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!
Showing posts with label zentraedi rebellion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zentraedi rebellion. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2015
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).
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Book 19: The Zentraedi Rebellion
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Don't be sacred because the title says Book 19. Since I am reading/watching the entire Robotech saga in chronological order this book (printed last) takes places after the 6th book (between the end of the Macross Saga but before the Sentinels).
Finally!!!! I did it! I finished reading Jack McKenny's Zentraedi Rebellion. It was a bit like eating cotton wool. As many of you know I dreaded this book quite a bit. It's not because it's bad, but it is not very action packed and it is kinda slow. I read it back when it first came out so I kinda knew what to expect. It is great for diehards because it fills in gaps between The Sentinels and the 2nd Robotech War. It answers many questions like:
The Zentraedi Rebellion fills in the gaps after the destruction of the SFD-1 and start of the Expeditionary mission to Tirol. While Rick and Lisa are trying to get the REF's mission rolling we see how the surviving Zentraedi are having a tough time of it. Lots of bands of 'Malcontents' are forming and riots and segregation is happening all over the place. Miyria is caught up in it all. The Zentraedi Rebellion seems to be Jack McKenny's reinforcement of Eternity's Malcontent storyline from 1994. It is kinda cool to see how the two mixed together. Infact the events in Eternity's comics begin in chapter 23.
So I am not sure why Breetai and gang wanted to make his flagship look like the SDF-1. Surely that wouldn't fool the Masters. I am guessing that Carl Macek wanted something to 'harken back' to Macross.
The early, secret meetings between Moran, Leonard, and the rest of their cronies makes you think of how the South must have come together before the Civil War. Let's make sure to call it what it is... this whole Malcontent/Rebellion storyline is a analogue of the Civil War.
Jan Morrison (remember her, the former screen queen who Minmei defeated at the Miss Macross pagent) went on and became this sort of New Age hippie. Well, there is this bit at the beginning of one of the chapters that quotes her from her 'audio book'. I just found that funny. That's how I get most of my 'reading' done now-a-days.
As a side note, the comics and the Palladium RPG supplement: The Zentraedi Breakout came out the same year. I took a gander through it but there wasn't any sort of adventures based on the events in the comics. It does do a lot of RDF/Southern Cross blending which is a nice cross over.
The book mentions Conrad Wilbur and the Faithful (from the comics) which is a nice continuity touch.
The Bartley's are introduced here (including a 6 month old Rook). Apparently Rook is related to Lang. That is an interesting tid bit.
We are introduced to T.R. Edwards here, working as a double agent. I just don't care for this character. Sure, we need bad guys but he is too much like Breetai (with the face plate thing) and his reason for hating Hayes and Hunter is a bit much.
Good old Walmart is mentioned in Chapter 15.
We all know Zand is the protégé of Lang but he is super jealous of Lang's mind boost at the hand of the SDF-1's computers. Zand does everything in his power to give himself that same mind boosted advantage. We see him actually give himself Invid cockpit juice intravenously... yuck!
Towards the end of the book Seloy (the female Zentraedi pilot who delivered Miriya onto the SDF-1 to find and kill Max way back when, is the main protagonist of this book (at least of Miriya's part anyway). She pretty much hits the nail on the head when she predicts that in about 20 years the Invid will arrive.
One final thought, Seloy's child Hirano could have REALLY been something interesting to explore but for some reason they didn't.
If someone were going to follow my trek through the Robotech universe I'd almost advise them NOT to read this book in order. There are a few surprises in the Sentinels that would get spilled here. I won't mention characters or events (like character's deaths) but a few of the chapter intros (those little and sometimes not so little blurbs) and some content give away stuff. Jack McKenny assumes anyone reading this book already read The Sentinels and wouldn't think anything of it.
P.S. Someone uploaded it in PDF format if you want to read it...
Don't be sacred because the title says Book 19. Since I am reading/watching the entire Robotech saga in chronological order this book (printed last) takes places after the 6th book (between the end of the Macross Saga but before the Sentinels).
