“Yesterday’s” Comic> Robotech: Return To Macross #30

“I bet I get blamed for this one, too.”

Robotech: Return To Macross #30

Academy Comics, Ltd (March, 1996)

“Gloval’s War”

WRITER: Robert W. Gibson

ARTISTS: Michelle & Frances Birchfield

Gloval sees an old friend on TV, now a United Earth Government colonel, promoting a decentralized government and privatizing of the RDF. (Geez, I know die-hard conservatives and libertarians, in business mind you, who don’t want to privatize the military.) This causes him to flashback to an event depicted in a photograph. He and the man, Wendell Hamilton, were serving aboard a ship about to launch (or at the port, one of the two) when they stumble upon a dead crewman. They found a group of terrorists planning to publicly sabotage the launch and were holding a woman Henry was interested in. Henry and Wendell managed to rescue Amanda and ruin the saboteurs’ plans, but the villains escaped when Wendell was shot in the leg. In the present Admiral Hayes calls in to check in on the security procedures and reports that he’s personally coming to inspect the situation. However, the Salamander managed to hack into the call and Da Silva’s bosses now know the brass is coming. What they don’t know is Salamander is looking into his new employers.

What they got right: It’s a rare opportunity to see a bit of Henry Gloval’s history, which was interesting. The art has improved.

What they got wrong: There are still a few panels that…well, this was a lower budget comic. Granted I’m no top artist myself and there has been worse, plus there are some really good panels as well and some that work well enough.

Recommendation: Maybe not a must-own unless your following the series but not a bad story to check out either.