Over on artist Scott Wegener’s blog, it was announced quite a while ago that Volume 2 of Atomic Robo has been announced and verified and production has started.

That’ll teach me for forgetting to check it.

For a month.

So yeah. I feel like an idiot right now, but Great Freaking News! Thank you Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener and Red 5 Comics. Thank you very much for putting out this work, and thank you very much for continuing it.

Yes, cameos. And cameos that made me laugh.

It’s that time of the month! Atomic Robo 5 came out Wednesday and with it the fun and entertainment I have come to expect. A Pavolovian response indeed, with Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener (note: I don’t even have to check the spelling on their names anymore) bringing the goods for the fifth month in a row.

Go buy this comic. Go buy every issue of this book you can find; it’s that good. Give it to friends that scoff at your comic-buying ways. Tell them you can show them a story that has Nikolai Tesla’s self-aware electric man fighting robotic mummies in the desert. Tell them this same Atomic Robo hits Nazis. And then tell them that this same character is beating hell out of brains-in-robot-bodies and watch them scoff!

Then watch them come to realize that this is a fun book.

Clevinger’s brand of humor (evidenced in his wonderful webcomic 8-Bit Theater) and Wegener’s Mike Mignola-esque art go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Here’s some titles I think you should try out. These books aren’t getting the love in the sales column, and they really should. Some of the books have been written about here on The Bleed, some haven’t (but are on The List).  The following are in no particular order:  Note: This will only mention series that are still releasing issues. Some of the books from the past few months that I’ve gushed over will not be included because of that caveat, like Potter’s Field.

1. Atomic Robo - Red 5
2. Fall of Cthulhu - BOOM!
3. Criminal - Icon
4. She-Hulk - Marvel
5. Clockwork Girl - Arcana Studio
6. Hybrid Bastards! - Archaia Studios Press
7. Dan Dare - Virgin Comics
8. G.I. Joe - Devil’s Due Publishing
9. Blue Beetle - DC
10. Immortal Iron Fist - Marvel (Yes, I know. But this is a title that needs to be #1).

Ah, the wisecracks. They can arise from this pairing of Jenna Jameson and Virgin Comics like…well, like just about anything you can think of.

Virgin Comics have been pairing with celebrities to bring comic concepts to live — Nick Cage, John Woo being two of them — the results have been somewhat impressive at times, somewhat disappointing at times.

Jenna Jameson’s Shadow Hunter’s zero-issue is both — it’s got a cracking good concept, but there is a lot of expository dialogue that rings false (as most exposition does) — but this is a short-paged 0 issue, not a full 22-pager.

It’s worth a glance-through, and I’ll be picking up the first issue when it’s released — but I’ll be hoping that some of the clunky dialogue is fixed by that time.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Warren Ellis books quite a bit — but what the hell happened? Fandom awaits the last issue of Planetary (been waiting for a couple years on that), the continuation of Desolation Jones, Doktor Sleepless, Black Summer, Newuniversal, Thunderbolts, etc etc.

When Ellis is on his game there are very few writers that can top him; but his often-stated disdain for mainstream comic books and the fans thereof is a bit grating, and I believe leads to his losing interest in projects that are well-received. I am extremely thankful that there is a complete Transmetropolitan, actually — judging by the rest of Ellis’ body of work, it would have been par for the course for it to be sitting half-complete with promises of “it’s coming soon, and it’s brilliant” wafting from England. 

Runner-Up: Brian Bendis
Not a Chance: Bru

This was probably the hardest one to decide on. With Hybrid Bastards!, Potter’s Field, and Fall of Cthulu vying for the honor, there was one book that I kept looking at: Red 5 Comics’ Atomic Robo.

The sense of fun and frenetic action that writer Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener have delivered in every issue (3 so far, 6 scheduled) of this book is infectious. There are no complaints of “decompression” here; the story is in the book and there’s enough talking to fill the balloons . . . but you find the pages almost turning themselves.

While independent books can struggle in this Diamond-dominated direct market, Atomic Robo seems to be finding an audience — this is great news — and hopefully we will see more of Nikolai Tesla’s electric man after this too-short six-issue run is done.

Runner-Up: Potter’s Field
Not A Chance: Countdown: Arena

As a kid, I remember sneaking downstairs at 10.30 PM (well past my bedtime as a young lad) in order to partake of the cheesy sci-fi goodness of Doctor Who on the local PBS affiliate. Tom Baker and that impossibly long scarf and impossibly large grin captivated me. The special effects were horrible, but to a small child, wonderful at the same time.

The Doctor was a mainstay of the BBC for 26 years, from 1963-1989 and recently boasts a successful revival (and enjoying a not-small measure of popularity in the States as well).

IDW Publishing is hoping that the success of the show is enough to spark interest in reprints of the Doctor Who Weekly series under the banner of Doctor Who Classics.

For the record, my interest is sparked.

The first issue features the unforgettable Fourth Doctor, and Dave Gibbons did/does a wonderful portrayal of Baker in the comic. Pat Mills and John Wagner capture/d the irreverence of No. 4 very well also, to the point where I can hear Baker’s distinctive voice saying (whispering, bellowing, almost-laughingly) the lines.

Really, if you’re a fan of absurd-yet-intelligent science fiction, you know about Doctor Who already and are a fan. If you’re not aware of The Doctor, then this would be an amazing introduction — even without an “origin” story, the book is an easy read.

If you’re not buying BOOM! Studios’ Potter’s Field, shame on you. SHAME!

Mark Waid has given us a story that is chock full of suspense and mystery (and in the last two issues, plenty of action), and it’s just waiting for you to partake of its moody goodness.

I shall remind you every time an issue comes out until I see this among the top 10 comics, as this is something that is not to be missed. Seriously. Pick it up. Enjoy it. Thank me later.

This is a comic I could well have missed, and am glad that I haven’t. Archaia Studio Press runs with a very familiar conceit: that the Greek God Zeus would attempt to impregnate anything that moved. Thus was born many of our favorite mythological figures; Hercules and Perseus just to name a couple.

Where Hybrid Bastards! runs with this idea is original: one night, Hera got her second cousin Hypnos (god of the mind) to put the whammy on the king of the gods. For one night, Zeus would be attracted to inanimate objects instead of females.

Zeus, being a god after all, was able to impregnate these objects, and 18 years later his fruit is coming of age (very literally in one sense).

Hybrid Bastards! is a three-issue mini according to Archaia Studio Press’ website, and I’d recommend it to anyone with a sense of the bizarre. Zeus’ ill-gotten offspring are, as revealed in this issue: a cloth patchwork named Cotton, Carmine — born from an automobile, Walter — an ambulatory belligerent pile of bricks, and Corey who is the son of Zeus and an apple tree. Panos is the wannabe leader of this crew, and his birth circumstances are not readily apparent in this first issue.

The art as done by Kate Glasheen is reminiscent of Grecian frescoes where it needs to be, and has a modern slant where required — in some parts reminding me strongly of Keith Giffen’s art in his Trencher phase, which is definitely apropos to some of the subject manner. The colors are faded watercolor-esque, and bring out the artwork well.

Tom Pinchuk has the writing credit, and a very modern voice throughout; the only question I have is how does one “smell placenta?” (This question arose very quickly in the book; a throw-off comment between two characters present at Carmine’s birth, but having never been present at a birth except my own, I would not know if placenta has its own unique aroma.)

Check this out — this is a brash title, and well worth the cover price.

Who?

2000 AD is best-known for Judge Dredd – and not the piss-poor Sylvester Stallone version, but the one that’s been kicking ass throughout the British comics scene for 30 years now. That is not why I’m writing this (although the picture above is my all-time favorite comics panel. Ever.)

Rebellion (the publishers of 2000 AD) are taking the issues online. This is huge. One week after the print version is released to the stores, the issue — in its entirety — will be available for paid download from www.clickwheel.net or via direct links from www.2000ADonline.com.

Hopefully this works out fantastically for the magazine, and hopefully Marvel and DC pay attention to the results. Me, I’ll be buying my copy digital to do my part.