Finally!!!! I did it! I finished reading Jack McKenny's Zentraedi Rebellion. It was a bit like eating cotton wool. As many of you know I dreaded this book quite a bit. It's not because it's bad, but it is not very action packed and it is kinda slow. I read it back when it first came out so I kinda knew what to expect. It is great for diehards because it fills in gaps between The Sentinels and the 2nd Robotech War. It answers many questions like:
- Why did Max and Miriya leave Dana on Earth?
- How did the Army of the Southern Cross come about?
- Why did it take so long for the SDF-3 to launch?
- How in the heck did Janice Em come about?
- What's the deal with Lazlo Zand?
- Why are there no full-sized Zentraedi in the 2nd War?
- Who is the Wolff guy anyway?
The Zentraedi Rebellion fills in the gaps after the destruction of the SFD-1 and start of the Expeditionary mission to Tirol. While Rick and Lisa are trying to get the REF's mission rolling we see how the surviving Zentraedi are having a tough time of it. Lots of bands of 'Malcontents' are forming and riots and segregation is happening all over the place. Miyria is caught up in it all. The Zentraedi Rebellion seems to be Jack McKenny's reinforcement of Eternity's Malcontent storyline from 1994. It is kinda cool to see how the two mixed together. Infact the events in Eternity's comics begin in chapter 23.
So I am not sure why Breetai and gang wanted to make his flagship look like the SDF-1. Surely that wouldn't fool the Masters. I am guessing that Carl Macek wanted something to 'harken back' to Macross.
The early, secret meetings between Moran, Leonard, and the rest of their cronies makes you think of how the South must have come together before the Civil War. Let's make sure to call it what it is... this whole Malcontent/Rebellion storyline is a analogue of the Civil War.
Jan Morrison (remember her, the former screen queen who Minmei defeated at the Miss Macross pagent) went on and became this sort of New Age hippie. Well, there is this bit at the beginning of one of the chapters that quotes her from her 'audio book'. I just found that funny. That's how I get most of my 'reading' done now-a-days.
As a side note, the comics and the Palladium RPG supplement: The Zentraedi Breakout came out the same year. I took a gander through it but there wasn't any sort of adventures based on the events in the comics. It does do a lot of RDF/Southern Cross blending which is a nice cross over.
The book mentions Conrad Wilbur and the Faithful (from the comics) which is a nice continuity touch.
The Bartley's are introduced here (including a 6 month old Rook). Apparently Rook is related to Lang. That is an interesting tid bit.
We are introduced to T.R. Edwards here, working as a double agent. I just don't care for this character. Sure, we need bad guys but he is too much like Breetai (with the face plate thing) and his reason for hating Hayes and Hunter is a bit much.
Good old Walmart is mentioned in Chapter 15.
We all know Zand is the protégé of Lang but he is super jealous of Lang's mind boost at the hand of the SDF-1's computers. Zand does everything in his power to give himself that same mind boosted advantage. We see him actually give himself Invid cockpit juice intravenously... yuck!
Towards the end of the book Seloy (the female Zentraedi pilot who delivered Miriya onto the SDF-1 to find and kill Max way back when, is the main protagonist of this book (at least of Miriya's part anyway). She pretty much hits the nail on the head when she predicts that in about 20 years the Invid will arrive.
One final thought, Seloy's child Hirano could have REALLY been something interesting to explore but for some reason they didn't.
If someone were going to follow my trek through the Robotech universe I'd almost advise them NOT to read this book in order. There are a few surprises in the Sentinels that would get spilled here. I won't mention characters or events (like character's deaths) but a few of the chapter intros (those little and sometimes not so little blurbs) and some content give away stuff. Jack McKenny assumes anyone reading this book already read The Sentinels and wouldn't think anything of it.
P.S. Someone uploaded it in PDF format if you want to read it...
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