Robotech: The Macross Saga #15

History

The issue was written by Jack Herman, who served as the series' primary scripter through roughly the first sixteen issues before Markalan Joplin took over with issue #17. Art and cover duties were handled by Mike Leeke, with inking by Chris Kalnick — the creative team that became the visual identity of the series' middle stretch. Comico's production method for the run was notable: artists typically worked directly from VHS tapes of the animation, constructing pages from the broadcast footage, after which Herman would add dialogue and captions — a pipeline that kept the comics tightly synchronized with their television source material and allowed Comico to publish issues alongside or just shortly after their corresponding TV airings.

Trivia · 7 facts

• Titled 'Homecoming,' this issue is a direct comic adaptation of the 15th episode of the Robotech: The Macross Saga television series, published by Comico in November 1986.
• Written by Jack Herman with art and cover by Mike Leeke (inking by Chris Kalnick), placing it squarely in the mid-series creative team before Markalan Joplin took over scripting duties with issue #17.
• Marks the first comic-book appearance of Lynn Kyle, Minmei's pacifist cousin, who becomes a recurring civilian antagonist to the SDF-1's military establishment throughout the later Macross Saga issues.
• The story centers on the SDF-1 crew's return to Earth, where they find their intelligence about the Zentraedi threat dismissed and themselves unwelcome by Earth's military-political leadership — represented in this issue by Colonel Maistroff and Admiral Donald Hayes.
• Features the full ensemble of bridge crew characters — Claudia Grant, Lisa Hayes, Vanessa Leeds, Kim Young, and Sammie Porter — as well as Captain Gloval, Rick Hunter, Max Sterling, and Ben Dixon (still alive at this point in the saga, two comic issues before his death in #17's adapted 'Bursting Point' episode).
• Comico produced the series by having artists adapt directly from broadcast VHS tapes of the animation, then having the writer layer dialogue afterward — a workflow that let the comic track the TV series in near real-time.
• This issue falls within the first 25 issues of the Macross Saga run, all of which were later collected and reprinted in trade paperback format by DC Comics/Wildstorm between 2002 and 2003.

Cast · 18 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Robotech: The Macross Saga

Variants (1)