Robotech Comics

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, JB0 said:

That's supposed to be a -19? I'm squinting but I still don't see it.

I did say it was a low rent knockoff... but yes.  It's more apparent in the Fighter mode, where it has the delta-esque profile with forward-swept winglets.

One of the reasons HG has avoided reprinting so many of its old Robotech comics is because of just how much copyright infringement was going on.  Their licensees "borrowed" from whatever the flavor of the month was.

[Swann]

22 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I did say it was a low rent knockoff... but yes.  It's more apparent in the Fighter mode, where it has the delta-esque profile with forward-swept winglets.

One of the reasons HG has avoided reprinting so many of its old Robotech comics is because of just how much copyright infringement was going on.  Their licensees "borrowed" from whatever the flavor of the month was.

And made up silly characters too. Like the carebears.

[Seto Kaiba]

28 minutes ago, Swann said:

And made up silly characters too. Like the carebears.

If only...

But no, the Sentinels aliens were no licensee fever dream. They were created by Harmony Gold itself for the failed Robotech II: the Sentinels series and their representation in those terrible old comics, novels, etc. was based on unused animation model sheets, backstory, and other concept materials from the aborted TV series. HG even kept them around after the reboot. Revised designs for all six of the alien races show up in the Prelude comic HG used to set up the story for Shadow Chronicles, and one of the six are the villains for the aborted OVA series.

They weren't particularly original designs, for sure... off-brand wookies, coneheads, rock men, cat men, and sentient robots from an artificial planet. It's like they picked every cliche they could from contemporary pop culture and just hoped no one would notice. Of course, when your creative team has such bad taste that they name one of the major characters in honor of L Ron Hubbard, incompetence is probably about the best you can hope for.

[glane21]

I wrote and Illustrated Robotech: Covert Ops and Robotech: Class Reunion so if you want to know what was going on around that time just ask.

[pengbuzz]

On 7/27/2023 at 6:30 AM, Swann said:

Who the hell drew this?

Okay... time for an autopsy on this one:

1) The linework has no "flow" to it and is too uniform, making everything look flat.

2) The proportions on the "woman in red" are really off; her head is HUGE compared to Claudia's.

3) Did someone rip the front of the girl in red's blouse off or something?

4) Why do they have their arms behind their backs? It neutralizes any way to convey emotion with their hands/ arms and makes them look like they're having a staring contest.

5) Why is Roy sitting in the background? With the look on his face, he seems to have about as much interest in this confrontation as Rick does asking Lynn Kyle for his opinion on the military! Even if Roy were friends with the woman in red, he would not be sitting there passively; we would be trying to get between the two ladies or something and putting an end to this confrontation ( professional or personal).

On the background: is Roy perching by the edge of a cliff?

7) For that matter: who sits like that?! Roy's left ankle's gotta be killing him by now!

8 ) Speaking of death: would somebody get poor Roy a value meal or something? The poor guy look like he hasn't eaten since the SDF-1 took off!!!

9) Perspective: non-existent (unless either: A) Roy is 9 and a half feet tall, or B) Claudia and her nemesis here are 3 and 1/2 feet tall!) )

10) Colors: did someone spill their watercolor set?

 

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by pengbuzz

[Swann]

This was release in 1994

[Swann]

It's ELRIC himself in Robotech. Are going to see Ace Frehley next?

[Old_Nash_II]

1 hour ago, Swann said:

This was release in 1994

Jihaxus Universe? XD

[kajnrig]

1 hour ago, Swann said:

This was release in 1994

Eh y'know what, this isn't half bad. Just it's four obviously different styles traced into the same picture. Not ideal.

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Okay... time for an autopsy on this one:

Kind of an autopsy on the company too... Academy Comics only held on to the Robotech license for about 2 years and folded shortly after Harmony Golden revoked it. Like most of Robotech's licensee pool, they were a real amateur hour outfit.

 

7 hours ago, glane21 said:

I wrote and Illustrated Robotech: Covert Ops and Robotech: Class Reunion so if you want to know what was going on around that time just ask.

