Robo Vol 2 TPB on sale this week!

Last Updated on Monday, 23 February 2009 01:16 Written by Brian! Monday, 23 February 2009 12:00

Yessir, the collected edition of Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War hits comic shops and book stores this Wednesday. Within its covers ye shall finde: all five issues of Vol 2, all five back up stories, and last year’s 16-page FCBD story in case you missed it or, if you’re like me, just prefer to have a whole series in trade ’cause they look so fine on a shelf. You should buy the damn thing!

In Volume 3 news, I finally finished the fourth issue. There were so many damn obstacles to this thing and only a few of them were from the issue itself. But it’s done and it has the Scott and Lydia seals of approval, so who cares! On the bright side, the fifth and final issue of Volume 3 ought to be way easier and I’m way ahead of schedule anyway. I should probably use this buffer to write some more of those back up stories come to think of it…

If you’re a nerd in Florida, you probably already know that Megacon is next weekend. I might be there? Y’know, in a sitting and signing and selling and smiling capacity. More info on that Monday afternoon. I will be there at the Bad Apple Comics booth. I’ll have some trades for Vol 1 and both issues and trades for Vol 2. See you there.

OR ELSE.

The Mecha American Plight

Last Updated on Thursday, 19 February 2009 03:17 Written by Brian! Thursday, 19 February 2009 03:17

4thletter.net, an enjoyable comics blog in general, is doing a great series of articles on race in comics this month. The focus is on the portrayal of blacks in comics, but most of what’s being said there could apply to the presentation of minorities in American media as a whole.

Atomic Robo is a weird comic, racially. Our main character is technically a minority, but does anyone think of him as one? Is he like Jesus, where he can be white or black depending on who’s looking at him? As an aside: white Jesus? Really?

So, do white people think Robo’s “white”? Do black people think he’s “black”? Is he assumed to be “white” by anyone regardless of his or her own race because Robo’s creator and father figure was white? What the hell does that say about a Japanese baby adopted by black parents? Does the question of Robo’s race even make sense to ask because he has no ancestry? What about the cultural element of race? Robo is probably the most widely known person in his world simply from being around for so long and being interesting news for most of that time, so a robot culture would have formed around him whether he wanted it to or not. Would kids try to appropriate robot culture? Or has Robo grown to be too much a symbol of the status quo for that to work?

I occasionally joke that Robo considers himself to be black. You can probably blame Dan Slott for that one. Robo is as “other”-est as you’re going to get as a minority and he had to fight ignorance to gain his civil rights. The comparison starts to break down once you give it the slightest scrutiny though. Robo’s life in no ways mirrors the historical experience of blacks in America. Robo was basically born rich and he was an instant celebrity. Yeah, some people have judged him negatively based solely on his appearance, but I think that’s more than a stone’s throw from, y’know, slavery and institutionalized racism. But really, any sort of “I was built a poor black robot” moment doesn’t fit Robo’s vanity anyway. Why would he identify as black or white or anything other than what he is? He’s metal and he’s proud! And let’s face it. I’m a middle class white guy from a predominately white (93%+) small town in Florida. I don’t have shit to say about the black experience, because I don’t know shit about it, so there’s no point in going with that angle beyond “Ooh, you never thought the robot would self-identify as a black guy, I gotcha!” And that’s just stupid, gimmicky writing.

Speaking of gimmicky writing, you ever notice how many robot stories there are where the noble robot who can never quite fit in with the human world but is dissatisfied with being “merely” a robot sacrifices itself, often to save humans and their status quo? That remind you of anything else?

Still, Robo was discriminated against by certain groups, especially in his early days, and I think that sting would stick with him. He’d undeniably have been a proponent of the Civil Rights movement. Some critics have expressed interest in seeing Robo within that context. They’re thinking is, yeah okay, he fights monsters and mad scientists, but so does everyone else in comics. Let’s be daring and show his role in the Civil Rights movement! I’m sympathetic to that view, critics read a lot of comics and they want to see something a little different, but there’s just no story there. In the same way we didn’t have Robo punch Hitler and win the war, we can’t have Robo take the bullet for Dr. King. What’s next, stopping 9/11*?

I mean, what’s the point of doing a Civil Rights movement Robo story? To have Robo learn that racism is bad? He already knows that and so do we. And for those who don’t, I find it unlikely they’re going to change their ways because of a robot comic book. That’s not to say we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen, or there weren’t reasons for it happening, or that it “solved” racism, or that Robo would have no opinion on these matters. But Atomic Robo, the comic book, is basically a pulp action procedural. It doesn’t make sense to veer into Very Serious Discussions About Very Important Issues in the middle of a monster fight.

