Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures, Vol. 1

Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #1

by Brian Clevinger, John Broglia (Illusstrator)

The untold tales of Atomic Robo are, uh, told! At last! Featuring Dr. Dinosaur, Sparrow, Nikola Tesla, Bruce Lee, monsters, commie bots, comic shop owners, and more!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comics Manga

120 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2012

About the author

Brian Clevinger is best known as the author of the most popular sprite webcomic, and one of the most popular webcomics overall, 8-Bit Theater. He is also the author of the self-published novel Nuklear Age. Clevinger has recently received attention for his Eisner-nominated print comic Atomic Robo.

Claiming that his "favorite comics are the ones where the jokes are on the reader," Clevinger is an expert in using anti-climax, interface alterations, and the occasional false ending to play with the reader's expectations. It is a testament to both his sense of humor and his writing skills that these "jokes on the reader" are usually beloved by his fanbase.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of fun short stories.

I usually hate these 4, 8 and 12-page tales - small enough not to build up any momentum, fun or payoff. And not all of these stories pay off - in fact, they leave us hanging more often than not.

Is that why I liked them more than say early Hellboy? Or is it that I have more invested in the Robo-verse, and any scrap of the outlandish adventures is just feeding into my already-cultish loyalty to Clevinger's imagination?

I liked the long stories best - Bruce Lee, female WW2 spies - and oddly liked the first Dr. Dinosaur story second-to-last (next to the one story where I finally didn't have a clue what happened).

Loved the second Dr. Dinosaur. Not as much as previous appearances but the folks who got this one on Free Comic Book Day must've been thrilled.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy this series. But this collection of shorts felt really disjointed to me.

[Peter Derk · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were hit and miss and maybe a little short. But then I decided to read them on the toilet. The new venue really took advantage of the short nature of the stories.

I'll stop there. Getting any more literary than that while talking about robot comics I read on the shitter just seems stupid.

Don't worry, this is a book that I own, not a library book.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a few good ones in here, but most of the stories were barely ok, and a lot of them felt unfinished.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reliably entertaining collection of short stories, although some have been collected or released elsewhere, like the two Dr. Dinosaur stories. It's a nice way to flesh out the world of Atomic Robo as well as put a spotlight on great characters like the Sparrow. A few of the stories seem a little too short, though, and they don't have much impact beyond "Well, that happened." Or even "Well, that started to happen." But, really, any book in which Atomic Robo trains with Bruce Lee is an automatic win.

[Brian Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The scattered nature of the stories in this make it the weakest of the Robo stories so far. They are vignettes and snapshots that are mostly chances for other artists to work on Robo stories. Some of these are great, some of them are just commentary on the comics industry, some of them are incomprehensible unless you've read the B-Story that they continue. If you're a Robo fan it's a good read but don't start here.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of backup stories and vignettes from other Atomic Robo sources, this is all fun stuff, if a bit scattered and uneven. (The Dr. Dinosaur material is always my favorite.)

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[A. Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review on August 26, 2014
I re-read this because I'd picked up volume 2 and I enjoyed it much better than the first time. Partially because I had a better idea of what to expect (coming off the Robo graphic novels, this one's disappointing with its short, disjointed storylines). Now, there are still some of the stories that I don't fully understand because they tried to tell too much story in too little space (both panel and text) but there were some that had me laughing out loud. I don't remember having such a strong, positive reaction the first time. So it was nice to have it with this reread.

Definitely more fun when you know what you're getting into. And, as always, the Tesla story was great and lead nicely into volume 2 of the Real Science Adventures (but we'll talk about that during the view for that one).

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Review on December 12, 2012.
I picked up one issue of this volume the last time I was at Paradise Comics and I didn't really love it. I felt the same way about this volume. There are some brilliant, shining moments (Dr Dinosaur!) and some great stories exploring different characters (Sparrow makes me happy) but at the same time, there are stories that confused me.

I think this collection could have been wonderful if there were fewer, but longer stories. It's a fun read for fans of the Atomic Robo series but just be aware that you might be disappointed with parts of it. I was.

