotech Academy would have probably gone a lot like we see it here in the comic. Classes about a whole lot of useless information that will be be forgotten by the beginning of the next semester. After the reappearance of the aliens in 2009 I figure things would have changed dramatically. From the massive loss of life and the quickly reduced forces of the RDF, classes (post Pluto space fold) were probably few and far between. New recruits probably got fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants training and quickly thrown into battle. Long gone were the days of boring lectures and useless information.
Academy Blues #2 (Academy 1995)
Tavisha Wolfgarth takes over as artist in this next issue about Lisa and the Robotech Academy. I enjoyed his art. It certainly leans more towards traditional Japanese Manga in style.
Lisa and the rest of the crew of the bridge (sans Sammie who is too young for the academy at this point) continue through the Robotech Academy. Lisa writes Karl telling him about the trials and tribulations that she must face.
Lisa talks with someone called Rolf which I assume is Rolf Emerson again (as we have seen in previous issues) but the new artist draws him differently here.
The interview that we saw with Cark Macek back in Return To Macross is repeated here so there is nothing new to read.
Tempest #1 (Academy 1995)
This is the first (at least chronologically) comic drawn by a chick. Michelle Birchfield does a passable job but the characters don't look very anime'ish. This comic is a one shot of Roy Fokker.
The panels range from crude to quite beautiful. I couldn't say she was good at any one particular aspect (character vs. mecha) since the quality ranges around. Several of the pages actually have very little are on them at all! Take a gander at pages 10-11.
On page 22 a single shot from a gun somehow blows up a Veritech... really?
Before I could even blink the comic was over! Woman steals Veritech, Roy chases woman. Woman and Roy crash on island. Woman tries to kill Roy and for no real explained reason woman kills herself. That's all! I just don't know why they would bother releasing this. If I had the rights to release Robotech comics (or any comics for that matter) I'd do a lot of planning and make sure each comic I released was worth reading, buying, and worthy of the Robotech name.
Academy Blues #3 (Academy 1995)
Laz Berry takes over for this issue as artist. Ouch! I would have to say this is my least favorite artist. Infact I had a hard time figuring out characters here. The action doesn't come across well either.
Gibson's writing isn't as good as Spangler's either. This issue disappointed me after I got somewhat involved with the previous issues of Academy Blues.
One more bitch (sorry). The lettering here is good but the bubbles and placement in bubbles is really bad.
The story happens around some sort of spy device planted on the beach that (I think) Rolf discovers and a small firefight (I think) breaks out with some spys who were working as guards in that area. Like I said the action was really hard to follow. The rest of the issue was Lisa moaning on and on about it. What a whiner! :) I kid I kid!
Welcome back to my year long look into the world of Robotech! This post is going to start out with Academy Blues #1-2, then jump over to Tempest #1, and then back to Academy Blues #3. If you are wondering why I am splitting these up you just need to refer to my post about the reading order of Robotech for 2012. This format is chronological to the storyline and Tempest is set between the 2 issues of Academy Blues 2 and 3. Let's get going!
Academy Blues #1 (1995 Academy)
Sean Bishop is the artist again and this comic looks great. He really has a nice grasp on the look of Robotech. Many of the character art is DEAD ON to the cartoon. His skill is unsurpassed.
The first page has Lisa remembering the past and the type setter used cursive writing for those few thought bubbles and it was really hard to decipher.
The title art is a 2 page spread of the SDF-1 with Lisa looking down on it from atop a building (the academy possibly). It's a nice visual but the SDF-1 looks a little out of proportion.
In the grand scheme of things the early days of the Robotech Academy would have probably gone a lot like we see it here in the comic. Classes about a whole lot of useless information that will be be forgotten by the beginning of the next semester. After the reappearance of the aliens in 2009 I figure things would have changed dramatically. From the massive loss of life and the quickly reduced forces of the RDF, classes (post Pluto space fold) were probably few and far between. New recruits probably got fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants training and quickly thrown into battle. Long gone were the days of boring lectures and useless information.
Academy Blues #2 (Academy 1995)
Tavisha Wolfgarth takes over as artist in this next issue about Lisa and the Robotech Academy. I enjoyed his art. It certainly leans more towards traditional Japanese Manga in style.
Lisa and the rest of the crew of the bridge (sans Sammie who is too young for the academy at this point) continue through the Robotech Academy. Lisa writes Karl telling him about the trials and tribulations that she must face.
Lisa talks with someone called Rolf which I assume is Rolf Emerson again (as we have seen in previous issues) but the new artist draws him differently here.
The interview that we saw with Cark Macek back in Return To Macross is repeated here so there is nothing new to read.
Tempest #1 (Academy 1995)
This is the first (at least chronologically) comic drawn by a chick. Michelle Birchfield does a passable job but the characters don't look very anime'ish. This comic is a one shot of Roy Fokker.
The panels range from crude to quite beautiful. I couldn't say she was good at any one particular aspect (character vs. mecha) since the quality ranges around. Several of the pages actually have very little are on them at all! Take a gander at pages 10-11.
On page 22 a single shot from a gun somehow blows up a Veritech... really?
Before I could even blink the comic was over! Woman steals Veritech, Roy chases woman. Woman and Roy crash on island. Woman tries to kill Roy and for no real explained reason woman kills herself. That's all! I just don't know why they would bother releasing this. If I had the rights to release Robotech comics (or any comics for that matter) I'd do a lot of planning and make sure each comic I released was worth reading, buying, and worthy of the Robotech name.
Academy Blues #3 (Academy 1995)
Laz Berry takes over for this issue as artist. Ouch! I would have to say this is my least favorite artist. Infact I had a hard time figuring out characters here. The action doesn't come across well either.
Gibson's writing isn't as good as Spangler's either. This issue disappointed me after I got somewhat involved with the previous issues of Academy Blues.
One more bitch (sorry). The lettering here is good but the bubbles and placement in bubbles is really bad.
