“Yesterday’s” Comic> Robotech: Return To Macross #15/Warriors #0 flip book

“If they don’t turn into robots I’m too cool to care.”

Robotech: Return To Macross #15

Academy Comics, Ltd. “November, 1994)

“Distant Guns”

WRITER: Bill Spangler

ARTIST: Wes Abbott

LETTERER: Alphabet Soup

No colorist because Academy Comics made black and white comics. This series takes place during the 10 years of studying Robotechnology and getting the SDF-1 spaceworthy in case the creators came back and weren’t very nice. It began with Malibu Comics under their “Eternity” imprint and Academy continued the numbering when they took over at issue #13. While Academy did produce their own series and one-shots set in the Robotech universe (we’ll be seeing one previewed on the other side of this very comic) before losing the license we’ll see this again with The Sentinels and Aftermath.

“How come none of our mecha turn into robots? I feel left out.”

Robotech Warriors #0

Academy Comics, Ltd. (November, 1994)

“Prelude”

WRITER: Bill Spangler

ARTIST: Byron Peneranda

LETTERING: Alphabet Soup

This miniseries tells a tale of the Zentraedi group led by Breetai, initially sent to find the lost battlefortress Zor sent away, but in this story will be diverted from that task. First I’ll review the main story though.

Roy and Gloval are helping their friend Shane prepare for becoming a teacher at the Robotech Academy, but he’s having a little trouble. He also knows Claudia but gets the shakes when Roy mentions she wants to see him. That may have something to do with the flashbacks he’s having to the war. During one such nightmare the faces of his POW tormentors becomes that of Gloval and Roy, and now he’s got a gun and planning to “escape” at any cost!

What they got right: This story takes place just after the third World War so seeing how that war affected others before the first space war begins makes for an interesting topic.

What they got wrong: Abbott’s attempt to replicate the art style of Macross for the time wouldn’t be bad if not for the excellent work the Waltrips did on The Sentinels but they set the bar pretty high. The character models are okay but the poses lack any real body language.

In the Robotech Warriors preview Breetai intercepts a distress call from another warrior. The search team find him dead and a memory scan finds a planet of non-human “micronians” being attacked by a Zentraedi-sized monster, which seems to be controlled by an Invid trooper. Since there aren’t supposed to be Invid in this sector Breetai opts to temporarily drop his mission to investigate.

What they got right: Sticking the preview into one of the main comics, and the one set during the same time period, is a smart move. It ensures the readers will see this and know to check it out if they don’t read the solicits for the next month. The art has more body language than the other but since Zentraedi tend to be stiff anyway he only has to worry about the kaiju and the running citizenry, and I like the design on both.

What they got wrong: It’s too short for any real mess-ups so luckily there weren’t any.

Recommendation: For Return To Macross this isn’t a bad issue to come in on, and you get the preview of another miniseries set at the same time frame too. It is rather short (and this is a recurring problem for this comic as I recall) but worth checking out at a decent price.