#lynn kyle

Oh no, it’s the story that, if Macross were a bad Saturday morning cartoon, we would be seeing every week instead of just the once. If you ask me, though, once was too many, though the episode does have its joys. For instance, we get to delight to the sight of Azonia torturingLynn Kyle.Khyron proving himself immune to Minmei’s song is also an interesting moment, though we’d seen him placidly listening to her before back in “Force of Arms.” (Not pictured: the bit where a loyalist Zentraedi produces a giant cigarette and asks a Veritech Battloid to use its gun pod to give him a light, which I think we can all agree is the best scene in the episode.)

Anyway, yes, here’s some of the less objectionable bits of “Khyron’s Revenge,” from the pages of Robotech: The Macross Saga #32 (Comico, October 1988). Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke do what they can, but, y’know, there’s only so much you can do with “Khyron kidnaps Minmei and demands that Admiral Gloval give him the SDF-1.”

Thanks to Lynn Kyle’s, *ahem*, crowd management skills,Rick Hunter andSkull Squadron have been driven out of New Detroit. In their absence, the piece of Robotechnology they were trying to keep secure, a rare Zentraedi resizing chamber, becomes easy prey for the renegades led by Khyron. This latest case of Kyle’s hatred for the military overriding common sense appears from the pages of Robotech: The Macross Saga #31 (Comico, September 1988) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

During a lull in the Zentraedi attack on Macross City, Rick Hunter spiesLynn Kyle kissingLynn Minmei. He vents his frustrations on a nearby squad of enemy Battlepods. Nearby, several micronized Zentraedi disembark from their Battlepods, eager to start new lives among their former foes, but fully aware that their chances of survival would drop to nil if the humans knew who they were. This display of frustrated efforts comes to us from Robotech: The Macross Saga #23 (Comico, November 1987) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

Two additional notes:

In the TV episode, Lisa demands to know how Kyle is as Rick signs off. As Lisa’s fixation on Kyle is one of the worst subplots in all of The Macross Saga, the change here is welcome.

Not sure if this is the first time it’s appeared, but on the last page we see the Comico-specific Zentraedi exclamation “Macek’s eyes!” a cute reference to series producer & story editor Carl Macek.

Having both walked out of “Little White Dragon” during a particular moment both of them found hard to watch, Rick Hunter andLisa Hayes find themselves trapped in a cut off section of the SDF-1 during a full ship transformation. This scene of a slowly thawing relationship comes to us from Robotech: The Macross Saga #21 (Comico, August 1987) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

BreetaiandExedore don’t understand special effects. “Little White Dragon” reaches its conclusion in the pages of Robotech: Love & War #6 (DC/Wildstorm, November 2003) courtesy of Ken Siu-Chong,Tommy Yune, & Jo Chen.

It’s the moment where Rick Hunter decided he couldn’t watch another moment of “Little White Dragon,” reproduced in the pages of Robotech: Love & War #5 (DC/Wildstorm, October 2003) by Ken Siu-Chong,Tommy Yune, & Jo Chen.

I would remind everyone that as a general rule Zentraedi don’t have the know-how to make any sort of repairs, but then this strip shares space with a story that featured Azonia andReno just wandering around a Zentraedi cloning facility together like it ain’t no thing, and this alleged Zentraedi also has period dress and earrings, so clearly canon and common sense have both left the building together, probably to elope somewhere far less ridiculous than the pages of Robotech: Love & War #4 (DC/Wildstorm, September 2003). Ken Siu-Chong,Tommy Yune, & Jo Chen are the responsible parties.

There was always a sense, watching the clips we see in the TV series, that the giant that Lynn Kyle’s character in “Little White Dragon” fought might be an analogue for the Zentraedi. I think Daley & Luceno suggested as much in the novelizations. However, in Ken Siu-Chong,Tommy Yune, and Jo Chen’s third installment of their take on the movie we see that apparently Kyle’s character actually fought the Zentraedi.

Right.

Becausethat makes sense.

Anyway, this revelation appears in Robotech: Love & War #3 (DC/Wildstorm, August 2003).

Ten years later, our hero returns to Hainan Island to investigate the disappearance of trading vessels at the hands of some kind of sea monster. I’m undecided as to whether it’s too cutethatKen Siu-Chong,Tommy Yune, and Jo Chen’s story uses Lynn Kyle‘s original name from proper Japanese Macross as the name of the character he plays on the big screen. (It probably is.) I do like, though, the way the narrative pauses at the end of each installment to cut away to filming in these early ones and the film’s audience later on. This part appears in the back of Robotech: Love & War #2 (DC/Wildstorm, July 2003).