The story happens around some sort of spy device planted on the beach that (I think) Rolf discovers and a small firefight (I think) breaks out with some spys who were working as guards in that area. Like I said the action was really hard to follow. The rest of the issue was Lisa moaning on and on about it. What a whiner! :) I kid I kid!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Macross Isand Junkie
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
As you all know I am fan of Robotech. I have enjoyed it for many a year and it has (for me) become far beyond a cartoon with dubious animation at times. I remember it around the first time back in the 80's but I wasn't that into it at the time. I am guessing I was more into G.I. Joe and He-Man than Robotech. It really wasn't until I was a freshman in High school that I got into Robotech. I think what initially happened was that my best friend in High school (Eric) got ahold of the RPG book and I think we launched from there.
Over the next several years it was a search for anything I could lay my hands on. Robotech's hey-day had passed and there was little new product coming out. I scoped out my local comic book shops (Heroes Workshop off West Berry and Lone Star Comics near Hulen) but didn't find too much in thoes early days. I remember that Heroes Workshop had a big cardboard SDF-1 and I was always amazed by it. I did find some issues of the Canadian Robotech Fanzine Protoculture Addicts and ate them up.
I got all the RPG books I could afford and the novelizations as well. When money permitted I would go wild at one of Lone Star's sales and stock up on back issues of the comics. Most were good but there were some strange ones too. Me and Eric and some of his friends would play the RPG. This was great fun but for some reason I was almost always the GM. Once I found 2 Peter Pan - Robotech Cassette with book sets at Pic-N-Save (which is now Big Lots). I loved those pieces of shit! They were so patched together and the narrator would constantly get the names wrong and when he read it was like he was reading the story for the first time (he would get inflections all wrong). None of it matter because it was Robotech and I enjoyed them thoroughly.
Through those first few years I got ahold of the F.H.E. version of Robotech. It had six VHS tapes with six episodes mercilessly editing together. They would only show one opening and closing credits and slap six episodes all together (cutting out quite a bit as I later found out). F.H.E. also released a couple of other versions of the series (with fewer episodes on each tape) but it appears my set was the last VHS set they produced. I would take a tape deck and record audio snippets off the show and make a 'mix tape' of audio sound bites. Years later I got the F.H.E. laser disc versions of the series and it was a totally different experience. The episodes were complete and there were scenes that I had never seen before. I gripe about those crappy VHS versions but they did offer some fun years later with the missing scenes I got to see off the laser discs.
Let's take a break with this cute chick giving us one of Minmei's songs...
Through all this I got on this kick to get Robotech Perfect Collection CD (or record it didn't matter to me). I contacted the company only to find out that it was out of print. These were the days before eBay so I was SOL. One day I was browsing something (online or in a magazine, I can't remember) and I ran across something that showed that a new soundtrack called Robotech: Perfect Soundtrack was about to be released... in less and a week! I was so excited. I got my order in ASAP but the production was delayed until early 97 and once I did get it I see why it was delayed. It had 2 discs and they were marked wrong. Disc 1 was Disc 2, etc... It still didn't detract from my utter delight. I got to enjoy songs I had never heard before including the ones I simply didn't remember from the Robotech The Movie soundtrack. As it turns out it wasn't 'perfect' there was another set that came less than 10 years later with even more.
In 1999 I built a website called Robocon.org. I already had a page about Robotech on my webpage so I moved it to the new Robocon.org and added more stuff to it. Robocon was the 10th anniversary of Robotech convention that took place in 1995. It focused on my take on Robotech as well as the voice actors that had attended the convention and so on. I had a couple of phone conversations with Tom Bateman (the organizer and protoge' of Carl Macek. He got me some info and gave me blessings to use it all on the site. He had been planning a Robocon 15 in 2000 but it fell through. In 200? He contacted me again (along with Tommy Yune I believe) about giving Robocon.org to Robotech.com (the official portal for Robotech). So they could use it for the upcoming Robocon 20. I agreed and they suped up my site and integrated it into their own. I still have my site archived here. You can compare the changes they made to it here (their official version). I found it funny that they kept the front page (the one with animation that says: 'Welcome to the Future of the Human Race' from my old site. I basically took that from my existing Front Mission fan site cause it sounded cool (I just changed 'Future of Warfare' to Future of the Human Race'). I also find it cool that the site is still up and intact after all these years.
Robotech has been good to me over the years and I feel I have been good to it. It's a nice relationship, eh?
As you all know I am fan of Robotech. I have enjoyed it for many a year and it has (for me) become far beyond a cartoon with dubious animation at times. I remember it around the first time back in the 80's but I wasn't that into it at the time. I am guessing I was more into G.I. Joe and He-Man than Robotech. It really wasn't until I was a freshman in High school that I got into Robotech. I think what initially happened was that my best friend in High school (Eric) got ahold of the RPG book and I think we launched from there.
Over the next several years it was a search for anything I could lay my hands on. Robotech's hey-day had passed and there was little new product coming out. I scoped out my local comic book shops (Heroes Workshop off West Berry and Lone Star Comics near Hulen) but didn't find too much in thoes early days. I remember that Heroes Workshop had a big cardboard SDF-1 and I was always amazed by it. I did find some issues of the Canadian Robotech Fanzine Protoculture Addicts and ate them up.
I got all the RPG books I could afford and the novelizations as well. When money permitted I would go wild at one of Lone Star's sales and stock up on back issues of the comics. Most were good but there were some strange ones too. Me and Eric and some of his friends would play the RPG. This was great fun but for some reason I was almost always the GM. Once I found 2 Peter Pan - Robotech Cassette with book sets at Pic-N-Save (which is now Big Lots). I loved those pieces of shit! They were so patched together and the narrator would constantly get the names wrong and when he read it was like he was reading the story for the first time (he would get inflections all wrong). None of it matter because it was Robotech and I enjoyed them thoroughly.