[Gary Hoggatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures (Volume 1) is the first installment in a new anthology series featuring Atomic Robo in a variety of short adventures. Unlike the usual Atomic Robo graphic novel, you'll find no overarching story here, but instead, thirteen different short stories. Overall, the 2012 collection is fun, but lacks the punch of a unified story.

Usual Robo writer and creator Brian Clevinger returns for the scripting duties, and a cavalcade of guests artists provide the art, with usual Robo artist and Scott Wegener providing only the individual issue and TPB covers. The stories are all fun. A few were just too short, though - like three pages short. Still, the longer stories are well done and have the usual Robo depth to them. The art is varied, but all the artists deliver good work that fits the tone of the story they illustrate.

My favorites of the stories are the ones featuring Bruce Lee, the Sparrow, Dr. Dinosaur, and Dr. Tesla's Centurions of Science, because, well, look at that list. That's entertainment right there.

Robo fans will enjoy this entry in the Action Science archives. It won't satisfy the hankering that will only be satiated by Volume 7 of the regular series, Flying She-Devils of the Pacific, being released in TPB, but more Robo is always good Robo.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, there were several stories I enjoyed. In particular "To Kill a Sparrow" and the Free Comic Book Day tale were very good. "Tesla's Electric Sky Schooner" was completely fabulous though it could have used more female characters. In a way I wanted an entire volume of that story, but I also think that would be too much of a good thing. (Kind of like how the National Treasure was great but the sequel was terrible.) It was perfect as a short story. "Revenge of Dr. Dinosaur" is short but completely worth it for the final punchline.

The rest was just...eh. "The Dark Age" was a rather pointed swipe at the mainstream comics industry. I agree with the sentiment but it didn't feel like a Robo story. The Bruce Lee story didn't do anything for me, but then I'm not a Bruce Lee fan. The rest of the stories felt like they were intended to tie in to the larger Robo universe, like "See this? This is important! You should know this! This would mean a lot if you had the entire Robo oeuvre memorized." Which I don't. So reading this felt like I was missing out on something half the time, and I didn't enjoy that. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read the other Robo volumes more recently.

[Jukka Kuva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atomic Robo is a little side project of 8-bit theatre creator Brian Clevinger. It features a robot that has human intelligence and is basically impervious to any damage. The short comic series tells some stories from his individual missions. Just like in 8-bit theatre, which I haven't read in quite a while, Clevinger has some trouble creating deep characters that actually have something to say. That doesn't ruin the comic though, since it's focused on action and witty comments and it manages both just fine. Since it looks good too, this makes for a great brainless action comic, maybe the first one I've ever read. Just like watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Objectively it's not that good, but I enjoyed reading it so a good score is deserved.

Recommended as brainless entertainment. Not for fans of art comics.

[Adelaide Metzger · Rating 4 out of 5]

RobotProphet approved.

This Atomic Robo collection is SO GOOD. The character Atomic Robo himself has a satirical personality much like Spiderman. This volume made for a great introduction to the character since I accidentally mistook it for the first volume of the main story.

I’ve noticed that all the emotional, action-packed, creative robot stories that robot fans have been looking for in cinema have been strongly circulating under the radar in distribution through independent makers and comic book writers. This is such a case. I found this pleasant surprise in my local comic book store and I don’t believe that something I fall in love with at first sight is “coincidental”. It found me first.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of several very short stories taking place in the Atomic Robo universe. Atomic Robo does not appear in every story and unfortunately those tend to be the low points. Most of the stories are too short for very much plot or character development. Even the extended stories lack the usual high quality punch of the regular Robo series. Many of the shorts try a little too hard to be poignant instead of action-packed and funny, but then again that's why they're shorts instead of full episodes.

The art is wonderful throughout and it's cool to see different artists' interpretations of Robo.

Of course the Dr. Dinosaur appearances are awesome as usual, even if the punchline to one of the stories is pretty lame.

[Coco · Rating 5 out of 5]

These other stories by other artists in the Atmoic Robo universe were all fun--some a few pages, some longer, some without Robo's appearance at all. Those might have been the most interesting of all, with the world going on without revolving around Robo. Seeing another look at Sparrow, the most dangerous British spy, go up against the Germans with her partner was awesome. There was a sad look at comics in the 90's, when everything was a collector's item, resulting in nothing for Robo to read. Tesla vs. The War Zeppelin was beautiful in artwork. My favorite as usual was the ridiculous appearance of Dr. Dinosaur! He had me fooled. A fun read!

