Invid War: Aftermath (Eternity/Malibu Graphics, Academy Comics)

Regular series / November 1993 - May 1995
Created by Bruce Lewis

And at that moment, I knew where my true loyalty lay. Not with the service, or with Belmont, or even with Scott; then and there I pledged allegiance to the fact that her love was all that mattered. Farewell, lonely soldier boy.

THE LOWDOWN

Ten years have passed since the final battle at Reflex Point. The former freedom fighters who have been left behind on Earth have made their home at an abandoned resort town called Belmont. Over the years, Belmont has become a sort of utopian democracy, filled with people of every race and creed. It would have remained that way but for the return of prodigal son Scott Bernard, last seen taking off to find Admiral Rick Hunter and the SDF-3 a decade ago.

Bernard is among friends again, but he certainly doesn't act like it. By his side stands a mysterious black-haired woman who has become his most trusted confindant; his old friends are treated as little more than pawns. He soon reorganizes the Robotech Defense Force within Belmont's walls, and before long the liberal democracy becomes a military dictatorship with Bernard as its figurehead, former GMP head Nova Satori as its true ruler, and mysteriously scarred Rook Bartley as its chief enforcer.

Before long, a group of Zentraedi refugees led by Ganz Hohsq finds its way to Belmont's now-closed borders. Turned away by Bartley's troops, the Iron Butterflies, the Zentraedi kidnap the Invid princess Sera and take up camp in an abandoned -- and radioactive -- RDF base called Castle Fate, preparing to take control of Belmont's fertile North Fields by force if necessary.

In the middle of all this stand Lancer, Rand, Annie, and Lunk, opponents of the new military state and enemies of the Zentraedi aggressors, willing to risk their lives one more time for their friends and for the future of humanity.

BACKGROUND INFO

When Bill Spangler and Tim Eldred decided to finally put Invid War to rest after eighteen issues, Malibu Graphics graphic designer Bruce Lewis was handed the surviving cast of the series and told to pick up where the Invid War series -- and by extension, the original ROBOTECH TV series -- left off. Originally, Lewis and Dave Lanphear came up with a "fourth generation" idea they called MegaRoad (after the name given to the SDF-2 in Japanese Macross canon), but Eternity editorial told the two they'd rather stay with the established ROBOTECH cast, so Bruce and Dave decided to work within the timeframe prior to their story -- the Aftermath of the ROBOTECH wars. Yet, Lewis didn't want to simply adapt Jack McKinney's final Robotech novel, The End of the Circle, or even use the Earth that McKinney's generally space-based novel left behind. Part of the reasoning behind this move was that so much had been done in the Invid War comic series that simply was not in the novels, and Lewis did not wish to ignore all that; additionally, Ballantine Books owned the full rights to EotC and, as Lewis explained in the letters page for the third issue of Aftermath, Eternity had no legal right to adapt it.

The significance of this is that the storyline he developed showed that there was room for official ROBOTECH stories that weren't in step with the novels, which appear to have been accepted as series gospel by the most vocal segment of ROBOTECH fandom during much of the 1990's. Of course, where there is change there is controversy, and Invid War: Aftermath quickly became the most controversial ROBOTECH title in Eternity's lineup. It was not only because of the shake-up in the continuity, however; some objected to Lewis's use of the ROBOTECH cast and storyline as a soapbox for his then-liberal personal ideology. Despite this, he said in various forums that mail about the book was 5:1 positive, so controversy aside, the most vocal segment of Aftermath's readership was enjoying it, at least.

Lewis always stated that the goal with Aftermath was to do a story about characters rather than giant robots. Of course, this being ROBOTECH, the giant robots were sure to appear eventually, but in taking the series away from a full-scale war, he did find room to flesh out the cast, test their bonds of friendship, and create a dramatic new chapter in the ongoing saga of ROBOTECH.

Aftermath ran for six issues at Eternity, pretty much tying up the conflict at Belmont with a neat bow, but leaving plenty of room for more adventures concerning the survivors of the third generation of ROBOTECH. When the license moved to Academy Comics, writer Rikki Simons and artist Tavisha Wolfgarth took over Aftermath for three issues, while Bruce Lewis only found time at Academy's start to contribute a one-shot shading in the life story of Aftermath's chief "villain" Hohsq Ma'alduk. The three Aftermath issues contributed by Rikki and Wolfgarth serve as a prelude to their Clone series, chronicling Lancer and Annie's adventures on the Isle of the IHE (Immuno Heredity Enigma) prior to the lift-off of the Super Dimensional Fortress Mordecai. At once more and less conventional than earlier Aftermath adventures, it lacked the lengthy exposition and footnotes of Lewis' work, but featured a cast of arrogant, haughty new characters who treated the established cast, little more than bit players in these three issues, with a sense of disdain. Furthermore, while the events going on felt somewhat more in step with the feel of the ROBOTECH TV series, the backstory behind the Isle of the IHE and the SDF-M felt phony and fanfiction-like in a way that Lewis's work -- most notably the Hohsq one-shot that was released simultaneously with Tavicat's work -- never did.

With Rikki and Wolfgarth continuing the chronciles of the SDF-M and the IHE in the Clone regular series, Lewis picked up where they left off with what would be the final four issues of his contribution to the ROBOTECH saga. He decided that henceforth Aftermath would be split into two distinct "sagas" -- one following Scott Bernard and his MEGARoad convoy across the country as it spread technology to the masses; and one staying put in Belmont, following the day-to-day lives of Sera, Lancer, Lunk, Rand, and Annie as well as the rest of Belmont's fluctuating population. Only two installments of each were actually produced, and the final issue contained a truncated, broken twelve page story and an eleven page retrospective article. It is obvious in the last few issues of Aftermath that Bruce Lewis had something major planned -- something about Zentraedi magical girls from the moon and a spy within the MEGARoad organization -- but due to an increased workload in his own comic studio, he ended it then and there. The article, by the psuedonymous "Matt A. Kudasai", hinted that Lewis did want to eventually return to ROBOTECH, but as the years pass by it looks increasingly unlikely that we'll ever get another look at the world of the Aftermath.

AFTERMATH

  • Issue 1 -- Belmont
  • Issue 2 -- Exile
  • Issue 3 -- Iron Butterfly
  • Issue 4 -- Fate
  • Issue 5 -- Lancer
  • Issue 6 -- Yellow Belmont

  • Hohsq's Story: A Robotech Romance

  • Issue 7 -- The Threadbare Heart: Part 1
  • Issue 8 -- The Threadbare Heart: Part 2
  • Issue 9 -- The Threadbare Heart: Part 3

  • Issue 10 -- Four Eyes
  • Issue 11 -- Burt Finds A Job
  • Issue 12 -- Ghost Machine
  • Issue 13 -- The Girl in the Moon

COLLECTIONS

Robotech: The Threadbare Heart Collection

Published by Academy Comics, this collects the story pages from Invid War: Aftermath #7 - 9 in their entirety. It features an introduction by writer Rosearik Rikki Simons; three pages of supplementary data on the science and technology of the IHE, including the Super Dimensional Fortress Mordecai, the Xalon Process, and Spleen Clones; and an original painting of Dr. Gilles Vaudell by Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.

Note that this is the only trade paperback collection of Aftermath ever published and it collects the only three issues of the series not written and drawn by series creator Bruce Lewis.

LINKS

  • BruceLewis.com -- Bruce Lewis's blog @ Blogger, with links to his LiveJournal and art portfolio at Flickr.
  • For TaviCat-related links, visit the Clone/Mordecai page.

SEE ALSO

Other works by Bruce Lewis:

Robotech: Clone (Academy Comics)

Regular series / December 1994 - August 1995, February 1996
Created by Rikki Simons & Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons

The Mordecai shall become the great father, forever seeding the universe with the souls of colossal laborers of art, mind and invention. And we shall unite to be known as the Empire of the Eye.

THE LOWDOWN

It began as the dream of one man, the wealthy Dr. Gilles Vaudell. In the early 21st century, as the Robotech Defense Force toiled to understand the secrets of the Super Dimension Fortress One, Vaudell and his wife, Demont, along with a cadre of well-trained and well-paid operatives, did the same from their base of operations on the Isle of the IHE (Immuno Heredity Enigma).

Forty years and three Robotech Wars later, Vaudell's dream became a reality. He had for himself a ship, the Super Dimensional Fortress Mordecai, and a crew of loyalists and clones. He had a plan, the "First Manifesto," to populate the Andromeda Galaxy with colonies of clones raised by Mordecai citizens. And he had immortality--a method he discovered called the Xalon Process provided him and his people with the opportunity to watch their plans unfold over the next several generations.

However, once Vaudell's ship folded for Andromeda, he soon discovered what the rest of the Earth already knew--that wherever Robotechnology goes, war soon follows. As the flames of battle began to scorch his mighty fortress, the question struck him:

"Does being immortal mean only this: that the only death I should fear is a violent death?"

BACKGROUND INFO

Rikki Simons and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons' Clone was the first Harmony Gold-authorized attempt made to create a new generation of characters in an all-new series of adventures beyond the end of the original ROBOTECH TV series. Of course, Harmony Gold had absolutely nothing to do with it short of signing off on it; it spun out of Simons and Wolfgarth-Simons' three-issue stint on Aftermath, in which they introduced ROBOTECH fans to Gilles, Demont, and the Isle of the IHE. In a way, it is the antithesis of subsequent licensee Antarctic Press's take on ROBOTECH; Clone concerns the continuing adventures of an all-new cast of characters in an unfamiliar place fighting with and being manipulated by all-new alien races.

Despite an extremely labored premise, Clone comes off as one of Academy's more professional efforts, with fantastic, distinctive character designs by Wolfgarth-Simons, striking mechanical stylings by Simons and John Scharmen, interesting twists that seek to explain and explore aspects of the nature of Protoculture, and a fascinating cast of diverse characters. The surface of most of these characters had barely been scratched, however, when Clone started to peter out at issue #5 with a well illustrated but lackluster prose wrap-up of sorts following a fantastic character-driven side story. Despite the questionable quality of its text, though, Clone was headed in a very epic direction at its end. This direction would have remained in the Andromeda Galaxy had Clone's forebearer, Aftermath, not ended prematurely. However, with Bruce Lewis's rushed conclusion to his own take on the ROBOTECH universe in the years following the TV series, Simons retroactively removed Lewis's Aftermath from the Clone timeline, turning it into a fictional storyline written by The New Generation's Rand, and then set forth plans to bring the SDF-M back to its homeworld in an illustrated prose sequel entitled Mordecai. It is ironic that after being stripped of Lewis's poorly concluded storylines, Simons' work would not even be graced with an ending, rushed or otherwise; a second issue of Mordecai was in the works, but was delayed and then cancelled when Academy Comics lost the ROBOTECH comic book license at the end of 1996.

CLONE

  • Issue 0 -- The Dialect of Duality Part 1
  • Issue 1 -- The Dialect of Duality Part 2
  • Issue 2 -- The Dialect of Duality Part 3
  • Issue 3 -- The Dialect of Duality Part 4
  • Issue 4 -- The Dialect of Duality Part 5

  • Special 1 -- Youth Inertia

  • Issue 5 -- Cradlesong

MORDECAI

  • Issue 1

LINKS

  • Studio Tavicat - Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons's studio, featuring her and Rikki's latest creations, links to their on-line journals, and tons of fabulous art.