Through those first few years I got ahold of the F.H.E. version of Robotech. It had six VHS tapes with six episodes mercilessly editing together. They would only show one opening and closing credits and slap six episodes all together (cutting out quite a bit as I later found out). F.H.E. also released a couple of other versions of the series (with fewer episodes on each tape) but it appears my set was the last VHS set they produced. I would take a tape deck and record audio snippets off the show and make a 'mix tape' of audio sound bites. Years later I got the F.H.E. laser disc versions of the series and it was a totally different experience. The episodes were complete and there were scenes that I had never seen before. I gripe about those crappy VHS versions but they did offer some fun years later with the missing scenes I got to see off the laser discs.
Let's take a break with this cute chick giving us one of Minmei's songs...
Through all this I got on this kick to get Robotech Perfect Collection CD (or record it didn't matter to me). I contacted the company only to find out that it was out of print. These were the days before eBay so I was SOL. One day I was browsing something (online or in a magazine, I can't remember) and I ran across something that showed that a new soundtrack called Robotech: Perfect Soundtrack was about to be released... in less and a week! I was so excited. I got my order in ASAP but the production was delayed until early 97 and once I did get it I see why it was delayed. It had 2 discs and they were marked wrong. Disc 1 was Disc 2, etc... It still didn't detract from my utter delight. I got to enjoy songs I had never heard before including the ones I simply didn't remember from the Robotech The Movie soundtrack. As it turns out it wasn't 'perfect' there was another set that came less than 10 years later with even more.
In 1999 I built a website called Robocon.org. I already had a page about Robotech on my webpage so I moved it to the new Robocon.org and added more stuff to it. Robocon was the 10th anniversary of Robotech convention that took place in 1995. It focused on my take on Robotech as well as the voice actors that had attended the convention and so on. I had a couple of phone conversations with Tom Bateman (the organizer and protoge' of Carl Macek. He got me some info and gave me blessings to use it all on the site. He had been planning a Robocon 15 in 2000 but it fell through. In 200? He contacted me again (along with Tommy Yune I believe) about giving Robocon.org to Robotech.com (the official portal for Robotech). So they could use it for the upcoming Robocon 20. I agreed and they suped up my site and integrated it into their own. I still have my site archived here. You can compare the changes they made to it here (their official version). I found it funny that they kept the front page (the one with animation that says: 'Welcome to the Future of the Human Race' from my old site. I basically took that from my existing Front Mission fan site cause it sounded cool (I just changed 'Future of Warfare' to Future of the Human Race'). I also find it cool that the site is still up and intact after all these years.
Robotech has been good to me over the years and I feel I have been good to it. It's a nice relationship, eh?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Return To Macross: Issues 19, 14-15
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
In this post I will be covering Academy's Return to Macross comic books (issues 19, 14-15). If you don't know this is my year long Robotech Adventure! I am reading/watching the entire epic in order throughout all of 2012. You can read all about my plans in this blog. Feel free to join in and comment where necessary.
Return to Macross #19 (Academy 1995)
Sean Bishop is our Artist on this issue. He seems to have stuck to the more Anime look which is nice.
This comic takes place in 2005 and involves Rick Hunter visiting Macross... uh... really? Now from my memory Rick was 16 when he arrived on Macross island in 2009 so that would make him 12 here... So you are telling me he made the flight halfway around the globe to visit Roy? Oh well, I'll let it ride.
On page 6 there are some signs and one is interesting. It says Avatar... Academy could see into the future!
The first half of the comic is Rick running around Macross with all other Macross players just out of range (their parts come later). We see Lisa and Claudia walking down the hall. The Bridge Bunnies and Claudia leaving a movie (with Lisa running out before that).
The artist has a real grasp on the characters' appearance. He did a really good job portraying all of them.
On Page 21 Gloval's pipe is HUGE!
On Page 22 there is a poster on the wall with the Yamato that says 'now playing'. This goes along with the 'now playing' sign that Rick passed earlier. Little did they know there would be a live action Yamato movie in the year 2011.
Return to Macross #14 (Academy 1994)
We take a jump back in time a bit and head to issue 14 which takes place chronologically after issue 19. Our artist is Wes Abbot who does a pretty good job with the Anime look.
We are dealing with the micronized Zentraedi that was running loose a few issues back. He is in a type of suspended animation since the 'Knight of Knives' stabbed him.
On page 5 there is a club called Bamboo 7. I guess this ties into the Bamboo Disco seen in the series...
Apparently someone is out to get the secrets from Lang but who is the question...
Return to Macross #15 (Academy 1994)
This take centers around one of Roy's old buddies that is having some mental issues in regards to his past.
On page 12 there is an ad for Protoculture Addicts. I wrote a blog post in 2010 about my enjoyment of that particular magazine (at least the first 10 issues of it). Go here and read it. As a side note, I plan to read and review those as well in this Blog.
Alright, that's all for now. This issue is split (that's why it's so short). The other half is Robotech: Warriors. In my reading schedule that is the next title so my next post will start with this 'half issue' and then the rest of the Warriors series (only 3 issues). Later!
In this post I will be covering Academy's Return to Macross comic books (issues 19, 14-15). If you don't know this is my year long Robotech Adventure! I am reading/watching the entire epic in order throughout all of 2012. You can read all about my plans in this blog. Feel free to join in and comment where necessary.
Return to Macross #19 (Academy 1995)
Sean Bishop is our Artist on this issue. He seems to have stuck to the more Anime look which is nice.
This comic takes place in 2005 and involves Rick Hunter visiting Macross... uh... really? Now from my memory Rick was 16 when he arrived on Macross island in 2009 so that would make him 12 here... So you are telling me he made the flight halfway around the globe to visit Roy? Oh well, I'll let it ride.
On page 6 there are some signs and one is interesting. It says Avatar... Academy could see into the future!
