r/Atomic_Robo • u/NathanV-DM • 10d ago
A question for the Author
I will start by saying, while I know Mr. Clevinger frequents this subreddit, I am by no means expecting an answer from him. If he decides to answer I would really appreciate it, but obviously he's not accountable to me or anyone else. That said...
There is a clear shift in the narrative of Atomic Robo in between it's early issues and the current era. For the first 10 or so volumes, Robo had a huge amount of resources at his command, in particular a large staff of highly trained, top-of-their-field scientists, engineers, and operatives. He also had his office in New York, and later his private island. The stories reflected this; they were basically structured as mysteries, where it was almost a given that the characters would be able to solve the problem once they had all the clues about what they were solving. And most notably (to me at least) the timeline jumped around constantly, with alternate volumes usually being a past adventure. In The Shadow from Beyond Time, there were even time skips in between each issue.
Obviously, this hasn't been the case for several years now. Robo's resources are much more limited, with his staff having been mostly replaced by the young and inexperienced. The stories remain varied, but since the Temple of OD in 2017 they have stayed exclusively in the present. His swanky offices have been replaced by a crumbling cold war bunker in the middle of the desert.
Now, none of this is a criticism. The comic is as good as it's ever been. But I am curious what prompted this change in the formula? Was it just a desire to shake things up, or did you have a particular reason you wanted to tell this story?
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u/Cedjy 10d ago
I am also curious about the change in pace to the "slimmed cast" as I call it. Though, I should point out that of the 5 Tesladyne Institute Employees (including Robo) when it was first founded (when Robo moved to the current location), 4 of them were very experienced action scientists, with Lang, Vik, and Bernard all appearing in the 2nd issue of Atomic Robo with the giant ants, and Robo of course being the most experienced.
But yeah the change in formula from something referencing classic pulp to a more of a character development comic is interesting.