If you feel so inclined, go ahead and share your tale of disaster and woe.

IIRC, those two titles have a combined issue count of just three and were both canceled basically immediately.

[Big s]

7 hours ago, glane21 said:

I wrote and Illustrated Robotech: Covert Ops and Robotech: Class Reunion so if you want to know what was going on around that time just ask.

I’m sorry to hear that

[kajnrig]

7 hours ago, glane21 said:

I wrote and Illustrated Robotech: Covert Ops and Robotech: Class Reunion so if you want to know what was going on around that time just ask.

I'd love to hear any stories you have to tell from that time, be they good, bad, or just plain interesting.

[glane21]

10 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Kind of an autopsy on the company too... Academy Comics only held on to the Robotech license for about 2 years and folded shortly after Harmony Golden revoked it. Like most of Robotech's licensee pool, they were a real amateur hour outfit.

 

If you feel so inclined, go ahead and share your tale of disaster and woe.

IIRC, those two titles have a combined issue count of just three and were both canceled basically immediately.

Covert Ops is a complete story in Two issues by design.  Class Reunion was supposed to be 2 regular sized issues but they learned of the license loss during production and I had to release it as a 48 page single issue instead.  So neither were cancelled and in fact were among the best print runs they had among their various Robotech books.  

Post some interior pics from Covert Ops and I think the artwork holds up.  The original art pages sell for big money, wish I’d kept some.
 

On Class Reunion, the shortened production time led to them hiring out various inkers to do pages here and there and most destroyed my pencils.  It was pretty infuriating.  Like the first 5 pages are good because the inker was competent and  then 4 pages  of trashed art and so on.

As I recall there was a main Robotech title that was Ben Dun’s baby and various limited series like mine to cash flow the license.  There was zero coordination among us , that’s on their editorial staff.  I had no idea that Wings of Gebraltar series existed for example.

But that was fine.  I was getting a good rate to draw Macross.  They had already used a DYRL flight suit on the cover of a main title  issue.  So to me that meant I could too.  I ran the first pages by the editor  and no one objected.

Anyway, that’s some history. Feel free to ask specifics. I also did issues 9-12 of Eternity Comics Robotech II: Malcontent Uprisings before the Antarctic stuff.

 

 

 

 

[Old_Nash_II]

9 hours ago, glane21 said:

I wrote and Illustrated Robotech: Covert Ops and Robotech: Class Reunion so if you want to know what was going on around that time just ask.

So... "paying well that's bad"? or did you draw and write for free?

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, glane21 said:

Covert Ops is a complete story in Two issues by design.  Class Reunion was supposed to be 2 regular sized issues but they learned of the license loss during production and I had to release it as a 48 page single issue instead.  So neither were cancelled and in fact were among the best print runs they had among their various Robotech books.  

I stand corrected on the topic of cancellation for Covert Ops, at least.

That said, knowing what we know about the duration of the Antarctic Press license and Harmony Gold's reasons for revoking it, being among the best print runs that the most hated publisher with the shortest-ever tenure as a licensee had for that license feels like it was probably a low bar to clear.

Spoiler

It's not every day that a fandom as starved for new content as the Robotech fandom applauds the revocation of a license and the cancellation of multiple titles for overall poor quality and abysmal sales performance, after all.

 

2 hours ago, glane21 said:

As I recall there was a main Robotech title that was Ben Dun’s baby and various limited series like mine to cash flow the license.  There was zero coordination among us , that’s on their editorial staff.  I had no idea that Wings of Gebraltar series existed for example.

It sounds like you dodged a bullet, then. Especially given how the fans had the torches and pitchforks out for Rubicon.

Was there any kind of oversight going on regarding the usage of copyrighted material? I know the '90s were a lot less lawsuit happy on that front, but some of the titles that were published under Academy Comics and Antarctic Press feel like the artists were actively trying to get sued for copyright infringement. So much so that, these days, the new comic licensee handling reprints won't touch those titles.  (And yes, it absolutely objectively was copyright infringement... HG didn't have any rights to DYRL? until 2001, years after these comics were published, so 100% of the use of DYRL material was unauthorized.)

