"She's got that METAL FEVER, baby" in Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #3, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer)
Skipping over volume 4, which didn't have any full-page splashes I particularly like, to Volume 5. Where Robo teams up with a mysterious masked vigilante in the 1930s to investigate a series of bizarre thefts. There's a theme running across multiple characters of fathers and their children and how they interact, how the kids struggle to get the parents to trust them, understand them, take them seriously, and how the parents struggle to express their feelings.
Look, we're talking about men in the 1930s here. It's a miracle they didn't spontaneously combust at the mere thought of feelings. In fact, enough talk about feelings, let's talk about the fact this story involves a Tesla versus Edison bizarre energies battle for the fate of New York, and possibly the world.
It is also, as the picture above suggests, Robo's first romance, although it kind of falls apart when Helen realizes Robo's actual, physical age.
It's a funny story, watching Robo be a total nerd who thinks the masked man Jack Tarot should behave like the pulp heroes Robo enjoys reading about, and watching Jack be utterly frustrated from having to deal with all this bizarre crap when he just wants to shoot some gangsters and crooked politicians, dang it. Watching Robo and Tesla sass each other is funny, and Edison has a robot goon, basically, who steals Tarot's hat at one point, then wears it at a jaunty angle the rest of the way. Which is a visual I really enjoy, just for the silliness of it.
Still waiting for Ghost Edison to do something, though.
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