The first half of the comic is Rick running around Macross with all other Macross players just out of range (their parts come later). We see Lisa and Claudia walking down the hall. The Bridge Bunnies and Claudia leaving a movie (with Lisa running out before that).
The artist has a real grasp on the characters' appearance. He did a really good job portraying all of them.
On Page 21 Gloval's pipe is HUGE!
On Page 22 there is a poster on the wall with the Yamato that says 'now playing'. This goes along with the 'now playing' sign that Rick passed earlier. Little did they know there would be a live action Yamato movie in the year 2011.
Return to Macross #14 (Academy 1994)
We take a jump back in time a bit and head to issue 14 which takes place chronologically after issue 19. Our artist is Wes Abbot who does a pretty good job with the Anime look.
We are dealing with the micronized Zentraedi that was running loose a few issues back. He is in a type of suspended animation since the 'Knight of Knives' stabbed him.
On page 5 there is a club called Bamboo 7. I guess this ties into the Bamboo Disco seen in the series...
Apparently someone is out to get the secrets from Lang but who is the question...
Return to Macross #15 (Academy 1994)
This take centers around one of Roy's old buddies that is having some mental issues in regards to his past.
On page 12 there is an ad for Protoculture Addicts. I wrote a blog post in 2010 about my enjoyment of that particular magazine (at least the first 10 issues of it). Go here and read it. As a side note, I plan to read and review those as well in this Blog.
Alright, that's all for now. This issue is split (that's why it's so short). The other half is Robotech: Warriors. In my reading schedule that is the next title so my next post will start with this 'half issue' and then the rest of the Warriors series (only 3 issues). Later!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Return To Macross: Issues 1-6
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
In this post I will be covering Malibu's Return to Macross comic books (issues 1-6). If you don't know this is my year long Robotech Adventure! I am reading/watching the entire epic in order throughout all of 2012. You can read all about my plans in this blog. Feel free to join in and comment where necessary. Chris will be joining us on this journey as well and he will be dropping in from time to time.
Up to this point I have read The Legend of Zor: Genesis mini-series and the Graphic Novel. Those comics basically took place right up to the crash landing of the SDF-1 on Earth. Return To Macross takes place between this time and launch day of the SDF-1. There are a few flash forwards and flashbacks but it MOSTLY follows a timeline.
In this post I will be covering Malibu's Return to Macross comic books (issues 1-6). If you don't know this is my year long Robotech Adventure! I am reading/watching the entire epic in order throughout all of 2012. You can read all about my plans in this blog. Feel free to join in and comment where necessary. Chris will be joining us on this journey as well and he will be dropping in from time to time.
Up to this point I have read The Legend of Zor: Genesis mini-series and the Graphic Novel. Those comics basically took place right up to the crash landing of the SDF-1 on Earth. Return To Macross takes place between this time and launch day of the SDF-1. There are a few flash forwards and flashbacks but it MOSTLY follows a timeline.
Return to Macross #1 (Malibu 1993)
The Death of Zor and the wounding of Breetai begin this issue. It is a VERY QUICK recap of the events in Zor: Genesis but with the change that Breetai is wounded during the Invid attack that kills Zor. In all the other comics Breetai is already wearing the faceplate. The SDF-1 looks very un-alien like in this comic (more like the final, restored ship) unlike it looks in the Comico comics. The story switches to 2004 and Roy Fokker's arrival on Macross Island (for the first time in a long time). While Roy is waiting to land on the island he remeber's back to the exploration he, Gloval, Edwards, and some Marines did five years previous. It caught my attention that in one of these panels it closely resembles a panel from the Comico Graphic Novel. The artist was obviously looking at the Graphic Novel as a resource while working on this series.
Roy is overwhelmed that Macross Island is so changed since the last time he was there. There is a large population there now and an element of disharmony. Conrad Wilbur leads demonstations aganist the military and use of the alien technology.
Return to Macross #2 (Malibu 1993)
The Veritech is introduced in this issue. The artists who worked on this series really had a good grasp of the design and they look sharp.
Roy meets up with his old rival T.R. Edwards. In the years between the SDF-1s landing and Roy's return to Macross, Edwards has moved up in the new United Earth Government. He was sent to Macross to observe and report on the Veritech testing going on. Apparently he is up to more than that though.
Edwards contacts the dissident Conrad Wilbur with some scheme. Edwards only real goal is money, something is brewing and he wants to use Conrad to be his patsy.
The comic jumps back across the universe to Breetai and Dolza who have been giventhe task of finding the lost ship. They are attacked by Invid and Breetai finds himself in deep trouble.
The first time I read this series was really my first introduction to black and white comics. I had read the graphic novel Maus and enjoyed the simple black and white scheme and when I started reading this series I remebered how much I enjoyed it. I like drawing and this type of comic is basically that.
Return to Macross #3 (Malibu 1993)
Breetai gets himself out of trouble and Khyron is introduced in this issue. For some reason Dolza still has Zor's body. I guess this bit takes place not too long after Zor's death and they are just catching up on the storyline.
Edwards talks Conrad into sabotaging Roy's test flight so he can sneak off in the excitement and get some photos of the inside of the SDF-1 (for the highest bidder, ofcourse).
Once again there is a lot of Veritech art in this issue and it is done really well, very cartoon-like and all in porpotion... looks great.
Return to Macross #4 (Malibu 1993)
Conrad is ready to blow up the device on Roy's Veritech but is distracted when a fire breaks out in Macross city and Roy uses the Veritech in Battloid mode to save the people in the building. Conrad's wife died in a similar situation and Conrad changes his mind about the uses of Robotechnology and doesn't blow it up.
Edwards sneaks off in anticipation of the explosions and the ensuing chaos and goes spelunking inside the ship. He comes across someone (or something) and screams. Next thing he knows he is falling out of the ship as if it altered itself to kick him out. He plays it off and sneaks back like nothing happened.
From the panels it appears it is a Zentraedi that Edwards saw since there is a broken-open cloning chamber shown and what appears to be wet footsteps leading out of it.
