More, please ( )

I cannot recommend this series highly enough. ( )

I don't read many comics except Cthulhu mythos stuff, so I was unfamiliar with Atomic Robo until I saw the blurb suggesting that Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time was Lovecraftian. I am very glad I checked it out. ARATSFBT is a graphic novel (a collection of individual comics in one convenient soft cover)from red5comics. List price is $18.95 but Amazon discounts it heavily. The creative tems includes Brian Clevenger (story), Scott Wegener (art), Ronda Pattison (colors) and Jeff Powell (letters). Production qualities are excellent and the grphic novel form includes some extras.

In this story, a nameless extradimensional entity keeps reappearing in our world at predictable intervals, trying to consume everything. It is created with wonderfully Lovecraftian sensibilities, in terms of its uninterpretable motives, its appearance and its interaction with time, straight out of Yog Sothoth. In fact, in its first appearance in the book, it springs directly out of the skull of HP Lovecraft himself (normally I don't like it when HPL appears in mythos stories, but it was a reasonable plot device here, and anyway the book itself was so much fun, who cares). The idea of a mathematically predictable appearance of the thing echoes an important plot device in the superior mythos novel, Where Goeth Nyarlathotep by Daniel Reiner. Anyway, the Lovecraftian geek in me was both pleased and impressed by this aspect of the book.

As far as the whole experience of ARTSFBT goes, it was a hoot. I liked the drawings, I liked the character of Atomic Robo, I liked the bit players and I found the dialogue crackling with humor. As I noted above, the plotting was quite deft. It only took me an hour or so to zip through it, and I was highly entertained throughout. I think Cthulhu mythos fans (like me) who only dip into Atomic Robo's world for this adventure will be happy, and Atomic Robo fans will, of course, be ecstatic. ( )

20

vol. 3