“Yesterday’s” Comic> Robotech II: The Sentinels book 3 #19

“Hey, where are our bodies?”

Robotech II: The Sentinels book 3 #19

Academy Comics, Ltd. (July, 1995)

“To Walk Among Giants”

WRITER/ARTIST: John Waltrip

LETTERER: Michael DeLepine

Back on Tirol Colonel Edwards assumes command of the ore refinery, but Breetai is suspicious of his plans. (And considering he’s planning to somehow convince the REF to help him conquer Earth when they return whether the Robotech Masters win or not, he’s probably right not to.) Specifically he doesn’t believe the Sentinels have gone rogue or that the Regent is dead. (And since he isn’t…) Instead he comes up with a plan to send Edwards fake ore to halt his progress while the Zentraedi use the good monopole ore to track down the Sentinels. Dr. Lang somehow knows Janice is on Haydon IV (though even he suspects he’s actually sensing the Regis) and tells Breetai to head there. Meanwhile, the Sentinels prepare to move out there, but to not come under target from the planet’s defenses they’re going in with as little mecha as possible.

What they got right: I do like that the Waltrips haven’t forgotten Tirol and Edwards’ nonsense. I also like how Breetai tricks him with the help of Lang, Exedore (who has to stay behind), and LT. Nicks, the only three left who seem to realize what Edwards is planning.

What they got wrong: Was Waltrip doing this in color and then converting it to black and white? There are panels where it’s dark but the shading used for Exedor and Kami make them almost invisible if not for their clothes. And there’s still the sound effects in boxes.

Special Note: I’m not sure this has really come up in previous reviews for this franchise’s comics. In the Malibu/Academy Robotech comics Dr. Lang’s weird eyes in his Super Dimension Fortress Macross character model were explained away as him getting zapped while working on the crashed SDF-1 back in the old days and giving him an odd psychic connection to the ship. (As we’ll see when we get to Robotech: Clone a long ways from now some of the writers liked to build on the lore of what protoculture is.) This explains his ability to sense Janice and the Regis I guess but for the most part it seems like an odd addition to me personally. No complaint critically but that’s why he’s able to do that, so it’s not something they got wrong.

Recommendation: Another good issue. Just get the whole series.