The Manhattan Projects vol. 4

To this point, Jonathan Hickman’s long-form works have been marked by a degree of long-term planning.  You can clearly see that in his run on “Fantastic Four” and in “Secret Warriors” to a lesser (possibly truncated) extent.  It has also been clear from the beginning of his terms on “Avengers”/”New Avengers” that he’s basically telling the same story there, just from two different points of view.  As for “East of West,” well, the plan — the “message” rather — is integrated into the plot itself.  However, with these past two volumes of “The Manhattan Projects,” I’m beginning to think that this is an outlier in his resume.  Hickman appears to be winging it with this ongoing story of bad science to wonderfully bizarre results.

What am I basing this on?  How about a plot that careens from one bit of outlandishness to the next.  In this volume alone, we get to see Gen. Westmoreland offer his perspectives on being “born hard” and “friendly fire” while carrying a ridiculous amount of ordnance, and add a decidedly unique specimen to his ear necklace.  Richard Feynman and Albrecht Einstein continue to explore far-off worlds and collect specimens — until they encounter a specimen that manages to collect them.  Gen. Groves has an extended experience with telling the truth.  The War of Oppenheimers reaches its climax.  EINSTEIN THE BARBARIAN!  It’s the kind of volume — and series, really — where Gen. Grove’s attempt to remove a screw from the necrotizing man/machine parts of Wernher Von Braun’s body using his teeth is one of its more mundane sections.

This is all gloriously weird stuff, but if there’s an actual plan at work here then I sure as hell can’t see it.  There is some long-game planning that pays off here, with the apparent culmination of the War of Oppenheimers and the bit with the Einsteins.  Yet these are mere subplots in this volume, with the main story involving the chaos that erupts when one of Feynman and Einstein’s specimens gets loose and starts wreaking havoc in the base.  It’s something that’s set up in this very volume, so you get the feeling that Hickman was thinking, “Hmmmmm… what can I do to spice up these interrogation sequences.  Hey!  How about having an alien attack!”  The end result is like an absurdist version of “Predator,” what with the ultra-laid-back manner of the alien’s speech, Gen. Westmoreland’s dialogue while hunting/attacking it, and the fact that several comic-book professionals are killed during its assault.  In addition to the book’s artist, Nick Pitarra, I also spotted John Layman and Rob Guillory of “Chew” here as well.

Though this is certainly entertaining, I’m still at a loss to see where the book is going to go from here.  Some would argue that’s not a bad thing, but it does reinforce the feeling that I got from the previous volume that Hickman is trying to see how much insanity he can get away with before the narrative collapses as a result.  Of course, I could be completely wrong here and the man does have a plan that he’s camouflaging very, very well.  He could simply be waiting for the right moment in the book’s narrative to spring his plan on us.

Or maybe not.  It’s worth mentioning that this title launched right before the formerly-known-as-an-ongoing-series “Secret.”  Given how grounded and intricate the plotting there was, comparing it to “The Manhattan Projects” would seem to be an “apples and oranges” issue.  Yet its their utter differences which make me think that “Secret” was meant to be the vehicle for the brand of detailed storytelling that Hickman had become known for, and “The Manhattan Projects” was intended to be something he could experiment with and goof around on.  Things didn’t work out that way, and now the latter has found ongoing success as one of the weirdest titles on the market.  Of course, if things had worked out then it’s likely we wouldn’t have gotten “East of West,” and that would’ve been a damn shame.

Speculations about its long-term health aside, this title continues to deliver some of the most fascinatingly weird entertainment with each volume.  Not only is it a great showcase for the bizarre parts of Hickman’s imagination, but also for the talents of artists Nick Pitarra and Ryan Browne.  The artists consistently prove themselves to be capable of meeting and exceeding his demands with the the little details they throw into their work to reward close inspection.  (That is, if you consider seeing Joseph Oppenheimer dressed up like Red Sonja to be anything resembling a reward.)  Though the writer could have a master plan for this title that will only be unveiled at its end, I’m content for now to see what sights it has to offer with each new volume.  There are worse flaws for a title to have.