Come to that, was there any guidance being given on character and story arc development at all? I know the Robotech fans were really up in arms about Antarctic Press's comics because of how out of character everyone was all the time. Was this operation just a free-for-all?

Edited July 29, 2023 by Seto Kaiba

[F-ZeroOne]

Hah, I remember "The Cyberpirates" (don't judge, at the time my part of the UK was an anime desert and you grasped at anything that looked remotely "Akira" like it was a drop of water on Arrakis... ). If you think the cover is bad, you should see what it looked like on the inside...

[glane21]

2 hours ago, Old_Nash_II said:

So... "paying well that's bad"? or did you draw and write for free?

They paid well for an  independent publisher of that era.  Probably better than some current ones do and it would actually make it to print.  
 

When I was working on Class Reunion and news came that the license was being lost and production timelines were impacted, they let me switch to the 1 shot 48 page format to save the title.  I appreciated that.   Even though I got the bad inkers in the mix.  It was the last Robotech comic out the door for them.

Edited July 29, 2023 by glane21

[glane21]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

  Reveal hidden contents

It's not every day that a fandom as starved for new content as the Robotech fandom applauds the revocation of a license and the cancellation of multiple titles for overall poor quality and abysmal sales performance, after all.

 

It sounds like you dodged a bullet, then. Especially given how the fans had the torches and pitchforks out for Rubicon.

Was there any kind of oversight going on regarding the usage of copyrighted material? I know the '90s were a lot less lawsuit happy on that front, but some of the titles that were published under Academy Comics and Antarctic Press feel like the artists were actively trying to get sued for copyright infringement. So much so that, these days, the new comic licensee handling reprints won't touch those titles.  (And yes, it absolutely objectively was copyright infringement... HG didn't have any rights to DYRL? until 2001, years after these comics were published, so 100% of the use of DYRL material was unauthorized.)

Come to that, was there any guidance being given on character and story arc development at all? I know the Robotech fans were really up in arms about Antarctic Press's comics because of how out of character everyone was all the time. Was this operation just a free-for-all?

Leaned more towards free for all I suppose.  Like I said, I had no idea Rubicon, Gibraltar, etc  were in production at the same time.  
 

I had actually pitched a Mars Base Squadron book but they wanted to use the popular characters to monetize the license (understandable), so I reworked it accordingly.  I believe in the main title Ben had introduced a new Zentran baddie and their battles with him caused the voyage home delay that Covert Ops is to resolve.  I’ve always liked DYRL designs over the tv versions.  I saw they had let a DYRL flight suit appear on a cover already so I just went with it and no one complained.

[shazam]

7 hours ago, Swann said:

This was release in 1994

We have now entered the valley of the uglies. 

[Seto Kaiba]

39 minutes ago, glane21 said:

Leaned more towards free for all I suppose.  Like I said, I had no idea Rubicon, Gibraltar, etc  were in production at the same time.  

Ah, OK... so pretty much the same as it was at Academy Comics and Eternity/Malibu Comics then.

That lack of coordination and editorial oversight at the publisher level and at HG's level was a big part of why HG ultimately decided to condemn all of the pre-2001 licensee-made material as a part of their reboot and relaunch of the brand.  It's one of the very few topics where HG openly admits that Robotech failed because they screwed up, rather than just blaming the licensee/studio/economy/alignment of the planets.

It really never fails to shock me a little just how cavalier the attitude of Robotech's licensees was when it came to copyrighted material.  I know these were smaller publishers, but it's amazing how nobody ever seems to have stopped to ask "Can we legally use that?".  If this hadn't been made in the 90's and most of the publishers hadn't collapsed on their own, they would've been run out of business by the court-ordered compensatory damages.

[Swann]

6 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Kind of an autopsy on the company too... Academy Comics only held on to the Robotech license for about 2 years and folded shortly after Harmony Golden revoked it. Like most of Robotech's licensee pool, they were a real amateur hour outfit.

 

If you feel so inclined, go ahead and share your tale of disaster and woe.

IIRC, those two titles have a combined issue count of just three and were both canceled basically immediately.

