by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Robotech #19 (Comico 1987)
The opening shot of the SDF-1 from the ground looking up is great. It is an angle we don't normally get to see and it give the ship a sense of scale.
I noticed that in the show they don't tell you where the SDF-1 initially is (which city it is slowly flying over). In the book it says it's California and here in the comic it is New York.
On page 6 there is a cool shot of the bridge of the ship and another neat ground-level shot on the next page.
On page 8 Azonia starts talking about 'Breetai's mission' and I was like 'what the heck' but then I remembered that the spies were his doing.
Myria nekkid on page 9... hubba hubba.
Khyron looks a little... strange in the last pane on page 10... old man Kyhron or something...
The shot of the barrier control center is awesome. It appears to be based on the original sketch work done for Macross. Nice touch Comico.
The art in this issue is great. Time and after time I am impressed with this artist. This is the 80's and it looks great for being of that time and a smaller comic company. Way to go.
Robotech #20 (Comico 1987)
Breetai's sickly-looking double stands in for him in the last frame of page 3.
At least the UEG provided the SDF-1 with lots of new supplies. It would be jerky of them to just kick them off Earth with nothing.
On the top of page 4 is part of the 'Macross Nald's' building you see in the show.
The woman dropping off the 'move-out' orders from the UEG says a lot more here in the comic book... she's a real poo-head.
On page 12 one of the Zentraedi spies says something about the ship sealing itself after they blast their way out. This isn't mentioned in either the book or episodes. Nice since that is the first thing I thought about when it happened on the show.
On page 14 Gloval comes to the conclusion that they had spies on the ship. He didn't do that in the show either.
After the spies give their report and show all the crap they stole from the SDF-1 they talk about the stuff they kept. That is a lot of stuff for the spies to have stolen! There are several televisions, fridges, VCRs, and a grand piano!
After Minmei breaks in and gives her speech to the citizens of Macross after Gloval has broke the bad news Lisa leaves and says: 'that's the signal' then when she gets on the bridge she says that 'she' did it. It is as if Minmei's little speech was planned. It seemed to be more of an 'spur of the moment' thing in the show and the book. Lynn Minmei... RDF propaganda queen!
After Minmei starts her singing Kyle tells Gloval he is a good man... what?! I thought Kyle hated everything about the military...
Robotech #21 (Comico 1987)
The opening shot looks great. It would have been nice to see the SFD-1's ceiling in the background but you could blame that blue sky on the EVE system, right?
Page 5 has that shot from the show of the RDF base. I like it!
I have noticed that the comics have moved further and further away from the dialogue of the show (which it used to follow much more closely). This is no big deal, I just wanted to point it out.
Minmei doesn't sing before the movie starts like she does in the show. I always thought it was strange that 'Stagefright' would be the theme to a kung-fu movie.
The narrator says that Myria placed the transmitter that Breetai is using to watch the transmission from the ship. I like that the comic people are trying to explain how a Breetai can see a movie playing (since it really doesn't make sense that a movie would be broadcast like a TV show) but Myria? She seemed to be more rogue than a real spy.
Page 15 features two-faced Rick Hunter, freak of nature!
Some of the character designs are strange in this issue. Lisa and Sammie look strange. On page 18 Sammie's uniform looses it's blue tone for a frame too.
On page 24 Vanessa's uniform has lost it's color too. Looks like things got a little rushed with this issue. Oh yeah, and Claudia looks like she is 65 with that gray hair!
Robotech #22 (Comico 1987)
Minmei on the cover looks a little... iffy.
Mike Leeke's work improved over the last issue. I guess he was rushed with that last comic. This one looks better.
On page 7 Karita's uniform changes color too.
On page 13 there is an ad for the FHE 6-episode editions of Robotech (the ones I had). The art here is interesting since it looks to be someone who we have never seen do Robotech art before. Minmei still looks retarded... I guess it's universal.