SEE ALSO

Other works by Studio Tavicat:

Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One #1


"A New Threat"

Writers - Tom Mason & Chris Ulm
Artwork - Jason Waltrip
Letters - Clem Robins
Cover Illustration - Jason Waltrip
Cover Colors - Scott Bieser
Editor in Chief - Chris Ulm
Creative Director - Tom Mason

Published by Eternity Comics, a division of Malibu Graphics, Inc.

Cover date - November 1988

THE STORY

On the broken world of Tirol, third moon of the planet Fantoma, a woman runs through the streets, cradling her child in her arms and crying for help. As an unseen creature backs her into a corner, she insists that she has done nothing, but her pursuer does not listen. A blast of searing energy washes over her and her infant, turning them and the walls behind them into dust. Her pursuer is revealed to be an Invid Shock Trooper, who pauses to examine its fallen prey. The Invid have found their old foes, the Robotech Masters, to be a far weaker opponent than they had anticipated. With this knowledge, they are now ready to begin their full-scale invasion of Tirol.

Far, far away, on the planet Earth, in the planet's unofficial capital city of Monument, a voyage nine years in the making is getting underway. Lisa Hayes races down a corridor as a voice behind her calls her name. The voice belongs to Dr. Emil Lang, who tells her he was sure she'd already be in the control room. She replies that she just had some last-minute wedding details to attend to. Lang asks if she's nervous, but Lisa says that between the launch and the final wedding plans she's far too busy to be nervous. He then asks about Rick, who seems unusually edgy to him. "Rick's put nine years of work into rebuilding the SDF-3. If he's not nervous now, he'll never be." However, as Lang starts to walk ahead of her, Lisa wonders if it's the wedding that Rick's worried about.

The shuttle lifts off, and in a conference room, the key players in the SDF-3's mission to Tirol go over some last minute concerns. Rick Hunter, staring out the window into the darkness of space, tells the others to keep their fingers crossed, as they'll soon find out whether nine years of work has been enough. Colonel Jonathan Wolff tells Rick he hopes that Exedore is right, as he's always found the strategy of turning the SDF-3 into a "Trojan Horse" a trifle odd. "By disguising the ship and loading it down with the most powerful mecha in our arsenal, I hope we haven't undermined the diplomatic thrust of the mission." Exedore still believes that, after studying Earth's military history, this particular strategy seems to be the most appropriate in dealing with the Robotech Masters. He asks Rick if he agrees, but Rick says he hasn't given it much thought lately. "I wish you would, Rick," Dr. Lang says as he enters the room with Lisa. "As commander of the Robotech Expeditionary Force, you might agree it's well worth your time. There is always the potential for war with the Robotech Masters. I hope we can settle our differences peacefully, but we need a plan if diplomacy fails." Wolff points out that given the fact that the ship is loaded with the latest and most powerful mecha the RDF has developed, they should be ready for anything should things get heated. Besides that, he points out that the SDF-3 looks more like a Zentraedi vessel now than it did when it was found on Macross twenty years ago. Lang only hopes the Masters will be fooled. "It's irrelevant, gentlemen," Rick notes. "First we've got to get to their homeworld. We don't know if the SDF-3 can even fold into hyperspace yet. And if it does, there's no guarantee that we'll come out where we want to. We are about to embark on a trip to the unknown, a trip to meet our destiny head on ... to face a new threat. I just hope we're prepared." At that moment, they are informed that they've got a visual on the Factory Satellite. Most of the group stands to take a look at the giant Zentraedi factory, but Vince Grant calls Dr. Lang aside to talk about Rick. "He's been acting strange lately. Jean, my wife, said he didn't say a word during his medical examination." Lang tells Vince that it's an important day for Rick, the culmination of years of work on the SDF-3, and not only that but he has a lot to think about before marrying a fellow RDF admiral. "I know," Vince says, "and I wish Claudia and Roy had lived to see this." Lang tells him they can't live in the past, though they all miss Claudia, and Roy was just like a brother to Rick. Max Sterling comes up behind Rick and Lisa and asks if they're forgetting something. Lisa asks what that would be. "We've got to give our pal the best bachelor party in the history of the RDF!" he exclaims, much to Lisa's frustration and Rick's amusement. Wolff asks if that's allowed, as he thought there wasn't any civilian life on-board the repair station. "There didn't used to be," Max tells him, "but things have changed since Commander Reno was overthrown."

As the shuttle begins docking procedures, General T.R. Edwards asks his aide Benson what he knows of Rick Hunter. "Well, sir, I know he was the leader of the Skull Squadron during the war, that he was commander of the RDF after the destruction of the first Super Dimensional Fortress ... and that he's about to marry Admiral Lisa Hayes ..." Edwards says he can stop there, and that he admires a man with a good memory. "It won't be long before we see exactly what the famous Rick Hunter is made of. If he's anything like his pal Fokker, it shouldn't be too difficult to put our plan into action." Benson asks how he figures that, and Edwards tells him he's waited quite a while for the right moment to seize control of the military, and has studied every variable. Still, Benson tells him the Masters could become a problem. Edwards assures him that he'll be able to deal with them, or any other alien force, when the time is right. "But Rick Hunter could ruin everything. If I had my way, he'd still be on Earth and I'd be in charge of this mission. That's why he's got to be taken care of first. That's where you come in." Edwards tells Benson that he is to first read Hunter's file, then stick close to him, figure out all he can about the way Hunter thinks, how he responds to situations. "Many people have tried to get the best of Hunter, sir, and most ..." Benson starts. "And most have failed!" Edwards finishes for him. "I've been a soldier longer than Hunter's been alive! And I'll still be a soldier long after he's dead! Is that clear?" Frightened, Benson nods, telling Edwards he can count on him.

Back over Tirol, the second wave of Invid forces arrive. Clam-shaped Mollusk carriers release hordes of Invid Armored Scouts, which descend to the planet's surface and storm the capital city of Tiresia. The city begins to crumble under the might of the Invid war machine. However, in one part of the city, two residents seem to be going about their business as though nothing is going on. Young Rem and his mentor Cabell are experimenting with Protoculture, trying to retrace the steps of the first Robotech Master, Zor. Rem complains to Cabell that every time he experiments with active Protoculture, the pollinators they keep in the lab begin acting like they're possessed. "If their behavior continues, I'll have to move them to another part of the lab or we'll never discover the secret of Protoculture." He picks one up and wonders aloud why Zor was so attached to them, and wonders if they could speak whether they'd be able to help solve the riddle of Protoculture. Cabell notes that the only way to learn the secret is to retrace Zor's steps scientifically, not to muse about pollinator speech. Still, Rem thinks he's on to something, pointing out that every time he sends the current through the pods, the pollinators react. "It seems my young assistant puts much credence in his own imagination and in your scientific value," Cabell says to one of the little creatures. Suddenly an alarm light goes off, warning them that the city's defenses are weakening. Rem can't believe the Invid penetrated the perimeter so soon, and Cabell tells him to bring his equipment and the pollinators quickly. "We must go into hiding!" he assures the young Master.

Outside, the Masters' Bioroids are outclassed, outgunned, and outnumbered by the merciless Invid swarm. They continue to stream down from the skies, destroying ancient cultural monuments with the wave of an armored claw or a single shot from their energy cannons. Centuries of development and growth are reduced to rubble in merely a few hours.

Below the city, Cabell assures Rem that they'll be safe once they reach the catacombs. There they'll have enough provisions for a week, though Rem believes the Invid are here to stay. "They have destroyed our world! We're doomed!" Cabell tells him to calm down and have patience, for he's sure they'll be rescued. "That's easy for you to say," Rem tells Cabell. "You're old. You've lived your life. If the Invid find us, it is of little concern to you. But I am young. I should have my whole life ahead of me." Cabell says that's why he should never succumb to the Invid. He must have courage if they are to defeat the Invid. As the hatch leading to the catacombs slides away, Rem asks Cabell if he's sure the Invid won't find them down there. "Not unless they've learned to see through lead walls," Cabell tells him.

In orbit, aboard the flagship of the Invid Regent, the Regent realizes his folly. "There is no Protoculture factory on this world," he grumbles to his subordinates. "This raid is a waste of time. The most we can hope for are isolated storehouses of Protoculture matrix. And if we are very lucky, information that will lead us to our precious Flowers of Life. A field report comes in from a scout, informing him that the resistance from the Masters has been weak and uncoordinated. "I fear we may be too late to reap any harvest expected from this obscure moon," the Scout tells him. The Regent orders the Scout to keep him posted, when the Regis enters. She tells him she has been monitoring the field reports, and came down to congratulate him on yet another display of his stupidity and poor judgement. "Do not try to conceal your failures from me. You forget we are both built from the same mold," she says as he tries to talk his way out of the situation. The Regis reminds him that she said the attack would be pointless, that the Masters are too clever to hide something as valuable as the protoculture Factory at home. The Regent points out that if anything they have at least conquered another planet, but the Regis points out that the operation may have cost them the very information they seek. "Do not be so quick to parcel blame." the Regent counters. "Was it not you who said that contact with alien races might give us a cue to our evolutionary direction? Did you not recieve the scientist Zor? And was it not you who let him steal our precious Flower of Life to leave us with nothing?" He reminds her that if not for his Shock Troopers' intervention, their entire race might have been destroyed. The Regis counters that it was a long time ago, and since then she has become just as ruthless as he. "Stirring up the past does nothing but push me farther away from you." She tells him that his talk of power and purpose makes her laugh, and that he is nothing more than a symbol of death and destruction for the Invid people. The Regent is furious. "How dare you! My troops have kept our civilization alive while we mounted the crusade to recapture our stolen treasure. It is our life's blood! Our future!" The Regis tires of this discussion and retires to her chamber to meditate. She tells him that she does not wish to be disturbed for any reason. However, the Regent demands that she return. "I am the Regent of all the Invid, and no one speaks to me in this way, not even my wife! Do you hear me?" He proclaims that she has insulted him for the last time, and orders his barge to be prepared for his immediate depature to the surface of Tirol.

NOTES

TIMELINE - Designed with original TV series in mind (see remarks below).

MAJOR CHARACTERS
  • Rick Hunter (last seen in Crystal Dreams #1)
  • Lisa Hayes (last seen in Invasion #5 "Mars Base One Part 5")
  • Max Sterling (last seen in Crystal Dreams #1)
  • Dr. Emil Lang (last seen in The Malcontent Uprisings #7)
  • Jonathan Wolff (last seen in The Malcontent Uprisings #12)
  • Vince Grant (first published appearance; last seen in Love & War #4)
  • Exedore Formo (last seen in Crystal Dreams #1)
  • T.R. Edwards (last seen in Return to Macross #12, next in Sentinels Book 1 #3)
  • Benson (first published & chronological appearance)
  • Rem (first published & chronological appearance)
  • T.R. Edwards (last seen in Return to Macross #12, next in Sentinels Book 1 #3)
  • Cabell (first published appearance; last seen in Genesis: The Legend of Zor #4)
  • The Regis (last seen in Genesis: The Legend of Zor #5, next in Sentinels Book 1 #4)
  • The Regent (first published appearance; last seen in Genesis: The Legend of Zor #5)
PUBLICATION NOTE: This issue was reprinted due to high demand. The second printing has a blue Robotech II: The Sentinels logo on the cover but is otherwise identical.