Like the Matchbox figures 

[glane21]

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Ah, OK... so pretty much the same as it was at Academy Comics and Eternity/Malibu Comics then.

That lack of coordination and editorial oversight at the publisher level and at HG's level was a big part of why HG ultimately decided to condemn all of the pre-2001 licensee-made material as a part of their reboot and relaunch of the brand.  It's one of the very few topics where HG openly admits that Robotech failed because they screwed up, rather than just blaming the licensee/studio/economy/alignment of the planets.

It really never fails to shock me a little just how cavalier the attitude of Robotech's licensees was when it came to copyrighted material.  I know these were smaller publishers, but it's amazing how nobody ever seems to have stopped to ask "Can we legally use that?".  If this hadn't been made in the 90's and most of the publishers hadn't collapsed on their own, they would've been run out of business by the court-ordered compensatory damages.

Probably not enough cash flow to make it worth the law fees.  
 

I was in a meeting with Jim Lee in his Wildstorm LaJolla Studios just before I did RoboDojo for them.   One of his guys came in with that day’s haul of merchandise that was ripping off his various copyrighted material.  Toys and kid sandals and such .   He laughed at the odd usage of most of it and gave me some dinosaur head puppets to take back to my nephew who loved Jurassic Park.  Point being that there was only so much they could pursue.

[Seto Kaiba]

25 minutes ago, glane21 said:

Probably not enough cash flow to make it worth the law fees.  

It's not always about the money...  some license agreements - like Harmony Gold's - impose an obligation on the licensee to defend (in court if necessary) the integrity of the IP being used under license.  It's a big part of why HG has a reputation for being so litigious.  They had a legal obligation to do so even if it meant doing so at a loss.

 

25 minutes ago, glane21 said:

I was in a meeting with Jim Lee in his Wildstorm LaJolla Studios just before I did RoboDojo for them.   One of his guys came in with that day’s haul of merchandise that was ripping off his various copyrighted material.  Toys and kid sandals and such .   He laughed at the odd usage of most of it and gave me some dinosaur head puppets to take back to my nephew who loved Jurassic Park.  Point being that there was only so much they could pursue.

There's Chinese bootleg everything out there... but it's a lot easier to prosecute when it's a company in the west doing it, and China is making a concerted effort to clean up their own image on that front as well.  There's a certain amount that's allowable as homage, but it's a safe bet that if Robotech hadn't been so obsecure Eternity/Malibu, Academy, and Antarctic would probably have been having several uncomfortable conversations with lawyers representing companies like Big West/Studio Nue, Bandai, Sunrise, 20th Century Fox, etc.

(Harmony Gold knows that only too well, having spent twenty solid years looking over their shoulders for fear of Big West, Studio Nue, Tatsunoko, etc.)

[glane21]

I don’t disagree, I just wasn’t privy to stuff at that  level.  

[tekering]

17 hours ago, glane21 said:

I also did issues 9-12 of Eternity Comics Robotech II: Malcontent Uprisings before the Antarctic stuff.

I remember those...

As starved as we were for new content, most of the Eternity stuff was a disappointment -- not as eye-searing as Comico, but poorly-illustrated nonetheless.  Malcontent Uprisings were the only Robotech comics I actually enjoyed reading.  

 

[glane21]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

I remember those...

As starved as we were for new content, most of the Eternity stuff was a disappointment -- not as eye-searing as Comico, but poorly-illustrated nonetheless.  Malcontent Uprisings were the only Robotech comics I actually enjoyed reading.  

 

Thank you , I do appreciate it!

[F-ZeroOne]

glane21, for what its worth, although I didn't get to read the whole series I also enjoyed the issues of "The Malcontent Uprisings" I was able to get.

[Seto Kaiba]

16 hours ago, glane21 said:

I don’t disagree, I just wasn’t privy to stuff at that  level.  

Received and understood.  On one level, I understand that it's just how those fly-by-night operations were back in the day.  On another, as someone who routinely has to work with the protected IP of other companies, that they didn't give you that information or may not have even had it themselves is like a shocking level of administrative negligence.

