A 250 word (or less) review of the first Atomic Robo
collected edition.
By Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, Red 5 Comics
Atomic Robo is a fun
comic. Specifically, it is a fun adventure comic with a liberal helping of
comedy. In Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne we follow the
adventures of Atomic Robo, a charismatic nuclear powered robot built by Nikola
Tesla in 1923, and his team of Action Scientists as they confront paranormal
threats. The collected edition works as an encapsulation of the entire Atomic Robo
concept: to tell funny, action packed stories set throughout the various time
periods of Robo’s life (the 20’s to the Modern day). The upside of this is the comic
doesn’t waste time on excessive exposition and can focus on the most
entertaining moments in Robo’s life. The downside is that at times some helpful
setting information is lost on the altar of Action and that this first trade
lacks a central narrative which gives it a schitzophrenic feel (for instance a
two issue cliff hanger is left a-dangle).1,2 The balance of this
equation, though, is a comic that sees Robo fight Nazi’s, battle cyborg armies,
combat giant ants, study a mobile attack pyramid, and take an uneventful trip
to Mars… which is pretty great. It also bears mentioning that Atomic Robo is
audibly funny. I am not a person prone to laughing aloud at my fiction very
often, but Atomic Robo had me snorting up a storm. Celvinger and Wegener have
created exactly what they sought to: a funny, action-packed adventure comic. It’s
unique, laugh-out-loud funny, and genuinely good comics.
Word count: 249
1: I want to know what
happened with the giant mummy robot, damn it!
2: This is mostly an
artifact of it being a collection of single issues. Subsequent trades are more
cohesive and better. But still, great comics.
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