Broken Frontier

Atomic Robo and his stalwart companions from Tesladyne have picked up a strange signal from a mysterious village in Italy. After searching the remains of an old building, Robo and his team have found the secret, underground laboratory of his old foe, Helsingard. Atomic Robo #5 packs thrills and chills, as well as a cliffhanger ending that fans of the series won't want to miss!

Brian Clevinger's storytelling abilities shine once more in this issue of Atomic Robo. His ability to tell a humorous adventure should take him farther in the realm of print comics than his work on the webcomic, 8-Bit Theatre. Some critics condemn his use of flashbacks every few pages to tell a story, but when you have a character as old as Atomic Robo, and only six issues to print, you have to use whatever means you can.

Scott Wegener's art is on par with the last issue, which is wonderful. Some artists have a tendency to begin to slack off a bit with their projects, but I guess Wegener doesn't have the time, as this is a limited series. His depiction of Helsingard is reminiscent of a mixture between the Brain (of Teen Titans and Doom Patrol) and that big, mechanical spider from Wild Wild West.

The sepia tones by colorist Ronda Pattison work well for the flashback sequences, and contrast heavily with her use of blues and greys. Her patterns and hues come out perfectly in this book.

Atomic Robo is quite possibly one of the most fun books I've read so far this year, and I'll be sad when the series is over with issue six next month. But until then, I can wait and ponder what will become of Robo himself in the end.