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume overall isn't as strong as the main Atomic Robo series, but it does have some highlights. The story with Bruce Lee was especially good, as Robo trains under Lee and the repartee between the two is Atomic Robo at its best. and the Sparrow issue is also very strong, even in Robo is entirely absent. And the Large Hadron Collider with Dr. Dinosaur is by far the funniest section of the collection (although not quite the funniest Dr. Dinosaur story). Some of the shorts aren't nearly as strong, and there's an indictment of the comic book industry that's a bit heavy handed, but other than that, this is definitely a worthwhile addition to the Atomic Robo collection.

[Tyler Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collections of unconnected stories are always a roller coaster of quality. This volume had about a 75% success rate. There are several fantastic tales, including two with the awesome Dr. Dinosaur. There’s another real-person-cameo, that only causes me reassert my theory that they are major part of what makes Robo a great series, and another tale with a half-dozen historical characters and makes me question that idea. Luckily, the short nature of each story makes it easy to move on after the few bad ones.

[Christopher Mclean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a lot of other short story collections I find this to be very hard to rate. On one hand there are a number of stories which are very entertaining, in particular the "Tesla's Electric Sky Schooner” setting needs to be spun off into it’s own series. On the other hand I felt the majority of stories really failed to hit home.
Overall I felt the good stories were worth continuing on with the series to see if it will become a little more consistent but I'm not hanging out for the next release like normally would for an Atomic Robo volume.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atomic Robo is a fun series for comic lovers, but I think it's especially great for those who aren't already fans of the genre. The writing and characters are cheeky and fun, without having decades upon decades of backstory, inside references, and cross-universe characters to keep track of.

Everything that other mainstream comic series from the Big 2 get wrong making it easy for new readers to get into comics, the Atomic Robo team does right. Good read for kids and adults.

[Cairie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was recommended to me by a fellow librarian and it really was meh. I don't like the issue that makes fun of the Dark Age of comics and how no comic book is light and funny anymore. I mean...what? That isn't even a true statement. Give me a comic book with a story and not some whiney baloney. On the upside, there were a few issues in there that were fun and had cool characters. So two stars it is!

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of shorts and explorations. My only complaint was that it often felt like a follow-up would be forthcoming, and they never were. Many of these vignettes seemed designed to make Robo feel more "human," and while they did that, they often focused on a mixture of regret and mild guilt.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great anthology, featuring Atomic -Robo and various members of his supporting cast.
The stories stretch from his very earliest days to WW2 to the 70's to now and from comedy to quite serious to just plain odd.

A really solid anthology, can't really think of a weak story in the bunch.

[Grg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atomic Robo and Dr. Dinosaur are great characters and I've enjoyed their comics before, but this one seems like a bunch throw away idea picked from the cutting room floor of the regular Atomic Robo series. A few gems among the short stories but mostly blah.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEHOLD! I AM AN ORDINARY REVIEWER!

THIS TOME CONTAINS THE MAGNIFICENT DR DINOSAUR AND HIS ENEMY, ATOMIC HOBO! WITNESS HOW I HAVE MADE HIS NAME AN INSULT!

FIND OUT WHAT HE DOES WHEN HE IS NOT FACING I, DR DINOSAUR!

FROM HELL'S DARK HEART I REVIEW AT THEE!

[Felipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun stories. My favorite was Tesla's Electric Sky Schooner, so many cool characters!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part the stories I liked more than made up for those I found hard to endure. It was also nice seeing different takes on the Robo character and the variety of art work.

[Kevin Gentilcore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atomic Robo is consistently awesome.

[Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better robo trades. Even though it's all guest artists, these stories are really cool and are definitely inviting to new fans

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great comic. Remonds me a lot of Hellboy, but with a Robot investigating all sorts of scientific weirdness. Can't wait to read the next volume.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Some of the stories made no sense to me, mostly the ones that had no frame of reference and Atomic Robo wasn't in the story.