Herb Trimpe – Writer
Herb Trimpe – Artist
Nel Yomtov – Colours
Janice Chiang – Letters

Once upon a time, a toyline from Milton Bradley debuted in 1984, and from that came an animated series, as well as a movie compiled from the show. In furtherance to that, Marvel Comics would release a single issue of Robotix, written and drawn by the very talented Herb Trimpe, most famous for his depiction of the Incredible Hulk. Despite featuring most of the right ingredients, Robotix was no Transformers, or even a Gobots, and while the toys would stick around, it would disappear from the small screen with its printed counterpart proceeding no further. Here, Trimpe does a great job of adapting it for the printed page, introducing the reader to each of the parties involved, the human space explorers first, the robots second, and eventually delving into the history of how these alien beings came to be. There is a lot to digest for the reader, a lot of names that are unconventional among those who appear within, and quite a bit of text, with Trimpe having to pack everything he can into a single issue. It is not a bad thing necessarily; one does get one’s money’s worth out of this book. There is a lot of action, a fair bit of drama and of course, a promise of more, though none would be forthcoming. The story finds the humans crashing on the planet Skalorr V, their ship wrecked with no way of getting off the planet. They soon meet the planet’s residents, which includes the Protectons and the Terrakors, a race of beings who have been at war with each other for a very long time. It is not long before there are those within the ranks of the humans who want something different, who think contrary to the main body, and will do what they can to achieve it. So the good team with the good, the bad with the bad and more action takes place, which ends up being quite a bit of fun and probably more enjoyable than it should have been. Saying that, one might wonder what is wrong with this book, and to be fair, nothing is all that bad. It is a little cliched in places. Some of the scenes and characters are familiar, as are their actions and the overall narrative, but Trimpe was not here to rewrite the playbook. He was simply tasked with bringing this new world to life, to see if he could take a property that had middling success in other markets and make it work for Marvel. With only one issue, it seemed like that mission failed, but one can not honestly say they did gain some entertainment value out of this book when all was said and done. Robotix might have played it safe, but did so in an enjoyable manner, and if one were to pick this book up, they can guarantee themselves a worthwhile diversion for as long as it takes to read it.