I believe this is the first time (since the crash) that a living alien is shown inside the ship.
The comic shoots back across the galaxy to show the final rescue of Dolza and Breetai from the Invid thanks to the rescue mission (led by Khyron) sent by the Masters. Later Dolza assigns Breetai the mission of finding the SDF-1 and assigns Exedore to assist. In the Legend of Zor mini-series Exedore was already with Breetai.
Probably the most interesting bit of this issue isn't even the comic itself. It's on pages 25-27. The first thing is an advertisement/letter about Robotech Echo, the BBS for Robotech fans. If you don't remeber a BBS was a Bulliten Board System. You used your modem and dialed up the BBS and communicated with others. It was like a crude and very limited internet. I remeber using the Blasted Trumphet BBS out of Fort Worth, Texas about the time this comic was out. On page 26 was a list of BBS that had the Robtech Echo board on it. Good times...
On page 27 was a list of fan addresses. This was very cool. You could have a Penpal that was into Robotech. Right there on the page were several willing fans you could communicte with. This was great in a day and age when the Inetrnet hadn't connected us all yet. In some ways it seems that the Internet has taken that special feeling away from finding a like-minded fan. They are everywhere now-a-days on the net and most people could just take it or leave it, nothing special.
Return to Macross #5 (Malibu 1993)
This issue starts with Breetai and Exedore coming across something they think might be the SDF-1 but it isn't. Khyron is sent out and the something attacks him.
Back on Earth someone kills Roy's current love interest for some unknown reason (at this point). Did I mention that Claudia has shown up?
Isn't that a snazzy PC on page 15? That CRT monitor could be a boat anchor! Robotechnology at its best!
I found it funny that Claudia came to Roy to stop him from bothering her and by the end of the conversation the roles were reversed and he didn't want her to bother him.
Later we see the mysterious figure from issue 4 that Edwards found inside the SDF-1. We know this because it blurts out the name Zor and he is fairly large. Not a giant as I thought but larger than a normal man.
Finally someone is killing scientist off trying to stop the RDF from continuting work on the SDF-1.
I have commented on the art in this series before but I want to say it again. The artist; Tim Divar does an excellent job. The lines are sharp, the details are nice, and the characters drawn very well. The only issue I had was with Breetai in the first few pages. Tim seemed to miss the mark with Breetai's look there for a bit.
Roy is overwhelmed that Macross Island is so changed since the last time he was there. There is a large population there now and an element of disharmony. Conrad Wilbur leads demonstations aganist the military and use of the alien technology.
Return to Macross #2 (Malibu 1993)
The Veritech is introduced in this issue. The artists who worked on this series really had a good grasp of the design and they look sharp.
Roy meets up with his old rival T.R. Edwards. In the years between the SDF-1s landing and Roy's return to Macross, Edwards has moved up in the new United Earth Government. He was sent to Macross to observe and report on the Veritech testing going on. Apparently he is up to more than that though.
Edwards contacts the dissident Conrad Wilbur with some scheme. Edwards only real goal is money, something is brewing and he wants to use Conrad to be his patsy.
The comic jumps back across the universe to Breetai and Dolza who have been giventhe task of finding the lost ship. They are attacked by Invid and Breetai finds himself in deep trouble.
The first time I read this series was really my first introduction to black and white comics. I had read the graphic novel Maus and enjoyed the simple black and white scheme and when I started reading this series I remebered how much I enjoyed it. I like drawing and this type of comic is basically that.
Return to Macross #3 (Malibu 1993)
Breetai gets himself out of trouble and Khyron is introduced in this issue. For some reason Dolza still has Zor's body. I guess this bit takes place not too long after Zor's death and they are just catching up on the storyline.
Edwards talks Conrad into sabotaging Roy's test flight so he can sneak off in the excitement and get some photos of the inside of the SDF-1 (for the highest bidder, ofcourse).
Once again there is a lot of Veritech art in this issue and it is done really well, very cartoon-like and all in porpotion... looks great.
Return to Macross #4 (Malibu 1993)
Conrad is ready to blow up the device on Roy's Veritech but is distracted when a fire breaks out in Macross city and Roy uses the Veritech in Battloid mode to save the people in the building. Conrad's wife died in a similar situation and Conrad changes his mind about the uses of Robotechnology and doesn't blow it up.
Edwards sneaks off in anticipation of the explosions and the ensuing chaos and goes spelunking inside the ship. He comes across someone (or something) and screams. Next thing he knows he is falling out of the ship as if it altered itself to kick him out. He plays it off and sneaks back like nothing happened.
From the panels it appears it is a Zentraedi that Edwards saw since there is a broken-open cloning chamber shown and what appears to be wet footsteps leading out of it.
I believe this is the first time (since the crash) that a living alien is shown inside the ship.
The comic shoots back across the galaxy to show the final rescue of Dolza and Breetai from the Invid thanks to the rescue mission (led by Khyron) sent by the Masters. Later Dolza assigns Breetai the mission of finding the SDF-1 and assigns Exedore to assist. In the Legend of Zor mini-series Exedore was already with Breetai.
Probably the most interesting bit of this issue isn't even the comic itself. It's on pages 25-27. The first thing is an advertisement/letter about Robotech Echo, the BBS for Robotech fans. If you don't remeber a BBS was a Bulliten Board System. You used your modem and dialed up the BBS and communicated with others. It was like a crude and very limited internet. I remeber using the Blasted Trumphet BBS out of Fort Worth, Texas about the time this comic was out. On page 26 was a list of BBS that had the Robtech Echo board on it. Good times...
On page 27 was a list of fan addresses. This was very cool. You could have a Penpal that was into Robotech. Right there on the page were several willing fans you could communicte with. This was great in a day and age when the Inetrnet hadn't connected us all yet. In some ways it seems that the Internet has taken that special feeling away from finding a like-minded fan. They are everywhere now-a-days on the net and most people could just take it or leave it, nothing special.
