“You. But. You. Jetpack! Girl!”
What They Say:
It’s called The Flying She-Devils of the Pacific. If there’s another combination of English words that could better sell you on a comic book than those, it probably involves ‘give you’ and ‘a million dollars.’
Creators:
Writer: Brian Clevinger
Artist: Scott Wegener
The Review:
This is going to come as a shock, but I love comics. I’ve read them since I was eight years old and some of my fondest memories involve sharing the latest issue of Marvel Tales or Classic X-Men with my dad. The opportunity to write reviews about them has provided a great outlet for my joy in this medium and there are times when I lean toward the hyperbolic. There are amazing creators out there publishing incredible works in both the big companies like Marvel and DC and in smaller, independent presses, but none have quite captured the fun and magic of the medium as Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener have with their series Atomic Robo. They aren’t kidding when they call this “The World’s Greatest Science Adventure Magazine!”
Atomic Robo was created by Nikola Tesla in 1923. Over the years he has been a soldier, an entrepreneur, scientist, and explorer. He owns and manages Tesladyne, the world’s foremost action science research corporation devoted to the exploration of the universe and the general benefit of humankind. When there’s a mystery or a threat spawned by weird science, Robo and his action scientists are on the scene with humor, violence, and science.
Team Robo takes the Mignola approach to comics—instead of putting out a monthly comic year round, they publish their stories in volumes. This means that you may only get five issues of Atomic Robo a year as opposed to the twelve issues of Batman or the twenty-four issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but the upside to this model is that the stories tend to be more tightly constructed with a great focus and less filler. And this one is no different.
Volume seven takes place in 1951 in the South Pacific. World War II ended six years ago, but people from both sides of the conflict still hide and fight among the countless tiny islands that dot the area. Robo stumbles into this secret war while testing a prototype jet fighter (“My tombstone will say, ‘Put guns on the prototypes!’”). A battalion of robotic drones attack his plane, but he’s saved by a group of fliers using jetpacks. He crashes on a beach and when he meets his rescuers he’s shocked that they are “girls.” These girls turn out to be the Flying She-Devils, a group of “ethical” pirates taking advantage of the equipment, air strips, fuel depots, and ammo and supply caches left behind by both the American and Japanese fleets after the end of the war. The She-Devils are made up of women who volunteered to help with the war effort, but once the war ended they decided to stay in the South Pacific because of the freedom it afforded them. Returning to America meant a return to traditional gender roles, and they weren’t having that.
One of the reasons why Atomic Robo is such a great comic (and this volume is no different) is that it’s just so much fun to read. The title deals with big, silly science concepts that typically belong on some B movie shown on USA around three in the morning, but it does so with humor, honesty, and empathy. Just the idea of “action scientists” makes me smile. Robo, obviously is what holds it all together. He’s funny and brilliant and fully aware that the situations he finds himself in are absurd. This doesn’t mean that Robo mugs for the audience or knowingly winks in a “gee folks, isn’t this crazy?” sort of way. That type of ironic self-consciousness would never work here because it ultimately shows a lack of respect for the material or the audience. It’s the difference between having fun with the genre and making fun of the genre.
A great deal of this praise goes to Brian Clevinger for his great scripts; natural, humorous dialogue; and excellent characterization, but Scott Wegener also deserves recognition. It’s nearly impossible to imagine an Atomic Robo story not drawn by him. His fluid, cartoony style perfectly fits the tone and his pacing and panel placement for action scenes is excellent. The amount of humanity he manages to impart to a character that has no facial features other than two large eyes is amazing.
Another reason why the Mignola approach (for lack of a better term) works so well is that each new volume represents a new jumping-on point for new readers. A reader could come to Atomic Robo: The Flying She-Devils of the Pacific completely unfamiliar of the character and find the basic information needed to enjoy this on the inside of the cover. To say that all comics should be like Atomic Robo would be a disservice to the breadth of stories and styles that the genre contains, but boy would I love to see more like it. While not every story needs to have humor, I think that empathy and honesty are components to any good tale, and Atomic Robo has that in spades.
This attitude is reflected in Team Robo’s Promise. As stated on atomic-robo.com, Team Robo promises: no angst, no “cheesecake,” no reboots, no filler, no delays (that they have control over). That kind of dedication to one’s art is rare and should be rewarded.
In Summary:
Atomic Robo is one of the best comics being published today. It has wit, empathy, and honesty and more comics should strive to reach the level of excellence Team Robo achieves. As this is the first issue of the new volume, it is a perfect jumping-on point for new readers. Robo encounters a group of American women who have gone AWOL from the Navy after the end of World War II to be “ethical” sky pirates in the South Pacific. Like other Atomic Robo stories, this issue mixes great characterization with action and weird super-science. This is absolutely recommended.
Grade: A+