This first issue of Eternity's adaptation of Robotech II: The Sentinels closely resembles the original television scripts for the series, and as such fits far better within the context of the original ROBOTECH TV series than with the novels by Jack McKinney. For instance, the figure of nine years since work began on the mission to Tirol doesn't jive with McKinney's figures (his timeline wraps Macross up in December 2014, then add nine and you get a departure date of 2023, when the first Sentinels novel says that the story begins in 2020). In addition, there are little things here and there which lean towards the wording and tone of the TV series over the novels, such as the way the Regent clarifies the difference between the Protoculture Factory and Protoculture Matrix. McKinney muddled that big time--"Protoculture Matrix" is, in the context of the TV series dialogue, a single isolated unit containing Protoculture, such as the unit Khyron stole in episode #35 "Season's Greetings" and the pods the Masters were so protective of in episode #60 "Catastrophe"; the "Protoculture Factory" is the device lodged in the SDF-1's reflex furnaces that the Zentraedi and the Robotech Masters were after, which Bowie and Musica discovered the remains of in episode #59 "Final Nightmare." In later issues, when Mason and Ulm (and later the Waltrips) start working from the McKinney novels rather than the original TV scripts, the terminology reverts to McKinney's take.

As I look over this issue again, I realize that I'm rather fond of Jason Waltrip's early ROBOTECH art style as opposed to what it evolved into circa Book Two. Sure, the landscapes aren't as detailed, and some shots are kind of rough-looking, but the overall character design more closely resembles art from mid-80s anime than it does in later issues of the series. Plus, Rick's chin isn't horribly out of whack with the rest of his face yet, and Edwards isn't overacting yet.

Indeed, the only character I'm not happy with in this issue is the Invid Regis, who doesn't look quite on-model enough. I think it does work better for the character, making her look more alien than she does in the Sentinels video footage, but it still feels off.

Carl Macek once stated that the opening scene with the woman and child getting fried was actually animated for the Sentinels TV series despite the fact that it does not appear in the animated video release. It wasn't omitted because of the strikingly harsh content, but rather because Macek thought the animation was of unacceptably low quality.

Notice that everyone keeps on talking about "rebuilding" the SDF-3. Believe it or not, all these references come straight from the original Robotech II: The Sentinels TV series scripts. It's one hell of a story flub, but it's one on Carl Macek and and his team's part, not Mason & Ulm's. Bear in mind that the Protoculture Factory--the item both the Zentraedi and Masters were after (and according to this issue, the Invid Regent as well)--is locked away in the SDF-1's reflex furnaces. Now, if the SDF-3 is the rebuilt SDF-1 (note Wolff's statement about the ship looking "more like a Zentraedi ship now than it did when we first found it on the island 20 years ago", implying that the SDF-3 is in fact the SDF-1), then the entire climax of the Second Robotech War and the subsequent Invid Invasion is negated, since the Protoculture Factory would be off in the star system of the Southern Cross and would be unable to get crushed in Zor Prime's final suicidal act to spew forth Flowers of Life that would spread across planet Earth. So really, all these implications that the SDF-3 is the SDF-1 in an ugly-colored Zentraedi suit have to be utter nonsense, unless you feel like utterly negating episodes #59-85 of the TV series.

In the same scene, it looks like Wolff changes his tune in mid-conversation. First he remarks that the "Trojan horse" strategy is an odd one to take with the SDF-3 and that the disguise and the overarming of the ship might undermine the diplomatic thrust of the mission. Then, when Lang enters the room, he tells Lang that since they've got the ship loaded down with all these weapons they should be ready to face any new threat, and besides that it looks more like a Zentraedi ship than ... well, see above. In any case, the next thing he tells Lang is the big flub: "It's the perfect plan," he says. Whoa, wait a sec, didn't he just say it was an odd plan and that he had some misgivings about it given that this is supposed to be a diplomatic mission? Indeed he did. As to whose fault this flaw is, I'm not sure.

One comforting change from the original version of Sentinels is the inclusion of civilian life on-board the Zentraedi Factory Satellite. In the coming issues, it adds something of a classic Macross City feel to the story, even if it only lasts until the depature of the SDF-3.

I find it interesting that Edwards tells Benson, "I've waited a long time for just the right moment to seize control of the military." As I reread that line, I keep thinking back to the plans for the original Macross-era cut of Robotech The Movie: The Untold Story where the villain who seizes control of the government is Edwards rather than a Masters-controlled clone of someone else. Something tells me that line survived several drafts of the original Sentinels TV scripts to find its way into this comic book.

One discrepancy that's always struck me as a little odd is the fact that the Regent's toadies are all wearing robes while in the animation they wore tunics and pants. I've always wondered why the Waltrips changed that. It's almost the only thing that's totally different visually between the original Sentinels animation designs and the comic adaptation.

A lot is said in narration about how the Invid live for combat, and how merciless and relentless they are, when in fact they're only hungry for revenge against those who stole their Flower of Life. It strikes me as the same sort of inaccurate but imposing writing one would find in an early episode of The Macross Saga or The New Generation. So on the one hand, it works because it gives more of a ROBOTECH TV series feel to the sequences, but on the other hand it doesn't because it's blatantly inaccurate.

At one point an Invid Scout is depicted talking to the Regent. Recall from the New Generation episodes of ROBOTECH that there's a strict delineation between Invid that can talk and Invid that can't -- Invid in crustacean mecha don't talk. Invid toadies in robes talk, Invid in Enforcer armor talk, but Invid in crab-shaped mecha just don't talk.

This is more a gripe with the Sentinels story overall than with the comic book in particular, but anybody else ever feel like the Regent and Regis's dysfunctional relationship kind of weakened the grandeur with which the Regis is treated in The New Generation? I like the Regent as a concept and also as a villain, but when he starts acting like a cranky and bumbling husband he really drags both himself and the Regis down a few notches on the grandeur scale. But at the same time, I do like the speeches they throw back and forth, both because they shed some light on the ROBOTECH backstory (in this issue there are even some odd clues which never pop up anywhere else and are contradicted in later works), and because some of them just sound majestic and cool, even though it is just a marital spat.

The back of this issue is filled up with a two-page parody comic/advertisement by Ben Dunn called "Ninja-Tech," involving tiny Invid encountering the cast of Dunn's long-running Ninja High School comic series; four pages of letters from worried and eager ROBOTECH fans; and then ads, including a one-page subscription ad and a one-page ad for Protoculture Addicts from back in the days when it was still a ROBOTECH fanzine.

Labels:

Robotech II: The Sentinels (Eternity/Malibu Graphics, Academy Comics)

Regular series / November 1988 - December 1996
Based on the unproduced TV series by Harmony Gold in association with Tatsunoko Prod. Co.

I swear to exterminate Rick and Lisa Hunter, and Breetai, after I've made them suffer enough ... the rest of you will either bow at my feet or die!

THE LOWDOWN

Ten years have passed since the near-destruction of planet Earth at the hands of the Zentraedi and the subsequent annihilation of the Zentraedi Grand Fleet. On Earth, civilization continues to mend in the wake of this global apocylapse; while aboard the captured Robotech Factory Satellite in orbit, the Super Dimension Fortress Three has been constructed to complete a mission vital to the survival of the Earth. This vessel, manned by the greatest heroes of the Robotech war and a new generation raised in the war's aftermath, is to travel to the homeworld of the Robotech Masters, the moon Tirol, in an attempt to prevent a second Robotech war--a war which the people of Earth fear their world would be unable to survive. However, when the fortress arrives in Tirolspace, Tirol is found to have been conquered by a new foe--the slug-like Invid.

The Robotech Expeditionary Force's peaceful mission ends in failure, and a battle between the REF and the Invid begins. Our heroes manage to drive the Invid from the planet, but at a great cost--the SDF-3 is crippled, unable to return home and stuck in Tirolian orbit until full repairs can be made. And the Robotech Masters are already on their way to Earth.

Enter the Sentinels, a group of revolutionaries from several nearby planets that have been conquered by the vicious Invid. They have banded together to free their homeworlds from Invid rule, but are in desperate need of assistance in waging their war. Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, along with a contingent of their fellow REF personnel, agree to help the Sentinels in their fight for freedom.

BACKGROUND INFO

Robotech II: The Sentinels was originally developed as a 65 episode animated sequel to the original ROBOTECH TV series, co-produced by Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Productions, slated to air in the Fall of 1986. Unfortunately, due to a chain reaction of sorry circumstances, the animated version of this storyline was never completed. From April to August of 1988, Del Rey released five Robotech II: The Sentinels novels by the writing team of Brian Daley and James Luceno -- two men who had previously, under the pen name Jack McKinney, adapted the original 85 episodes of ROBOTECH into twelve bestselling novels. They were given the original concepts and outline for the Sentinels TV series and told to tinker with them to their liking. The end result was a product which bore a strong resemblance to the Sentinels story as outlined by ROBOTECH story editor and producer Carl Macek but slowly diverged from the original course as the storyline progressed and unfolded. It was a few months after the five Sentinels novels were on bookstore shelves that the Sentinels story began to emerge in comic book form, written by Eternity Comics editors Tom Mason and Chris Ulm and drawn by newcomers Jason and John Waltrip.

Along with Ben Dunn's Ninja High School, The Sentinels became one of the flagship titles of Malibu Publishing's Eternity imprint. Early on the story remained quite faithful to the original TV scripts, a fact that outsiders can tell only because Eternity published two books containing the first eight scripts in 1991 & 1992, but also included all-new ideas from Mason and Ulm. However, by the beginning of Sentinels Book II in mid-1990, the comic book series had veered more towards the course of the novels -- whether this was due to a lack of access to the remainder of the original TV series material, a desire to present a unified Sentinels front, or due to fan demand, nobody's ever said. Still, as the story progressed all-new elements still slipped in, including an entire new subplot revolving around an underground movement within the REF, featuring brand-new characters, at the start of Sentinels Book III in mid-1993.

Following the closure of Malibu's Eternity imprint in late 1993 and the ROBOTECH comic book license's move to small publisher Academy Comics, even more new, original ideas from the minds of the comic book writers -- now the Waltrips, having taken over those chores shortly before the move -- started to appear in the storyline, freshening up the then six year-old epic.

Ultimately, with the end of Academy's reign as the ROBOTECH comic licensee at the end of 1996, so ended The Sentinels with Book IV, Issue 13 and a dangling cliffhanger regarding the fate of the title characters, though there was at least a certain amount of resolution regarding events on the Robotech Masters' former homeworld of Tirol. Antarctic Press, the next comic licensee, made an abortive attempt to get the Waltrips to continue the series, but a satisfactory deal was never struck. While the Waltrips wanted to strike a deal with Antarctic and finish the series, the powers that be at Antarctic either wouldn't or couldn't pay them the same rates that Eternity and Academy did. Rumor is that Antarctic was more interested in giving the ROBOTECH saga to their own staffers to play with and develop, but these rumblings came from a disgruntled former employee, so heaven only knows how accurate they might be.

