#zentraedi

Having found himself a prisoner of Zentraedi renegades in the radioactive wastelands of the Congo, Max Sterling works to out-think and out-fight his captors in an effort to stay alive long enough to be rescued – unless, of course, radiation poisoning gets him first. This cheery sequence comes to us from Robotech II: The Sentinels - The Malcontent Uprisings #1 (Malibu/Eternity, August 1989) by Bill Spangler &Michael Ling.

Consider that one year earlier Comico’s Robotech: The Macross Saga #30 was on stands and this issue is the one where Max beats a Zentraedi soldier to death with a rock and then stares at all the blood on his hands. Crazy times.

Rick Hunter andLisa Hayes order the Zentraedifleet to bombard and bury the mounds housing the remains of the space battle fortresses SDF-1 andSDF-2 as well as the flagship of the renegade Khyron. This slightly gratuitous end to the “Mars Base One” serial’s framing sequence comes courtesy of Tommy Yune,Simon Yeung, and Omar Dogan, from the pages of Robotech Invasion #5 (DC/Wildstorm, May 2004).

After taking a direct hit from the SDF-1′s main gun, Khyron’s cruiser has just enough power to keep on flying. He and Azonia agree to send it on a collision course with Earth’s similarly drained space battle fortress. Sammie reports that only one escape pod is operational. Despite Lisa’s protests, the rest of the bridge crew agrees on who is most deserving to take that spot.

With the destruction of the SDF-1, Robotech: The Macross Saga comes to a close at issue #36 (Comico, February 1989), by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

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.

As members of a joint human-Zentraedi attack on Reno’s Robotech Factory Satellite,Lisa Hayes andRick Hunter come to find out that they’re playing a bit more of a starring role in the operation than they realized when they signed on in this sequence from Robotech: The Macross Saga #30 (Comico, August 1988) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

And thus ends the First Robotech War.

This depiction of the rescue of Lisa Hayes fromAlaska Base and the destruction of Dolza’s flagship from the pages of Robotech: The Macross Saga #27 (Comico, May 1988) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

During the final battle of the First Robotech War, a Super Veritech pilot watches his friend exercise poor judgment while taking out a Glaug Eldare as all descend towards the surface of the ruined Earth. These grim, unfinished pages from Robotech: Final Fire #1 (Antarctic Press, January 1999) by Lee Duhig.

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.

Dolza has decided that the SDF-1 has become too dangerous. His point is proven by the behavior of the troops under Breetai’s command, who have fallen under the sway of the humans’ consumer culture. Meanwhileaboard the SDF-1, Rick Hunter considers the distinct possibility of his own death. These scenes from an escalating war come to us from Robotech: The Macross Saga #22 (Comico, October 1987) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

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.

Not only does Max Sterling get his hands on the Veritech Interceptor, but disposable new bad guy Zentraedi commander Calen has his own ridiculous powered armor, complete with big dumb wings. (If the dynamics of the series were inspired by Macross Plus, the mecha designs themselves remind me more of Macross II, especially the powered armor.) This series of explosions brought to you from the pages of Robotech: Wings of Gibraltar #2 (Antarctic, September 1998) by Lee Duhig.

Rico,Konda, and Bron kept a lot of neat stuff. This relatively innocent first step towards the fall of the Zentraedi war machine comes to us from Robotech: The Macross Saga #20 (Comico, June 1987) by Markalan Joplin &Mike Leeke.

pterobat:

yackdeculture:

Macross Blu-ray Box Illustration

So beautiful.

We always, always need more Zentradi art from HAL, and not just Milia and the occasional Kamjin.

Robotech Battlecry art by Tommy Yune.

Kiyora. Jack Archer. Zeraal.

Brian(Choedan-Kal)Edwards:

This was supposed to be just one panel in a 2 page comic for Captain JLS’ Roboblog comic contest, but considering how long this one panel took… An Invid scout flies high above a crashed Zentradi ship (one of thousands that still litter the surface of the Earth) surrounded by humble farms.