''Atomic Robo'' is an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series created by ''

8-Bit Theater ''8-Bit Theater'' is a sprite comic created by Brian Clevinger that ran from 2001 to 2010 and consisting of 1,225 pages. It is a sprite comic, meaning the art is mainly taken from pre-existing video game assets. The webcomic was at times one of ...

'' writer

Brian Clevinger Brian Clevinger (born May 7, 1978) is an American writer best known as the author of the webcomic ''8-Bit Theater'' and the Eisner-nominated print comic ''Atomic Robo''. He is also the author of the self-published novel ''Nuklear Age''. Career ...

and artist Scott Wegener, depicting the adventures of the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

character, a self-aware robot built by

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

published by

Red 5 Comics Red 5 is an independent comic book publisher, known for producing a combination of creator-owned and internally developed titles, including their best known title, ''Atomic Robo''. Red 5 was one of the first comics publishers to jump into digital d ...

starting in October 2007. It was nominated in the "Best Limited Series" category of the 2008

Eisner Awards The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

,2008 Eisner Award Nominees Named
(press release),

Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History N ...

, April 14, 2008 won by ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The first six-issue limited series, '' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite,'' was released by Dark Horse Comics betwee ...

''.The 2008 Eisner Awards: 2008 Eisner Award Winners

Comic-Con A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book Fan (person), fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events ...

. Accessed 07 September 2008
Archived
07 September 2008. Colorist Ronda Pattison was also nominated in the "Best Coloring" category subsequently won by Dave Stewart. In April 2012 ''Atomic Robo Volume 6: The Ghost of Station X'' became the second Atomic Robo miniseries to be nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. With the release of Volume 10, Clevinger announced that the collected volumes will no longer be numbered. Given the non-linear nature of the volumes there was no necessary reading order, thus it was no longer necessary to number volumes as each volume is designed to be a jumping on point for new readers. Starting in March 2012, an additional title was published, ''Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures'', in which all writing was done by Brian Clevinger, but there were five different stories or chapters of stories, continued each issue, each drawn by a different artist. A second volume was published in 2014 with a single story focusing on Tesla and his team trying to stop the "Billion Dollar Scheme". This story predates Robo's creation. On January 16, 2015, Clevinger and Wegener announced on atomic-robo.com blog and on YouTube that, after allowing the expiration of their publishing contract with Red 5, all existing and upcoming issues of ''Atomic Robo'' will be published online as free webcomics. Clevinger reiterated this on his website on January 21, 2015. On June 19, 2015, Clevinger and Wegener announced on atomic-robo.com that

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

will handle the physical printing of all Atomic Robo comics. The comics are still available free on the website with half a page being uploaded daily before IDW's physical release. IDW will also release multi-volume softcover collections, the first of which is called "Everything Explodes Collection". This consists of the first three volumes of the comic.

Comixology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), is a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . It offers a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and ...

will also continue providing digital copies of the series through their Comixology Submit program.

Spinoff works

The companion series '' Real Science Adventures'' has published three volumes. They feature stories by Clevinger with rotating artists in place of Wegener, who provides covers for the series.

Trivia

The creators' "praise" on the site's About page states that the series will not include angst, "cheesecake"-style depictions of female characters,

retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...

s, or filler, but will include Atomic Robo punching monsters or other robots.

Storylines

''Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne'' shows some of Robo's adventures in the 20th century, featuring giant ants, a trip to Mars, a walking pyramid, and two showdowns with his nemesis, Helsingard. ''Volume 1'' is currently being released on the iTunes Store for the iPhone/iPod Touch, one issue per month. Free Comic Book Day '08: The Tsar Bomb Atomic Robo must stop a rogue Russian scientist from destroying the atmosphere. ''Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War'' deals with Atomic Robo's missions during World War II, fighting Nazi "weird war" projects. Robo must destroy walking tanks known as the Laufpanzers before they end the Invasion of Sicily. He must team up with British spy, the Sparrow, and must work with soldier James Milligan to end the Weird War once and for all. Free Comic Book Day '09: ''Why Atomic Robo Hates Dr. Dinosaur'' - Atomic Robo fights Dr. Dinosaur in 1999, refuting his idiotic claims of creating a time machine out of sticks and rocks. Dr. Dinosaur then offers Robo what he claims to be the secret of time travel, which turns out to be a box of active

hand grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...

. ''Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time'' deals with Atomic Robo fighting against a creature based on

Lovecraftian horror Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...

