Atomic Robo #1

Hey there, fans and followers.  Sorry I’m a day late on the Free Comics Now! review, but things have been getting a little hectic over here.  Anyways, I’m going to dive right in to a issue 1 (of course) from Comixology (again, of course).  I’ve never heard of Atomic Robo, but the name and cover made me feel enthusiastic about this comic, and besides that, it cost me nothing.  I’m actually excited to read it as I write this, which I haven’t actually done before.

It is written by Brian Clevinger and the art is by Scott Wegener.

So we start in the Himalayas in 1938 and just see a couple guards out on duty then flash to New York a week earlier.  A robot (obviously by the speech bubbles) sits in the shadows and talks to an army guy about doing a mission.  Tesla is mentioned, and I’m guessing he is the creator and is referring to the great Nikolas.  It’s obvious that there is a Pinocchio aspect to the story. as the robot is tempted y the offer to become a real citizen with the rights and responsibilities of a human.

Back to the mountains we see a plane drop its payload on what turns out to be a Nazi base.  The robot (still don’t know his name) comes out and tries to arrest Helsingard, who ran away at the first sign of trouble.  We see he ran to a surgeon to have some sort of blue heart transplanted into his body.  He also mentions an underground utopia that he took power from.  Turns out that heart gave him some super powers and looks like he’s made of energy and can regenerate.  Will the robot really stop him?  If he does, will that be the end, or is there more to come?  I’m not going to spoil the ending, come on now.

So that ends the first of a 6 issue series.  Overall, I’d say it was good, but not great.  There isn’t really anything spectacular about the story, but nothing horrible either.  Not a lot of exposition, which usually plagues first issues.  At the same time, it’s almost too bare bones.  I would have liked there to be some sort of explanation or backstory, but I suppose that would come in the next issues.

The art was fine.  It reminded me of webcomics, which is not a bad thing.  Everything had thick black lines around it and the coloring was great.  Again, it wasn’t anything amazing, but it didn’t take away from the story at all.

Would I read it again?  Probably not. If the whole series was free?  Yes.  I am mostly interested in how Tesla works into it and would like to see more of how the robot thinks, as he seemed to have a bit of humor about him.  In closing, I’d say it’s decent, but is lacking that special something that would set it apart from other comics.  Apparently others disagree though as it has continued on several times.  I can only guess that it gets better, as it seems like it could.  Check it out and let me know what you think.