Our heroes accidentally find Supreme Commander Leonard’s favorite sunbathing spot.
Robotech Masters #13
Comico The Comic Company (January, 1987)
“Triumvirate”
ADAPTATION: Mike Baron
PENCILER: Neil D. Vokes
INKER: Tom Poston
COLORIST: Tom Vincent
LETTERER: Bob Pinaha
EDITOR: Diana Schutz
Supreme Commander Leonard decides to just toss an armada and the new A-Jacs armored attack helicopters at the enemy armada in space. Not everyone is on board with this plan but Marie is happy to be one of the first pilots of the new mecha while the 15th stays behind. She does get a surprise when Sean meets her at the launch area to wish her luck. As the RDF fleet heads into space Zor sees Dana’s reflection in a triple mirror, giving him visions of the “triumvirate” pattern of the Robotech Masters but not sure what it means, though Marie does confirm this attack style when she breaks into one of the invaders’ ships. This gives Dana the idea to show Zor the triple mounds that stand at the remains of the SDF-1, and they find plants that also adhere to a triumvirate pattern and seem to be brimming with some kind of power. These are the only victories as the fleet is beaten to heck by the Masters’ forces. Leonard’s solution? Just send more.
What they got right: I like that the RDF is still coming up with new mecha to fight with. We get closer to the secrets of the Masters and the Invid Flower Of Life. There are good character interactions and the comic even improves on some of the motivations of the characters in the episode.
What they got wrong: Helicopters in space? Really? Ignoring how even I know how little scientific sense that makes we don’t really see the A-Jacs (spelled “AJAC” or “Ajax” in the Robotech fandom wiki, and given the military’s love of acronyms that makes more sense) act like helicopters. I think someone saw the cross-shaped thing on the Battloid mode’s back and decided it was a helicopter. The art also drops a bit, but I think it’s due to new artist Tom Poston not really being able to emulate the Japanese art style as well as some of his predecessors since he’s the only one new in the art team. We see this in a number of his Robotech works from Comico. Also, both the episode and the comic has Dana mention a younger brother, but unless it’s like Roy Fokker and Rick Hunter this brother is never mentioned before or since, though a vision revealed a little sister, which we saw Miriya pregnant in the comic version of Robotech II: The Sentinels, which Carl Macek had planned to explore. However, Dana wasn’t even aware of her at this point.
Recommendation: The comic presents the story slightly better but I still recommend the episode in addition to the issue.
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