Robot 13
Issue: #1
Writer: Thomas Hall
Artist: Daniel Bradford
Blacklist Studios. $3.00
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
Robots, humanity re-shaped, re-imagined, by science. Transistors and microchips replacing blood and brains; a steel chassis for a spinal column, a mechanical heart pumping motor oil. Science’s continual quest to one-up Mary Shelley, to build a better Frankenstein monster, to storm
And like humanity, robots can be good, or bad. Or more than meets the eye. It depends on their creator. Is it the kindly old scientist, benevolent and sweet, with crazy Einstein hair, and an eggshell-colored lab coat, wishing to help the world with his creation? Or the dark, brooding villain with evil infesting his heart, muttering crazily in a
Even a hero. A hero that kills monsters straight out of Greek mythology, living, breathing nightmares with big shiny teeth, the type of nasties that caused Homer to wet himself. So what if the robot has a human skull for a head, looking like Ghost Rider mated with Bender from Futurama. We all have our imperfections. What matters—what really matters—is that Robot 13 kicks ass. From cover to cover.
More accurately, Robot 13 kicks tentacles. Big, slimy tentacles with suckers the size of a horse’s head, dripping mucus like Paul Bunyan with allergies. At least in the debut issue where our robot protagonist gets his fight on with a well-endowed Kraken that gobbles ships like Goldfish crackers. And chases them with some sailors.
Writer Thomas Hall elevates the issue out of pure slugfest territory by injecting a mystery into the proceedings: Robot 13 has only a hazy recollection of his past. Like an alcoholic that blacks out, wakes up, and has no idea how he wound up in a grocery cart, naked, and missing a kidney. Like Jason Bourne in the Bourne Identity, if Jason Bourne was a robot. (And not just portrayed by one.) And fought mythological creatures. The search for answers about Robot 13’s past adds intrigue to the issue, and when they don’t come, you scream at the sky, shaking your fist, cursing the fates. Cursing them for making you have to wait for the next issue. Please, next issue, bring me answers. Oh, the cruelty.
Fans of Mike Mignola will love the visuals as artist Daniel Bradford channels his inner Mignola, offering an ode to the creator of Hellboy. Some will likely hate the similarity between the two, claiming this is style-jacking, but it’s a great artistic choice for this material, working beautifully with the epic and Gothic overtones of the story.
Taking chances is what the medium of comics is for; to be unique, different. Robot 13 is all these: risky, unique, and different. It’s what makes the issue feel fresh and new, even though many of its constituent elements are classical. The fact it succeeds is what makes it good. Really good. Can’t wait for the next issue.
Final Grade: 83 out of 100
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