. The five-issue story details four battles with the creature, each at a different point in Robo's life. Free Comic Book Day '10: ''Flight of the Terror Birds'' - Atomic Robo, Benjamin and Lang go hunting for a prehistoric bird. ''Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness'' (titled ''Atomic Robo and the Revenge of the Vampire Dimension'' in its release as individual issues) is a four-issue series of one-shot stories taking place in the space of one week, including a sequel to ''Why Atomic Robo Hates Dr. Dinosaur'', entitled ''Why Dr. Dinosaur Hates Atomic Robo''. Free Comic Book Day '11: ''National Science Fair'' Robo is the celebrity judge at a science fair when Dr. Dinosaur interrupts the proceedings. ''Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science the fifth series that ran for 5 issues from November 2010 to May 2011. Featuring Robo, Tesla, and Jack Tarot, the man whose picture is on Robo's desk in Volume 4. Free Comic Book Day '12: ''Team Up'' To stop the Large Hadron Collider from destroying the universe, Atomic Robo must join forces with his most hated foe - Dr. Dinosaur. Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X is the sixth series that ran for 5 issues from August 2011 to February 2012. Robo must contend with repeated assassination attempts orchestrated by an unknown enemy with seemingly limitless influence and resources, with the fate of all life on Earth hanging in the balance. Free Comic Book Day '13: ''Project Saint'' - Robo fights a robot. Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific is the seventh series, which ran for 5 issues. In the aftermath of World War II, Robo joins forces with a mercenary band of rocket-pack flying women to stop a rogue Japanese super-science counter-attack on America. Free Comic Book Day '14: The Cetralia Job Atomic Robo's day of Action Archaeology is complicated by an encounter with the Yonkers Devil. Atomic Robo and the Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur is the eighth series, which ran for 5 issues. While the top-secret government agency

Majestic 12 Majestic 12, also known as MJ-12 for short, is a purported organization that appears in UFO conspiracy theories. The organization is claimed to be the code name of an alleged secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officia ...

assaults Tesladyne Island, Robo and his team of Action Scientists become trapped in Hollow Earth, whose inhabitants have fallen under the control of Dr. Dinosaur. Free Comic Book Day '15: The Trial of Atomic Robo Dr. Dinosaur takes Robo to court. Atomic Robo and the Knights of the Golden Circle is the ninth series, which ran for 5 issues. Transported back in time to 1884, Atomic Robo must save the wild west from Baron Helsingard's cyborg cowboys before his atomic fuel runs out. Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire Atomic Robo disappeared two years ago when Tesladyne was invaded by Majestic 12 and transformed into ULTRA, a task force leveraging the U.S. surveillance and military industries against scientific pursuits deemed to be hazardous. Now, the few remaining Action Scientists finally have a plan to find Robo, but they've got to dive deep into ULTRA territory to do it! (And meanwhile, giant monsters from the sea might destroy all of civilization.) A Web exclusive prologue fills in the time gap. Atomic Robo and the Temple of Od Atomic Robo battles against clandestine Japanese military forces attempting to weaponize an earth-shattering and seemingly supernatural energy. This storyline is set pre-World War II, in between the first and second Atomic Robo stories. Atomic Robo and the Spectre of Tomorrow Atomic Robo must solve the mystery of a global terrorism campaign that is turning human beings into secret cyborgs, all while managing the newest crisis at the Tesladyne Institute: noise complaints from the neighbors. Atomic Robo: The Dawn of a New Era Atomic Robo must manage supervising new applicants at Tesladyne who are running amok, counseling a geologist who's been listening to hypercosmic crystals, and tutoring a very special private student who might just blow up the planet. Oh, and the Vampire Dimension is about to invade again. Atomic Robo and the Vengeful Dead The Vampire Dimension invades again. Atomic Robo and the Agents of C.H.A.N.G.E Atomic Robo must deal with a team-up of his dealiest enemies, a raid on the secret vault containing his most world-ending technologies, and managing the difficulties caused by Tesladyne's newest hire: Dr. Dinosaur.

Major characters

Heroes

Atomic Robo is a robot possessing " automatic intelligence", created by

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

He is a core member of Tesladyne Industries, "a thinktank dedicated to exploring the fringes of scientific inquiry", whose Action Scientists often respond to paranormal and supernatural emergencies. Robo has a well developed sense of humor, and makes numerous wisecracks at his foes' expense. In the past, he has secretly worked with the

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

as well as

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

. Robo's personality is based on Clevinger's grandfather. Jenkins is a member of the Action Scientists, who first met Robo when the latter rescued him from the

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

dimension. His almost super-human combat competence is a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not ...

in the series, and Robo has been jokingly referred to as his

sidekick A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, ...

. Jenkins was formerly part of Majestic 12, a government paramilitary organization dedicated to the collection and use of advanced technologies which opposes Tesladyne. The Sparrow is a covert British spy with whom Robo teams up to take down Skorzeny during World War II. It is implied that "The Sparrow" is a title passed down an English family of wealthy aristocratic spies, as Vanadis implies killing the brother of the World War II Sparrow, and Robo works with the Grandson (also named Sparrow) in volume six, ''The Ghost of Station X''. James "Scottie" Milligan is a soldier who rescues Robo from the clutches of Skorzeny during World War II. James Milligan is loosely based on Wegener's grandfather, who shares the same name and nickname and also fought in World War II. Jack Tarot is a vigilante gunman appearing in the fifth volume who acts as Robo's reluctant mentor. He is the son of an industrialist who survived a plane wreck in the Far East, where he was rescued by monks. He adapted their Zen archery to guns, after which he returned to civilization to inherit the family fortune and become a businessman by day and crime-fighter by night.

