Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, image, jonathan hickman

The Secret At The Heart Of The Manhattan Projects

Published Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:30:38 -0600

Last updated Thu, 08 Mar 2012 01:39:37 -0600

What a very clever first issue of a comic book. Oh don't worry no spoilers here.

I mean there will be scenes from the comic book talked about. But the central twist will not be revealed. I suppose saying that there is a twist is a spoiler in itself, just like in The Sixth Sense, you start looking for one if you know about it. But hell this is a Jonathan Hickman comic, you should be looking for this anyway.

Because what you think this comic is, is a mad science comic? A bit Warren Ellisy, the mad, weird scientific truths that went on behind the Manhattan Project, a bit like Men In Black, a but like Bill And Ted, a bit like Planetary, all the mad weird and wonderful things, imprisoned Albert Einstein, interdimensional portals gathering mythical weaponry, a robot terracotta army, the very literal death by a thousand cuts, madness depicted in a fashion somewhere between Frank Quitely and Carlos Ezquerra from Nick Pitarra. And the staid, insular Robert Oppenheimer being introduced to the strange truth behind it all. You know, lots of fun, very surface-orientated, very silly, and most entertaining. So you get scenes such as this one;

And it's easy to be distracted by such gimmickry as we learn Robert Oppenheimer's rather unfamiliar family history, making him the man he is today. And coping in new ways with the truths he is now learning, and the role he must play.

And then it twists. And suddenly it becomes a very diferent book indeed, and far more exciting. And you realise what this comic is actually going to be about. I'll give you a chance to read it first, before we talk more. But yes, this comic has me. And it's not letting go.

The Manhattan Projects #1 is published today from Image Comics. Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics of London, currently showcasing the Stripped collection in its gallery. More of that later.