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Atomic Robo #4-6
Atomic Robo: The Crystals Are Integral Collection
In this runway model handsome collection Robo and his team of Action Scientists clash with secret government agencies, battle extra-dimensional vampires, and learn lessons in TRUE friendship. Collects Other Strangeness, The Deadly Art of Science, and The Ghost of Station X for your reading pleasure. Winkey-Face Emoticon. Hashtag-The-Kids-Get-It.
420 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2016
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36 people want to read
About the author
Brian Clevinger
226 books94 followersBrian 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 27, 2020
This collection consists or volumes 4, 5, and 6. Volume 4 are mostly stand alone stories. Robo's feud with Stephen Hawking is hysterical. Volume 5 is a story from Robo's time with Nikola Tesla. A Green Hornet type figure takes Robo under his wing for some pulpy adventure. Volume 6 has the team facing an unknown opponent. One of the things I love about this series is Robo's interactions with real-life scientists.
July 7, 2016
Atomic Robo and friends return in this second triple volume from IDW, collecting Other Strangeness, The Deadly Art of Science, The Ghost of Station X, and two years of Free Comic Book Day stories.
Other Strangeness seems initially to be disconnected stories a little like Robo's first mini-series, but characters and occurrences here reappear in the next two series too, plus it's nice to get some background on Dr. Dinosaur and Thomas Edison.
Deadly Art of Science is perhaps Robo's first true adventure as he deals with a giant robot and a slew of thefts of peculiar objects, whilst Ghost of Station X draws together many of his villains for a clever gambit that has a very unexpected payoff.
Robo's adventures are fun, funny, and fantastically plotted and dialogued by Brian Clevinger, with superb art by Scott Wegener, whose loose style is full of energy, and he manages to wring as much humour out of situations as possible with superb comic timing. His expressions for Robo are especially good, despite Robo not having a mouth or eyebrows or other emotive features bar his eyes.
Other comics wish they could be this much fun.
Other Strangeness seems initially to be disconnected stories a little like Robo's first mini-series, but characters and occurrences here reappear in the next two series too, plus it's nice to get some background on Dr. Dinosaur and Thomas Edison.
Deadly Art of Science is perhaps Robo's first true adventure as he deals with a giant robot and a slew of thefts of peculiar objects, whilst Ghost of Station X draws together many of his villains for a clever gambit that has a very unexpected payoff.
Robo's adventures are fun, funny, and fantastically plotted and dialogued by Brian Clevinger, with superb art by Scott Wegener, whose loose style is full of energy, and he manages to wring as much humour out of situations as possible with superb comic timing. His expressions for Robo are especially good, despite Robo not having a mouth or eyebrows or other emotive features bar his eyes.
Other comics wish they could be this much fun.
July 24, 2019
Alright, NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!
There was a reviewer who stated that this comic improves as the story progresses, but it did not prepare me to have my mind blown! I love it, and I cannot wait for some more!
There was a reviewer who stated that this comic improves as the story progresses, but it did not prepare me to have my mind blown! I love it, and I cannot wait for some more!
August 6, 2018
This was the most fun I have had reading comics in a long time.
January 4, 2020
I had to stay up late to read the next installment to see what happened to Robo and his colleagues. Very enjoyable and fun series.
November 11, 2017
This collection contains stories collected in three Atomic Robo collections: Other Strangeness, The Deadly Art of Science, and the Ghost of Station X.
Other Strangeness contains four stories. Unlike in previous volumes, there's no link at all between them, other than they all happened in 1999.
The first has Robo battling vampiric creatures from another dimension, the second has Robo in Japan teaming up with a group of sorta Power Rangerish kids to battle monsters. The third story is the best with Robo battling Doctor Dinosaur, by far my favorite villain. A super genius dinosaur full of implausibility. It's absolutely awesome. This story is probably my favorite Atomic robo chapter.
The final of the four stories has Robo facing a ghost from the past, an archenemy he defeated long ago.
The second book, The Deadly Art of Science is set during the 1930s and finds Robo joining forces with a reluctant mystery man (ala the Green Hornet) and his daughter in his vigilante search. However, Tesla doesn't approve but young Robo is ready to assert himself...and falling in love. I liked this story. There's plenty of humor. I also think it takes a better take than some other Robo books which have portrayed him as having almost the same personality and view of the world regardless of how old he is. Here, Clevinger gives a young robo a slightly mature more impetuous take on the world with love for pulp fiction.