In the end, Antarctic wound up publishing a series entitled Sentinels: Rubicon with a different creative team, but it was set in the post-New Generation era and had nothing to do with the novel of the same name, nor did it have much of anything to do with the original Robotech II: The Sentinels property outside of a few side references. However, with the appearance of several of the Sentinels story's non-Macross cast members, including T.R. Edwards, Vince Grant, and Janice Em, in modern ROBOTECH projects, such as WildStorm Productions' first comic book mini-series From The Stars and the upcoming fourth generation of ROBOTECH in animation, The Shadow Chronicles, it seemed only a matter of time before a certain period in these characters' lives would have to be addressed.

In late 2004, Harmony Gold Creative Director Tommy Yune remarked that he really felt bad about how the Waltrips never got to properly wrap up their long-running adaptation of The Sentinels, so they were being brought back into the fold to work on the comic book lead-in to The Shadow Chronicles. During the summer of 2005, the true nature of this project was revealed; the Waltrips would only be writing the series, but it would pick up more or less where things had left off nine years ago, with T.R. Edwards making his escape from Tirol with a captive Minmei at his side. With only five issues to bridge the gap and deal with the dangling threads from The Sentinels, it would not be a perfect resolution, but considering that most ROBOTECH fans who had followed the Waltrips' adaptation of The Sentinels had long ago given up hope for any sort of resolution to the series' storylines, any sort of wrap-up bearing the Waltrips' names was good news.

More on Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles in its own entry here.

THE SENTINELS

  • Book 1 #1 - A New Threat
  • Book 1 #2 - A New Threat Part 2
  • Book 1 #3 - Preparations
  • Book 1 #4 - The Inorganics
  • Book 1 #5 - War Toys
  • Book 1 #6 - The Best Laid Plans
  • Wedding Special #1 - Wedding Day
  • Wedding Special #2 - I Do
  • Book 1 #7 - Good Morning!
  • Book 1 #8 - Departure
  • Book 1 #9 - Here, There, and Everywhere
  • Book 1 #10 - Stranded
  • Book 1 #11 - The Message
  • Book 1 #12 - First Date!
  • Book 1 #13 - Old Friends, New Friends
  • Book 1 #14 - You Can't Go Home Again
  • Book 1 #15 - The Battle For Fantoma
  • Book 1 #16 - Victory?

  • Book 2 #1 - The Coming of the Sentinels
  • Book 2 #2 - Smooth Landings
  • Book 2 #3 - Pursued!
  • Book 2 #4 - The Hunted
  • Book 2 #5 - The Invid Must Die!
  • Book 2 #6 - Preparations (Again)
  • Book 2 #7 - Farewell
  • Book 2 #8 - Seek and Destroy
  • Book 2 #9 - Karbarra
  • Book 2 #10 - Over Their Heads
  • Book 2 #11 - Battle Royale
  • Book 2 #12 - Reflections
  • Book 2 #13 - Cut Off
  • Book 2 #14 - Missing Persons
  • Book 2 #15 - Hooooooooowwwlll! ... in the Night!
  • Book 2 #16 - Full Metal Planet
  • Book 2 #17 - Assault on Karbarra
  • Book 2 #18 - Operation: Karbarran Storm
  • Book 2 #19 - Traitors in the Midst
  • Book 2 #20 - Beware of the Handshake ...
  • Book 2 #21 - The Slow Death of the Sentinels

  • Book 3 #1 - The Dance of Death
  • Book 3 #2 - The Hand at Work
  • Book 3 #3 - A Ship Divided
  • Book 3 #4 - When Worlds Implode
  • Book 3 #5 - Into the Pit!
  • Book 3 #6 - Return of the Native
  • Book 3 #7 - Wild Card
  • Book 3 #8 - Escape From Tirol
  • Book 3 #9 - Into the Fire!
  • Book 3 #10 - Of Enemies and Allies
  • Book 3 #11 - Where the Wild Things Are
  • Book 3 #12 - Dream a Little Dream
  • Book 3 #13 - Scheme a Little Scheme
  • Book 3 #14 - None But The Brave
  • Book 3 #15 - Unto the Breach!
  • Book 3 #16 - Where Humans Dare!
  • Book 3 #17 - A Portion For Foxes!
  • Book 3 #18 - Garudans in the Mist
  • Book 3 #19 - To Walk Among Giants
  • Book 3 #20 - Destination: Earth!
  • Book 3 #21 - The Predator and the Prey
  • Book 3 #22 - A Clockwork Planet!

  • Book 4 #1 - World Killers!
  • Book 4 #2 - No Man's Land
  • Book 4 #3 - Specters in Midnight
  • Book 4 #4 - Prisoners of Fate
  • Book 4 #5 - Monkey Wrench
  • Book 4 #6 - Clockwork of Doom!
  • Book 4 #7 - Seraphim Avenging
  • Book 4 #8 - Conquer and Divide
  • Book 4 #9 - Disperate Paths
  • Book 4 #10 - Dance with the Devil
  • Book 4 #11 - Summit
  • Halloween Special #1
  • Book 4 #12 - Checkmate!
  • Book 4 #13 - Requiem for Justice

COLLECTIONS

Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One - A New Beginning

Published by Malibu Graphics, this hardcover volume collects the story pages from Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One #1 - 4 in their entirety. It features an introduction by Chris Ulm and Tom Mason (series writers) that explains how the Sentinels project came to be and how it came to be licensed by Eternity Comics/Malibu Graphics for comic book adaptation. Also scattered throughout the book are five original black & white group shots of the main REF heroes by Jason Waltrip.

Following the story material are five pieces of production art from the animated series (the SDF-3, an Invid Hellcat, a Tiresian cityscape, a Pollinator, and an Alpha Fighter in Fighter mode) and swimsuit shots of Karen Penn and Lynn Minmei by Jason Waltrip. Included with the book is an adhesive plate featuring a Jason Waltrip illustration of Minmei in a bikini, signed by Ulm, Mason, and both Waltrip brothers; this is limited to 850 pieces.

The back cover features a linked Alpha and Beta trying to recover from a blast while a Valivarre-class vessel (a single-boomed vessel similar to the SDF-3, designed for Sentinels but never used in any finished version) explodes overhead; this painting is by Steve Martin (no, not THAT Steve Martin).

Robotech II: The Sentinels Volume Two - The Marriage of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes

Published by Malibu Graphics, this hardcover volume collects the story pages from Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One #5 - 6 and Wedding Special #1 - 2 in their entirety. It features an interview with the Waltrips in lieu of an introduction. The book also features two all-new illustrations by Jason Waltrip and four all-new pin-up/cover art style illustrations by John Waltrip of the Sentinels characters.

Included with the book is an adhesive plate featuring a John Waltrip illustration of an Alpha Fighter in Battloid mode, signed by Chris Ulm, Tom Mason, and both Waltrip brothers, limited to 500 pieces.

The back cover features a Jason Waltrip illustration of Rick Hunter in his old Veritech flight helmet looking to the sky against a similarly posed Alpha Veritech in Battloid mode, with an Alpha in Fighter mode taking off in the distance.

Robotech II: The Sentinels Volume Three - Operation: Tirol

Published by Malibu Graphics, this softcover volume collects the story pages from Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One #7 - 10, though a misprint in at least the first printing (1992) replaces page 22 of issue #8 with page 22 of issue #9. Also, the cover art for issue #7, by Dave Dorman (best known for his Star Wars paintings, though he previously did a number of ROBOTECH covers for the Comico adaptations), is replaced with the John Waltrip Alpha Fighter piece from the second hardcover collection nameplate. The omitted cover was the only one not drawn by either of the Waltrips during the entire Sentinels run.

This book features an introduction by then-Sentinels editor Dan Danko dated January 1992 regarding his ROBOTECH fandom and how he became involved with the property at Malibu Graphics. It also features a John Waltrip piece (previously used as a house ad for the Sentinels series during the end of Book One) on the first page, and two pages later a new Jason Waltrip cover-style piece (featuring the Sentinels aliens, who do not appear in the Sentinels comics until Book Two). The back cover features a previously unreleased John Waltrip illustration roughly contemporary with the material presented in this volume, featuring Rick & Lisa, Minmei & Janice, an Alpha Fighter in Battloid looming over them, and the battle-damaged SDF-3 in the far background.

Robotech II: The Sentinels Volume Four - Mission Impossible!

Published by Malibu Graphics, this softcover volume collects the story pages from Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One #11 - 14 in their entirety. Its bonus material is limited to a single new pin-up/ cover art style illustration by Jason Waltrip on the first page behind the front cover and a brief guide to the cast of characters. The back cover features a recolored version of John Waltrip's cover art to the second issue of Robotech II: The Sentinels - The Illustrated Handbook.

SEE ALSO

Other works by Jason Waltrip:
  • Fans! (webcomic) (regular artist)
Other works by John Waltrip:

Welcome to my makeshift solution ...

OK, as I noted at the Roboblog, I'm going to be tearing down Robotech Comics Universe at the end of the year. But I'm not one to let a lot of hard work just fly right out the window, no sir. So right here I've started a second ROBOTECH blog to store all the information from that site. Hopefully about once a week, I'll be posting up something from the old site over here, and I'll be customizing and tweaking the sidebar over there to keep it all nice, neat, and clear for all of you.

So be ready to change all your bookmarks at the end of the year: robotechcomics.blogspot.com. OK?

Robotech: Invasion #5 (of 5)


"Invasion Part 5"

Story - Tommy Yune
Script - Jay Faerber
Art - Takeshi Miyazawa, Omar Dogan, and Alan Tam
Letters - Bob Leigh
Colors - Long Vo, Charles Park, and Saka of Udon
Asst. Editor - Kristy Quinn
Editor - Alex Sinclair

Cover by Tommy Yune.

Published by WildStorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics.

Release date - May 5, 2004
Cover date - July 2004

Diamond order number - MAR04 0350
Estimated sales - 11,300 copies

THE STORY

Olivia kicks Lancer back into one of the Invid's experimentation tubes, shattering the glass. Despite Lancer's cries for her to stop, she loads her rifle and begins firing at him. He just barely dodges her shots and gets in close, deploys his Cyclone's vibro-blade (still armed, despite the disposal of his Cyclone mecha last issue) and cuts her down. She stammers out a final "L-Lance?" as she falls, and Lancer thinks back to when he promised her, long ago, that if the Invid ever got to her, he would put her out of her misery. One more person was a party to this pact, one whom Lancer is shocked to see standing before him--his wingman Dimitry, whose body is now covered in stitches and sensors, his brain half exposed and an eye lost to the Invid's tampering. "Don't blame yourself, Lieutenant," he assures his former squadron leader. "You did the right thing." Lancer is horrified by Dimitry's condition, but is still happy to see him. He asks what the Invid did to him. "The Invid ... they were fascinated with us. They wanted to know everything about us ... our minds ... our bodies. They took us apart and then tried to implant everything from machines to alien organs ... They found Olivia's body after the crash, and managed to revive her ... but it wasn't really her."

"I know," Lancer replies.

