What I Bought 6/6/2014 - Part 6

Last reviews, at least until sometime in the next week or so when my next batch of comics show up. I hope. Going have a heck of a time getting them if they don't arrive by the 3rd. No pressure!

Atomic Robo: Knights of the Golden Circle #1, by Brian Clevinger (words), Scott Wegener (art), Anthony Clark (colors), Jeff Powell (letters) - CalvinPitt Hyperventilation Alert! Robo is wearing a poncho, Man with No Name style! Holy crap! This is not a drill! If you have paper bags, just hand them over quietly. I don't want what's in them, just the bag itself. Unless one of those ponchos is in there. I will absolutely take that.

Robo is in Colorado in 1874, trying to keep to himself in the wilderness and build. . . something. Looks like a turbine, or a motorized unicycle or something. But trouble forces him out of seclusion, and he saves an old man trying to escape an "outfit". However, the nearest town is not terribly helpful, as the doctor is away, and the townspeople are sure they want to get involved. There is a deputy marshal, but he's more concerned with arresting Doc Holliday for murder, and Holliday's more concerned with getting away from said deputy marshal. But, a whole lot more bad guys show up, so I don't think escaping is on the menu.

Oh, and Robo is being confused with the hero Ironhide, who was presumed blown up a decade previously. Unless Robo is soon going to be flung backwards in time by another explosion.

So this is very curious. I have no idea what this Butcher Caldwell fellow is up to. The recap/intro on the inside of the cover says Robo is about to face the greatest threat to America. No idea what that could be. Election fraud? Strip mining? Chain letters? So we'll see how that goes. The recap/intro also mentions Robo's running out of nuclear fuel, which is not a problem I've seen him face thus far, but it's a reasonable problem under the circumstances. I guess trying to mine for some appropriate fusionable material (I'm assuming Tesla didn't build him to run on nuclear fission) would have been too disruptive to the timestream.

I like the look of the lighting in the saloon Robo brings the wounded man to. I'm not sure if the credit for that goes to Wegener's shading, or Clark's coloring, but it had a muted look to it that suggested the light sources are kind of lousy, and there's a lot of smoke in the air. I also like how, when Robo rescues the old man, he just hurls his way through the wagon in an impressive smash. It's an effective attention-getter, and perfectly reasonable for a big metal guy.

This wasn't the strongest first issue of a Robo mini-series I've read, but the simple fact they've placed him in the old West is enough to keep my interest while they get further into the plot.