Today’s Comics> Robo Force #s 1 & 2

I thought Nacelle just made documentary shows, but apparently they’re getting into the fiction game. I first noticed it when I started watching an old favorite, Skysurfer Strike Force, on Tubi and saw Nacelle was the distributor. I would have thought Hanna-Barbera would have that one since they bought the Ruby Spears Productions library, which is now part of the Warner Brothers Discovery library, but I guess Bohbot distributing it as part of their “Amazing Adventures” programming block put it with them. I don’t know. Point is the people behind the Icons Unearthed series is also doing kids animated series.

Now they’ve partnered with Tubi to release a cartoon based on the 1980s toyline Robo Force. Originally cylindrical robots with a suction cup, as we’ve gone over in the Free Comic Inside reviews of their minicomics, they were revamped in the 2010s with legs. The new rights owners, who put out a webcomic by virtual mentor Jerzy Drozd, opted for the “Glyos” system of interchangeable parts and little to no paint apps. Now Nacelle is putting out toys as well as shows and comic, setting up their “Nacelleverse“…because shared universes have been doing so well lately. Even Marvel Studios doesn’t know how to do it anymore under the current caretakers, Hasbro is making their second attempt via Skybound’s “Energon Universe” after the IDW one failed to get a strong audience thanks to various choices IDW made, and now Nacelle wants to bring in previously unconnected 1980s/1990s toylines that at best had a cult following and form their own universe. The line will consist of…

• Robo Force as step one in animation, though most of them already have had toys out for a while
• Biker Mice From Mars, which is the second season for the Nacelleverse but the third try for this series, and yet Robo Force is marketed as now being tied into this show
• Sectaurs, which has also had a Saturday Night Showcase and Free Comic Inside appearances–curious how they’ll work that around 2020 plague flashbacks
• The Wild West C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa, a rather odd edition, but doing Sectaurs I’m assuming means we’re not limited to Earth depending on what’s changed in these franchises
• The Great Garloo, a 1960s toy so obscure I had to look it up
• Power Lords, and I’m curious if they’ll bother with the transformation gimmicks of the original toyline in toy or toon form
• and the only thing that makes less sense than Moo Mesa…Barnyard Commandos!

With the cartoon set to post to Tubi on Saturday, a friend of mine stumbled upon two of the three issue Robo Force miniseries. Since I don’t have all three, and these are relatively new comics, I won’t be doing a spoilery summary like I do with Scanning My Collection. This used to be my new comic reviews back when I got them regularly, replacing the feature with “Yesterday’s” Comic for older comics. I’m just going to give my overall thoughts on the two-thirds of the story currently available to me.

Robo Force #1 & #2

Oni-Lion Publishing Group (April and May, 2024 respectively)

WRITER: Melissa Flores

ARTISTS: Julio Brilha & Elton Tomasi (both issues) and Diogenes Neves & Marcelo Di Chiara (first issue only for some reason)

COLORIST: Jāo Canola

LETTERER: Taylor Esposito (Ghost Glyph Studios)

EDITOR: Karl Bollers

Detroit: 2091: The Robo Force was supposed to be the greatest heroes, but at the last minute the second generation was deemed obsolete with the new droneish UA101 robots. Maxx 89 (I guess using his old name, Maxx Steele, would be confusing given the recent lines called Max Steel) still believes in the dream of their creator, Soraya, and when an upgrade she was working on is stolen by tech pirates, Maxx wants to get it back but Soraya and Tiltor talk him out of it. Then Hun-Dredd talks him right back into it. With the help of De-Note and Sentinel, Maxx is determined to recover the chip and prove that Robo Force can be heroes…even to the rest of Robo Force.

We also see the current whereabouts of Wrecker, Sota (now an acronym, S.O.T.A., for some reason) and Blazer, but they aren’t part of these two issues. As part of the shared universe we see one of the mice people, a Sectaur, one of the humanoid cows from Moo Mesa, and Garloo himself has a cameo. These feel weird to me, because they go against the franchises’ backstories. Symbion has no attachment to Earth, and I don’t know if Moo Mesa has any connection to the outside world if it even is on Earth. I’m not sure how anyone besides the Biker Mice and Garloo would fit in, though the Mice would still have to be on Mars, not Earth at this point. The lore is already messed up and all we have are a few comics and a cartoon that hasn’t even come out yet. This didn’t need to be a shared universe.

The comic seems less comedic than the cartoon, so already I’m enjoying the comic more. Maybe the cartoon won’t be as silly as the trailers and animation style appear to be, but I like the comic’s tone better. There’s still some humor, mostly from De-Note’s personality and the banter between Maxx and Tiltor, who still hang out, but it seems to work better here. The story thus far is interesting, and there’s some meta to the backstory. The Robo Force toylines (the original from Ideal and the “Glyos” version from Toyfinity in 2013) never reached the level of other robot toylines, especially the Transformers or Star Wars’ various droids. Perhaps it came out too late, while Toyfinity was hardly at Ideal’s levels in their respective primes. I really like the art in the book as well.

While these aren’t necessarily negatives, there are other odd choices. Tiltor was an unreleased figure, so having him as Maxx 89’s best friend is an interesting choice. Apparently there was a character named Vanguard (I’m going by wiki here) that could combine with Maxx. You’d think they would be closer buds but he isn’t in the comic. Sentinel is apparently a girl now, but my brain couldn’t reconcile that with the body or the previous version, who was male. Oh no…please tell me Sentinel isn’t trans. I know they’d do it, even if this is supposed to be a kids show (a first for Tubi originals as far as I can tell but I might have missed something that isn’t on the “Tubi Originals” listing, and this won’t be there until the first episode goes live). Meanwhile, Hun-Dredd used to be the leader of the EVIL robots, while De-Note takes visual cues from Cruel: The Detonator. Instead the enemy, according to the show credits, is supposed to be their replacements getting a virus, making this part Mega Man X and part The Bots Master with a human villain. The comic uses technology thieves who sell to the highest bidder and apparently never check to see if the thing they stole was finished being put together and working properly. And like I said before, all these toylines with incompatible backstories being put together is going to disappoint somebody who was a fan of the original concept for a given line. Sectaurs and C.O.W.Boys Of Moo Mesa seem the most incompatible and we have no idea how the Barnyard Commandos are possibly going to fit into this mess. This didn’t have to be a shared universe.

I would love to someday see how this story ends, but these two issues are really good, and it’s nice to say that about a modern comic. Look into it if you get the chance and I’ll do a review of the cartoon next week unless Nacelle releases it on YouTube or somewhere I can do a Saturday Night Showcase from. Otherwise, see you next week and check out the show tomorrow.