Coming to you straight from Yavin 4 is the latest release from Red 5 – Atomic Robo: Revenge of the Vampire Dimension #2, by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener.
Written: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Jeff Powell
Publication Date: 2010-04-14
Format: Comic, Full Color, 6.5 x 10, Soft Cover, 32 pages
Price: $3.50
Diamond Code: JAN101086
UPC: 811316010566
Japan, 1999. ATOMIC ROBO visits SCIENCE TEAM SUPER GO, the Tesladyne of the East. It’s a perfectly ordinary business trip where nothing incredibly stereotypical like A GIANT MONSTER ATTACK happens. Robo just does some sightseeing. That’s all. Stop thinking about GIANT MONSTER ATTACKS. That’d be silly.
Click behind the cut for my thoughts.
Once again, Atomic Robo proves that this is the comic you should be buying and putting all your trust in. You do like comics, right? That is why you’re here, right?
I’m reminded of a short lived but great comic entitled Nextwave. Nextwave, written by Warren Ellis and arted by Stuart Immonen, was an action adventure tale that focused heavily on the ridiculous and the silly. While reading this issue, I had intensely pleasant flashbacks to the first time I read Nextwave, and it was all highly appropriate and very welcome.
This issue clearly has Clevinger channeling his inner Ellis. The issue is a parody of obvious humorous stereotypes brought on by things like Godzilla and the Power Rangers, and it all reads very well. It’s a very “big” book, and it is a great follow up in the volume 4 series of one-shots that comprise out latest Robo tale. The dialogue this issue is very trademark Robo, and his sarcasm is very welcome. There’s one line especially that had me laughing quite hard – “Whatever you’re saying, I don’t care, because you’re dead.” It’s arguably one of the greatest things to say to someone who had just been shot in the head with a giant rail gun.
Meanwhile, I am absolutely in love with Wegener’s art here. What amazes me is that there is such a clear progression in looking at his art between this issue and previous Robo books. As Robo’s scenes get bigger, Wegener’s art gets better – and these scenes are pretty big. We’re talking biomega giant monsters and robots big here, but they all look wonderful. Not to overdo the Nextwave comparison with this issue, but Wegener is beginning to look more and more like Immonen every day, and that’s an absolutely wonderful thing and I can only hope that Wegener’s name is as known in a year’s time.
All in all, another wonderful issue of Atomic Robo, which is absolutely not surprising. I always look forward to Atomic Robo books because I can always look forward to a great read each time. I can’t think of a bad issue in it’s entire run so far, and I don’t see one in sight.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
