Atomic Robo (vol. 13): Dawn of a New Era

After reading this volume the action-packed start to the new era of “Robo” in the previous volume makes more sense.  Rather than go with a slow build, writer Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener, decided to go big and have Robo face off some old antagonists to kick things off with a bang.  Now that the dust is settling after that start it’s a lot easier to see where the creators are heading. That place looks to be “Something Good.”

The cliffhanger development from the previous volume is immediately followed up on and dominates much of this volume’s discourse.  It’s not the only new development as Tesladyne is preparing to welcome three young, creative, and mischievous scientists — Ben, Olivia, and Margot — under Foley’s supervision.  Meanwhile, Vik and Lang are preparing to head off on a well-deserved vacation and Bernard is gearing up to explore the extinct volcano next to the base. These will lead to plot threads that are important to the short-term and long-term, and the return of an old cast member.  (Spoiler Warning: He’s on the cover.)

The new scientists are fun enough for me to want to see them developed further while Robo’s ongoing “project” is fascinating in the way that Clevinger addresses all of the issues relating to it in ways both smart and silly.  It also leads to some (not unjustifiable) major drama with the established cast while Bernard’s story is off on a weird tangent of its own. While I haven’t mentioned the imminent assault from the Vampire Dimension, I do want to say that this volume never feels like it’s throwing a lot of plot at the reader.  Vol. 13 is a lot of setup in the, “Before I can tell you that story, I have to tell you this one,” variety and it happens to be full of fun characters, intelligent discussion, and weird rocks that can sing the song of spacetime. The best kind of setup, in other words.