As he carries Dimitry along in search of an escape route, Lancer spots something out of the corner of his eye--a Garfish-class cruiser, its nose smashed through the hive outer wall. "It looks like we've found our ticket out of here," he remarks.

Escape proves to be far easier said than done. Once inside, Lancer discovers that the anti-gravity drives on the ship are inoperable and the protoculture reserves are too low to execute a space fold. Dimitry tells him that they can still finish what Olivia started by setting the reflex furnace to blow the hive, but Lancer says they'll never make it out in time. "Leave me here to take care of it," Dimitry says. Lancer insists that he's not leaving him to die, but Dimitry tells Lancer that he doesn't want to go on like this. "You know our deal," he says. "I'd do it for you."

Outside, energy crackles around the wounded Garfish. Watching from afar, Carla asks Dr. Osmund what's happening. "A runaway reflex furnace," Osmund says, watching through his binoculars. The hive begins to explode, and Carla puts her hand to her mouth in shock. "That's it!" Osmund exclaims. "There must be a frequency that can disrupt Protoculture-dependent life forms!" The entire hive erupts in fire and, tears streaming down her eyes, Carla screams, "LANCER!"

Some time later, Carla sits at a table in a bar, clutching her drink despondently as a lavender-haired woman sits at the piano singing "Lonely Soldier Boy." As the song hits the chorus, Carla's ears perk up. She asks a man sitting nearby who that is singing; he tells her it's Yellow Dancer. When the singer gets up and comes a little closer, it clicks in Carla's head--it's Lancer!

A while later, the reunited Lancer and Carla prepare to get on a train headed towards the Andes. Lancer tells Carla that a stronghold has been established near the old Maxwell Avionics plant. Since the stronghold isn't affiliated with the resistance, it should be safer there. Carla tells him how happy she is, how they'll be able to be together, possibly start a family without military or Invid interference. Unfortunately for her, it is not to be. Lancer apologizes, then runs away as the train door closes behind Carla, cutting her off from her love.

"I'm sorry, Carla," Lancer thinks to himself. "You meant too much to me to let you get mixed up in this. What I had to do was far too dangerous for you. I knew I had to fight the Invid to the end. Unfortunately that end did not arrive quickly--even when the Robotech Expedition sent another invasion force over two years later. Even with more advanced Veritech mecha, it was still too little, too late. We were engaged in a race for survival against a species that could finally outpace our own. I wonder when the stakes to regain the Earth will become so high that we will be forced to sacrifice everything? Even the loved ones that we are sworn to protect."

It is now 2042. Rand sits at a bar, having just heard a slightly tweaked version of these events from Yellow Dancer. "That's an amazing story," he says, "but a real man like me would never leave you high and dry on a train like that." Yellow asks what he'd do instead. "Well, I was thinking you could run away with me. A town like this is no place for a classy girl like you." Yellow takes the flattery and asks if Rand is a soldier, like the uniformed man at the door. Rand insists that he isn't, that he just hangs out with that guy to lend a hand. "He's headed to Reflex Point to take out the Invid when Admiral Hunter's expedition returns." Scott Bernard shouts for Rand to come along, while Yellow finds that she may very well be running away with them ...

Meanwhile, at Reflex Point, the Invid Regess determines that their attempts to directly control the human race may no longer be of any concern, as she has found the ideal form for the next stage of Invid evolution--the human form itself.

NOTES

TIMELINE - Modern Robotech.com timeline.

MAJOR CHARACTERS
  • Lance "Lancer" Belmont (next in The New Generation #3)
  • Carla Morales (next in The New Generation #11)
  • Olivia Stahl (final appearance)
  • Dimitry (last seen in Invasion #1, final appearance)
  • Dr. Osmund (final appearance)
  • Rand Somerville (mid-appearance in The New Generation #3)
  • Scott Bernard (mid-appearance in The New Generation #3)
  • The Regess/Regis (last seen in Sentinels: Book 3 #20, next in Class Reunion #1)
While this particular issue does not directly contradict it, save the years given, this series supplants Bill Spangler and Tim Eldred's Invid War and their one-shot Firewalkers, offering an alternative take on Lancer's origins. This specific issue also overlaps a flashback in the TV episode #71 "The Secret Route" and a scene from episode #63 "Lonely Soldier Boy."

Though he has no further appearances in the ROBOTECH comic book canon, Dr. Osmund does reappear in the Robotech: Invasion video game for the Xbox & PS2 (set during the course of the events of the TV series) with an overly bloated sense of self-worth and a maniacal streak only hinted at in his final scene in this issue.

Simon, the producer from New York who appears in episode #83 "The Big Apple," has a cameo on pages 12-13 at the bar Yellow is singing at. Kind of makes me wonder the context of his appearance--do he and Lancer already know each other at this point, or is he about to learn Yellow's big secret after the show?

There's a wanted poster for Lancer at the train station where he ditches Carla. Shouldn't he be traveling as Yellow if there's money (or perhaps Protoculture) being offered for his head?

Lancer mentions the Maxwell Avionics plant, which I suppose is Donald Maxwell's father's company and the manufacturer of the A.I.-controlled fighters that figure into the climax of "The Secret Route." The reference to Maxwell is a nice way of tying things together, explaining why exactly Carla winds up in the situation she's in when the two are reunited.

Visually, the train scene is totally faithful to its counterpart in "The Secret Route," from Lancer and Carla's clothes, the color of the train, and their poses as the two are separated with a note of finality. The first four sentences of Lancer's internal monologue are also almost word for word from the show, with the only substantial change being a shift in tense.

The lack of any good transitions between the later scenes in this issue, most notably between Yellow's gig with Carla in the audience and the train scene from "The Secret Route," make the issue feel more like a set of scenes strung together than a coherent story--a problem that's plagued the WildStorm ROBOTECH books before. The tacked on Invid Regess scene only accentuates this feeling, especially since it adds nothing more than another continuity gripe or two. What is with Faerber & Yune and all these tacked on epilogues? (See also the final issues of From the Stars and Love & War.)

A couple of visual errors towards the end of the story: Yellow's in the wrong outfit in the bar, and Rand's jumpsuit is miscolored to match Scott's REF uniform. So that's why Yellow asked him if he was a soldier ...

As of episode 69, "The Genesis Pit," the Regess had not yet come to the conclusion that the human form was the perfect one for the Invid race; that's what her use of the Genesis Pits of the episode's title was all about, after all, as she helpfully explains at the episode's outset. Yet, the scene between Rand and Yellow in this issue that occurs just prior to the Regess's speech is a sort of "lost scene" from episode 63, "Lonely Soldier Boy." Since the only indication that we're elsewhere is a geographic one ("Thousands of kilometers away," it helpfully notes), I think it's safe to log this as some sort of overall storyline gaffe, albeit a minor one.

Speaking of the "Lonely Soldier Boy" filler scene, I suppose it takes place during the brief lull between the fight with the bikers in the bar and Scott's Cyclone-assisted rescue of Lunk from the very same bikers. I was surprised that this works so well. Kinda neat.

The Regess is in her humanoid form in the final scene. Fine if you've suddenly decided to take The Sentinels and Greg Lane's Class Reunion one-shot into account, not so fine if you're working directly from the TV series as Yune claims the modern ROBOTECH canon is supposed to be doing, where for the longest while she seems to be some sort of disembodied voice, often taking the form of flickering green energy, all the way until her appearance in episode #84, "Dark Finale." I'm sure you could argue that she was in this humanoid form this whole time, just off camera, but that doesn't seem to be the original Japanese animators' intent.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

  • Mars Base One Part 5

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Robotech: The New Generation (Comico)

Regular series / July 1985 - July 1988
Based on episodes #61-85 of the 1985 TV series produced by Harmony Gold USA.

Responding to reports sent by one of their many sensor nebulae, the Invid became aware of a large supply of active Protoculture on the Earth. Apparently the Invid regard unprocessed Protoculture as a food source. They are drawn to it with almost metaphysical determination.

THE LOWDOWN

The ramifications of Zor Prime's final sacrifice have struck planet Earth. The dispersal of the Flowers of Life from the ruins of the SDF-1 has not gone unnoticed by the Invid, the protoplasmic alien race from whom the original Zor stole the Flowers in order to create the mysterious energy source known as Protoculture. Led by their queen, the Regess, the Invid arrived on Earth en masse and swiftly conquered it, routing out the last remnants of the Army of the Southern Cross.

But all hope is not lost. A new generation of young men and women have grown up in the dark reaches of space, aboard starships and on colonies set up by the Robotech Expeditionary Force. Equipped with the latest in Robotech weaponry, they start to return to their mother planet in hopes of freeing the Earth from its latest alien invaders.

Unfortunately, the attempts to defeat these alien parasites seem futile. An entire wave of starships and fighter craft is destroyed in a matter of minutes by the relentless Invid, save one lone Veritech Fighter. That Veritech, the craft of one Lieutenant Commander Scott Bernard, crash lands on Earth mostly intact, though the same cannot be said for the psyche of its young pilot, thrust alone into a world he's never known. Driven to battle by both duty and the memory of his lost fiancee, he hits the road. His destination: the Invid central hive at Reflex Point, which he has every intention of destroying single-handedly if need be. Lucky for him, his journey provides him with an assortment of allies: nature loving scavenger Rand, biker chick Rook Bartley, guilt-ridden mechanic Jim "Lunk" Cooper, former soldier/transvestite nightclub singer Lancer, and hopeless preteen romantic Annie "Mint" LaBelle. Together, this rag-tag band of fighters and cheerleaders travels across the Americas, faced with enemies both human and Invid in their journey towards a common destination and a final battle with an impossibly powerful foe.

BACKGROUND INFO

Genesis Climber Mospeada, much like the following year's Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, would be but a footnote in mecha anime history if not for its inclusion in ROBOTECH. Mospeada -- retitled Robotech: The New Generation -- served as the temporary concluding chapter in the war for Protoculture. The fact that Mospeada seized on several of the elements that made Macross a hit in an attempt to replicate its success made it an easy fit as the third generation of the ROBOTECH saga -- we have fighter jets that turn into robots, a singing star, alien invaders equipped with their own giant robots, alien defectors, and ultimately love conquering all. Sort of. And the geniuses at Artmic even threw in transforming motorcycles and the character design stylings of Yoshitaka Amano (Vampire Hunter D, Final Fantasy). Is it any wonder that The New Generation tends to be fans' second-favorite segment of the Robotech saga?

