http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=134246
Writer/Artists: Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, Joshua Ross, Zack Finfrock, Christian Ward, Nic Klein
Publisher: Red 5 Comics, $18.95
Why You Should Know It:
Atomic Robo is one of the best independent books out there on the market, mostly due to the large appeal it has to different types of readers. Created in 1923 by Nikola Tesla, Robo is the first automatic intelligence ever granted U.S. citizenship for his participation in fighting the Nazis. He goes on to found Tesladyne, a group of explorers that investigate the strange and unnatural.
Essentially, it's the Hellboy and BPRD formula but with a brighter more sci-fi feel to it. I have no trouble pushing this book onto new readers because it has numerous strong selling points. First off, any fan of Hellboy should be able to get into this. While the art style is much brighter than Mignola and the general atmosphere is that of fun sci-fi, it hits a lot of the same notes in it's execution.
Sometimes you have trouble getting more mainstream readers to try out the more independent titles since indy sometimes means A) black & white, B) lesser production values, and C) a lot of indy subject matter just doesn't appeal to the super-hero crowd. Atomic Robo though is beautifully colored, the single issues and the collection are very clean and nicely printed on good stock, and the content is very action and humor orientated so the superhero fans still get what they like.
via Robot6
Personal Review:
Well, the previous stuff should be a good indication of how much I like this title. Here's what really sells the book for me though: it's friggin' funny. Clevinger has a damn good sense of humor, and I value humor in my funny books over just about anything. Hellboy can be funny at times, but Atomic Robo brings back the memories I have from when I was a kid and when I loved Spider-Man when he had a sense of humor.
Wegener's art feels like the perfect fit. There are a number of short stories in the back of the collection with different artists and they are all great, but after looking at them and then looking back at Wegener it just feels like he was meant to be the core artists to draw Atomic Robo. He gives the series a great visual continuity, and even though Robo doesn't actually have a face I always feel likes he's emoting perfectly. I chalk that up to the creative team just being able to sync up well together. Wegener's style is vaguely familiar to that of Michael Avon Oeming of Powers, so you might like to check this out if you are a big fan of Oeming's as well.
If you head on over to the Atomic Robo site, you will find a sort of publishing manifesto from the creators pretty much laying down the rules to how they plan to do Atomic Robo (http://www.atomic-robo.com/?p=211). This is something I always love to see because it means there is a certain level of forethought and work ethics brought to the product, elements lacking from a lot of publishers these days. So for that reason alone, Atomic Robo is straight up just a project I can respect and feel great about recommending to people.
If you like this, then try:
Hellboy, Charlatan, Invincible, Powers, Jack Staff
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