Broken Frontier

Tesla’s Automatic Man returns for another fun filled romp.  This time Clevinger and Wegener go for a decidedly more occult theme rather than the straight up science fiction or the wild Nazi fighting of the previous volumes.

Studying at home while attending Columbia University in 1926, two rather strange men abruptly interrupt Robo’s academic pursuits demanding to see Mr. Tesla.  Unfortunately, Tesla is unavailable and after Robo convinces the younger of his visitors that he is indeed not a pygmy or some other native house servant, the men introduce themselves as Charles Fort and Howard Phillips Lovecraft.  Turns out they, well, Mr. Fort and Lovecraft’s father, helped Tesla and a few other early twentieth century celebrities fend off an alien invasion in Tunguska in 1906.  Now it seems there are complications and they need ol’ Nikola’s assistance.

When Red 5 debuted a couple years back, they came on strong with an array of different, entertaining, and more importantly solidly written comics.  One rose above all the others though and that was Atomic Robo.  It was a sort of riff on the Hellboy concept.  A famous robot built by a famous scientist ran around with different people fighting greater evils for the good of mankind.  We have seen him fight off giant insects with Cadillacs, deal with pyramids, squabble with his nemesis Stephen Hawking, and then in volume two, he fought Nazis.  Really, there was no way to top that right?

Clevinger does it here.  He adds some elements pointing to some League of Extraordinary Gentlemen like origins to Tesla’s backstory with the name dropping and his little society’s quiet saving of the human race.  More exciting, he returns to the kind of b movie fun that was a mark of the first series.  This gives the book a Planetary like feel, except, you know, with a light hearted sense of humor being an overwhelming factor in the book, instead of Ellisonian (I’m coining this word now, it’s mine) gloom and doom for a dystopian future.  Robo has a bit more naivety to him.  He is more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if he is a little sardonic sucker.

What is more entertaining is Lovecraft’s attitude.  Clevinger has made him a wildly suspicious person, with wild ideas and unafraid to express them.  He runs around with his arms in the air or on his head in exasperation the whole comic.  He is a manically comical character as opposed to the reserved man seen in the recent Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft.  Having been a recluse for most of his life, it is easy to characterize the cult writer any way an author chooses.  That is the real genius here, Clevinger has picked on the fringe of pop culture, celebrities that are not widely known and events that are strangely mysterious.  It gives him a canvas to be as left field as he desires while allowing the reader’s suspension of disbelief to be held captive.

Wegener and crew have already shown that they have a great cartoon style.  The chunky lines and swift action of the previous volumes is on display here.  What is nice and different here is the spot on caricature of the two writers added to the cast and Robo running around in suspenders with a shirt and tie.  It is perfectly absurd and matches the script exactly.

Atomic Robo has consistently been an entertaining ride going on three years.  It is easy to get into any volume as the timeline jumping of the setting means knowledge of the previous volumes is not a prerequisite to understanding the current series.  Sure, it borrows from Hellboy, Planetary, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and other books, but its sense of fun has a charm all its own.  That is why its Free Comic Day offering disappeared as quick as a lick and you hear positive word of mouth from its fans and creators.  It is something special and familiar at the same time - it feels like home, but is never boring.