Broken Frontier

Brian Clevinger’s Atomic Robo series has been a big hit for publisher Red 5 Comics and the second trade paperback of the series only continues the gleeful insanity.

Most comic book readers today are familiar with the idea today of "writing for the trade" – that ongoing comic book series tend to structure themselves into six-issue story arcs so that they fit into nice, tidy trade collections. Despite the fact that Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War was originally marketed and sold as a six-issue mini-series the truth is that it is more like a series of shorter minis and one-shots held together under an overarching banner.

All the stories in this volume are set during WW II and feature Robo against some enemies already familiar to fans of the series. Also familiar to fans is the continuation of the main character’s sarcasm, deadpan humor, and lowbrow wit. For those to whom this may be their first exposure to Robo, however, not to worry, the stories are surprisingly new reader friendly.

The characters that surround Robo are also a joy. The British superspy the Sparrow is a great verbal sparring partner for Robo but perhaps the best character for the series is a Scottish Special Forces agent who speaks in an extreme dialect most of the time. If there is one complaint it is that the mixture of Nazis, evil scientists, impossible monsters and weapons, and a wisecracking, nigh indestructible hero echoes Mike Mignola’s early stories featuring the blue collar, supernatural investigator and agent at large Hellboy.

The art, provided by Scott Wenger in some ways does not help this matter. Wenger’s style has a few echoes of early Mignola work – faces have a lot of hard angle lines and hands tend to have the squared off fingers that originated with Jack Kirby and filtered down through Mignola and other artists. Wenger does, however, go a lot lighter on his inks and shading which gives the art a much brighter appearance. This lends the story that sort of positive outlook – where the heroes and the villains are clearly and cleanly defined.

He also has a tendency to make the technology look a rather appropriate for the era while also making it suitable sci-fi. His style goes for a rounded, art deco look that fits well with the 1940s setting. His monsters, robots, and sci-fi weapons also share that kind of retro-futuristic look – the way the future was always drawn by artists of the 1930s through the 1950s. The colors also help this volume stand out. Ronda Pattison provides a bright, vibrant, and diverse color palette

The series works well collected. Despite the fact that these are essentially three separate stories they flow well together with the unifying themes of the villains and WW II setting. The trade is also filled with extras – a number of short back-up tales and the story that was published for Free Comic Book Day in 2008. The back-ups have a number of different artists attached to them which gives readers even more of a treat in seeing other artists’ take on the characters and situations.

Atomic Robo, vol. 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War is a fun, satisfying, laugh-a-minute, rollicking, action-adventure with just enough of a dash of real-world WW II situations to keep it tethered from rocketing off into the stratosphere. If you enjoy quirky characters and action, honestly funny sci-fi stories, and a historical background then snap this one up right away.

Atomic Robo vol. 2 is available now, published by Red 5 Comics, priced $19.95.