Robotech #1

Script by: Brian Wood
Art by: Marco Turini
Colours by: Marco Lesko
Published by: Titan Comics

Rebooting a long-standing property for the modern audience is not always an easy proposition. Robotech, for those who may not know, was an American television show back in the early 80’s that due to syndication rules back then, combined three Japanese anime, which tended to have shorter runs, into one sprawling story. It is credited in introducing a whole new generation of Western fans to the anime subgenre - even if they didn’t know it at the time.

With this new release by Titan Comics, Wood and Turini seek to reintroduce the Robotech family to a new generation of readers. Since this is a known property to some, and a completely new venture for others, they smartly begin the comic with a recap page introducing us to the main and supporting cast as well as a brief history of Robotech. Doing so, in my opinion, is great, since it alleviates the need to hammer home who these characters are and let’s Wood go directly into the crux of the story.

Though we are introduced to the characters on the recap page, Wood and Turini still offer us a glimpse into the beginning of the Robotech project within this world with, what else, but a crash landed mech, more specifically the Super Dimension Fortress (SDF-1) and the military that discovers it. Flash forward ten years and we see that this mech has spawned Macross City (a nice nod to one of the original anime used). We are told that this project is finally about to come to a head with launch day: the day where the military will launch SDF-1. However, and you must have known this was coming, launch day does not go as planned when Macross City gets attacked by an unknown enemy.

The pacing of the issue is fast-paced and does not allow too much time to breathe, but in a good way. Wood takes this opportunity to introduce us to this world, some of its characters, gives them an antagonist and leaves me wanting to read more with a somewhat cliffhanger at the end.

On art, Turini does a great job bringing the machinery we see in this issue to life. I am always a fan of an artist who can produce such detailed artwork, and this is especially true when dealing with the mecha-genre. The more detailed the mechs and machinery are, the happier I am. However, as much as Turini does a good job with the machinery, his character work leaves a bit to be desired. His characters appear often stiff on the page and don’t feel “alive”. Much too often, his characters just “stare” with nary a facial expression in sight.

In all, Robotech #1 was an entertaining first issue to this reimagined property. I have come to enjoy a lot of Wood’s work over the years and I am glad that he has taken up the reins of Robotech.