"The alien invasion began almost coincidentally. A mammoth interstellar fortress ripped through the fabric of hyperspace on a collision course with the Earth. Whether by chance or some obscure twist of fate, this alien vessel was drawn toward the unsuspecting planet. The ship appeared over the South Pacific as a destructive fireball racing across the nighttime sky. Most people interpreted the incident as though the Earth had been struck by a giant meteor. Most people had other things on their minds ... like trying to survive World War III. An uneasy peace eventually came to his global conflict. The peace was the result of a group of people who knew that what hit the Earth was not a meteor ... but a machine of destruction--the product of an alien technology lightyears ahead of that of the Earth's. A United Earth Government was formed. Its sole purpose was to create a global defense system utilizing the reconditioned space fortress as an offensive weapon."

Ten years pass. On the day of the maiden voyage of the rebuilt space fortress, christened the Macross, citizens of the city that grew around the project to refurbish the alien vessel worry that without it their home will become a ghost town. They watch as a limousine carrying Captain Gloval and Senator Russo passes by, and they comment that without those two the ship would never have been repaired or funded. Inside the limo, Russo tells Gloval to cheer up. "In less than half an hour, the Macross will be in your command. The least you could do is act like you're having a good time." Gloval tells him he had his good time last night, and worries that they might not be doing the right thing with the Macross.

On the bridge of the space fortress, Lisa Hayase arrives to tell the rest of the crew to look sharp, because Gloval's limo has arrived. "I don't know what's gotten into the captain ... coming aboard so late. He practically missed the entire ceremony." Claudia tells Lisa that he probably got the most out of his "shore leave". "Well, Claudia ... soem of us consider duty before pleasure," Lisa quips. Claudia asks if she's referring to her seeing Lt. Commander Fokker the night before, and tells her that what she does on her own time has no effect on her performance as an officer. Lisa then asks about Roy, and Claudia points out that during the war Roy shot down five planes with a hangover. It doesn't seem to matter to Lisa, because she suddenly notices something on her radar screen. It's a tiny plane piloted by one Rick Yamata, invitation #1021. She confirms that as an invitation from Lt. Commander Fokker and gives him a heading for landing.

Below, Roy Fokker narrates the actions of the newly-designed Valkyrie Fighters overhead. Suddenly a little air racer appears among them and a loudmouthed pilot addresses Fokker. "It's been a long time Captain! You sent me this invitation--now tell me where to land." Fokker tells his old friend that this is no playground, but Rick counters that he's not here to play--he's here to show Fokker how a real pilot can fly a plane! He nearly takes off Fokker's head with a low dive, then fires his boosters and joins the Valkyrie's an a burst formation. Rick lands his racer and Roy takes off after him, demanding an explanation. As Rick climbs out of his plane, he reminds Roy that he was the one who taught him the booster climb. Roy comments that he heard he won the amateur pilot competition last month and asks about Rick's family. "You promised my father that when the war was over you'd come back to the air team," Rick reminds him. Roy apologizes, then notes how he shot down 180 planes during the war. "So, you're proud of being a killer?" Rick asks. Roy says it's kind of hard to explain. "When you start flying those fighter planes .. well, something happens inside of you ... and nothing seems the same." Rick figures he could be right. "But for now," he says, "why don't you start by giving me the grand tour?"

On the far side of the moon, a fleet of Zentraedis warships materializes from hyperspace. Aboard the flagship, Commander Breetai asks his aide Exedore if this was the quadrant he traced the transmission to, and further asks if he checked to see if the ship executed a refold. Exedore tells him that the computer indicates that there was no second jump, and that the ship must be on this planet. "Perhaps their damages have forced them to retreat to this zone," Breetai notes, folding his arms. "There is a good possibility that we can end this war within the hour." He orders a recon vessel to go down and investigate.

Back on Earth, Rick admires one of the new Valkyrie fighters, but says to Roy that while it looks impressive, he wonders how it handles. Roy suggests climbing aboard and finding out for himself. As Rick climbs on-board, Roy asks if Rick has the gutrs to fly one of these things. "Just as long as I'm at the controls," Rick quips.

Elsewhere on the island, Russo is making a speech about how what an asset Macross has been to the community and is introducing Gloval when an officer arrives to tell Gloval that sensors have detected unusual activity near the moon and he's needed on the bridge. Just as Russo prepares to turn the microphone over to him, he takes off for the bridge.

On the bridge, Claudia remarks that every system on-board is starting up on its own. The booms that make up the front third of the ship begin to separate and energy begins to crackle around them. Gloval makes it to the bridge and, as his head slams against the too-low doorway, he tells the crew to shut down all the systems. As energy surges between the Macross's twin booms, Claudia attempts to shut off the ship's power, but to no avail. The guns, as Claudia notes forebodingly, ARE going to fire. Lisa asks what they're going to do, but Gloval has no answer. Suddenly, the pent-up energy between the booms discharges, blazing forth over the rooftops of the city, through the island's terrain, and into space, obliterating the Zentraedis scout vessels.

Watching the carnage, Breetai notes that this attack confirms Macross's presence on that planet. He orders all ships to advance in full balance formation immediately.