Breetai mentions sending in 'drone pods'... what the heck is this? I guess some invention of the comic people because I have never seen this anywhere. In fact I think it's a bit 'un-Zentraedi' for them to do this. It's a bit like being a coward, which we know the Zentraedi are NOT.
On page 18 the editor lady posts a letter about seat belt safety. Can I just point out something in my man/male chauvinistic point of view. This is typical of a woman. She gets a platform and does stuff like this. Just like the issue were she gave the editor's column over to child abuse stuff or the time she gave fandom a lecture on etiquette at conventions I feel she needed to keep a Robotech comic... about Robotech. Thanks for the 'social commentary' but leave that to child abuse magazines or auto industry magazines... lol.
The last page of the comic is a cool, full page shot of Rick's battloid. I don;t think we've seen a page like this (except the dual page spreads).
Robotech #23 (Comico 1987)
Rick uses the Veritech 'head lasers' while he is dealing with the Zentraedi ships inside the SDF-1. This is cool since we rarely see them used.
That VERY young Zentraedi on page 4 always stuck out like a sore thumb to me (even in the show). He seems wayyyyy to innocent to be of a warrior race. Oh well, Khyron took care of that.
On page 9 the Zentraedi says: 'Macek's eyes'... lol.
On page 12 (2nd frame) Rico looks a little... Johnny Depp.
Rick (just like he did in the show) goes from super angry rejection of the aliens wanting to live with the micronians to totally accepting in just a heartbeat. I never understood that.
I thought Minmei's uncle Max was short on the show... he seems even shorter here (on page 17).
There is still a lot of talk of 'drone pods'. Not too sure of that concept...
Robotech #24 (Comico 1987)
On page 3 Rick looks very strange (in the middle frame). Also, how is Rick down there in the hangar as the ship takes off? It appears they are in space and the ship is leaving the hangar.
On the 2nd frame of the next page something strange is going on... I can't figure out where or who that is. I am guessing it's Sammy but who knows...
The Super Veritech looks much cooler in the show than here in comic form. In fact the art for the next several pages (mecha-wise) is very iffy. It looks rushed (perhaps)?
On page 13 is the advertisement for the first Robotech BMG collection. This is what started my soundtrack fun in the Robotech world (check the next-to-last paragraph).
On page 14 Admiral Hayes gives his wife (and Lisa's mother) a name: Gwen.
I love the sounds that some of the arcade machines are making! "Pocketa-pocketa! Zit! Zot! Pez Pez Pez!"
Myria looks a little crappy in these scenes. Perhaps she is having a bad day? Some of the strange characters from the show are here too. What's with the guy with the chain mail mask?
The coloring on page 22 is very strange. It looks like they were trying a new method or something.
Do my eye deceive me or is that Art Carney (aka Ed Norton from the Honeymooners) on page 23 hiding in with all the reporters?
The whole of page 26 is the SDF-1. I like it!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Book 4: Robotech: Battlehymn
by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Welcome to the next post in my 2012 Robotech experience. Today I will be covering the fourth book in the Del Ray Robotech series: Battlehymn.
The book covers six episodes but I am watching the show one episode at a time then reading only the part of the book that covers that episode. Finally I will be reading the comic that corresponds to that episode.
The opening chapter is an invention of the author and it deals with what it might have been like to be on Earth when the SDF-1 showed back up after it's long voyage. It was neat to consider the surprise and panic it would have caused.
How even more fantastic would it have been for the people of the city who the SDF-1 first flew over (in the show). That would be awesome!
Yes, the two authors must be doing alternate books. This is the author that paraphrases what's going on as opposed to the other guy who is sticking very close to the show.
One thing I liked is that more emphasis was placed on the SDF-1's departure from Earth. It was a big moment in the story and in the lives of everyone on the ship and it was nice to see it given more here.
Dolza recalls Azonia and puts Breetai back in charge of the mission. If you payed attention you would have noticed that Azonia did absolutely nothing during her command. It was Khyron that kept going in and getting his ass handed to him.
