I'm one of those curmudgeonly old guys who like to ramble on and on about how great comics were when I was collecting them in my youth, and honestly don't make much time for the newer stuff since so much of it doesn't interest me. Fortunately, I've got a friend who's a lot more open than I, and spends most of his monthly paycheck checking out new comics, books and graphic novels, making sure that nothing that might be good slips by! The gret thing about this is that whenever he comes across something he feels I'd like, he buys a copy for me and ships it over. I try to reimburse him, but he always refuses any sort of reward, and just digs the fact that I liked what he sent! Thanks to him, I'm kept "in the loop" of current comics, at least in a small way!
So anyway, this past summer he came to visit, and in his suitcase were a handful of new graphic novel collections he was sure that I'd like, and among them was a quirky looking book called ATOMIC ROBO by Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener.that he said was "fun in the vein of those old Marshal Law comics you liked so much" I skeptically perused one book, and whaddaya know- he was right- this comic was freakin' HILARIOUS!
Atomic Robo tells the tale of a fictional robot created in the 1930s by Famous Scientist Nikola Tesla who uses his powers, connections and super intellect to battles against Commies, Nazis, Aliens, dinosaurs and beings form other dimensions, all with wit and aplomb. The strip follows his eclectic adventures throughout the years, from the noir-ish 30's to the gritty World War II stories, to the Sci-Fi 60's and 70's and the high-tech present day! One whole Century of Atomic Robo kickassedness!
There was so much stuff going on, one of the things I love about it is the "little things" put in it that I totally "get": Having Thomas Edison as the arrogant Arch-enemy of the sombre Tesla had me chuckling as I read it, and as a guy who totally dug Carl Sagan growing up, having the scientist appear as Atomic Robo's adventure PARTNER kickin' alien butts ROCKED THE HOUSE!!!
At the time, the only copies my friend could find for me were books 2 and 4, but reading the books out of order didn't hinder my enjoyment of it at all, and since then, I've gone on to collect the rest of this wonderful series and look forward to each new installment! Who knows what my friend will be turning me onto NEXT?
