(Taken from Goodreads)
“In 1923, Nikola Tesla’s career is in its twilight… until he unveils a robot with automatic intelligence — ATOMIC ROBO! After decades of dealing with all manner of weirdness, Atomic Robo and the so-called Action Scientists of Tesladyne become the go-to defense force against the unexplained! See ROBO take on Nazis, giant ants, clockwork mummies, walking pyramids, Mars, cyborgs, and his nemesis, Baron von Helsingard, in his first trade paperback graphic novel. This edition collects the hard-to-find, sold-out, debut issues of Atomic Robo #1-6, complete with cover gallery, pin-ups, concept sketches, and bonus stories.”
Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne (Atomic Robo #1) by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener★★
Genre: Sci-Fi/Comic Book
Release Date: December 2009
Source: ComiXology – Borrowed
On My Shelf: No
Let’s see, if you don’t want to read my full review of this, I can make this short and sweet for you and save us all a lot of time: This is basically a replica of Hellboy.
I read this because it sounded sort of interesting, and I was in the mood for something I could breeze through quickly. And, well, I breezed through it, that’s for sure. At times I felt that this was a version of Hellboy for middle-grade readers yet there were many parts that felt inappropriate (to an extent) for said reading level, which just confused me, as it made me unsure of what the target audience for this story was.
As I said above, this is basically a knock off of Hellboy. Now, I’m not a huge Hellboy fan (as I always feel like there’s a bit something missing from the comics), and, that being so, I really wasn’t a huge fan of this comic. Atomic Robo is Hellboy. Sarcastic attitude, similar background story, both working reluctantly for a secret government agency that investigates the supernatural…do I need to go on? Even the art style is in the way of wanting to mimic Mignola’s work. Because of this, I immediately felt jaded from about page 2. There’s nothing worse than a watered down version of something you’re already not crazy about.
This story felt especially lacking in the character development. Nobody had a personality, and I honestly cannot remember a single character other than Atomic Robo, and even him it’s very vague and blah as to what I remember. He’s a sarcastic robot, which sounds cool in theory, but in execution it failed miserably.
As for the art, as I mentioned above, it’s in the style of Mike Mignola’s work, and, I believe, is fairly well done. The artwork was by far the best thing about the story. I enjoyed the muted pastel colors and how they affected the story. Sure, it wasn’t much, but it made reading this a bit more interesting.
I want to make something clear before I wrap this review up: I’m not attacking these artists for wanting to create something in the way of Mignola’s work, but there’s a difference between inspired by and copied from. I love reading things inspired by other works. I not-so-much like reading things that are a copy of other works with excruciatingly minimal originality.
Overall, this was a very blah read for me, and I don’t recommend it. Are there worse things out there? God yes. Is this worth settling with? God no. This story was alright, but all in all too forgettable to invest further in.
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