Claudia reports that the computer is responding to their programs again, and Lisa asks Gloval if he's all right.

On the ground, Rick is stunned by the display. "What are they trying to do, blow the island apart?" Roy leaps out of the Valkyrie's back seat to find out what's going on.

Lisa recieves the space monitor report, which states that what they were attacking appears to be two large objects out in lunar orbit, probably spaceships. Gloval concludes that this was a booby trap. "The aliens who abandoned Macross must have armed it with an automatic defense sysstem designed to detect and destroy their enemies. The system's activation means that an unfriendly force has approached close enough to be a threat to the Macross." Out of nervous habit, Gloval pulls out his pipe. Just then, Sammy pipes up, telling him that there's no smoking on the bridge. "I wasn't going to light it! I was just holding it," he comments, putting his tobacco back in his uniform jacket. He asks Claudia for a report on all systems and orders Lisa to scramble all fighters and prepare for combat.

Below, Roy orders the runway cleared and the Valkyries armed. In space, Armour 1-A base responds to the Zentraedis' approach. Lancer space fighters are launched and begin their assault the moment they get visual contact, and at the same time the space platform itself begins bombarding the Zentraedis craft with missiles. Unfortunately, they do this to minimal effect. Breetai orders a standard laser bombardment, and when the space platform breaks out its nuclear weapons, he finds this simply amazing. "Primitive nuclear weapons," he muses with a quizzical grin, "and it appears that they have not raised their particle beam shields." Exedore wonders if it's a trick of some sort to lull them into a fals sense of confidence, and also wonders why they haven't broken out their reflex weaponry. "These soldiers act as if they've never engaged in real space combat before," Breetai notes with a sinister smile. "Press the attack." In moments, the Zentraedis' intense laser barrage rips Armour 2 to pieces and Armour 1-A makes a hasty retreat before it shares Armour 2's fate.

Word soon reaches Captain Gloval and he sits down, contemplating how the aliens have shattered his hopes of world without war. He orders Lisa to prepare the Macross for combat. She orders the Valkyries to take off.

Back on the Zentraedis flagship, Breetai spots the Macross among what he refers to as "the most disorderly display of primitive military organization that I have ever seen." Exedore points out that while it does resemble Macross, it looks strangely different. Breetai assures him it is no trick, and that the initial reflex weapon attack was a clear invitation for battle. Still, he advises all ships to proceed with caution. Zentraedis fighters break through the atmosphere. The Earth forces fire a barrage of missiles to counterattack.

On the exhibition ground, Rick is awakened by an order from Lisa to take off. He tries to tell her that he's not a combat pilot, but his words are met on deaf ears. He tells her that the runway is demolished, but she tells him that runway 2 is clear, and that he's holding up the rest of the squadron. Thus, the brash young amateur is thrust into the thick of battle, taking off to the skies and being met by the sight of hundreds of dazzling explosions. In the air, he is reunited with Roy and asks his former mentor what the hell is going on. "Rick ... so you decided to try your hand at being a fighter pilot after all," Roy comments with a smile. Rick insists that it wasn't his idea, and Roy tells him that while combat can be scary, it's really not too much different from the good ol' days at the flying circus. While Rick talks big about not leaving his old friend behind, he finds himself blasted out of the sky within moments. Stunned, Roy tells Rick to climb and bank, but Rick can't get control of his craft. As it dives towards the Macross, Lisa radios Rick and tells him to switch to Battloid mode. Rick has no clue what she's talking about, but she tells him to pull down the control marked "B" on the left side of his console. He pulls the one marked "G" instead, and gears and hydraulics within the craft begin to turn and hiss, changing the fighter into a squat, avian robot resembling a bird of prey. It continues to fall, finally crashing into a mess of buildings as Rick realizes he's pulled the wrong lever. He pulls the one marked "B", and soon the Valkyrie Fighter shifts again into a more humanoid configuration. As it rises to its feet, Rick wonders how he can get out of this "flying nightmare" ...

ARTWORK

First off, the painting job done on this book just looks gorgeous. As ROBOTECH series producer and this issue's script writer Carl Macek helpfully points out, the character and mechanical art was done on animation cel-like overlays, while the backgrounds were painted on a seperate layer. The effect is actually quite nice. It's a shame the character and mecha art on the whole isn't quite as good, and to be honest, I'm not sure who to blame. The attention to detail is there, but the raw talent doesn't seem to be present. I think it might be fair to split the blame between penciler Svea Stauch (Macek's wife, if you didn't know) and the inking staff. After all, there seem to be some decent shots ruined by sloppy inks, and there are some shots which just have outright awkward poses. For the record, most of the shots are directly adapted from the show, which means reading through the comic gives the weird sense of looking at something familiar as shown through an awkwardly twisted lens. It's familiar, but somehow not as good--kind of like watching the dumb, poorly-written cartoons you loved as a child years later with all your adult sensibilites, only without the weird sense of guilt.

Oh, and notice how the cover depicts the Macross in its humanoid "attack" mode, while the ship doesn't enter that configuration (and, indeed, cannot enter that mode since the fold drives are still intact) until episode/issue five. Also, that VF-1J is a bit huge, isn't it?