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

, an astrophysicist who helps Robo conduct experiments to observe a theoretical intersection of exoversal material in the Urubama Valley of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

in 1971.

Villains

Dr. Dinosaur is an "intelligent", talking

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

who resembles a ''

Deinonychus ''Deinonychus'' ( ; ) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur with one described species, ''Deinonychus antirrhopus''. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the early Cretaceous Period, about 115–108 million ye ...

''. He claims to be "a time-travelling genius" who traveled forward to 1999 using "crystalline technology" tapping into energies created by the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

, which he says caused his own genius and the extinction of the dinosaurs. Atomic Robo thinks it more likely he is some kind of genetic experiment. Dr Dinosaur returns several times attempting to erase "mammalian" history and seek revenge on Robo, and is responsible for a massive explosion in the Hollow Earth which causes Atomic Robo's disappearance in volume eight, ''The Savage Sword of Dr Dinosaur''. Majestic 12 is a top secret government agency tasked with weaponizing so-called "Tesla-tech" uncovered by the FBI in the wake of Nikola Tesla's mysterious death. Founded by

President Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, under the advice of Secretary of Defense Forrestal in 1947, Majestic 12 becomes Task Force ULTRA after the events of ''Atomic Robo and the Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur''. Baron Heinrich Von Helsingard, one of Robo's major enemies, is a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

scientist who has attempted to gain immortality, along with godlike power and world domination. His experiments have reduced him to a series of cloned brains preserved in jars and implanted into various robotic exoskeletons, with a new brain becoming 'activated' whenever its predecessor is destroyed. He has been described by Robo as someone who "attacks Tesladyne regularly."

Otto Skorzeny Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including th ...

is the main antagonist of the second volume. He leads the "Laufpanzers" (walking German tanks) into battle. Vanadis Valkyrie is a German scientist whom the Sparrow is sent to assassinate. She is working on the Wehrwolf Formula, to be used in creating Nazi super-soldiers.

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

, the famous American inventor and rival of

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

Odic medium into an immortality drug, he has been transformed into a ghost-like entity that materialized in 1999 in Robo's office complex. In the fifth volume, the details of this experiment - and his defeat at the hands of Robo and Nikola Tesla - are revealed. The CHOKAITEN are a rogue group of elite Japanese soldiers who seek to destroy North America with an "earthquake bomb" in 1951. They are the antagonist of The Flying She-Devils of the Pacific.

Collected editions

The series are being collected into

trade paperbacks A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

: *''Volume 1: Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne'' (180 pages, June 2008, ) *''Volume 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War'' (160 pages, March 2009, ) *''Volume 3: Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time'' (152 pages, January 2010, ) *''Volume 4: Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness'' (140 pages, September 2010, ) *''Volume 5: Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science'' (152 pages, July 2011, ) *''Volume 6: Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X'' (152 pages, June 2012, ) *''Volume 7: Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific'' (152 Pages, February 2013, ) *''Volume 8: Atomic Robo and the Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur'' (152 Pages, June 2014, ) *''Volume 9: Atomic Robo and the Knights of the Golden Circle'' (152 Pages, January 2015, ) *''Volume 10: Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire'' (120 Pages, May 2016, ) *''Volume 11: Atomic Robo and the Temple Of Od'' (136 pages, April 2017, ) *''Volume 12: Atomic Robo and the Spectre Of Tomorrow'' (128 pages, June 2018, ) *''Volume 13: Atomic Robo and the Dawn of a New Era'' (144 pages, July 2019, ) IDW Publishing Collection, collecting three volumes of the paperbacks into one: *''Atomic Robo: The Everything Explodes Collection olumes 1-3' (354 pages, September 2015, ) *''Atomic Robo: The Crystals Are Integral Collection olumes 4-6' (354 pages, February 2016, ) *''Atomic Robo: The Hell and Lightning Collection olumes 7-9' (424 pages, August 2016, )

Roleplaying game

In July 2014,

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. Chief among them is the free indie RPG, ''Fate'', which has won numerous awards. History Fred Hicks had been working with Lydia Leong, Rob Donoghu ...

published a

roleplaying game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

based on ''Atomic Robo'', written by Mike Olson with contributions from both Clevinger and Wegener. The game uses an implementation of Evil Hat's own Fate Core system, and is a standalone game. In 2015, the game was nominated for an Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game and for an ENnie Award for Best Game, and won the Silver ENnie Award for Best Family Game. In 2016, Evil Hat published ''Majestic 12'', a supplement for ''Atomic Robo: The Roleplaying Game'', written by Olson and Clevinger, with several pieces of new art by Wegener.

References

;Notes * * * * * * *

External links

Interviews

Interview with Scott Wegener about Atomic Robo and his work for Marvel comics
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