Well, if you weren’t watching your TV on your cell phone while driving….
Robotech Annual #1
Antarctic Press (April, 1998)
LETTERER: Doug Dlin
Three short stories, one for each of the three Robotech Wars of the original TV series.
“The First Person”
WRITER: Curtis Allen | PENCILER: Lester O’Brien, Jr | INKER: Larry Shupt
This was an interesting one but a bit short. A larger space could have really benefited this story. There’s a sleeper agent somewhere on board the SDF-1 during the first Robotech war, but the agent sent to find him turns out to be the very agent they’re looking for. When he realizes who he really is he tries to kill the admiral and gets gunned down. We see a scene of Rick chasing a crying Lisa, which I think is supposed to ground this in a particular time but it’s been too long for me to confirm when. It’s a good story but like I said it needed more time to build up the mystery and the drama. At least the art is really good, including the designs of characters from the show.
“The Science Of Law”
WRITER: Kevin Hawkins | ARTIST: Chris Walton
From the second Robotech war, or rather before it, comes our next tale. Thieves have been stealing protoculture energy cells using a device that plays havoc with the inner ear. Stumped and with the scientists busy on other projects, Nova Satori of the GMP turns to the 15th ATAC resident genius Louie Nichols. He comes up with a counteracting device and they set a trap for the thieves. This has more time than the first story and has more time to breathe as a result. They get a little time to go over how Nova doesn’t like working with outsiders and Louie is a bit concerned about working with a GMP agent, this being their first chronological meeting, but they find a way to work together without too much drama and it works overall. I just wish the art was better, especially when it comes to Nova. What happened to your nose, girl?
“Shop Talk” or “Why You Should Never Ride Without A Helmet”
WRITER/PENCILER: Thor Badendyck | INKER: Rick Ketcham
Naturally the third and final story takes place during the third and final Robotech war, specifically in the early days of Scott, Rand, and Annie’s journey before picking up the others. Rand is still having trouble figuring out how to transform the Cyclone when another Invid squad comes at them. Watching Scott and with some info he gave at the beginning of the story Rand finally gets it, but he’ll need the armor to make it happen. This is more about the Cyclone than the characters, though it does have Rand trying to connect with Scott. It’s also the only story that has an actual mecha battle plus it’s my favorite of the three periods with some darn good art so it’s my favorite of the set.
Overall this is a decent trio of stories though the presentation means I really can’t place it properly in my collection unless I go with the latest period story like I do with Star Trek Unlimited.
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