Atomic Robo tpb vol. 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of war

By Patrick Bérubé
March 5, 2009 - 09:00

After stopping evil scientists, ancient mummies and giant ants in volume 1, Atomic Robo is back in action. But this time around, it's World War II and Robo has to stop Germans on the European front. It's not easy as it sound since Otto Skorzeny and Dr. Vanadis Valkyrie, two of the Axis top scientists, are developing secret weapons. Luckily The Sparrow, Britain's top covert agent, is there to lend a hand. Too bad they can't get along! We also get treated with five ''B'' stories originally published as back-up features for the five issues mini-series collected in this volume and with the Free comic book day Atomic Robo story published for the event.

I have to admit that I had very great expectation with volume II of Atomic Robo. The first volume was a great surprise for me and I was longing for more stories featuring my favorite monster smashing robot. This might explain why I was a bit disappointed. The story is interesting and engaging and I appreciated having the whole volume forming one storyline instead of five stand alone issues like in volume 1. The page setting is better, new characters are introduced and we still get monsters and giant robots. That's all great but something kept bothering me and I could not pinpoint it until my second read. What bothered me was the setting: World War II or rather all the people dying around I should say. Even if it's a cartoony violence, it's enough to take away a bit of the light and funny side that made the first volume attractive. I even feel that some of the ''B'' stories were closer in spirit to the previous volume than the main feature. But as I said above, the story is still great and that's the only element that kept me from fully enjoying the ride.

One of the improvement over volume 1 is the art. I greatly appreciated Scott Wegener's pencil when I first saw it and I feel it has matured since. His line is cleaner and there is a bit more detail. Just enough to make it more interesting but not enough to weight things down. He is assisted on the color by Ronda Pattison who does very well. I haven't seen the original inked page, but I do feel like she is really helping the art stand out and giving this comic book is own identity. It's no wonder that she was nominated for an Eisner Award last year.

Even if I slightly more appreciated the first volume, volume II is still entertaining, funny and full of actions. I will be eagerly awaiting the next volume and I do hope that we will see more of the Sparrow/Robo team-up.

I rate it 8.5 out of 10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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