The final book, The Ghost of Station has modern day Robo going into space to save astronauts only to get blown him. He's set on the course of a mystery and an international conspiracy. This one isn't bad and has some good action, but I think it's off tonally a bit. The story seems to be too serious and to take itself too seriously and when your story's about an 80 year old robot whose CEO of his own company that's not a great idea. Still, it's not bad, but it could have been better with more humor.
The book also includes two Free Comic Book Day giveaways. The 2009 FCBD story is about Robo and team hunting for a nearly extinct bird in the rain forest. This story's okay, but not specacular.
The 2010 FCBD book finds Robo judging a Science fair when an old enemy emerges. This one is a lot of fun and manages to feature a "girls in science" message without being obnoxious. The story is hilarious, particularly the enemy. Overall, it's just a really fun ride, and one of the better FCBD stories I've ever read.
Overall, this is an enjoyable collection with the World's greatest atomic robot. Definitely worth reading.
Other Strangeness contains four stories. Unlike in previous volumes, there's no link at all between them, other than they all happened in 1999.
The first has Robo battling vampiric creatures from another dimension, the second has Robo in Japan teaming up with a group of sorta Power Rangerish kids to battle monsters. The third story is the best with Robo battling Doctor Dinosaur, by far my favorite villain. A super genius dinosaur full of implausibility. It's absolutely awesome. This story is probably my favorite Atomic robo chapter.
The final of the four stories has Robo facing a ghost from the past, an archenemy he defeated long ago.
The second book, The Deadly Art of Science is set during the 1930s and finds Robo joining forces with a reluctant mystery man (ala the Green Hornet) and his daughter in his vigilante search. However, Tesla doesn't approve but young Robo is ready to assert himself...and falling in love. I liked this story. There's plenty of humor. I also think it takes a better take than some other Robo books which have portrayed him as having almost the same personality and view of the world regardless of how old he is. Here, Clevinger gives a young robo a slightly mature more impetuous take on the world with love for pulp fiction.
The final book, The Ghost of Station has modern day Robo going into space to save astronauts only to get blown him. He's set on the course of a mystery and an international conspiracy. This one isn't bad and has some good action, but I think it's off tonally a bit. The story seems to be too serious and to take itself too seriously and when your story's about an 80 year old robot whose CEO of his own company that's not a great idea. Still, it's not bad, but it could have been better with more humor.
The book also includes two Free Comic Book Day giveaways. The 2009 FCBD story is about Robo and team hunting for a nearly extinct bird in the rain forest. This story's okay, but not specacular.
The 2010 FCBD book finds Robo judging a Science fair when an old enemy emerges. This one is a lot of fun and manages to feature a "girls in science" message without being obnoxious. The story is hilarious, particularly the enemy. Overall, it's just a really fun ride, and one of the better FCBD stories I've ever read.
Overall, this is an enjoyable collection with the World's greatest atomic robot. Definitely worth reading.
June 14, 2018
Undead Thomas Edison. A small lizard creature who, probably falsely, claims to be a time-travelling velociraptor called Dr. Dinosaur. A mid-century vigilante who knows that the root of "vigilante" means "to wait". Nosferatu who neither sparkle, nor try to seduce anyone. Kaiju. Bad-ass Tesla vs. Einstein in a battle of currents. Space travel (but not very far).
"The Crystals Are Integral", a Dr. Dinosaur quote, is the run of comics when I fell in love with the Atomic Robo series. The previous arcs played with narrative flow in an interesting, if incosistent pattern. In this volume you get three solid stories. Each volume is told mostly chronologically, with an occasional flashback. But the three arcs call-forward to each other, as volume two clearly takes place before volume onem and volume three is much later. It's kind of a cool way to see characters progress, as early Robo is Super Annoying (but not in a way that you don't want to keep reading his adventures).
Clevinger does a fantastic job with making his characters more than just quip-factories, a skill he didn't have yet in the first volume. And the call-forwards (it's a call back told out of order) are just fun to read.
I recommend this for people looking for an all-age appropriate science adventure book, Tesla fans, people who hate all things DC (comics, the United States capitol, the energy source, Dick Clark, the Disney Channel, etc.), comic readers who know that Jurassic Park is a factual mess but love it anyway, people who like fun.
"The Crystals Are Integral", a Dr. Dinosaur quote, is the run of comics when I fell in love with the Atomic Robo series. The previous arcs played with narrative flow in an interesting, if incosistent pattern. In this volume you get three solid stories. Each volume is told mostly chronologically, with an occasional flashback. But the three arcs call-forward to each other, as volume two clearly takes place before volume onem and volume three is much later. It's kind of a cool way to see characters progress, as early Robo is Super Annoying (but not in a way that you don't want to keep reading his adventures).
