Everyone knows that Wednesday is new comic book day. While picking up your new issues consider looking at some of the trade paperbacks and hard covers of past issues and story lines. But which ones should you choose?

That’s why every Tuesday, The Flickcast will recommend a collection of comics that are just as good, if not better, than the issues you are currently buying. Books that deserve to be read, and bought the next time you walk into your local comic book store.

“The hardest part is that I’m 83 years old. I do a great
Jack Benny, but no one really gets it anymore.”- Atomic Robo

Atomic Robo is a comic I have enjoyed reading for some time now. Every chance I get to recommend it to someone, I do and this was the book that started my love for it.

I was wandering through my local comic book shop. I knew that I wanted to buy a book, and I also knew that I didn’t want more of the same. I needed something different, something a little crazy, and something with some humor. Then, it appeared!

Its simple cover was filled with a robot with glowing blue eyes looking like it was seconds away from pounding in the heads of some crazier robots. How could I not buy this book? From there, I have read everything Atomic Robo, and you should too. Start with this Trade Paperback Tuesday pick, Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne.

Atomic Robo is the story of the same-named robot that was built by Nikola Tesla in 1923. He has lived through the 20th century, had crazy adventures, and now has adventures with a team of action scientists! How can you not read a book with that description?

Not many comic books improve with their second issue. Generally, writers and artists put everything they got into the first. First issues want to catch the readers with their debut so that they stay around. Most of the time the second issue of a comic book series is all setup. It’s usually the quiet reprieve from the action before the build-up to the climax that is still a couple issues to come. Atomic Robo is not like that at all. In fact, Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #2 is better than the first issue!

In my review of the first issue, I was very positive of the entire series of Atomic Robo, and for good reason. Atomic Robo is rarely a book that you can predict. Generally, it fires at all cylinders at all times, throwing jokes, action scenes, and crazy science concepts at you that make you re-read pages over and over. That’s exactly what this second issue does.

Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #2 begins right where the first issue left off. Robo just got a face full of explosion, he’s unconscious, and he’s beginning to fall to the Earth. Hats off to the writer and artist team of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener for crafting one of the most exciting comic sequences I have seen in a long time. The pacing of Robo’s fall through the atmosphere is pure brilliance.

Atomic Robo is back! One of the best books on the stands returns for its sixth volume, and if the story, art, and adventure is still this good the sixth time out, then I want Atomic Robo to continue for 60 volumes!

Created by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, Atomic Robo is the story of an atomic powered robot that was built by Nikola Tesla in 1923 that is dedicated to adventure, fighting, and SCIENCE! In this issue, a bunch of astronauts are trapped on a space station and only have hours to live. So NASA calls on the only people they know that can save them, Atomic Robo and his group of action scientists from Tesladyne Industries.

The issue itself is a lot fun. Which is surprising since most of the issue is a long conversation between Robo and his team as they debate the best course of action to rescue the astronauts. Scientific terms, fringe science, and humor are mixed into the writing in just the right amounts by Brian Clevinger making the issue feel fun and full of energy,  and not decompressed. Clevinger makes perfect use of the ticking clock. As the pages turn, we see Robo race against time in his gambit to rescue the astronauts.

The art is fun and bursting with energy. Simple lines and rounded edges are employed by Scott Wegener in an art style that pops. Pages and panel compositions are designed in a way to always give the sense of movement, energy, and fun.

Atomic Robo is the comic book that everyone should be reading.  The book stars an atomic powered robot that was built in 1923 by Nikola Tesla, and has dedicated itself to saving lives, grand adventures, and SCIENCE! With a description like that how can you not read this book?

This is the sixth volume of Atomic Robo, and while jumping into the sixth volume of anything can be scary, each volume of Atomic Robo is self-contained. Making each story accessible and enjoyable to all. After reading The Ghost of Station X, I can guarantee you are going to rush to your local comic book store to buy the other volumes.

To get you interested in this series, we have a preview of Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #1. Here’s the scoop on the book directly from our friends at Red 5 Comics.

There are two kinds of people. Those who love Atomic Robo and those who haven’t read it yet. What’s that? You don’t want to start on the sixth volume? Well, GOOD NEWS! Every volume is stand alone. BOOM. You can start with this one and know what’s going on from page one. KA-BOOM. Then go back and read the other volumes in any order. THWACKA-BOOM. Oh, a plot? Okay, fine. Astronauts are stranded in a deteriorating orbit, and it’s up to Atomic Robo to save them in a race against the laws of physics!

Look for Atomic Robo: The Ghosts of Station X #1 to hit store shelves on September 7, and check out the preview after the jump.