A couple reviews that referred to our Action Scientists as a kind of rainbow league or some such. I’m not sure how to take that. I guess token-ism is so prevalent (or perceived to be so) in media that it’s easier to assume that’s what’s going on any time there’s a non-white character. That strikes me as a little odd, but I suppose that showcases just how whitewashed our media imagery is — if there’s a black guy, then there must be an ulterior motive! Anyway, in case anyone doubts the sincerity of our Ethnically Diverse Science Squad, here’s why they’re not all white: I had several Philosophy classes stupidly located in the Engineering Halls in college, and the science and engineering students were quite ethnically diverse. The end.

*Yeah, that works for Ex Machina because the whole comic revolves around the aftermath of the hero stopping (half of) 9/11. Besides, it’s the only major historical event in which the main character participates. You start having your main character be the primary mover of historical events, plural, you have Forest Gump.

Meet the Letterer!

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 February 2009 03:53 Written by Brian! Thursday, 12 February 2009 03:53

Scott and I babble constantly, so let’s shine the spotlight on the other half of Team Robo for a change, shall we? Last time you met the colorist, now say hello to the letterer!

Jeff Powell – Totally Replaceable

I like to threaten Jeff with being fired or replaced a few times a week, but the truth is Atomic Robo needs this guy. Jeff has to cram my excessively wordy dialog into panels already jammed with Scott’s art and he has to anticipate how thousands and thousands of strangers will read a page so he can make it so intuitive that none of them realize he did anything at all. But his work doesn’t end there, no sir. Jeff designed both versions of the Atomic Robo logo (stacked and horizontal), and invented an exclusive font for our dialog (to debut in Vol 3). Jeff also formats all our pages for publication and has taken up doing the layouts for our trade paperbacks as of Vol 2 (buy it!). He also provides valuable feedback on the art and especially my scripts as he’s the only person besides me who looks at them for more than five minutes before they end up on shelves. What I love most about Jeff is that he’s a consummate pro. This guy will letter up a full comic and then turn around to make any change I care to mention. Sometimes it’s just a few tweaks, other times it’s a practical re-write (I think vol 2, issue 5 saw every line of dialog altered between Jeff’s first pass and the final product). And he does it without complaint or delay, and he makes it look as good and as natural as if the art had been drawn around it from the start.

Why comics?

I guess I’ve always had an affinity for comics. The very first comic I started reading as a kid was Marvel’s Transformers series. I was in grammar school and my mom would pick issues up for me on her way home from work since I was too young to walk there myself. I was always psyched when she would come home with a new issue. Like most parents, my mom would support anything that kept me quiet and out of trouble. When I was allowed to go on my own I would pick up whatever I found visually appealing and it snowballed into a closet full of long boxes.

What were you doing before comics?

Trying my best to get into comics.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

I find that it’s hard to get bored as a letterer. There’s always a new project to jump on, a new creative team to work with and different artwork to look at. When I was lettering on the art boards for Archie, I always loved getting that Fed Ex box of pages. I also like meeting with other creators whom I’d only speak to on the phone or correspond with via e-mail and hope they’re not freaks in person. One artist that stands out in my mind is Ron Lim. He’s one of the most upbeat people I’ve ever spoken with.

What do you goddamn hate about it?

My list of complaints is short a one. Most of the time there are minor annoyances. I think I’ve been lucky. I’ve definitely heard worse horror stories than I have to tell.

What should someone know if he or she is looking to get into your field?

With the advent of computer lettering everyone with a computer, a few graphics apps and an interest in comics thinks that getting into lettering (or coloring, for that matter) is a good idea and/or easy to do. I disagree. I never thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now. It kind of fell into my lap and I just ran with it. My penmanship and design sense were always (marginally) better than my illustration skills, I think, so it was a natural choice for me. I didn’t have a particular love for lettering in the beginning, but it grew on me. There are plenty of writers cum letterers who only do so because either they’ve had letterers bail on them in the past or can’t pay for the service. There’s a lot more involved than choosing fonts and copying and pasting. You can lead a horse to design applications but you can’t teach it aesthetics.

But, to answer your question, they should know how to load a gun.

Take us through how you tackle a typical page.

Sometimes I’ll read over the script ahead of time to see what’s involved but most of the time I’ll just dive right in. I start with dumping in the text, placing it into the appropriate panels and shaping it. Then I go through and add the balloons, tails, sound effects, random signs, etc. I work straight through an issue from beginning to end. I usually save title pages for last regardless of what page it’s on.

Let’s face it, we make comics, we’re nerdy. What’s your biggest nerd vice?

I like video games a lot, particularly RPGs. Orcs rule!

Atomic Robo: best comic or greatest comic?

C) All of the above. I mean, c’mon, It’s the only book I’ve worked on that’s used the word “Door!” as a sound effect. Seriously though, Robo is a ton of fun to work on. The more entertained I am while working on a project, the more of myself I put into it which I hope translates onto the page.