Clevinger does a fantastic job with making his characters more than just quip-factories, a skill he didn't have yet in the first volume. And the call-forwards (it's a call back told out of order) are just fun to read.
I recommend this for people looking for an all-age appropriate science adventure book, Tesla fans, people who hate all things DC (comics, the United States capitol, the energy source, Dick Clark, the Disney Channel, etc.), comic readers who know that Jurassic Park is a factual mess but love it anyway, people who like fun.
March 16, 2025
Have you ever wondered what it would look like if you combined humor and the action genre into a single comic book? Then look no further, because I present to you Atomic Robo The Crystals Are Integral Collection. From Atomic Robo fighting a very green ghost to even a talking dinosaur, the Robot fueled by atomics goes through an adventure taking him from continent to continent. Although if you ask me it could have been perfect if it weren't for the inconsistency of finishing chapters before jumping to a whole new chapter before returning to it and completing it.
However despite the general issue I have with the book jumping from chapter to chapter without completing the previous one. it's actually quite clever if you ask me, since it keep you on edge, leaving you pondering as to what happens next since when it does cut off and go to a different part of the book it's usually right before a big fight's about to happen, or just as Atomic Robo is about to get caught off guard. But overall it's an amazing book despite some of the issues I have with it.
However despite the general issue I have with the book jumping from chapter to chapter without completing the previous one. it's actually quite clever if you ask me, since it keep you on edge, leaving you pondering as to what happens next since when it does cut off and go to a different part of the book it's usually right before a big fight's about to happen, or just as Atomic Robo is about to get caught off guard. But overall it's an amazing book despite some of the issues I have with it.
November 19, 2020
Rereading Atomic Robo is an absolute Saturday-morning-cartoon delight, and it's even more fun in volume two, with Robo having a bit more established history to draw from. His alternate universe revels in geeky, weird, fantastic science without apologies, and it's glorious.
If I could ask for anything more, it would be more Jenkins (who doesn't want more Jenkins?) and to better round out some of the women in his crew, though I do really appreciate the diversity. And it took a long time to get to the Free Comic Book Day with Doctor Dino - few characters make me laugh quite like him.
If I could ask for anything more, it would be more Jenkins (who doesn't want more Jenkins?) and to better round out some of the women in his crew, though I do really appreciate the diversity. And it took a long time to get to the Free Comic Book Day with Doctor Dino - few characters make me laugh quite like him.
August 22, 2019
More Atomic Robo goodness, featuring mostly shorter stories across the timeline (a way Clevinger keeps things fresh and interesting). Touching on the Robo's early days, and some of his old enemies (particularly the introduction of the incredible Dr. Dinosaur), and kicking matters off for the "current time" saga (followed up further in the next volume), there's a ton of pulpy, adventure science fun here.
August 2, 2018
Laugh out loud funny. Mostly about Tesla and Edison's rivalry, but there's some Turing in there too. Felt kinda like Hellboy with Squirrel Girl's humor.
Read
May 15, 2021I just couldn't get into this series.
March 30, 2016
I guess I just couldn't stay away from this series for too long! ATOMIC ROBO: THE CRYSTALS ARE INTEGRAL COLLECTION picks up where the last collection ended. It groups Volumes 4, 5, and 6 of the ATOMIC ROBO series together and provides at least 15 more issues of zany ridiculousness for readers to enjoy. While this collection was every bit as fantastic as the last, this review will be a smaller one because a lot of the things I mentioned in my review of THE EVERYTHING EXPLODES COLLECTION are pretty much the same here. While still hardly a masterpiece in any respect, I did find myself enjoying this set of volumes that much more than I did the last for a couple of key reasons.
CHARACTERS
One area that this collection steps it up in is with the characters. Robo is as great as ever, but we get to see more of Jenkins! I don't know why this badass is so amazing. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he can wear a full samurai warrior getup during a mission briefing, then change into his commando gear for the mission and not have ANYONE make even the slightest remark about it. It could also be that he can massacre a room full of vampires from another dimension without breaking a sweat. Whatever the case, he's the man and he gets a whole lot more love in these volumes.
There's also a vigilante who wears a mask that makes 0 sense, a woman heartsick for Robo, a descendant of Sparrow, and other wacky allies for readers to enjoy and chuckle over. Even better than these though are the absurd villains that show up. Chief among them is a talking velociraptor who is also a self-proclaimed scientist. The best part about him is that he wields semi-automatics! He's ridiculous in the best kind of way as are villains like a genocidal AI, giant mutant chickens, and more killer robots.
