Review - Atomic Robo Real Science Adventures #3

Four tales, tons of anachronistic characters and one Atomic Robo. If you looked up a recipe for Atomic Robo Real Science Adventures #3, those are the ingredients it would call for.

Published by Red 5 Comics, Atomic Robo Real Science Adventures #3 features the talents of of Brian Clevinger, Cody, Gurihiru, Broglia, Speroni, Christian Ward and Jeff Powell.

The four stories are called "To Kill A Sparrow (Part 3)," "Tesla's Electric Sky Schooner," "Leaping Metal Dragon (Part 3)" and "Atomic Robo and the Electromatic Dream Machine."

The first and third continue the tales of Artemis and Sparrow and Atomic Robo and Bruce Lee respectively. The first has Artemis and Sparrow turning a German into a spy, while the second has Robo continuing to train with Bruce Lee. Both moved the stories forward a bit, but it was nothing too dramatic.

The final story is trippy to say the least, rife with binary code, vibrant colors and who appears to be Cthulu. It's a seemingly random story that moves way too fast for anything to really happen.

The star of the issue has to be "Tesla's Electric Sky Schooner," a story that features the likes of Tesla, Annie Oakley, George Westinghouse and Winfield Scott Lovecraft. It's a high-flying tale of zeppelins and espionage that plays out exceptionally well, both fun and exciting.

There's no consistent story across the individual tales, but that works here. Again, two of the stories just advance their individual lines and the last is just weird. The Tesla one is awesome, successfully blending all the different historical characters into one timeline and series of events.

The art is slightly scattered as well, but again, it works. The art from Tesla looks the most vibrant and complete and is simply amazing. The final story's art is full of pastels and jilted characters, adding to the trippiness of the story. The other two feature strong art as well, with the Sparrow story especially noir and the Robo story sort of campy.

The third issue of Atomic Robo Real Science Adventures is great if you've been reading to this point. It's accessible if you haven't (as there are stories that don't hinge on reading previous issues), but it does help to read the first two. Fans of Atomic Robo will definitely want to check out the issue.

Atomic Robo Real Science Adventures #3 is in stores June 27.