Return to Macross #5 (Malibu 1993)
This issue starts with Breetai and Exedore coming across something they think might be the SDF-1 but it isn't. Khyron is sent out and the something attacks him.
Back on Earth someone kills Roy's current love interest for some unknown reason (at this point). Did I mention that Claudia has shown up?
Isn't that a snazzy PC on page 15? That CRT monitor could be a boat anchor! Robotechnology at its best!
I found it funny that Claudia came to Roy to stop him from bothering her and by the end of the conversation the roles were reversed and he didn't want her to bother him.
Later we see the mysterious figure from issue 4 that Edwards found inside the SDF-1. We know this because it blurts out the name Zor and he is fairly large. Not a giant as I thought but larger than a normal man.
Finally someone is killing scientist off trying to stop the RDF from continuting work on the SDF-1.
I have commented on the art in this series before but I want to say it again. The artist; Tim Divar does an excellent job. The lines are sharp, the details are nice, and the characters drawn very well. The only issue I had was with Breetai in the first few pages. Tim seemed to miss the mark with Breetai's look there for a bit.
Return to Macross #6 (Malibu 1993)
Page 3 has an awesome drawing of a MAC II and a Gladiator! The artist seemed to have slight problems drawing Gretchen in the next couple of pages.
Roy looks like the lead singer of A-ha on page 7.
Page 23... You hear that?... It's a motorboat pulling Cark Macek up and over a shark infested pool.
Starting on page 27 there is a behind the scenes look at what's going on at Malibu/Eternity comics. Looks like a bunch of geeks to me... I'd fit right in!
Page 3 has an awesome drawing of a MAC II and a Gladiator! The artist seemed to have slight problems drawing Gretchen in the next couple of pages.
Roy looks like the lead singer of A-ha on page 7.
Page 23... You hear that?... It's a motorboat pulling Cark Macek up and over a shark infested pool.
Starting on page 27 there is a behind the scenes look at what's going on at Malibu/Eternity comics. Looks like a bunch of geeks to me... I'd fit right in!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Robotech: The Graphic Novel
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Today's post is about Comico's 1986 Robotech: The Graphic Novel. This book was basically designed to fill in the back story that the other Comico comics (and the show) didn't cover. There is a short forward to this effect at the front of the book.
The Malibu/Eternity comics stuck surprisingly well to some of the stuff in this (the much earlier work). Zor is in the same clothes as well as the fact that he is on the base when the Invid attack the planet they are seeding. I might add that Zor's hair looks a little more normal here than the more girly look in the Eternity comic.
On page 8 there is a reference to Gilligan's Island when the SDF-1 is heading into Earth's atmosphere.
After the action that leads the SDF-1 to Earth we pickup with Roy Fokker and how he is involved in the whole matter. We are also filled in on T.R. Edwards and his rivalry with Roy.
Everything comes to a screeching halt (war-wise) when the alien ship shatters mankind's thought that he is alone in the universe.
Something that caught my eye right away was the fact that when the former enemies that battled for supremacy join up in peace to figure out what to do next, they adopt the uniforms of the Western Alliance. That is to say that the Western Alliance is wearing what we all come to know as the uniform of the RDF. I just find it interesting that something like that would happen. Military junk is all about gaining and saving face and for the NE Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere to just melt into the Western Alliance wouldn't happen, it would be too much like giving up and giving in. OK, I am reading way too much into this but hey, that what this blog is all about, right?
Back on the other side of the galaxy the Master are very impatient to get Zor's body back to Fantoma for testing and such. In the Eternity comics the Masters were on Tirol since Fantoma was supposed to have too high gravity for their small size. Here the Master are based on Fantoma. I found it a bit gruesome that they showed the decapitated head of Zor... this rocks! Later there is a dissected marine inside the SDF-1 too.
At the SDF-1 crash site the exploration team shows up and they have a very 'Robotech-like' robot, a walking searchlight to assist. The technology just seems a bit to post-arrival. It looks like something that would be built during the next 10 years of the story... just sayin'.
Inside the SDF-1 the team is attacked by Bioroid troops (Tirolian clones) and not Zentraedi. I found this strange since Tirolian clone troops (oops there's Star Wars again) were for Tirol and it seemed like Zentraedi troops were for Fantoma and outer space stuff. Maybe it was Comico's attempt to tie the Southern Cross story into the Macross story more. If you didn't understand that last bit then read this old blog post where I explain what Robotech is made of (at least the 2nd paragraph).
On page 41 the team activates a screen in Zor's quarters and they get their first glimpse of a humanoid alien life form. This is actually a cool moment. Imagine coming upon something like that. To know that there are aliens out there and they look just like we do. This is a cool concept and moment. An Invid is also shown in the message, once again probably to tie in the New Generation part of Robotech.
The last 3 pages of the Graphic novel quickly sum up the 10 intervening years between the first exploration of the ship to launch day; July 1st, 2009. I am guessing that Malibu felt that those 3 pages would make for some good comic books when they wrote Return To Macross years later.
Today's post is about Comico's 1986 Robotech: The Graphic Novel. This book was basically designed to fill in the back story that the other Comico comics (and the show) didn't cover. There is a short forward to this effect at the front of the book.
The Malibu/Eternity comics stuck surprisingly well to some of the stuff in this (the much earlier work). Zor is in the same clothes as well as the fact that he is on the base when the Invid attack the planet they are seeding. I might add that Zor's hair looks a little more normal here than the more girly look in the Eternity comic.
On page 8 there is a reference to Gilligan's Island when the SDF-1 is heading into Earth's atmosphere.
After the action that leads the SDF-1 to Earth we pickup with Roy Fokker and how he is involved in the whole matter. We are also filled in on T.R. Edwards and his rivalry with Roy.
Everything comes to a screeching halt (war-wise) when the alien ship shatters mankind's thought that he is alone in the universe.
