Atomic Robo #3
Written by Brian Clevinger
Art by Scott Wegener
Colors by Ronda Pattison and Lawrence Basso
Letters by Jeff Powell
Red 5 Comics
Cover price: $2.95; On sale: Dec. 12, 2007

I’ll call this a review in two parts, as I’m not sure if it was meant to end on the cliffhanger it did, or if there was just a problem with the preview copy I got. As it stands, if the preview copy is the same as what will be released to stores, then there’s a fairly big problem. If not, I’ll post a correction. That’s just how serious I am about this business.

This issue picks up from the end of the last issue, although has a more linear story. It is Robo verses a rampaging pyramid and its expected protectors, mummies. This issue does its best to give us more information on Robo’s sidekicks, the Action Scientists. Writer Brian Clevinger does a good job giving us the basics of their personalities, there’s only one problem — I don’t know any of their names. It’s just a little problem, but while the writer may be familiar with the characters, we readers are brand new to them. Out of the five scientists shown here, only three of them are named and only once for each of them. If the point of the issue is to explore the personality of these characters, names help.

The other major problem with the issue is the ending. The preview copy I have just kind of comes to a stop, and then jumps into a back up story. It’s very weird, but again, I’m holding off on final judgment till I read my physical copy. The back up story is a nice addition though, as the story keeps the same tone, but the art is a very different style. Artist Joshua Ross has a much more detailed style than the regular artist and makes for a nice contrast to the lead story.

Regular artist Scott Wegener does his usual good job, although there are again a few odd panels that break of the flow of the story. This issue makes for a bit of a change of pace for him, since there’s a lot more talking and less action. He does a good job of keeping up the energy during the dialog scenes. His faces could use a bit more detail, but that’s more of a nitpick on my part.

So is this issue as good as the first two? I’d say it’s as good as the first one, but not quite as good as the second. I really enjoyed the wall-to-wall action of the first one, and this one went a bit too far with the dialog and not enough mummy fighting action. I can see the point of the issue was to explore the side characters some, but it didn’t really do that good a job of it. Again, I’ll give a final review later, but if you enjoyed the first few or if you’re looking for a great new series with some great action, give this a try.