It's my first review everyone!
To start this review off I want to say that I'm not a huge comic book fan. Sure there are a few I really enjoyed reading, there's a couple of Star Wars graphic novels I loved and I am currently waiting for the next Stephen King's The Dark Tower graphic novel to be released. I've also read a very small amount of Marvel and DC comics but not enough to call myself an expert. I think the clear thing to say that the comics I read come from a previous interest in the subject matter in some other medium. Star Wars obviously from the movies and for The Dark Tower comics, well I picked them up after finishing the series of novels with the same name. So now we turn our attention to what I am talking about today....
Atomic Robo
If we take a peek at Volume One of this comic series, created by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, we instantly get an idea of what we can expect from this imaginative series. The blurb itself just paints the picture of how amazing this graphic novel is going to be.
"In 1923, Nikola Tesla's career is in its twilight until he unveils a robot with automatic intelligence - - ATOMIC ROBO!"
The premise is simply this. Atomic Robo creates TESLADYNE, a company dedicated to researching the very edge of scientific development be from earth of further. They are now considered the leading force in defense against the unexplained, the weird and the down right crazy. I hope you starting to understand why I love this comic. Of course being a sucker for quick witted comedy is also a contributing factor. Atomic Robo is full of fantastic pieces of dialogue between characters that come off the page in such away that sometimes feels more like its a parody of the science fiction genre. For example look at what Atomic Robo says in reply to "Are we not men of SCIENCE?"
See what I mean?
This example helps with the next point I want to make. The art work. It just seems the fit so well with the style of writing and plot. The character designs fit well with not only the stereotypes of the genre but also in a satirical way to make them both comical but also new and interesting characters, ranging from Jenkins, the hardened veteran who Robo found fighting single handed in the Vampire Dimension (which is explained in one of the B-stories in the back of Volume One, or like James Milligan, the Scottish one man army who saves Atomic Robo during World War Two. All these characters featured in both Volume One and Two are well thought out, even if they appear in only a few pages. The most entertaining of all the characters is by far Atomic Robo and his enemies.
Atomic Robo always is first to point out scientific inaccuracies or problems with enemies plans or claims. In the above example, taken from a short comic featuring a dinosaur who can talk claiming to be a time traveling genius dinosaur. Atomic Robo however finds this impossible to believe and spends the entire short arguing over what really happened. I won't reveal what the punch line to the short is but I will admit it was the first comic longer then three panels that had me laughing so hard.
Don't think this is all humour though. The actions comes thick and fast from battling giant ants to taking on Nazis on a train through the mountain. Atomic Robo is super strong and durable which is why he is selected for most of his missions. A joke I found in both Volumes is that Atomic Robo is impervious to bullets and people seem to be constantly forgetting this and firing at him only to get injured themselves. But it's not just bullets. On several occasions Atomic Robo has withstood explosive blasts from simple grenades to whole factories detonating around him.
I really want to talk more about how entertaining this series is but I don't want to go in to spoilers and ruin your own experience. All I can say is that I highly recommend Atomic Robo to anyone who enjoys science fiction and a good laugh. So far I have read only the first two Volumes and eagerly await the release of the third. Hopefully it won't disappoint. If it does then expect to see a rant on here shortly after I get it.
Also visit the creators website www.nuklearpower.com
Thanks for reading and in the words of Atomic Robo "You must be the mook I'm about to punch through a wall."
EpicFlyFire
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