WORLD/SETTING
The setting is probably about what fans of this series would expect by this point. There's a good mix of different types of scenery from urban sprawls, space ships, jungles, and exotic laboratories. As with the previous collection, these also appear in a nice sampling of different points in time.
PLOT/TONE
The story line(s) this time around aren't really any more intelligible than they were before. Somehow, they're just more lavishly ridiculous. This collection also follows a similar patter as the last with the first two volumes being pretty random for the most part and the third telling a more focused narrative. No one plot point felt like it was overused at all and the fact that the characters were more memorable made their respective story arcs that much more of a joy to read through. One thing to note is that the transition between issues didn't feel as abrupt as it did last time even when they switch from one point in time to another. This may be because each story beat feels a little more wrapped up as opposed to just cut off like they sometimes were in the previous collection. Overall, this is just another very enjoyable series of (mis)adventures.
ARTWORK
This category remains unchanged from my review of the previous collection. The cartoony line art is still charming and the coloring is still vibrant and full of depth.
CONCLUSION
If you haven't liked the series thus-far, then these volumes probably won't do much to sway you. If you are a fan though, then you will not only get more fun with Robo in this collection, but also a set of three volumes that manage to surpass those that came before them. Pleasing visuals, tongue-in-cheek humor, and highly implausible stories are all still the main attractions and they are now complimented with a few extra perks. If you do nothing else, pick up VOLUME 4 at the very least. That's where you get the most Jenkins as well as the glorious debut of Dr. Dino. This series is an absolute blast and I think I will definitely be reading more of Robo's adventures in the future!
CHARACTERS
One area that this collection steps it up in is with the characters. Robo is as great as ever, but we get to see more of Jenkins! I don't know why this badass is so amazing. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he can wear a full samurai warrior getup during a mission briefing, then change into his commando gear for the mission and not have ANYONE make even the slightest remark about it. It could also be that he can massacre a room full of vampires from another dimension without breaking a sweat. Whatever the case, he's the man and he gets a whole lot more love in these volumes.
There's also a vigilante who wears a mask that makes 0 sense, a woman heartsick for Robo, a descendant of Sparrow, and other wacky allies for readers to enjoy and chuckle over. Even better than these though are the absurd villains that show up. Chief among them is a talking velociraptor who is also a self-proclaimed scientist. The best part about him is that he wields semi-automatics! He's ridiculous in the best kind of way as are villains like a genocidal AI, giant mutant chickens, and more killer robots.
WORLD/SETTING
The setting is probably about what fans of this series would expect by this point. There's a good mix of different types of scenery from urban sprawls, space ships, jungles, and exotic laboratories. As with the previous collection, these also appear in a nice sampling of different points in time.
PLOT/TONE
The story line(s) this time around aren't really any more intelligible than they were before. Somehow, they're just more lavishly ridiculous. This collection also follows a similar patter as the last with the first two volumes being pretty random for the most part and the third telling a more focused narrative. No one plot point felt like it was overused at all and the fact that the characters were more memorable made their respective story arcs that much more of a joy to read through. One thing to note is that the transition between issues didn't feel as abrupt as it did last time even when they switch from one point in time to another. This may be because each story beat feels a little more wrapped up as opposed to just cut off like they sometimes were in the previous collection. Overall, this is just another very enjoyable series of (mis)adventures.
ARTWORK
This category remains unchanged from my review of the previous collection. The cartoony line art is still charming and the coloring is still vibrant and full of depth.
CONCLUSION
If you haven't liked the series thus-far, then these volumes probably won't do much to sway you. If you are a fan though, then you will not only get more fun with Robo in this collection, but also a set of three volumes that manage to surpass those that came before them. Pleasing visuals, tongue-in-cheek humor, and highly implausible stories are all still the main attractions and they are now complimented with a few extra perks. If you do nothing else, pick up VOLUME 4 at the very least. That's where you get the most Jenkins as well as the glorious debut of Dr. Dino. This series is an absolute blast and I think I will definitely be reading more of Robo's adventures in the future!
November 18, 2016
Enjoyable, with fun science-y references. I liked the 5th volume "Man with Two Skulls" best because it had the most emotional heft of the three volumes in this collection. And that's my reservaton with Atomic Robo. I haven't quite connected with the characters in a way that drives me to learn more about them. But since this is my first exposure to Atomic Robo, I will reserve final judgement on that until I read the first three volumes (the store was out of copies of it and I was on vacation so wasn't able to wait around for more, or I would have started there).
January 1, 2017
One of the finest comics of my lifetime.
August 22, 2017
I love Robo. The stories are engaging, the characters feel real and I just cannot say enough about how much I love this series.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews