Broken Frontier

I feel like a Japanese schoolgirl screaming at the top of her pubescent lungs, crying over the latest Michael Jackson CD whenever I split the lips about Atomic Robo. Yeah, I'm that bad.

I’m a horrible shill for Atomic Robo. I try not to embarrass myself, let alone the creative team behind the incredible series...

But, well, yeah, it's kinda inevitable.

And it just gets freakin’ worse with Atomic Robo 4 #1, damnit. These guys—the Robo super creative-wizards behind the whole enchilada—have this groove that can’t be matched. They know what works, and they do it quite well. Each panel, each word balloon, each action is utilized to its fullest—no moment is wasted, no nuance goes unnoticed. It's becasue of these joys, that one can easily find themselves reading an issue in less that five minutes. It's not like I timed myself, I'm just saying, when a univese as immersive as Robo's comes along, you become invested in the story.

This issue, like all of its predecessors, makes me want to join Robo’s frenetic, globetrotting science-action team, even when we’re served up the likes of one Dr. Bernard Fischer, a meek scientist who probably has never used the word “action” in a sentence. Even when people get eaten by vampires. Even when the boss is an 80 year old robot, who cracks wise in the face of danger. I still want to join.

In this ish, meek Bernard is served up with a healthy dose of VAMPIRE INVASION during a job interview, and he must use his nonexistent field training—alongside humorist Robo and one-man army Jenkins—to thwart said invasion. Hilarity ensues as we see Bernard try, and somewhat, in an odd way, hold his own. And just when you think this shy, third-tier character is going to save the day, Robo basically tells him he didn't. Hillarious. I just wish all of my terrible job interviews would get interrupted by vampires...as opposed to awkward silences, and the even more awkward “We’ll call you.”

Anyway, I just don’t want to know where Clevinger and Wegner get their ideas. It scares me, and therefore I will never ask them. But when you have stories that are always fresh, always clever, always atomic, you have to wonder at what point in their lives did they sell their souls?

Nevertheless, I want more.