Despite remarks to the contrary by Invid War co-creator Tim Eldred, Comico's adaptations of these episodes weren't too shabby. TV series producer Carl Macek's first issue script wasn't some of his best work, but it did present an interesting slant on the worst day in Scott Bernard's young life, and a few of the touches Macek put in the script provide insight into the way things could have developed had ROBOTECH's follow-up animation projects not suffered from so many production problems. The workman-like scripts that followed for twelve of the next thirteen issues, courtesy of Macek's Macross Saga successor Jack Herman, neither added nor subtracted much from the series' rather episodic adventures. Later issues, which included some of the more important chapters in the series' infrequently developed storyline, were thankfully handled by the deft writing pen of Markalan Joplin, whose talents similarly livened up the comic book adaptations of The Macross Saga around the same time. The same cannot be said for the art end on either count; Reggie Byers penciled some Macross Saga issues early on, but he more consistently stuck with New Generation, where his oft unsuccessful attempts at reproducing the style of the ROBOTECH animation plagued the book for month after month. While he did have some very good months throughout his run, thirteen out of the first twenty issues of the series, most of his issues suffer from the look of an artist shoehorning the big eyes and small mouths of Japanese animation into his preexisting style to horrific results. Byers left the title to pursue work of his own creation, and the excellent Thomas Tenney -- who did a bang-up job faithfully putting the TV series character and mechanical designs to paper -- took over for the last five issues of the series run. Between Joplin's superb writing and Tenney's dazzling artwork, the final few months of Comico's adaptations of The New Generation were sheer ROBOTECH bliss, sometimes giving the original TV episodes a run for their money in terms of overall quality.

THE NEW GENERATION

  • Issue 1 -- The Invid Invasion
  • Issue 2 -- The Lost City
  • Issue 3 -- Lonely Soldier Boy
  • Issue 4 -- Survival
  • Issue 5 -- Curtain Call
  • Issue 6 -- Hard Times
  • Issue 7 -- Paper Hero
  • Issue 8 -- Eulogy
  • Issue 9 -- The Genesis Pits
  • Issue 10 -- Enter Marlene
  • Issue 11 -- The Secret Route
  • Issue 12 -- The Fortress
  • Issue 13 -- Sandstorms
  • Issue 14 -- Annie's Wedding
  • Issue 15 -- Seperate Ways
  • Issue 16 -- Metamorphosis
  • Issue 17 -- The Midnight Sun
  • Issue 18 -- Ghost Town
  • Issue 19 -- Frostbite
  • Issue 20 -- Birthday Blues
  • Issue 21 -- Hired Gun
  • Issue 22 -- The Big Apple
  • Issue 23 -- Reflex Point
  • Issue 24 -- Dark Finale
  • Issue 25 -- Dark Finale Part II: Symphony of Light

Robotech: Invid War (Eternity/Malibu Graphics)

Regular series / May 1992 - October 1993
Story by Bill Spangler & Tim Eldred

We could have years ... or we could have days. But either way, the Invid are coming.

THE LOWDOWN

In the chaos that has followed the Second Robotech War, the people of Earth stand divided. The Army of the Southern Cross is in shambles, the United Earth Government holds little more than a tiny piece of the Rockies, and the most powerful force remaining on Earth is the untrustworthy and still heavily-armed Global Military Police, headed by Nova Satori.
That is, until the arrival of the Invid.

Having come to seize a new supply of their Flowers of Life, the Invid have taken control of the entire world. But after standing more or less victorious after two previous alien invasions, mankind is not ready to lose its mother planet. So begins the greatest struggle of mankind, the Third Robotech War, also known as the Invid War ...

BACKGROUND INFO

Invid War was Bill Spangler's third ROBOTECH series, and is widely considered to be the high point of his work with the property. In fact, after Jason & John Waltrip's epic yet incomplete adaptation of Robotech II: The Sentinels, it is probably the second best regarded ROBOTECH comic book storyline of the series' twenty year publishing history. Despite a concluding act hampered somewhat by both a drastic change in inking style and some heavy leaning on the events of the TV series, no other ROBOTECH comics work short of Sentinels has managed to best it in terms of scope, character drama, consistency (one scripter, one penciler, and only two inkers in the entire eighteen issue run), and its sense of grim realism--and on that last count, it even has the sometimes goofy and outlandish Sentinels nailed pretty good. And to think, Invid War was originally slated to be just another four-issue limited series.

The brainchild of Eternity's Lensman and Captain Harlock artist Tim Eldred, Invid War was planned at the outset to be two series filling in the period between Robotech Masters and The New Generation. The first four-issue series would cover the time shortly before the Invid struck, while the second four-issue series would cover the first attempt to drive the Invid from Earth. Ideally, Eldred would have then liked to have done a third series re-adapting the events of episodes #61-85 of ROBOTECH. However, while Eternity Comics editor Chris Ulm liked Eldred's proposal, he would only commit to four issues of material and thought the plan for the first series wasn't action-packed enough. The Invid's arrival had to take place in the first issue. Eldred grudgingly agreed to the plan, and Bill Spangler, against whom Eldred had bounced his ideas, took scripting chores while Eldred co-plotted and penciled the resulting book.

Overwhelming fan response led to plans for a second series around the time issue #3 was on the stands. However, rather than start up a brand-new series, the existing Invid War series was extended to a regular monthly gig, ultimately plotted for fourteen more issues covering the territory of Eldred's entire original plan while not following it to the letter. During the course of the extended run, Eldred was handling art on a Captain Harlock mini-series called Fall of the Empire and Spangler started his pre-Macross Saga adventure series Return to Macross, which he planned for a twelve issue run; Eldred would also handle art chores on a few issues of Return to Macross. I suppose these events may have led to Spangler and Eldred's decision to hand Invid War over to graphic designer Bruce Lewis after issue eighteen and let the newcomer handle the aftermath of their story.

The completed eighteen issue run of Invid War bounces around the events of the Third Robotech War quite a bit, and in total covers most of its major events as imagined in a pre-Robotech.com timeline context, save the bulk of the events of episodes #61-85 of the ROBOTECH TV series. It breaks down into four seperate parts, with issues #1-4 and #5-8 telling parallel stories on Earth and the moon, #9-12 covering the ramifications of those eight issues, and #13-18 covering events during the Invid conflict depicted in the TV series. Issue #14 is, in fact, an adaptation of the TV series episode "Eulogy"--a taste of what might have been had Eldred's initial proposal actually been followed. Issue #18 coincides with the final episode of the ROBOTECH TV series, "Symphony of Light", and paves the way for the second Invid War series, Bruce Lewis's controversial Invid War: Aftermath.

The Firewalkers special, while technically not part of the Invid War series, chronicles an important chapter in this series' storyline, the point at which the first two arcs intersect. It reprints a four-part story by Spangler & Eldred that was serialized in the back of the Captain Harlock: Fall of the Empire limited series, which Eternity was publishing at the same time as the first Invid War storyline, Captain Harlock: Fall of the Empire.

INVID WAR

  • Issue 1 -- No Man's Land
  • Issue 2 -- Salvation Run
  • Issue 3 -- Inferno Brigade
  • Issue 4 -- Only Survivors

  • Issue 5 -- Moon Walkers
  • Issue 6 -- Warrior Born
  • Issue 7 -- The Last Uprising
  • Issue 8 -- Leap in the Dark

  • Firewalkers

  • Issue 9 -- Last Stop on the Lunar Railroad
  • Issue 10 -- Red Moon Rising
  • Issue 11 -- Under a Blood Red Sky
  • Issue 12 -- Moonfall

  • Issue 13 -- Traveller's Tales
  • Issue 14 -- After the Eulogy
  • Issue 15 -- Intersection
  • Issue 16 -- All Fall Down
  • Issue 17 -- Two Tribes
  • Issue 18 -- Symphony of Darkness & Light

LINKS

  • Grease Monkey Graphic Novel - The website for Tim Eldred's most recent comics work, the sci-fi coming of age story Grease Monkey.
  • Ethereality - The webpage of Invid War cover artist Robert Chang.

SEE ALSO

Other works by Tim Eldred:

Robotech: Invasion (WildStorm/DC Comics)

Five-issue mini-series / January 2004 - May 2004
Story by Tommy Yune

Exhausted by decades of war, the United Earth forces finally fell to the great Invid Invasion of 2031. For the seven years that followed, Earth became a much quieter place ...

THE LOWDOWN


Seven years ago, planet Earth fell before the might of the Invid. Now, at long last, the Robotech Expeditionary Force has launched a counterattack to free the homeworld of mankind from the grip of these alien invaders. Equipped with Conbat Space Fighters and Condor Battloids, the REF soldiers fight valiantly, but most fall before the Invid's superior numbers and deadly swarming tactics. One exception is Lt. Lance Belmont, who crash lands in South America and is rescued by a young music teacher named Carla Morales. After a month out of action, Lance tries to return to his mission, to destroy the Invid's central hive at Reflex Point. However, he quickly finds that not all the citizens of Earth are quite so friendly to anti-Invid resistance ...

BACKGROUND INFO


The third writing collaboration between plotter and sometimes cover artist Tommy Yune and scripter Jay Faerber (Generation X, Noble Causes), and the third ROBOTECH series published by WildStorm/DC, takes the franchise away from the safe, comfortable confines of The Macross Saga and throws the reader headfirst into the conflict with the Invid for a sort of Invid War-lite featuring one of the starring players of that series' second act, Lancer. This was a calculated move, timed to provide a trade paperback collection of the story in time for Vicious Cycle's second ROBOTECH video game, also entitled Invasion, and the high-end Masterpiece Collection transformable Alpha Fighter toys. While the trade paperback collection never materialized, that was the plan.

Where From The Stars felt like a direct retread of ideas presented in Bill Spangler's Return to Macross, and Love & War was a recap of major events from the TV series, Invasion actually covers some new territory. While Yune and Faerber's tale mows down McKinney and Spangler's stories of Lancer serving with the Southern Cross (see McKinney's Robotech #21: Before The Invid Storm and Spangler & Eldred's Invid War #5-8), the events immediately following his crash landing in TV episode #71, "The Secret Route," have never before been penned by any author, and provide fertile ground for expanding on ideas presented in the TV series, such as Invid experimentation on humans and the pitfalls of human-Invid collusion, both for the resistance and for the colluders -- material similarly attended to by Gregory Lane in his Class Reunion one-shot during the end of the Antarctic Press years.

One thing that gave the series some major juice when it was first announced was the fact that it would have covers by original New Generation/Mospeada character designer Yoshitaka Amano. This marked the first time a domestic ROBOTECH product featured the involvement of a major original Japanese series creative staffer. The fact that Amano had done work for DC Comics before meant that it was an idea that had occurred to some in the fandom, but here it was, actually happening. Reaction to the covers, done in Amano's signature wispy, loose, and extremely effeminate style, was mixed. Those who knew what they were in for seemed pleased on the whole, but some less informed fans seemed put off by his very loose line, calling the end result "sloppy." In addition to the complaints, Yune has stated that Amano's two cover contributions blew the variant cover budget for the series, leaving Yune's own cover piece featuring a young, bikini-clad Lisa Hayes (a nod to "Mars Base One," a pre-Macross storyline that ran as a backup strip in each issue) the only cover for issue #3 of the New Generation-set series, a sharp contrast to the androgynous fangirl-friendly Amano art of earlier issues' covers.

The lack of variant covers has been cited as one of the reasons sales were down on this series from previous WildStorm ROBOTECH titles. However, according to Yune this Robotech series did very well with female readers, the best with that market among all WildStorm books during its release. Though he had suggested prior to the series' release that Invasion could run longer than the planned five issues, just as its over a decade-old predecessor Invid War had done due to popular demand, the dismal sales just didn't support such an endeavor. The combination of 80's nostalgia dying down in the comic book industry and the less than stellar numbers meant that just wasn't in the cards.