Something that caught my eye right away was the fact that when the former enemies that battled for supremacy join up in peace to figure out what to do next, they adopt the uniforms of the Western Alliance. That is to say that the Western Alliance is wearing what we all come to know as the uniform of the RDF. I just find it interesting that something like that would happen. Military junk is all about gaining and saving face and for the NE Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere to just melt into the Western Alliance wouldn't happen, it would be too much like giving up and giving in. OK, I am reading way too much into this but hey, that what this blog is all about, right?
Back on the other side of the galaxy the Master are very impatient to get Zor's body back to Fantoma for testing and such. In the Eternity comics the Masters were on Tirol since Fantoma was supposed to have too high gravity for their small size. Here the Master are based on Fantoma. I found it a bit gruesome that they showed the decapitated head of Zor... this rocks! Later there is a dissected marine inside the SDF-1 too.
At the SDF-1 crash site the exploration team shows up and they have a very 'Robotech-like' robot, a walking searchlight to assist. The technology just seems a bit to post-arrival. It looks like something that would be built during the next 10 years of the story... just sayin'.
Inside the SDF-1 the team is attacked by Bioroid troops (Tirolian clones) and not Zentraedi. I found this strange since Tirolian clone troops (oops there's Star Wars again) were for Tirol and it seemed like Zentraedi troops were for Fantoma and outer space stuff. Maybe it was Comico's attempt to tie the Southern Cross story into the Macross story more. If you didn't understand that last bit then read this old blog post where I explain what Robotech is made of (at least the 2nd paragraph).
On page 41 the team activates a screen in Zor's quarters and they get their first glimpse of a humanoid alien life form. This is actually a cool moment. Imagine coming upon something like that. To know that there are aliens out there and they look just like we do. This is a cool concept and moment. An Invid is also shown in the message, once again probably to tie in the New Generation part of Robotech.
The last 3 pages of the Graphic novel quickly sum up the 10 intervening years between the first exploration of the ship to launch day; July 1st, 2009. I am guessing that Malibu felt that those 3 pages would make for some good comic books when they wrote Return To Macross years later.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Robotech 2012 Reading/Watching Order
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
So it came to me that I would need to create a list of what I would need for this year-long Robotech binge. I would need to know which comics/books covered which parts of the story (chronologically). This is fine and all when it comes to the books and shows but there are a LOT of comics. I did a Google search and found this chronological listing from MegaSciFi.com. This is a complete list of everything in proper reading order. This guy REALLY went way beyond the list you see below, he actually has a more complex list that points out any flashbacks in the comics / books and it borders on the obsessive (which he confesses to). It really shows his love for this series! He has a little more readable version and that is what I have put below. It's just what I need! Thanks to the creator: Triple-Super Mecha 8.
I will stick as closely as I can or want to this timeline. Sometimes I might stray but for the most part I will try to read / watch in order.
* The (L) means last entry for that particular title.
GENESIS: THE LEGEND OF ZOR #1-6 (L)
GRAPHIC NOVEL (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #1-13, 19, 14-15
WARRIORS #0 (#0 featured in RETURN TO MACROSS #15), #1-3 (L)
METAL SWARM #1 (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #16-18, 20
ACADEMY BLUES #0
RETURN TO MACROSS #21-25
ACADEMY BLUES #1-2
MACROSS TEMPEST #1 (L)
ACADEMY BLUES #3
RETURN TO MACROSS #26
ACADEMY BLUES #4
ROMANCE #1 "Two Beers with a Skirt Chaser" story – NOTE: Contrary to the date printed in the story, the date is May 2005.
ACADEMY BLUES #5 (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #27-33
CIVIL WAR STORIES #1 (L) – NOTE: Contrary to the date printed in the story, the date is July 2005.
RETURN TO MACROSS #34-37 (L)
ROMANCE #1 "When the Going Gets Tough..." story (L)
BREAKING POINT: CADET LISA HAYES SPECIAL #1 (L)
MACROSS (video series) "Boobytrap" to "Blue Wind" - Episodes 1-13
MACROSS MISSIONS: DESTROID #1 (L)
MACROSS MISSIONS: EXCALIBUR #1 (L)
MACROSS MISSIONS: EXCALIBUR - QUAKING THUNDER #1 (L)
MACROSS "Gloval's Report" - Episode 14
VERMILION #1-4 "Vermilion" story
MACROSS "Homecoming" to "To the Stars" - Episodes 15-36 (L)
THE MALCONTENT UPRISINGS #1-12 (L)
THE SENTINELS (video) (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK I #1-6
THE SENTINELS WEDDING SPECIAL #1-2 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK I #7-16
FINAL FIRE #1 (L) – NOTE: Circa 2022 is when the narrator tells his account of events that occurred in 2012.
