Atomic Robo Vol.1 TPB Important Update!

You may remember that Diamond worked out a deal with Red 5 to keep up to 250 copies of Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne in stock at all times. If they dipped under a certain target number, they’d automatically order back up to 250 copies in addition to whatever was needed to fill orders. The idea was that this would solve the problem of Diamond showing that Robo v1 was out of stock, therefore unavailable, therefore 95% of retailers wouldn’t bother to order it, therefore Diamond wouldn’t get more, etc.

Well, that plan worked. For one day. That’s how long it took Diamond to sell all of their reserves. Red 5 Comics was able to work out a new deal with Diamond. It’s the same as the old plan, only now they’re keeping 900 copies in reserve.

So, retailers. I say to you. If you’ve had trouble getting the first volume of our trade, then now is the time to order. And for any of you folks who had trouble getting the TPB from Amazon, that should also no longer be a problem.

A friend sent me a link to a very insightful, articulate, blog article. It deals with the comic book industry -specifically super-hero comics. I continue to ponder Kirkman’s thoughts on the industry, as what he says raises as many questions as it proposes to answer. The Kid’s reviews of Atomic Robo also have me really thinking about this lately.

I am loath to alienate myself from Marvel and DC. I like the people I have met. I like many of the characters. And I really enjoyed the pay check. But if I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that I think that most of what Marvel and DC publishes is garbage. I don’t mean the artists and writers involved. Most of them are far better than me, they are professionals, and good people. I just mean the substance. Their books are creatively bankrupt.

The Hooded Utilitarian says it far better than I can, and for those of you with an interest in comics as an industry, and an artistic medium, this is well worth reading. Far more so than Kirkman’s video ramble, it looks at what I believe is truely the heart of the issue concerning the decline in mainstream comic book sales. The Hooded Utilitarian basically says everything I was thinking, but was just too stupid, or lazy, to articulate.

There is something of a sister-article that you can check out here.

It’s strange when you think about it. Most comics, with the exceptions of Archie, Sonic, and a few others, are just not for kids anymore. Actually, that’s a lie -I’ve never thought of comics as being for kids. Maybe that’s because I started reading them when I was in my early teens.

I’ve always hated things that were “for kids”. Even as a child they bored me to death. I’m sure I couldn’t identify this back then, but they also always talk down to children, and that’s just insulting. The basic premiss seeming to be that children are sort of stupid and can’t handle anything too complex. But then, how do you explain the incredible success of Jeff Smith’s BONE? It wasn’t even meant to be a kid’s book (and it’s not), yet because of the cartoony art a lot of adults exposed a lot of kids to it, and they loved it.

Yet as creators we DESPISE the term “all ages” book. Because it means that anyone over the age of 12 is going to avoid your comic like the plague. I also hate it because its just a new way of saying “it’s for kids”, which usually means its a steaming heap of crap than anyone with an I.Q. over 40 should ignore.

When I was a kid, it was always the things, (usually movies), that were made to last which fired me up. I don’t mean the creative shill that bombarded us daily -look back now at Transformers and G.I. Joe and you can see what low budget garbage they were. And of course, they were “for kids”. Though the toys were cool as hell. I’m talking about Empire Strikes Back (the only truly excellent SW film), and Raiders of the Lost Arc (again, the only truly excellent Indian Jones movies). I can still watch these movies today and enjoy them completely. The same cannot be said for my beloved Robotech . . .sigh.

After all of this, you might think I don’t care about kids, or weather or not they read comic books, or grow up to become doctors, or fascist dictators. And by and large, you are correct. Children, to me, are like dogs -great for other people, fun to play with for about ten minutes, and ultimately more work than they are worth. Yet it was an interesting treat to find Robo being reviewed by a 7yr old. This boy’s father types up the review and posts it to his son’s blog. The father is also a comic book fan, which is what kicked the whole thing off. All of the kid’s reviews are fun to read. Here are the two he did recently of Atomic Robo. (I know I already posted the link to this first one, but thought a repost couldn’t hurt.) I’m glad that we are making something that not only entertains people our own age, but that those younger than us also enjoy. But please, don’t start calling us an all-ages book!

Atomic Robo Vol.2 #1

Atomic Robo Vol.2 #2

Robo made a surprise cameo on Zuda Comics last week. The comic in question is called High Moon and is well worth the read. Especially since Zuda is free! If you just want to take a peek at the Robo cameo, skip ahead to page 81. But I think the comic is worth the read.

Okay, I’m outta here. Somebody see if they can do something about the complete lack of new Atomic Robo reviews, huh? So many people were bitching about how slow 2.1 was, and that all the scenes with the soldiers (and not Robo) were just filler (FUCK YOU WE DON’T DO FILLER), and I’d really like to rub it in their faces that what we did was set the stage for 2.2.

I am petty and small. and I’m okay with that.

Here’s one nice review that I found though.

RANDOM SPLENDOR

This is totally going to be my next car.

C is for Carnage, dat good e-nuff for me.

Yep. That’s about what Republican Jesus would do.

Okay, I take it back. Robotech is still fucking awesome.