Interior art for Invasion was handled by Canada-based Japanese artist Takeshi Miyazawa (Sidekicks, Runaways, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane). After the Udon team's wildly inexact work on Love & War, Miyazawa brought a sharper, more grounded, and very manga-like flavor to the series. However, between Miyazawa's strong personal style and Studio XD's flatter coloring work, the book didn't have the strong animation art look that its predecessors did, and Yune stated that the feedback he's seen has been strongly in favor of the shinier Dreamwave-like look Udon brought to previous WildStorm ROBOTECH comics. Modern fans, it seems, prefer ROBOTECH comics that look more like anime TV series of today rather than ROBOTECH comics that look like manga.

As noted earlier, this series contained a pre-Macross backup strip entitled "Mars Base One," explaining the story behind the fall of Mars Base Sara, the "ghost base" seen in episode #7, "Bye Bye Mars." More on that later.

INVASION

  • Issue 1 -- Invasion Part 1
  • Issue 2 -- Invasion Part 2
  • Issue 3 -- Invasion Part 3
  • Issue 4 -- Invasion Part 4
  • Issue 5 -- Invasion Part 5

LINKS


SEE ALSO

Other works by Takeshi Miyazawa:

Appendix A: The Timeline (1984 - 1998)

The following timeline was constructed from the following sources, whose authors I owe my everlasting gratitude for doing most of my work for me--especially Pete Walker's crew and Stan Bundy, who combined have done more research than anyone really should on a shoddily constructed gestalt anime from 1985 which was originally released to sell model kits to preteens and teenagers.

And, last but not least, the 350+ Robotech comic books listed here, most notably those written by Bill Spangler, Robert W. Gibson, Rosearik Rikki, Jason & John Waltrip, and Bruce Lewis, all of whom at one point or another decided when writing these books to lend a hand to the nitpicky fanboys and toss a date out there for the story, even if years later it would find itself being flatly contradicted by the fine folks at Harmony Gold.

According to my recollections, this timeline was originally thrown together in September of 2001; the copy on my hard drive was last updated in June 2003, though that was probably just a formatting tweak of some sort. It took me a weekend or so to figure out where the hell most of these events fit, especially when I'm shoehorning TV stuff to fit the comics, tinkering with comic stuff to fit the TV series, and tossing McKinney's timeline out the window (after Legend of Zor and until the tail end of the saga). Please note that the last several years of the timeline are built on the Early Return Scenario, which says that the the counter-invasion of Earth by the Expeditionary Forces happened not long after the Invid invasion of Earth. This is primarily because the Invid War comic book series and the books that spun out of it, Aftermath and Clone, all operate on this assumption.

Also, for some reason (presumably because the Sentinels comics never addressed it and I've never liked it) I didn't take the "five year fold," the SDF-3's lost five years between the activation of their fold drives after departing the Robotech Factory Satellite and their defold over Tirol, into account, despite the fact that Colonel Wolff specifically refers to those lost years in Invid War. I reserve the right to incorporate it later, though for the time being I'll file away with the fact that certain issues of The Macross Saga offer their own dates for events that I've gleefully ignored in my zeal to maintain fidelity with my favored interpretation of the ROBOTECH TV series timeline -- it's only natural that there are imperfections here, since these stories were made by many hands over many years, and beyond bear in mind that this is merely one man's interpretation of all these imperfect tales derived from an imperfect source. If you have quibbles with it, make your own.

Please note that all dates refer to the month that the issue STARTED at (there's another website out there that hacks up the stories for its timeline, though only the hardest of the hardcore would actually read the stories that way), with a single exception: Bill Spangler's Return to Macross #1, which recaps the opening of the Comico Genesis graphic novel before entering the 2004 timeframe.

All questions and complaints should be directed to captainjls [at] animejanai.com. Not that I'll likely do anything about them, but I'm always interested in hearing what my fellow fans have to say.

Full Series Timeline


1256 A.L. (Aeon Lanack)


Genesis: The Legend of Zor #1 "The Thirsting

1520 A.L.


Genesis: The Legend of Zor #2 "The Changing"

1697 A.L.


Genesis: The Legend of Zor #3 "The Immuring"

1755 A.L.


Genesis: The Legend of Zor #4 "The Shaping"

88 A.R. (Aeon Robotech)


Genesis: The Legend of Zor #5 "The Harvesting"

566 A.R.


Genesis: The Legend of Zor #6 "The Avenging"

1999 C.E. (Common Era)


July 21
The Graphic Novel "Genesis: Robotech"

2004 C.E.


November
Return to Macross #1 "Shadow of Zor"
Return to Macross #2 "The Facilitator"
Return to Macross #3 "Battle Lines"
Return to Macross #4 "Descent into Hell"

December
Return to Macross #5 "The Knight of Knives"
Return to Macross #6 "Haunted Houses"
Return to Macross #7 "Soul Survivor"
Return to Macross #8 "Off The Screen"

2005 C.E.


February
Return to Macross #9 "Into The Void"
Return to Macross #10 "The Belly of the Beast"
Return to Macross #11 "Deep Games"
Return to Macross #12 "Less Than Victory"

March
Return to Macross #13 "High Strangeness"
Return to Macross #14 "Invasive Procedures"
Return to Macross #15 "Distant Guns"
Warriors #0 "Prelude"
Warriors #1 "Here There Be Dragons"
Return to Macross #16 "Walkabout"
Return to Macross #17 "Theatres of War"
Warriors #2 "The Terror Maker"
Warriors #2 "The Voice in the Void" (backup)
Warriors #3 "Into the Heart of Chaos" (backup)
Return to Macross #19 "Sorry I Missed You"

April
Return to Macross #18 "Crossfire"
Warriors #3 "When Titans Clash"
Return to Macross #20 "Love in a Memory ..."
Academy Blues #0 "Academy Blues"
Return to Macross #21 "The Omega Protocol"
Return to Macross #22 "Storming the Gates"
Academy Blues #1 "Tests"
Return to Macross #23 "Passing the Torch"
Return to Macross #24 "Capturing the Flag"
Return to Macross #25 "Paying the Price"
Academy Blues #2 "Roles"
Academy Blues #3 "Tremors"

May
Return to Macross #26 "One Minute"
Macross Tempest #1 "Robotech: Tempest"
Academy Blues #4 "The Calm Before ..."
Return to Macross #27 "To Be The Pirate King"
Metalswarm #1 "Metalswarm"

June
Return to Macross #28 "Making a Big Splash"
Return to Macross #29 "War Stories"
Romance #1 "Two Beers With a Skirt Chaser"
Academy Blues #5 "The Wind and the Wave"

July
Return to Macross #30 "Gloval's War"
Return to Macross #31 "Coming Attractions"
Return to Macross #32 "Storm Warnings"
Return to Macross #33 "Overboard"
Return to Macross #34 "Storm Surge"
Return to Macross #35 "Achilles' Heel"
Return to Macross #36 "High Combat"
Return to Macross #37 "Never Can Say Goodbye"
Romance #1 "When the Going Gets Tough ..."
Breaking Point: Cadet Lisa Hayes Special #1 "Breaking Point"
Civil War Stories #1 "Civil War Stories"

2007 C.E.


February
Robotech #1 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 1" (backup)
Robotech #2 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 2" (backup)
Robotech #3 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 3" (backup)
Robotech #4 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 4" (backup)
Robotech #5 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 5" (backup)
Robotech #6 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 6" (backup)
Robotech #7 "Prototype 001 Tigercat Part 7" (backup)
Robotech #8 "Prototype 001 Variants Part 1"
Robotech #9 "Prototype 001 Variants Part 2"
Robotech #10 "Prototype 001 Variants Part 3"
Robotech #11 "Prototype 001 Variants Part 4"

2009 C.E.


July
Macross #1 "Boobytrap" | Robotech in 3D #1 "Boobytrap" | Boobytrap #1 "Boobytrap"
The Macross Saga #2 "Countdown"
The Macross Saga #3 "Space Fold"
The Macross Saga #4 "The Long Wait"
The Macross Saga #5 "Transformation"

September
The Macross Saga #6 "Blitzkrieg"
Robotech #1 "Megastorm Part 1"
Robotech #2 "Megastorm Part 2"
Robotech #3 "Megastorm Part 3"
Covert Ops #1 "Covert Operations"
Covert Ops #2 "Covert Operations [Part Two]"

2010 C.E.


February
The Macross Saga #7 "Bye Bye Mars"
The Macross Saga #8 "Sweet Sixteen"

April
The Macross Saga #9 "Miss Macross"

June
The Macross Saga #10 "Blind Game"
The Macross Saga #11 "First Contact"
The Macross Saga #12 "The Big Escape"
Destroid #1 "Day of Achilles"

July
The Macross Saga #13 "Blue Wind"
Excalibur #1 "Desperation Deja Vu"
Excalibur II #1 "Quaking Thunder"
The Macross Saga #14 "Gloval's Report"
Vermilion #1 "Vermilion"
Vermilion #2 "Vermilion Ver. 2"
Vermilion #3 "Vermilion 3"
Vermilion #4 "Vermilion 4"
The Macross Saga #15 "Homecoming"
The Macross Saga #16 "Battle Cry"
The Macross Saga #17 "Phantasm"

October
The Macross Saga #18 "Farewell Big Brother"

November
The Macross Saga #19 "Bursting Point"
Annual #1 "The First Person"

December
The Macross Saga #20 "Paradise Lost"

2011 C.E.


January
Wings of Gibraltar #1 "Wings of Gibraltar"
Wings of Gibraltar #2 "Wings of Gibraltar [Part Two]"
The Macross Saga #21 "A New Dawn"

February
The Macross Saga #22 "Battle Hymn"
The Macross Saga #23 "Reckless"

March
The Macross Saga #24 "Showdown"

April
The Macross Saga #25 "Wedding Bells"

May
The Macross Saga #26 "The Messenger"
The Macross Saga #27 "Force of Arms"
Final Fire #1 "Final Fire"

2013 C.E.


March
The Macross Saga #28 "Reconstruction Blues"

May
The Macross Saga #29 "The Robotech Masters"

June
The Macross Saga #30 "Viva Miriya"

July
The Macross Saga #31 "Khyron's Revenge"

October
The Macross Saga #32 "Broken Heart"
The Macross Saga #33 "A Rainy Night"

November
The Macross Saga #34 "Private Time"

December
The Macross Saga #35 "Season's Greetings"

2014 C.E.


The Macross Saga #36 "To The Stars"
Romance #1 "The Stars and the Tears"

2018 C.E.


August
The Malcontent Uprisings #1 "Earthbound"
The Malcontent Uprisings #2 "The Wolff Pack"
The Malcontent Uprisings #3 "The Scavengers"
The Malcontent Uprisings #4 "Prisoner of War"
The Malcontent Uprisings #5 "Bedlam"
The Malcontent Uprisings #6 "The Invaders"
The Malcontent Uprisings #7 "A Choice of Treasons"
The Malcontent Uprisings #8 "Dancing in the Graveyard"
The Malcontent Uprisings #9 "And Into the Fire"
The Malcontent Uprisings #10 "War Crimes"
The Malcontent Uprisings #11 "Scorched Earth"

September
The Malcontent Uprisings #12 "Picking Up the Pieces"

2021 C.E.


Crystal Dreams #1 "Crystal Dreams"

2022 C.E.


December
The Sentinels #1 "A New Threat"
The Sentinels #2 "A New Threat Part 2"
The Sentinels #3 "Preparations"
The Sentinels #4 "The Inorganics"
The Sentinels #5 "War Toys"
The Sentinels #6 "The Best Laid Plans"
The Sentinels Wedding Special #1 "Wedding Day"
The Sentinels Wedding Special #2 "I Do"
The Sentinels #7 "Good Morning"
The Sentinels #8 "Departure"

2023 C.E.


The Sentinels #9 "Here, There, and Everywhere"
The Sentinels #10 "Stranded"
The Sentinels #11 "The Message"
The Sentinels #12 "First Date"
The Sentinels #13 "Old Friends, New Friends"
The Sentinels #14 "You Can't Go Home Again"
The Sentinels #15 "The Battle For Fantoma"
The Sentinels #16 "Victory?"