CYBERPIRATES #1-4 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK II #1-21
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #1-9
AMAZON WORLD - ESCAPE FROM PRAXIS #1 (L)
INVID WORLD - ASSAULT ON OPTERA #1 (L)
MECHANGEL #0-3 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #10-18
SMITH WORLD - SABOTAGE ON KARBARRA #1 (L)
CYBER WORLD - SECRETS OF HAYDON IV #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #19-22
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #1-8
FERAL WORLD - NIGHTMARE ON GARUDA #1 (L)
CRYSTAL
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #9-10
STAR RUNNERS: CARPENTER'S JOURNEY #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #11
THE SENTINELS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #12-13 (L)
ROBOTECH ANNUAL #1 "The Science of Law" story
ROBOTECH MASTERS [a.k.a. SOUTHERN CROSS] (video series) "Dana's Story" - Episode 1
THE MISFITS #1 (L)
ROBOTECH MASTERS "False Start" to "Catastrophe" - Episodes 2-24 (L)
INVID WAR #1, 5-6, 2, 7, 3-4, 8
FIREWALKERS #1 (L)
INVID WAR #9-12
THE NEW GENERATION [a.k.a. MOSPEADA] (video series) "The Invid Invasion" to "TheLost City
ROBOTECH ANNUAL #1 "Shop Talk or Why You Should Never Ride Without a Helmet" story (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "Lonely Soldier Boy" - Episode 3
INVID WAR #13
THE NEW GENERATION "Survival" to "Hard Times" - Episodes 4-6
CLASSREUNION #1 (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "Paper Hero" to "Eulogy" - Episodes 7-8
INVID WAR #14
THE NEW GENERATION "The Genesis Pit" to "The Fortress" - Episodes 9-12
INVID WAR #15
THE NEW GENERATION "Sandstorms" to "The Midnight Sun" - Episodes 13-17
INVID WAR #16
THE NEW GENERATION "Ghost Town" to "Frostbite" - Episodes 18-19
INVID WAR #17
THE NEW GENERATION "Birthday Blues" to "Hired Gun" - Episodes 20-21
VERMILION #2-4 "Unsung Heroes" story (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "The Big Apple" to "Symphony of Light" - Episodes 22-25 (L)
INVID WAR #18 (L)
So it came to me that I would need to create a list of what I would need for this year-long Robotech binge. I would need to know which comics/books covered which parts of the story (chronologically). This is fine and all when it comes to the books and shows but there are a LOT of comics. I did a Google search and found this chronological listing from MegaSciFi.com. This is a complete list of everything in proper reading order. This guy REALLY went way beyond the list you see below, he actually has a more complex list that points out any flashbacks in the comics / books and it borders on the obsessive (which he confesses to). It really shows his love for this series! He has a little more readable version and that is what I have put below. It's just what I need! Thanks to the creator: Triple-Super Mecha 8.
I will stick as closely as I can or want to this timeline. Sometimes I might stray but for the most part I will try to read / watch in order.
* The (L) means last entry for that particular title.
GENESIS: THE LEGEND OF ZOR #1-6 (L)
GRAPHIC NOVEL (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #1-13, 19, 14-15
WARRIORS #0 (#0 featured in RETURN TO MACROSS #15), #1-3 (L)
METAL SWARM #1 (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #16-18, 20
ACADEMY BLUES #0
RETURN TO MACROSS #21-25
ACADEMY BLUES #1-2
MACROSS TEMPEST #1 (L)
ACADEMY BLUES #3
RETURN TO MACROSS #26
ACADEMY BLUES #4
ROMANCE #1 "Two Beers with a Skirt Chaser" story – NOTE: Contrary to the date printed in the story, the date is May 2005.
ACADEMY BLUES #5 (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #27-33
CIVIL WAR STORIES #1 (L) – NOTE: Contrary to the date printed in the story, the date is July 2005.
RETURN TO MACROSS #34-37 (L)
ROMANCE #1 "When the Going Gets Tough..." story (L)
BREAKING POINT: CADET LISA HAYES SPECIAL #1 (L)
MACROSS (video series) "Boobytrap" to "Blue Wind" - Episodes 1-13
MACROSS MISSIONS: DESTROID #1 (L)
MACROSS MISSIONS: EXCALIBUR #1 (L)
MACROSS MISSIONS: EXCALIBUR - QUAKING THUNDER #1 (L)
MACROSS "Gloval's Report" - Episode 14
VERMILION #1-4 "Vermilion" story
MACROSS "Homecoming" to "To the Stars" - Episodes 15-36 (L)
THE MALCONTENT UPRISINGS #1-12 (L)
THE SENTINELS (video) (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK I #1-6
THE SENTINELS WEDDING SPECIAL #1-2 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK I #7-16
FINAL FIRE #1 (L) – NOTE: Circa 2022 is when the narrator tells his account of events that occurred in 2012.
CYBERPIRATES #1-4 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK II #1-21
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #1-9
AMAZON WORLD - ESCAPE FROM PRAXIS #1 (L)
INVID WORLD - ASSAULT ON OPTERA #1 (L)
MECHANGEL #0-3 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #10-18
SMITH WORLD - SABOTAGE ON KARBARRA #1 (L)
CYBER WORLD - SECRETS OF HAYDON IV #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #19-22
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #1-8
FERAL WORLD - NIGHTMARE ON GARUDA #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #9-10
STAR RUNNERS: CARPENTER'S JOURNEY #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #11
THE SENTINELS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #12-13 (L)
ROBOTECH ANNUAL #1 "The Science of Law" story
ROBOTECH MASTERS [a.k.a. SOUTHERN CROSS] (video series) "Dana's Story" - Episode 1
THE MISFITS #1 (L)
ROBOTECH MASTERS "False Start" to "Catastrophe" - Episodes 2-24 (L)
INVID WAR #1, 5-6, 2, 7, 3-4, 8
FIREWALKERS #1 (L)
INVID WAR #9-12
THE NEW GENERATION [a.k.a. MOSPEADA] (video series) "The Invid Invasion" to "The
ROBOTECH ANNUAL #1 "Shop Talk or Why You Should Never Ride Without a Helmet" story (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "Lonely Soldier Boy" - Episode 3
INVID WAR #13
THE NEW GENERATION "Survival" to "Hard Times" - Episodes 4-6
CLASS
THE NEW GENERATION "Paper Hero" to "Eulogy" - Episodes 7-8
INVID WAR #14
THE NEW GENERATION "The Genesis Pit" to "The Fortress" - Episodes 9-12
INVID WAR #15
THE NEW GENERATION "Sandstorms" to "The Midnight Sun" - Episodes 13-17
INVID WAR #16
THE NEW GENERATION "Ghost Town" to "Frostbite" - Episodes 18-19
INVID WAR #17
THE NEW GENERATION "Birthday Blues" to "Hired Gun" - Episodes 20-21
VERMILION #2-4 "Unsung Heroes" story (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "The Big Apple" to "Symphony of Light" - Episodes 22-25 (L)
INVID WAR #18 (L)
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