| Atomic Robo #3 |
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| Posted by Mladen Luketin |
04:48 AM Wednesday, 05 December 2007 |
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 Its nice to come to a comic with absolutely no preconceptions of what to expect. This marks my first ever read of anything by new publisher Red 5 Comics , and my first experience with one of their flagship titles, Atomic Robo. The series and the publisher have garnered good internet press, as well as a growing fan base, impressive for a company founded only late this year. Atomic Robo has an immediate resemblance to Dave Stevens' Rocketeer, both in Robo's helmet design and art-deco styled title logo. Where Rocketeer was conceived in the 1980s, a tribute to the action/science pulp comics and serials of the 1930s and 40s, Atomic Robo is also a modern-day homage to the action/science pulp 1930/40s comics and serials. I am not implying that this is anything other than a coincidence, but it demonstrates the point that the pulp-homage is a well-worked genre all of its own, which means that the team behind Atomic Robo have their work cut out for them against some strong competition. Where Atomic Robo seems to set itself apart is that it's clearly an homage to the homage, overtly taking on elements of Indiana Jones, Rocketeer, and Hellboy as well as others. But instead of treading new ground, Atomic Robo is a somewhat familiar and ultimately unsatisfying pastiche of its source materials. This issue of Atomic Robo presents both the cover story and a mini-flashback tale depicting Robo's early adventures. A handy little paragraph at the front of the comic sums up Robo and the team's history: Atomic Robo is Nikola Tesla's last great invention (presumably after the Hugh Jackman-duplicating machine). In exchange for his participation in a top-secret military operation in the late thirties, Robo is given both official American citizenship and the means to operate his own paranormal/scientific think-tank sponsored by and answering to the U.S. government. The background very quickly set, we're happily thrown into the current issue: Robo's team are alerted to the fact that an Egyptian pyramid has uprooted and is shuffling through the desert and shooting blasts of superheated light at anything that approaches. So what then is the astonishing truth behind this mystery? Not quite so astonishing, honestly. By the way, if all of this reminds you of Mike Mignola's excellent Hellboy, then you're not far off what to expect here. Writer Brian Clevinger's initial premise is so similar to Hellboy that the stories have to work hard to distinguish themselves, and they fail to succeed in this issue at least. The overall tone of the story is a lot lighter than Hellboy, keeping the paranormal content but eliminating the low-key horror in favour of highlighting the humour and team atmosphere. Most of the dialogue is actually very funny, especially aimed at insider geek knowledge and comic-book readers. Scott Wegener's art is also reminiscent of Mignola's, replacing the low-key blacks and greys in favour of a predominantly brighter palette. The artwork is consistently professional and effective throughout the comic, easy on the eyes and quite appealing in its simplicity and cartoon aesthetic. Artwork aside, halfway through the first reading of this comic I began to worry about the pacing. After having to wait seven story pages before finally getting a title splash-page, more than two thirds of the story is entirely devoted to scenes of to the team assembling for the mission, travelling en-route, and trading quips between each other. Unusually, very little of this build-up actually attempts to offer anything to the intrigue of the travelling pyramid. Instead of the setting the mood with creepy anecdotes or historical foreshadowing between the occasional joke (as we may expect in something like Hellboy or Indiana Jones), Atomic Robo offers only light humour and some much lighter exposition. Only in the final third of the issue does Robo actually infiltrate the pyramid, and with such a build up, one might reasonably expect more of a crash-bang finale than what we're finally offered. The story ends much too abruptly, literally finishing on the climax panel. I personally would have preferred one less page of inconsequential banter in exchange for one more page to wrap up the story with a more satisfying conclusion. Although a decent premise filled with some great dialogue, some great gags and professional attractive artwork, the overall experience fails to be cohesively combined, reading more like a loose string of sketches strung together with a flimsy plot. Most of the humour is actually very funny, but rarely serves the plot or character development in any way, making it briefly amusing but ultimately irrelevant. The supporting cast is almost entirely forgettable, and one gets the feeling that their only role in the series is to trade quips and a chance for the writer to write some funny dialogue. They don't actually seem to do anything which Robo himself could do alone, which makes it all the more unusual that they take up so much page-time talking to each other instead of talking to the (more interesting) title character, or even talking about the pyramid, which is supposedly the subject of this issue. The final story is a small vignette only four pages long, funnier and more engaging than the one that preceded it. This highlights the major problem with this issue (and presumably the series). The individual talents are high, and the ideas are above average (improvisations on the pulp-horror genre if past issues are anything to go by), but the end product fails to convincingly combine the individual parts. Over short page lengths, Atomic Robo is funny and sharp, but fleshed out to a full-length comic, it meanders aimlessly and sorely lacks the touch of an experienced comic book writer or editor. The ideas are most definitely there, but the title is yet to package them together to form an engaging or original product. Atomic Robo is a strong enough premise and writer Clevinger has enough good ideas that once the creative team hits their stride and hones their skills on this title, it could be a really good read, even among the sea of similar comics out there at this very moment. Once the editors and writers identify what they want to DO with this character and his gang of pseudo-scientific adventurers, this could be a title up there with the best of the pulp-tribute comics. Until then, this issue is just a somewhat entertaining but instantly forgettable adventure story which fails to get past its influences and one-liners. Comments (0) |
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