Comic Review: Atomic Robo And The Dawn Of A New Era #1

Atomic Robo And The Dawn Of A New Era #1

IDW Publishing

Writer: Brian Clevinger

Artist: Scott Wegner

If you aren’t familiar with Atomic Robo by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, the basics are this: the titular robot, invented by Nikola Tesla, investigates all manner of threats too strange for conventional science to handle throughout history (giant ants, cyborg noblemen, super-intelligent dinosaurs, dealing with budgetary sponsors, etc) with the help of an elite team of “Action Scientists”.

Basically, it’s Hellboy with more humor and less emotional baggage.

This latest arc opens with Robo personally seeing to the reeducation of an old foe, ALAN—an AI created by Alan Turing—to try and mold him into a force for good. In the meantime, Robo’s former intern tries her hand at mentoring a new generation of Action Scientists, while a strange force brews underground . . .

But don’t expect too much of that in this issue. Much of the issue revolves around Robo’s interactions with the new ALAN, with a few other interactions between the other characters (as well as an introduction to some new ones, like the scientist students), which get a little bogged down by references to prior events. But Clevinger does give the audience a neat lecture, through Robo, about how much modern science to alchemy, so that was neat. Otherwise, the writing serves the story well enough. Characters have distinct voices, the new status quo is established fairly quickly, and—get this—it’s funny.

The art is vibrant and colorful. Scott Wegener has a particular style that lends itself to a series like Robo’s: it’s cartoony and exaggerated enough to match the lighter tone, while also being detailed enough to depict all the super-science with appropriate detail and personality. This issue, though, was a little weaker than usual in terms of line work, especially in the characters. If you’re accustomed to Wegener’s style, though, it won’t be too noticeable.

While this is only the first issue of a new volume, it’s not much of a jumping-on point. Many of the story beats are direct continuations of events in prior volumes, and the older characters aren’t given much in the way of an introduction. The reader is already expected to be familiar with these people and concepts, and if you’ve been following Atomic Robo’s recent volumes, then you should be. However, the premise and character dynamics are easy to pick up on, so it should still hold up.