I'd like to know where the spies got the ship to escape back to the fleet... in the previous book they mention that the pod dissolves so no trace is left but no one seems to know where the escape pod came from. My guess is that in the series it is the same pod they arrived in.
When Gloval announces that the SDF-1 has been ordered back into space Minmei breaks out in song... right there in the middle of the newscast. What an entertainer!
The writer makes a goof here when he is writing about Rico and the other spies talking. He says that Rico has only 'one good eye'. It's almost like he got Breetai mixed up with Rico.
When Rick and Lisa are trapped in the SDF-1 during the battle/drill/what the heck ever it was the book doesn't handle it as well as the show. The language is a little more natural but the feelings conveyed are not a 'blooming love' as they appear to be in the show.
I'm still stunned that Breetai would use his own ship and risk its destruction when he tries to get his troops inside the SDF-1 via the Dadelus attack. Seems awful risky...
I don't have a lot more to say about Minmei in this book. She takes a back seat to the action of the spies, Rick and Lisa, as well as the Zentraedi bungling.
It's funny the way the writer deals with previously unaddressed things in this book. Myria sees the defected aliens working right after their arrival on the ship and assumes (wrongly) that they were planted there for sabotage. Khyron is stunned to find out that Myria is there and assumes (wrongly) that she is there to find and kill the defectors. All the while Breetai takes credit for Myria being there, never telling Khyron it wasn't his idea.
Welcome to the next post in my 2012 Robotech experience. Today I will be covering the fourth book in the Del Ray Robotech series: Battlehymn.
The book covers six episodes but I am watching the show one episode at a time then reading only the part of the book that covers that episode. Finally I will be reading the comic that corresponds to that episode.The opening chapter is an invention of the author and it deals with what it might have been like to be on Earth when the SDF-1 showed back up after it's long voyage. It was neat to consider the surprise and panic it would have caused.
How even more fantastic would it have been for the people of the city who the SDF-1 first flew over (in the show). That would be awesome!
Yes, the two authors must be doing alternate books. This is the author that paraphrases what's going on as opposed to the other guy who is sticking very close to the show.
One thing I liked is that more emphasis was placed on the SDF-1's departure from Earth. It was a big moment in the story and in the lives of everyone on the ship and it was nice to see it given more here.
Dolza recalls Azonia and puts Breetai back in charge of the mission. If you payed attention you would have noticed that Azonia did absolutely nothing during her command. It was Khyron that kept going in and getting his ass handed to him.
I'd like to know where the spies got the ship to escape back to the fleet... in the previous book they mention that the pod dissolves so no trace is left but no one seems to know where the escape pod came from. My guess is that in the series it is the same pod they arrived in.
When Gloval announces that the SDF-1 has been ordered back into space Minmei breaks out in song... right there in the middle of the newscast. What an entertainer!
The writer makes a goof here when he is writing about Rico and the other spies talking. He says that Rico has only 'one good eye'. It's almost like he got Breetai mixed up with Rico.
When Rick and Lisa are trapped in the SDF-1 during the battle/drill/what the heck ever it was the book doesn't handle it as well as the show. The language is a little more natural but the feelings conveyed are not a 'blooming love' as they appear to be in the show.
I'm still stunned that Breetai would use his own ship and risk its destruction when he tries to get his troops inside the SDF-1 via the Dadelus attack. Seems awful risky...
I don't have a lot more to say about Minmei in this book. She takes a back seat to the action of the spies, Rick and Lisa, as well as the Zentraedi bungling.
It's funny the way the writer deals with previously unaddressed things in this book. Myria sees the defected aliens working right after their arrival on the ship and assumes (wrongly) that they were planted there for sabotage. Khyron is stunned to find out that Myria is there and assumes (wrongly) that she is there to find and kill the defectors. All the while Breetai takes credit for Myria being there, never telling Khyron it wasn't his idea.
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