COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #3

COMIC BOOK REVIEW:

Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #3 (of 5)

Writer: Brian Clevinger          

Artist: Scott Wegener

Publisher: Red 5 Comics

Reviewer: Andrew Rubio

Review Date: November 26, 2011

Rating: 7 out of 10

I go into Atomic Robo without knowing a thing about the character, concept or setting.  In fact, I believe this is the first Red 5 Comic I've ever read.  I am truly a New Reader. 

Stepping into Issue 3 (of a 5 issue series), I'm at the middle point of the story.  Within the first few pages, I'm given the set up and a sense of what's happened in the previous two issues.  This is good.  I'm not wandering blindly into the story. 

Atomic Robo has been attacked and his team now tries to figure out who was behind it.  Meanwhile, a group of scientists are tackling the mystery of a house being shipped out of the country.  Their investigation intertwines with Atomic Robo's crew as they prepare a surprise assault on Majestic 12's operation.  The story moves quickly with a good set up once the action hits. 

The battle in the second half of the comic plays out nicely.  It manages to be both big and intimate at the same time, focusing on Robo taking down a small army.  This builds to an effective cliffhanger. 

Dialogue is a bit clunky at times with a lot of over-technical explanations of how they solve a problem.  But the story flows well once that's out of the way. 

In the art department, Wegener is very clean and stylized.  The story doesn't get lost panel-to-panel.  His action sequences and layouts are handled very well. 

One issue I had as a new reader: I have no idea who these people are.  There is something like 13 supporting characters and only a couple are called out by name.  They seem like props to move the story along.  The review copy I have may be missing a character breakdown on the inside cover so this may not be an issue with print copies (or regular readers).  This didn't affect the reading of the story. However, I wasn't sure who was a major player and who wasn't. 

Atomic Robo has a Hellboy-ish feel to it.  For me, that automatically set a familiar tone to the series.  The character is likable and worth investigating more.  The book seems like an all-ages title, which helped a newbie like me.  I would feel comfortable picking up the next issue based on this one.

(This Review was originally posted on Impulse Gamer)

Copyright © 2011 by Andrew Rubio