2024 C.E.


The Sentinels Book 2 #1 "The Coming of the Sentinels"
The Sentinels Book 2 #2 "Smooth Landings"
The Sentinels Book 2 #3 "Pursued"
The Sentinels Book 2 #4 "The Hunted"
The Sentinels Book 2 #5 "The Invid Must Die"
The Sentinels Book 2 #6 "Preparations (Again)"
The Sentinels Book 2 #7 "Farewell"
The Sentinels Book 2 #8 "Seek and Destroy"

2025 C.E.


Cyberpirates #1 "The Hardwired Coffin"
Cyberpirates #2 "Running the Gauntlet"
Cyberpirates #3 "The Black Box"
Cyberpirates #4 "The Last Flight of Cobra 5"
The Sentinels Book 2 #9 "Karbarra"
The Sentinels Book 2 #10 "Over Their Heads"
The Sentinels Book 2 #11 "Battle Royale"
The Sentinels Book 2 #12 "Reflections"
The Sentinels Book 2 #13 "Cut Off"
The Sentinels Book 2 #14 "Missing Persons"
The Sentinels Book 2 #15 "Howl in the Night"
The Sentinels Book 2 #16 "Full Metal Planet"
The Sentinels Book 2 #17 "Assault on Karbarra"
The Sentinels Book 2 #18 "Operation: Karbarran Storm"
The Sentinels Book 2 #19 "Traitors in the Midst"
The Sentinels Book 2 #20 "Beware of the Handshake"
The Sentinels Book 2 #21 "The Slow Death of the Sentinels"

2026 C.E.


Mechangel #0 "Mechangel"
Mechangel #1 "One on One"
Mechangel #2 "Labyrinth"
Mechangel #3 "War in the Wastelands"
The Sentinels Book 3 #1 "The Dance of Death"
The Sentinels Book 3 #2 "The Hand at Work"
The Sentinels Book 3 #3 "A Ship Divided"
The Sentinels Book 3 #4 "When Worlds Implode"
The Sentinels Book 3 #5 "Into the Pit"
The Sentinels Book 3 #6 "Return of the Native"
The Sentinels Book 3 #7 "Wild Card"
The Sentinels Book 3 #8 "Escape from Tirol"
Amazon World #1 "Escape from Praxis"
The Sentinels Book 3 #9 "Into the Fire"
The Sentinels Book 3 #10 "Of Enemies and Allies"
Invid World #1 "Assault on Optera"
The Sentinels Book 3 #11 "Where the Wild Things Are"
The Sentinels Book 3 #12 "Dream a Little Dream"
The Sentinels Book 3 #13 "Scheme a Little Scheme"
The Sentinels Book 3 #14 "None But the Brave"
The Sentinels Book 3 #15 "Unto the Breach"
Smith World #1 "Sabotage on Karbarra"
The Sentinels Book 3 #16 "Where Humans Dare"
The Sentinels Book 3 #17 "A Portion for Foxes"
The Sentinels Book 3 #18 "Garudans in the Mist"
The Sentinels Book 3 #19 "To Walk Among Giants"
Cyber World #1 "Secrets of Haydon IV"
The Sentinels Book 3 #20 "Destination: Earth"
Feral World #1 "Nightmare on Garuda"
The Sentinels Book 3 #21 "The Predator and the Prey"

2027 C.E.


The Movie #1 "To Destroy the Earth"
The Movie #2 "End of the World as We Know It"
Crystal World #1 "Prisoners of Spheris"
The Sentinels Book 3 #22 "A Clockwork Planet"
The Sentinels Book 4 #1 "World Killers"
The Sentinels Book 4 #2 "No Man's Land"
The Sentinels Book 4 #3 "Specters in Midnight"
The Sentinels Book 4 #4 "Prisoners of Fate"
The Sentinels Book 4 #5 "Monkey Wrench"
The Sentinels Book 4 #6 "Clockwork of Doom"
The Sentinels Book 4 #7 "Seraphim Avenging"
The Sentinels Book 4 #8 "Conquer and Divide"
The Sentinels Book 4 #9 "Disperate Paths"
The Sentinels Book 4 #10 "Dance with the Devil"
Star Runners #1 "Carpenter's Journey"

2028 C.E.


The Sentinels Book 4 #11 "Summit"
The Sentinels Halloween Special #1
The Sentinels Book 4 #12 "Checkmate"
The Sentinels Book 4 #13 "Requiem for Justice"
Annual #1 "The Science of Law"

2029 C.E.


January
Special #1 "Dana's Story"

April
The Misfits #1 "The Misfits"
Masters #1 "False Start"

May
Masters #2 "The Southern Cross"

June
Masters #3 "Volunteers"

July
Masters #4 "Half Moon"

August
Masters #5 "Danger Zone"
Masters #6 "Prelude to Battle"
Masters #7 "The Trap"

September
Masters #8 "Metal Fire"

October
Masters #9 "Stardust"
Masters #10 "Outsiders"

December
Masters #11 "Deja Vu"

2030 C.E.


February
Masters #12 "A New Recruit"

March
Masters #13 "Triumvirate"

April
Masters #14 "Clone Chamber"

May
Masters #15 "Love Song"
Masters #16 "The Hunters"

July
Masters #17 "Mind Game"
Masters #18 "Dana in Wonderland"
Masters #19 "Crisis Point"
Masters #20 "Day Dreamer"

August
Masters #21 "Final Nightmare"
Masters #22 "The Invid Connection"
Masters #23 "Catastrophe"

October
Robotech #4 "Rolling Thunder Part 1"
Robotech #5 "Rolling Thunder Part 2"
Robotech #6 "Rolling Thunder Part 3"
Robotech #7 "Rolling Thunder Part 4"

2033 C.E.


February
Robotech #8 "Introduction" (backup)
Robotech #9 "Introduction Part 2" (backup)
Robotech #10 "Introduction Part 3" (backup)
Robotech #11 "Introduction Part 4" (backup)
Invid War #1 "No Man's Land"
Invid War #5 "Moon Walkers"

March
Invid War #6 "Warrior Born"
Invid War #2 "Salvation Run"
Invid War #3 "Inferno Brigade"
Invid War #7 "The Last Uprising"
Invid War #4 "Only Survivors"
Invid War #8 "Leap in the Dark"
Firewalkers #1 "Firewalkers (Parts 1-4)"

October
Invid War #9 "Last Stop on the Lunar Railroad"
Invid War #10 "Red Moon Rising"
Invid War #11 "Under a Blood Red Sky"
Invid War #12 "Moonfall"

2034 C.E.


March
The New Generation #1 "The Invid Invasion"
The New Generation #2 "The Lost City"
Annual #1 "Shop Talk or Why You Should Never Go Riding Without a Helmet"
The New Generation #3 "Lonely Soldier Boy"

May
Invid War #13 "Traveller's Tales"
The New Generation #4 "Survival"
The New Generation #5 "Curtain Call"
The New Generation #6 "Hard Times"
Class Reunion #1 "Class Reunion"
The New Generation #7 "Paper Hero"
The New Generation #8 "Eulogy" | Invid War #14 "After the Eulogy"
The New Generation #9 "The Genesis Pit"
The New Generation #10 "Enter Marlene"
The New Generation #11 "The Secret Route"
The New Generation #12 "The Fortress"
Invid War #15 "Intersection"
The New Generation #13 "Sandstorms"

November
Invid War #16 "All Fall Down"
The New Generation #14 "Annie's Wedding"
The New Generation #15 "Seperate Ways"
Vermilion #2 "Unsung Heroes Part 1" (backup)
Vermilion #3 "Unsung Heroes Part 2" (backup)
Vermilion #4 "Unsung Heroes Part 3" (backup)
The New Generation #16 "Metamorphosis"

2035 C.E.


January
The New Generation #17 "The Midnight Sun"
Invid War #17 "Two Tribes"
The New Generation #18 "Ghost Town"
The New Generation #19 "Frostbite"
Escape #1 "Escape"
The New Generation #20 "Birthday Blues"
The New Generation #21 "Hired Gun"
The New Generation #22 "The Big Apple"
The New Generation #23 "Reflex Point"

May
The New Generation #24 "Dark Finale"
The New Generation #25 "Symphony of Light"
Invid War #18 "Symphony of Darkness & Light"

2043 C.E.


Robotech #0 "What's Past is Prelude"

2045 C.E.


Aftermath #1 "The Chronicles of the Yellow Dancer Chapter 1: Belmont"
Aftermath #2 "The Chronicles of the Yellow Dancer Chapter 2: Exile"
Aftermath #3 "The Chronicles of the Yellow Dancer Chapter 3: Iron Butterfly"
Aftermath #4 "The Chronicles of the Yellow Dancer Chapter 4: Fate"
Aftermath #5 "The Chronicles of the Yellow Dancer Chapter 5: Lancer"
Aftermath #6 "The Chronicles of the Yellow Dancer Chapter 6: Yellow Belmont"
Aftermath #7 "The Threadbare Heart Chapter 1"
Aftermath #8 "The Threadbare Heart Chapter 2"
Aftermath #9 "The Threadbare Heart Chapter 3"

2046 C.E.


January
Clone #0 "The Dialect of Duality [Chapter 1] Part 1"
Clone #1 "The Dialect of Duality [Chapter 1] Part 2"
Clone #2 "The Dialect of Duality Chapter 2"
Clone #3 "The Dialect of Duality Chapter 3"
Clone #4 "The Dialect of Duality Chapter 4"

November
Aftermath #10 "MEGARoad Mission 1: Four Eyes"
Hohsq's Story #1 "Hohsq's Story: A Robotech Romance"
Clone Special #1 "Youth Inertia"

2047 C.E.


January
Aftermath #11 "The Belmont Saga Episode 1: Burt Finds a Job"

May
Aftermath #12 "MEGARoad Mission 2: Ghost Machine"

July
Aftermath #13 "The Belmont Saga Episode 2: The Girl in the Moon"

2057 C.E.


September
Clone #5 "Cradlesong"

2058 C.E.


Mordecai #1 "Mordecai 1"

Alternate Timeline

2046 C.E.


November
Sentinels Rubicon #1 "A Sort of Homecoming: Prologue"
Sentinels Rubicon #2 "Shadows of the Past"

ENDFILE

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