Comic Review: Atomic Robo Volume 1

A while back we encouraged you to check out the first issue of Atomic Robo, when it was made available for free on Comixology. Now it’s time to take a look at the comic’s first trade.

Title: Atomic Robo Volume 1 – Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne
Story by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener
Colors by Ronda Pattison
Letter by Jeff Powell

Available from Amazon.com.

The Premise

Atomic Robo is the first robot built with artificial intelligence, constructed by Nikola Tesla in 1923. After taking on a secret mission against the mad Nazi scientist Doctor Helsingard in return for US Citizenship, Robo founds Tesladyne, a company founded on the principle of fighting Mad Science with Science!

High Points

Anyone familiar with Clevinger’s work on 8-Bit Theater will be familiar with his gift for dialog. The writing here is clever and snappy, with Robo having a mix of Hellboy’s deadpan sense of humor, and some of the irreverence in the first two Mummy films (the ones from the ’90s).

Low Points

There isn’t exactly an contiguous narrative here, just a bunch of vignettes, at least up until the last two issues in this volume.

Scores

Originality: Honestly, this reminds me of Hellboy, but with pulpy mad science taking the place of occult horror. 4/6

Artwork: The artwork is generally good, though the faces look samey, except in cases where the characters are supposed to be real people, like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. 4/6

Story: As mentioned under the low point, aside from the end of the volume, this is a bunch of stand alone vignettes, though they’re entertaining vignettes.

Characterization: See the high point. 5/6

Emotional Response: Aside from the humor, there’s a great story in this volume where Robo reflects on his long lifespan after getting a letter from a family member of someone who he fought alongside in World War II. 5/6

Flow: 6/6

Overall: I can’t recommend Atomic Robo enough. It’s just a good solid chunk of comic book. 6/6

In total, Atomic Robo Volume 1 gets 34/42.