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Review: Atomic Robo And The Flying She-Devils Of The Pacific Issue 1

Published Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:00:53 -0500

Alasdair Stuart writes for Bleeding Cool;

It would be easy to say everything you need to know about Atomic Robo and The Flying She Devils Of The Pacific is contained in the book's title. After all, simply putting the words 'Atomic', 'Robo', 'Flying' and 'She-Devils' in one place reaches some sort of pulp singularity. So, make no mistake, this is a classically designed piece of pulp fiction, with some blisteringly great, gleeful ideas, witty dialogue and a strong narrative drive. There's a robot, there are dogfights and plane crashes, there is a blimp of sorts. If anything aerial makes you even a little tingly, then this is the book for you.

The thing that really makes this book shine, however, is the way Clevinger and Wegener continually unpack everything about the concept. Robo is an artificially intelligent robot created by Nikola Tesla in 1923, to respond to paranormal and scientific emergencies. His adventures pit him against everyone from the Third Reich to Thomas Edison. He's strong, resilient and perpetually running to catch up to the situations he finds himself in. This is the core of the book and Clevinger and Wegener use Robo's responses to bring the reader on board and keep them there. Every Atomic Robo miniseries can function as someone's first because the concept is so pure and well explained and because Robo is a stranger in the story himself, a lot of the time.

That constant accessibility is turned and used to explore the changing times that Robo finds himself living through. His continual, polite, and absolute astonishment at the fact the Flying She-Devils are She-Devils is one of the best running jokes I've seen in a long time and manages to be entertaining without belittling either Robo or the She-Devils themselves. This is a new world, one they're both adapting to and that process of adaptation makes the She-Devils one of the most distinctive supporting casts in a long time. Hazel, the polite rocketeer Robo first encounters is a particular standout, as is Lauren, the She-Devils' genius engineer who's work, scrabbled together from the remains of World War II is gloriously over the top and at the same time weirdly practical. The She-Devils' jetpacks are tight and functional, they fly in full aviator gear including jacks, helmets and goggles and their forward operating base is a seaplane with the wings cut off and replaced by a blimp. It's fantastical design work but the nuts and bolts are on display for all to see, the scraps of an ocean-sized battlefield turned into something rich and strange.

The idea of the post-World War II Pacific as the wild west, explicitly stated in the book, is the big idea the rest of the story happens against. It's also a chance for Wegener to cut loose with one utterly beautiful, tranquil splash page neatly contrasting the balletic, frantic dogfight that opens the issue. Each panel moves the story along and each panel is in lockstep with the script in a way I've rarely seen before. This is a creative team in lockstep and it only makes a good book better.

Atomic Robo is a hugely entertaining series and if anything, this first issue raises the bar. It's fast, dynamic, smart, funny and intricately scripted; a jet pack of a comic waiting to take off. Give it a test run, you won't regret it.

Atomic Robo and The Flying She Devils Of The Pacific Issue 1
Published by Red 5 Comics
Written by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener
$3.50
www.atomic-robo.com

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