Atomic Robo Vol 4 #2 (Red 5 – Clevinger, Wegener, Pattison, Powell)
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.
There might be a new axiom as far comics go… Atomic Robo never ceases to entertain.
Writer Brian Clevinger takes Robo in a new “geeky” direction with the issue – away from the some of the favorite baddies of traditional pulp fans like nazis, dinosaurs and vampires – and toward a more manga-minded crowd. This issue sees giant robots, bio-engineered monstrosities and a brilliant send-up to The Power Rangers.
Robo heads to Japan for a Robotics fair and looks up an old friend, Dr. Yumeno (an assumed send up to Kyūsaku Yumeno, the premier Japanese pulp/sci-fi writer of the early 20th century). This old friend just happens to be the handler for the “Science Team Super Five” – basically the Power Rangers, except each member has 180+ IQ and a few doctorates to their name. Action ensues when Yumeno’s arch-nemesis attacks after a fifteen year hiatus.
All the action, wit and intelligence is still there. Page after page, there isn’t a single frame that I felt was a throwaway or wasted. Now, Robo’s most recent adventures (at least as far as volumes go) seem to be much more light-hearted than where were back in Volume 1, but still vastly enjoyable and falls squarely withing the range of being family-friendly. The art team of Wegener and Pattison once again creates a perfectly fitted environment for Robo to grip the reader’s interest and imagination.
Bottom Line: Atomic Robo… you simply cannot not love this!
This is out today! *Diamond Code*: JAN101086
Issue Grade: Big Atomic A
