‘Robotech #20’ Review
Written by Simon Furman | Art by Marco Turini | Published by Titan Comics
Although not always the quickest kid on the block, and obviously distracted by little things like Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones of late, even I had been wondering what the little countdown symbols were on the recent covers of Robotech. What do you mean, you never even noticed them? Go back and take a look right now, I’ll wait…It seems that starting with Issue 17, which had a -4 symbol, we have been counting down to where we are right now, a -1 symbol. I assumed it was towards the resolution of current storylines, but it seems to be much bigger than that. Something called Event Horizon, and this issue directly leads into it. So let’s get reviewing.
Right, where were we? Well, everywhere to be honest. Dolza and his vicious assault on Earth has had unforeseen consequences, as Admiral Hayes reveals a trick up his seemingly well stocked sleeves, Breetai and some Zentraedi decide to change sides and defect to the SDF-1, the ‘real’ Roy is reviving the clone (real?) of Captain Gloval he has found, and Dr. Zand is laughing maniacally as everything seems to be going to plan for him. That’s not even all, just the broadest of catch up strokes, with plenty of sub plots going on everywhere, such as with Rick Hunter.
Rick and Vermillion Squadron are leading the fight back against the Zentraedi ships, all while the SDF-1 takes a pounding itself, and Rick’s proving himself a great leader. Captain Hayes is having to decide what action to take to save her ship, and Minmei is starting to realise she has been affected by the protoculture after all. As Breetai and Miriya make their way to defect, it seems Dolza is starting to lose control of his own forces, who were promised an easy victory and are not enjoying the sizeable losses they are experiencing. Azonia and Khyron are leading what is becoming a flat out rebellion. Just as Dolza decides on a catastrophic blitzkrieg assault on Earth, he is distracted by the swiftly approaching SDF-1.
As all that rages on, time to check in on Dr. Lazlo Zand, who seems to be pulling all the strings. One string he has lost control of is the real Roy, and he send off some Roy clones to capture or kill him. Roy helps the Gloval clone stay hidden as he is re-captured, a wild card that may come back to bite Dr. Zand yet. Back on the bridge, Captain Hayes has a cunning plan. Broadcast Minmei to the alien fleet, with her protoculture enhanced ability to ‘persuade’ people, and tell them to stand down. Problem is, they need the current fleet codes to break into the systems….wait a minute, is that Breetai and company approaching, with exactly the knowledge Hayes needs? Well I never.
Well I’ll give Furman an ‘A’ for originality, I’ve never seen an alien fleet defeated by singing before. Downloading a Microsoft virus, yes, but banging out a tune, nope. It works, and Hayes presses the advantage, with both Dolza and, more personally, Rick. Earth has won, right? Er, not exactly. Zand’s manipulation of events is now coming into play, and we have the start of Event Horizon. Yikes.
Well that was fun. Furman throwing everything he’s got creatively at this issue, and Turini having great fun with both the epic space battles and the more intimate moments. He puts a huge amount of work into the backgrounds, something other artists could learn from. Only Furman and Turini could give us a resolution that is both that and a springboard into an even greater threat. Give our heroes time to breath you sadists. I must say though, the growth in these characters since Issue 1 has been incredible, and Brian Wood and Simon Furman deserve a huge amount of praise for their work on this franchise. Loved it.
As good a book as any on the shelves right now, and better than most.
****½ 4.5/5
Robotech #20 is out now from Titan Comics.
