ComicMix pals Michael Pinto and Brian Cirulnick were recently interviewed by the crew at StarBlazers.com, the official website of the Star Blazers animated series, and the conversation is an interesting read even if you’re someone who’s (gasp) not very familiar with the series — like me, for instance.

Along with running the show over at Anime.com and Fanboy.com, Pinto and Cirulnick were also the creators of the first official Star Blazers fan organization and the very first Star Blazers fan film, respectively. How’s that for fanboy cred, eh?

In the interview, Pinto and Cirulnick discuss the ins and outs of the superfan scene, the evolution of fan organizations through the years and how a mutual obsession admiration for a series can turn into a career.

Here, Pinto discusses the "duping parties" that made it possible for American anime fans to get their fix:

I hate to say it but in the early 80s most of our fan activity was trading video tapes from Japan. It’s funny that people talk about illegal downloads as something new, but without tape-trading, anime fandom would never have gotten started in the United States. People would have pen pals from Japan send them tapes and they would makes copies of those for other friends. Being an analogue medium, the quality of the tapes got pretty bad pretty quickly. Most of my early anime memories were of 5th generation VHS tapes, chock-full of static, noise distortion and tracking issues. At many conventions we’d have tape-duping parties where we would daisy-chain VHS decks together to make copies. These sessions would run an entire weekend and were the only source of anime for many fans.

For the record, I’m a child of the giant robot generation. I grew up pondering the life lessons of 1980s cartoon series such as Robotech and Transformers, and formulated complex theories regarding the place of Go Bots and Tranzor Z in the hierarchy of the universe’s massive mechas. Looking back on it now, I’m fairly certain I had the makings of a fairly impressive thesis on the subject of giant robots completed before I was 10 years old.

However, there was always one wildcard in my studies: Voltron.

The 1984 series Voltron: Defender of the Universe featured a giant mecha composed of five smaller lion-shaped robots. Each lion controlled by a young pilot. Voltron and the "Lion Force" pilots defended the universe against a host of threats that often took the form of monsters launched into battle via coffin-shaped shuttles. The forces at play in the series were equal parts magic and science, and the title character’s ever-changing list of powers and abilities called upon during the series’ long run caused me endless frustration in my attempts to rank Voltron alongside his peers.

In 2003, I found myself thinking about Voltron (and humming <a href=”

series’ theme song) once again when Devil’s Due Publishing began producing comics based on the Voltron series. Despite its highly praised development of the characters and mythos of the Voltron universe (including contributions from noted creators such as Mark Waid, Kaare Andrews and Dan Jolley), the series was cancelled in 2005 without concluding its final storyline.

Nostalgia for the character has endured, however, and it now appears as if 2008 will be another big year for Voltron and the Lion Force. Earlier this year, DDP released the Voltron Omnibus, a collection of the entire DDP run that includes the previously unpublished final issue of the 2003-2005 series. The Devil’s Due crew also announced the July release of Voltron: A Legend Forged, a five-issue miniseries that promises to take readers on "a spectacular quest, 1200 years into the past." The series will be written by DDP President Josh Blaylock, and feature interior art by G.I. Joe: America’s Elite artist Mike Bear.

I spoke with Blaylock about the new Voltron series and its place in the character’s complicated history, and picked his brain about the character’s role in the world of giant robots.  DDP also provided ComicMix with new art from the series, including both an inked and full-color version of the first issue’s Tim Seeley cover, as well as an E.J. Su variant cover featuring Voltron in its popular "Lion Force" form. Full-size versions of each cover are posted at the end of the interview.

COMICMIX: First, let me get the most general pair of questions out of the way: Why Voltron and why now?

JOSH BLAYLOCK: It’s been a while since we played with Voltron, but lately there seems to be something in the air. The DVDs are selling like crazy, the Reeboks shoes, the streetwear. All that, combined with the movie buzz, and it seems like a great time to kickstart a new Voltron miniseries, and who knows, maybe more. (more…)