[glane21]

2 hours ago, F-ZeroOne said:

glane21, for what its worth, although I didn't get to read the whole series I also enjoyed the issues of "The Malcontent Uprisings" I was able to get.

Hey that’s really great to hear, thanks so much!!  As a teen at the time I was so excited to get to draw valks and our beloved characters, even though it had to be as robotech.

[F-ZeroOne]

You're welcome, regardless of what I know now about the whole thing it was always a treat to find "Robotech" comics in my nearest comic book sto... shop. 🙂

Edited July 31, 2023 by F-ZeroOne

[pengbuzz]

On 7/29/2023 at 5:25 PM, Swann said:

Like the Matchbox figures 

Actually, there were more than just three.

Not to mention: they actually build quite nicely once you get some paint and glue onto them-

[Old_Nash_II]

So, about Robotech: Rick Hunter #1, someone already the comic?

[Old_Nash_II]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:26 AM, glane21 said:

I wrote and Illustrated Robotech: Covert Ops and Robotech: Class Reunion so if you want to know what was going on around that time just ask.

I read CO yesteday and was cool. Much DYRL outfit and try a decent plot (Much more than most material that exists in comics, because that Mordecai... OH frag WTF was that thing?)

[Old_Nash_II]

Robotech: Rick Hunter #1

Well, I finally got a copy of Robotech: Rick Hunter, and now I can write this minireview.

Spoiler

Edition begins with a short summary of the entire saga until its end and the psychological consequences of the outcome on Rick.
Below we have the cast of the edition and another flashback of what happened after the destruction of the two SDF.

(Worst idea in the world, building one ship "on the back" of another...)

After that, it moves to the present of the story and we see Rick being promoted to Major General, and thus being able to go into space after the Robotech Masters.
After the ceremony, Rick and Vince walk around the base talking about the promotion, until they are interrupted by a soldier with some of Rick's belongings, rescued from Macross City.
Suddenly, the alarm goes off, and they both head to the control room, where they see a recording of an armed Zentraedi revolt in Yokohama, Minmei's hometown, expressing that that was an attack aimed at her and that unfortunately they had no military power. to go to, since the VFs they still had were few and were being decommissioned, making way for Doctor Lang's new VF-4s.

(Ok, why Roadblock is here?)

Soon, Rick receives a notice from an announcement on a private channel, where we see Max, at the Satellite Factory, giving a summary of how things are going there in relation to Lisa. Suddenly, the transmission is interrupted by General Anatole Leonard of the Soutern Cross Army, congratulating Rick on the promotion and saying that they managed to track them to some point in Australia, and Rick says that the attack may not be due to discontent, and Max emphasizes that may be with a ship from Breetai's fleet. Leonard tells Rick to investigate, which he reluctantly accepts since both armies have a certain amount of friction. Soon Rick and VInce arrive at the hangar, where Rick has a flashback to when he was a child, with Roy and his father.
Returning to the present, Rick and his squadron made up of 4 ships arrive close to their destination, they are ambushed by a group of zemtraedi who were waiting for them, in the battle the squadron loses one of its members and Rick has yet another flashback about Roy, now in Macross a shortly before he fell into a coma and Roy was killed in action.
Rick is then alerted by Vince that they have arrived near the MacWilson Island, all destroyed, and a remaining group of Dolza's fleet, whose leader, boasts of the destruction they caused, reaffirming that they will kill Rick and that they will give the planet to the Robotech Masters.

(I will 'Drakkonize" your face!)

 

Personal opinion

Well, what can we say about the edition, for a start they try to summarize a lot of pre-reboot Robotech lore from Titan Books, so much so that they use (how can I define it) Protoverse-1 in this story, as they use the destruction of the SDF -1 and 2 (which I don't know why, it was made on the back of 1) in addition to the SDF-3 having an old design and not from Shadow Chronicles.
Apart from Roy's death, among other things that don't exist in the most recent version or in Remix.

