Nuklear Power hosts several works of Brian Clevinger, creator of Atomic Robo and writer of the recent Captain America one-shot Captain America: The Fighting Avenger. In fact several Atomic Robo strips are on the site, along with his earliest webcomic 8-bit theater. There's also Warbot in Accounting, How I killed you master, and The Dreadful.
8-bit Theater is a comic about the 4 "Light Warriors", a group of (dishonest) adventurers consisting of a Fighter, a Black Mage, a Thief, and a Red Mage. Their names are Fighter, Black Mage, Thief, and Red Mage respectively. Running from March 2, 2001 until March 20, 2010, with a total of 1224 strips as well as a few special strips, guest comics, and a really good epilogue strip posted on June 1, 2010.
On the whole I enjoyed 8-bit theater. While I wasn't crazy about the use of game sprites for the art initially, after 50 pages or so I didn't care anymore. And any short comings from the art are easily overcome with Clevinger's great sense of slapstick humor. It can be a bit morbid for some at times, with characters constantly meeting a gruesome end, with other characters taking shots at them, but I really didn't have a problem with any of it. It also does a great job of using various elements of table top RPGs, video games, and comics for humor.
It was fascinating to see Clevinger developing ideas that would later come back and even recalling older jokes at later times in rather satisfying ways. One bit of dialog that was shown in a cryptic strip in the middle of the series ends up coming back in the end in a way that actually fit perfectly. Clevinger also does a great job of debunking certain plot holes, in particular one scene where one character attempts to revive a deceased friend through one of the said plot holes, only for it to go wrong. There's also the big reveal for our heroes' major antagonist's identity, which shows how one of the recurring gags would come back to bite the "Light Warriors" on the ass.
If you love comics, video games, table top RPGs, or just laughing really hard at things you shouldn't, then 8-bit Theater is the web comic for you.
Speaking of Web comics that make me laugh at things I shouldn't:
Warbot in Accounting is another of the webcomics I read and loved from Nuklearpower.com! This is a series that is self explanatory, as it follows the misadventures of a Warbot as he tries his hands in a job in accounting. Hilarity ensues.
Really, the magic of Warbot is that it doesn't need any dialog to be funny. Just put Warbot in a situation and it practically writes itself from there. Is he trying to send a fax? Oops, he smashed the fax machine. Is he trying his hand at dating? Oops, turns out Warbots aren't ideal boyfriends. If Warbot is trying to do something, you can certainly bet that he's probably going to fail at it. Of course, ample credit must be paid to Zack Finfrock, who does a fantastic job with the art. He really does a great job at art; while it does seem to be copy and pasted, it's the subtle differences from panel to panel, such as where Warbot's eye is or how close the panel is on Warbot that really makes a good deal of the humor work. Well, having Warbot lodged in the ground or lying atop a smashed couch at his shrink's office help, too.
I think my favorite thing about Warbot is that it makes me laugh and feel horrible at the same time. A large part of the humor is just how horrible Warbot's life really is. He's a figure constantly trying to fit into human society and constantly failing. For example, Warbot makes a horrible attempt at creating a child and never has my heart and gut hurt so much because of the same thing.
Of course, not all of Brian Clevinger's robot comics are as sad as they are funny. Atomic Robo, my personal favorite comic, is too awesome for it to ever make me sad. Okay, so maybe that flash back issue from the first series is a little sad, but the issue where he goes to Mars is hilarious enough to balance that out. Where was I? Oh, right; Nuklearpower.com has Atomic Robo strips on it free of charge!
For those of you with empty lives void of this comic, Atomic Robo is the story of Nikola Tesla's greatest creation, the atomic powered robot. The FAQ for the series explains it so: "So what is Atomic Robo? Take the Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Buckaroo Banzai, and the Rocketeer, combine them into a robot scientist, and you'll have an idea." If that description doesn't have you reeling with excitement, then you obviously hate joy.
If you haven't seen my previous reviews of Atomic Robo comics or even if you haven't read anything in this blog post up until this point, then I'll reiterate myself for the tyrantillionth time: I love Atomic Robo. It is hands down my favorite comic and I look forward to each and every issue with an escalating amount of anticipation each and every time. This is a comic that doesn't dwell in angst, filler, or reboots (seriously, read the promise. They're serious.) . If Clevinger or series co-creator Scott Wegener think a potential story fits in with their timeline, they do it. And they go all over the timeline. As of this post, they've got 11 volumes worked out. The final issue of volume 5 came out today.
"Okay, so they've made promises and they've got it all planned out. So what?" Well, not only is there all that, but they also manage to put out consistently great comics. I can't think of a single issue of Robo that hasn't gotten at least a chuckle out of me. At least three times an issue, something awesome happens. Giant ants, Mars missions, Ghosts of Thomas Edison; they're all common place in this comic. So what I'm saying is this; read these free strips. They're all really awesome. The ones that aren't awesome Robo stories are stories that really help to build up some of the back story to the series.
Sadly, I haven't gotten around to reading HIKYM or The Dreadful yet, but I still suggest you give them a shot. HIKYM is written by Clevinger, and both share the same artist. At best, you get some really good free comics, at worst, it's free. Needless to say, the only thing you have to lose is 10-15 minutes of your time.
And now I do something different: I decided to add a ratings system. It goes like this: if something is good, it gets a rating of "READ IT" and if it isn't good it gets the dreaded "DO NOT READ IT"! I know, it's hard to follow.
So how does Nuklearpower.com fair? Well, considering it's vast amount of great content, including Atomic Robo I'm proud to pass this verdict....
READ IT!
No comments:
Post a Comment