Mecha Comics

	Some choice covers from Marvel's Shogun Warriors comics, which used only the mecha designs of Raideen, Combattler V, and Dangard Ace. The lame stories were created entirely by Marvel writers. Mercifully laid to rest after 20 issues.
	It completely blew my mind when I first saw this in the comic shop! At that time the "Robotech" series was being prepared for the U.S. but it was to be called Space Fortress Macross, and the plan was to produce only Macross and release it direct to video.

Shortly thereafter, the people at Harmony Gold who were producing the Macross video realized that Revell had the marketing rights for mecha models from Macross and other series such as Orguss & Dougram. These were made by Imai and marketed under the "Robotech" name, which apparently originated with Revell. The DC comics featuring mecha from Dougram were part of that marketing effort. Some of these other mecha look vaguely familiar; can you identify them? The storyline of the DC comics came entirely from DC and had nothing to do with anything. Anyway, Harmony Gold and Revell made a deal (note the abrupt change of Robotech Defenders from a 3-issue to a 2-issue series); the switch to a syndicated series was supposedly Revell's idea, and Carl Macek spliced in Southern Cross and Mospeada to make enough episodes for syndication. The name of the series became "Robotech", and the rest, as they say, is history...

Dark Horse's "Mecha" was actually not a bad comic. Originally the story was by Randy Stradley & art by Harrison Fong. Beginning with the third issue it was in black & white. It ended after six issues but reappeared later as part of an anthology series called "Mayhem", scripted by well-known mecha lover Tim Eldred (who is now doing the Votoms comic). One of the other titles in "Mayhem" was one you might have heard of, "The Mask". Ended again after four issues.  Much later, the "Mecha" title reappeared (briefly) once more, attached to a piece of forgettable superhero dreck.

That's all folks!
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