Robotech Volume 1 // Review
Robotech was one of the first popular translations of anime, put onto American television back in 1985. A loosely-based translation of three mostly unrelated Japanese animation works, the show wound up being remarkably successful with a generation-spanning plot thanks to all three shows being turned into three different generations of a long-running intergalactic war. Licensing hell aside, the most famous of all three segments of the show has been the original Robotech War, based on the anime Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. However, with the animation in a licensing kerfuffle and owner Harmony Gold looking to make the property relevant again, what to do?
Make a new comic, of course! Robotech: Countdown collects the first four issues of the new ongoing series by Titan Comics. Written by Brian Wood, with art by Marco Turini, the pair are joined by Marco Lesko on colors and John Workman on the lettering.
For those familiar with Robotech (and Macross), the book covers some very familiar ground. Rick Hunter, stunt airplane pilot extraordinaire, shows up at the launch of the new Macross battleship in the South Pacific on Macross Island. He intends to meet up with his older brother, Roy Fokker, who is in the military unit assigned to the new warship. An alien invasion happens, and Rick finds himself accidentally drafted into the fight against 60-foot tall aliens and their attacks to try and get the Macross for themselves.
Brian Wood does a solid job updating Robotech (and Macross) to a modern-day point of view. Re-covering the first five episodes of the adaptation, Wood makes sure that most of the characters have some kind of page time despite a potential cast of a dozen characters. Rick Hunter and Lynn Minmei take the lion’s share of the pages, as most of the third issue focuses on Lynn and Rick being stuck in the bowels of the ship after it’s forced into space. Characters have unique voices, but the dialogue feels like it’s been run through a cheese grater at times to add some “edge” to the events unfolding. This does work in some respects, fleshing out Lynn Minmei into more than a shallow mascot for the series, but also makes Rick and Roy feel like grimdark anti-heroes at times. It’s not perfect, though. As a side-effect of being a monthly comic trying to adapt a nearly 35-year-old TV show, the pacing is all over the place. Scenes have been made from whole cloth (or the old novels from the 90s) to show the aftermath of the mysterious space fortress crashing all those years ago, but they almost feel like filler material meant to take up pages rather than expand on the lore of the comic. This is also a problem when plot twists and upgrades to the ship literally come out of nowhere but had subplots in the original show.
The art is solid enough and does a remarkable job removing itself from the original work. Marco Turini has the right style that fits the mechanical side of Robotech, with robots from both sides looking fantastic. The SDF Macross also looks terrific, especially when it transforms into its robot mode. The characters are a little more rough, unfortunately. Going from a classic anime style to a more realistic American comic style is not a bad thing, especially when it’s executed well. Turini does a decent job at the conversion, with everyone at least looking different enough from one another that characters and faces don’t blend together. However, facial expressions are often exaggerated in a way that doesn’t necessarily mix well with the style, resulting in some B-movie overacting that feels true to the cartoon while being distracting as heck. Marco Lesko’s colors are also great, working well with Turini’s pencil and inks. If there is a problem at all, it belongs to the faded colors used in work. While faithful to the original cartoon in tone, the faded view lessens the psychotic 80s toy feel into a more realistic work. It feels like some necessary exaggeration is lost in the shades chosen, but it works for the retelling the comic aims for.
The real problem with Robotech is wondering who the target audience currently is. Most of the fans of Robotech tend to be happy with their original work and the expanded tales from the novels. Some will, of course, check this out as there hasn’t been an original work since 2006’s Shadow Chronicles (We are not counting the movie adaptation of Genesis Climber Mospeda’s Live Love Live from 2013, acting as a clip show for the third chapter of the franchise). However, covering a familiar ground with few deviations from the original story makes it hard to justify this purchase to old fans, while also possibly alienating new fans by almost expecting people to know the plot while it’s being told.
Those who love Robotech and Macross should check this book out. It’s reasonably enjoyable, only held back by the required ties to the original license. The book ends on a twist not found in the original story, so there is an excellent chance the team will have the opportunity to flex their creative wings in future volumes. Until then, what we have is a solid licensed comic.
Grade: B
