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dantastic's review
3.0
Atomic Robo: The Everything Explodes collection is a collection of the first three Atomic Robo collections: Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne, Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War, and Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time.
Since I'm a fan of robots and this thing has been nominated for numerous awards, I decided to take the plunge once I found it cheaply enough.
I love the artwork and the concept. Atomic Robo was created by Tesla in the early 20th century and has been fighting Nazis and supernatural menaces ever since. The artwork reminds me of Chew with a more science fiction bend and suits the tales very much.
I enjoyed the book at times but it felt very shallow for the most part. All the quips by Atomic Robo and his scientist chums robbed the stories of a lot of the sense of threat or urgency. The humor took away from the stories a lot of times, in my opinion.
The Shadow from Beyond Time saved the rest of the collection from a two-star rating and showed me what the series could be. Atomic Robo vs. a Lovecraftian beastie who exists simultaneously in four time periods? Damn right! With Charles Fort and HPL as characters? Double damn right! I also liked seeing Atomic Robo interacting with Carl Sagan and his rivalry with Stephen Hawking.
While I didn't see what all the fuss was about, I thought the Shadow From Beyond Time was great. Atomic Robo is a fun adventure pulp character with a lot of potential. While I wasn't in love with most of this collection, I'll be reading more Atomic Robo adventures in the future. Three out of five stars.
Since I'm a fan of robots and this thing has been nominated for numerous awards, I decided to take the plunge once I found it cheaply enough.
I love the artwork and the concept. Atomic Robo was created by Tesla in the early 20th century and has been fighting Nazis and supernatural menaces ever since. The artwork reminds me of Chew with a more science fiction bend and suits the tales very much.
I enjoyed the book at times but it felt very shallow for the most part. All the quips by Atomic Robo and his scientist chums robbed the stories of a lot of the sense of threat or urgency. The humor took away from the stories a lot of times, in my opinion.
The Shadow from Beyond Time saved the rest of the collection from a two-star rating and showed me what the series could be. Atomic Robo vs. a Lovecraftian beastie who exists simultaneously in four time periods? Damn right! With Charles Fort and HPL as characters? Double damn right! I also liked seeing Atomic Robo interacting with Carl Sagan and his rivalry with Stephen Hawking.
While I didn't see what all the fuss was about, I thought the Shadow From Beyond Time was great. Atomic Robo is a fun adventure pulp character with a lot of potential. While I wasn't in love with most of this collection, I'll be reading more Atomic Robo adventures in the future. Three out of five stars.
sunscour's review
5.0
This was such a fun read.... Loved Jenkins... and the art is amazing, so much expression in two round blue eyes.
jazzypizzaz's review
One of those where my subjective experience is clearly different than an "objective" rating of quality. Pretty pictures, humorous, and I'm sure great fun and excitement if you're into it, but it's simply not my thing. (Hoss owns a hard copy, so I figured I'd peruse.)
sizrobe's review
5.0
This comic rather pleasantly reminded me of Hellboy. Instead of a demon punching Nazis and Lovecraftian horrors, it's a robot punching Nazis and Lovecraftian horrors. It's pretty funny. It's written by the guy responsible for 8 Bit Theater, which I've heard of but never read because I was turned off by the videogame sprite art.
crookedtreehouse's review
3.0
"A robot designed and built by Nikola Tesla fights evil with science and punching" is the briefest description I use to sell this book. This IDW volume is a repackaging of the first three Atomic Robo trades, originally released by Red 5 Comics. I find the three volumes contained in this to be of highly variable quality, so I'll review them in the format I read them.
Atomic Robo Volume 1: Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne: A series of stories told in a constantly shifting, but easy to follow narrative, we see Atomic Robo and his fellow adventure scientists battle Nazis, a brain in a jar, a steampunk powered pyramid, scientifically impossible giant ants, and boredom. The creators are clearly finding their footing in this volume, but I enjoyed keeping track of the characters explaining how various sci-fi tropes defy the laws of physics whilst battling said tropes. The dialog is fun, and [a:Scott Wegener|1922044|Scott Wegener|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s art is a perfect match for Clevinger's goofy adventure story.
Atomic Robo Volume 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War is more linear, and more World War II focused. It's also fun, but it shows some of Clevinger's faults more clearly than volume one. There isn't a lot of character development, or, really, any depth to any of the characters. When you're shifting from year to year, and adventure to adventure, you don't have time to focus on the lack of interesting characters. But there's still some great art and fun dialog.
Atomic Robo Volume 3: Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time returns us to non-linear storytelling, but this time it's because HP Loecraft is a monster unbound by time. I found myself skipping through this story. It's a neat conceit but lacking consistent pacing, and the dialog isn't as strong. It drags the whole collection rom four starts to three.
I recommend this to people looking for what Clevinger and Wegner themselves call "Hellboy Lite", for fans of silly adventures with self-aware dialog and plotting, people who think robots are the bee's knees, and people who mutter "horsefeathers" when they get upset.
Atomic Robo Volume 1: Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne: A series of stories told in a constantly shifting, but easy to follow narrative, we see Atomic Robo and his fellow adventure scientists battle Nazis, a brain in a jar, a steampunk powered pyramid, scientifically impossible giant ants, and boredom. The creators are clearly finding their footing in this volume, but I enjoyed keeping track of the characters explaining how various sci-fi tropes defy the laws of physics whilst battling said tropes. The dialog is fun, and [a:Scott Wegener|1922044|Scott Wegener|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s art is a perfect match for Clevinger's goofy adventure story.
Atomic Robo Volume 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War is more linear, and more World War II focused. It's also fun, but it shows some of Clevinger's faults more clearly than volume one. There isn't a lot of character development, or, really, any depth to any of the characters. When you're shifting from year to year, and adventure to adventure, you don't have time to focus on the lack of interesting characters. But there's still some great art and fun dialog.
Atomic Robo Volume 3: Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time returns us to non-linear storytelling, but this time it's because HP Loecraft is a monster unbound by time. I found myself skipping through this story. It's a neat conceit but lacking consistent pacing, and the dialog isn't as strong. It drags the whole collection rom four starts to three.
I recommend this to people looking for what Clevinger and Wegner themselves call "Hellboy Lite", for fans of silly adventures with self-aware dialog and plotting, people who think robots are the bee's knees, and people who mutter "horsefeathers" when they get upset.
sailsgoboom's review
One of those where my subjective experience is clearly different than an "objective" rating of quality. Pretty pictures, humorous, and I'm sure great fun and excitement if you're into it, but it's simply not my thing. (Hoss owns a hard copy, so I figured I'd peruse.)
briarglade's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Fun, with great dynamic art, but not the thing for me. There was a lot of potential in the character of Atomic Robo, but after three volumes I still felt like I had only seen teases of it. Other characters in the comic often felt extremely shallowly characterized. If you just want to see a robot punching some monsters or whatever, this definitely has that! But I enjoy my robot comics to have dynamic characters and evolving relationships, so I don't think I'll be reading more Atomic Robo.
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