TheZentraedi renegadeKhyron completes his Christmas Day attack, fleeing as his operative on the streets of New Macross City sets off explosives throughout the twice-reborn metropolis. Rick Hunter andMax &Miriya Sterling cease their pursuit to help out with emergency relief, putting out fires and reuniting families. Some reunions that evening, sadly, are not so warm. We bask in the warm glow of lights aboard Earth’s two battle fortresses in this excerpt from Robotech: The Macross Saga #35 (Comico, January 1989) by Markalan Joplin,Diana Schutz, and Mike Leeke.
While references to the SDF-2 had cropped up in earlier issues, this was the first issue where Mike Leeke drew it into a scene, portraying it back-to-back with the SDF-1 inLake Gloval per descriptions in the Jack McKinney novels and remarks by Robotech TV series producer Carl Macek.
Your obligatory action sequence, breaking up another series of bad decisions on the part of one Richard A. Hunter, from the pages of Robotech: The Macross Saga #34 (Comico, December 1988) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.
Exedore arrives on-board the SDF-1 on a diplomatic mission to discover the source of the Zentraedi’s foes’ powers. Instead he discovers things like handshakes, sexy advertising, and the joy of a cool, refreshing beverage. This sequence of educational moments comes to us from Robotech: The Macross Saga #26 (Comico, March 1988), by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.
(As an aside, the Zentraedi’s request for peanut butter was part of a running gag that started right after Joplin started handling the dialogue.)
AsLisa Hayes travels back to Earth to try and talk to her father about a possible diplomatic end to the Robotech War, a force of Zentraedi Battlepods gets in her way. Rick Hunter is sent out in the brand new Super Veritech to clear a path for Lisa’s plane and its escorts – but a mix-up by Sammie Porter almost derails his mission before its begun! This scene of snappy dialog and sorry Battloids comes to us from Robotech: The Macross Saga #24 (Comico, December 1987) by Markalan Joplin and fill-in artist Howard Bender, whose characters are serviceable but whose mecha are … err … less-so.
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.