Robotech #4

Written by: Brian Wood

Art by: Marco Turini

Published by: Titan Comics

After a pretty great opening three issues, Robotech hits its first snag with issue number 4. The issue starts off well enough by introducing a as yet unknown mystery to the spaceship that crash landed on Earth ten years ago that would turn into the SDF-1. We get to see that Captain Goval intrusts Jay Fokker with the secret of the spaceship that no one else has been privy too. Without it being explicitly said, it seems that SDF-1 had a human crew before its crash landing on Macross Island.

From there, however, this issue goes a bit off the rails and seems to simply jump from scene to scene with no clear cut direction. First, we get the first meeting between Jay and Rick Hunter since the SDF-1 folded into deep space, with some added interactions with Lynn Minmei. We then get a status update on the SDF-1 and how its main gun is offline which seems innocuous enough, but becomes a central piece in the comics big battle scene.

Let’s talk the big battle scene. I never have an issue when comics decide to have big battles, and big space battles are always fun. However, Wood sets this battle up almost to simply have a battle in the comic and to preview what the SDF-1 can do. And by that I mean, it can “transform”. Why do they decide to transform SDF-1? Because the main gun is offline. The whole sequence that leads up to this point is so contrived, that it was the first time in a long time that a comic completely lost me.

Overall, this issue was not my favorite of Wood and Turini’s run on Robotech. Unlike previous issues that had a drive to them, whether it be world building or simply showcasing the robotechnology. This issue just seemed to go for the summer blockbuster, turn off your brain, type action which unfortunately was not supported by the narrative.