(Max: Hey Rick, look who's back)

The "new" VF-4, despite the fighter and gearwalk mode being the same (with few details changed), the big difference is really in its Battroid form, perhaps in the copyright issue, since Macross Flashback was not acquired by HG, and This compromised its alternative form in the West.

(just remove the "flap" and we won't pay the copyright)

Brandon Easton's script is good, a little confusing due to the amount of information in a few pages in this edition, but nothing that compromises the result, whether it continues or improves in future editions, it will depend on how he conducts the plot.
Simone Ragazzoni's art is excellent, I like it, despite being a little confusing in the two combat scenes I saw in the edition, I hope it can evolve in the others.

(Action! More Action!)

Rating 8/10

 

[shazam]

13 minutes ago, Old_Nash_II said:

Robotech: Rick Hunter #1

Well, I finally got a copy of Robotech: Rick Hunter, and now I can write this minireview.

  Hide contents

Edition begins with a short summary of the entire saga until its end and the psychological consequences of the outcome on Rick.
Below we have the cast of the edition and another flashback of what happened after the destruction of the two SDF.

(Worst idea in the world, building one ship "on the back" of another...)

After that, it moves to the present of the story and we see Rick being promoted to Major General, and thus being able to go into space after the Robotech Masters.
After the ceremony, Rick and Vince walk around the base talking about the promotion, until they are interrupted by a soldier with some of Rick's belongings, rescued from Macross City.
Suddenly, the alarm goes off, and they both head to the control room, where they see a recording of an armed Zentraedi revolt in Yokohama, Minmei's hometown, expressing that that was an attack aimed at her and that unfortunately they had no military power. to go to, since the VFs they still had were few and were being decommissioned, making way for Doctor Lang's new VF-4s.

(Ok, why Roadblock is here?)

Soon, Rick receives a notice from an announcement on a private channel, where we see Max, at the Satellite Factory, giving a summary of how things are going there in relation to Lisa. Suddenly, the transmission is interrupted by General Anatole Leonard of the Soutern Cross Army, congratulating Rick on the promotion and saying that they managed to track them to some point in Australia, and Rick says that the attack may not be due to discontent, and Max emphasizes that may be with a ship from Breetai's fleet. Leonard tells Rick to investigate, which he reluctantly accepts since both armies have a certain amount of friction. Soon Rick and VInce arrive at the hangar, where Rick has a flashback to when he was a child, with Roy and his father.
Returning to the present, Rick and his squadron made up of 4 ships arrive close to their destination, they are ambushed by a group of zemtraedi who were waiting for them, in the battle the squadron loses one of its members and Rick has yet another flashback about Roy, now in Macross a shortly before he fell into a coma and Roy was killed in action.
Rick is then alerted by Vince that they have arrived near the MacWilson Island, all destroyed, and a remaining group of Dolza's fleet, whose leader, boasts of the destruction they caused, reaffirming that they will kill Rick and that they will give the planet to the Robotech Masters.

(I will 'Drakkonize" your face!)

 

Personal opinion

Well, what can we say about the edition, for a start they try to summarize a lot of pre-reboot Robotech lore from Titan Books, so much so that they use (how can I define it) Protoverse-1 in this story, as they use the destruction of the SDF -1 and 2 (which I don't know why, it was made on the back of 1) in addition to the SDF-3 having an old design and not from Shadow Chronicles.
Apart from Roy's death, among other things that don't exist in the most recent version or in Remix.

(Max: Hey Rick, look who's back)

The "new" VF-4, despite the fighter and gearwalk mode being the same (with few details changed), the big difference is really in its Battroid form, perhaps in the copyright issue, since Macross Flashback was not acquired by HG, and This compromised its alternative form in the West.

(just remove the "flap" and we won't pay the copyright)

Brandon Easton's script is good, a little confusing due to the amount of information in a few pages in this edition, but nothing that compromises the result, whether it continues or improves in future editions, it will depend on how he conducts the plot.
Simone Ragazzoni's art is excellent, I like it, despite being a little confusing in the two combat scenes I saw in the edition, I hope it can evolve in the others.

(Action! More Action!)

Rating 8/10

 

My eyes rain! 🥲😂🤣