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TRDLcomics — TRDL - Atomic Robo
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Published: 2011-06-05 16:52:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 1743; Favourites: 45; Downloads: 46
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TRDL 2011 Series, No. 52 - Atomic RoboThis piece was done for the Atomic Robo Jam on the TRDL R3 Forum. I havent read the entire series, but it's definitely up my alley, equal parts Invincible and Hellboy, with an interesting cast and a wonderful line style. For my illustration, I beefed up the massing of his torso and arms substantially, to give him a less anthropomorphic figure overall. Also, I gave him a little Wrongbird for no good reason. It's June, pouring rain in San Francisco: I miss birds.
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Comments: 12
Well, that's certainly an honor, Scott!
I will definitely get another one done that's closer to spec... I was working from memory!
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Very cool - I keep meaning to dive into this series, but haven't yet. You had me at "Hellboy."
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It's hard to put a finger on it exactly. I'm a lifelong Mignola reader so my feathers ruffle when ANYTHING in that book is off: different artist, Byrne co-scripting, whatever. Even when the art is accomplished, like Davis. So when a project like Atomic Robo comes along, which has that VIBE, you have to actually get your mind OFF of Hellboy to appreciate it. It's not ripping off Mignola's work. But there's a certain theme, of historical flexibility, fisticuffs, colorful supporting cast, streamlined art and colors, you'll find familiar. It actually leans closer to Invincible, especially in art.
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We get the HELLBOY thing a lot. Mignola told us to just roll with it. 
But if you really want to know where we're swiping our vibe from its a sort of combination Ghost Busters/ Raiders of The Lost Arc/ Buckaroo Banzai thing. The writer (Clevinger) had never even read Hellboy before I shoved it down his throat, though of course, he was at least passingly familiar with it.
I am, however, a HUGE Mignola fanboy, and you can see me leaning heavily on him on Vol.1 of Robo, more than any of my other influences, because to me Hellboy was the road map for what a great comic should be. I don't think I really found my own artistic voice until somewhere between Vol.2 and Vol.3.
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I think story and theme that's dead-on. Well, of course it is, as you should KNOW. But yeah, it was an adventure vibe, rather than a horror vibe. I see a lot of what I perceive to be Ottley influence in your work. Yes/no? I mean, it's just that game we all play as readers where we see the work and it reminds us of whatever else, and you wonder if it was an influence or a happy accident. It's meant as a compliment. As you've seen from my work, I also enjoy a streamlined ink style and relatively unlabored detailing, following a less is more logic I pull from my architecture work. Yours, and a few others, are the few artist's styles I look at and think 'that's my kind of vibe' as opposed to the work of many artists I worship but have no stylistic similarities to at all, like James Jean, Paul Pope, Maybury, etc etc...
Scott, i'm really glad you guys have pursued and sustained this project at Red5 as a compliment to your mainstream work. Having control over your product content is a HUGE thing.
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I was the same way back in the day - it was all Mignola or nothing for me. The funny thing is now, after a sustained Hellboy layoff, I've started to pick up the new books that he is writing, but I've been picking them up for the art... Kevin Nowlan, Richard Borben, the recent start of "The Fury" with Fegredo.
The art to Atomic Robo very much does remind me of "Invincible" (yet another series I've been wanting to dive into).
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I get the Invincible stuff in the super hardcovers. It's the only series I do. I just started out that way and kept going. So I'm behind on it but love the work, especially all the progress/concept work in the back.
I can't do Corben. I couldn't as a kid, and I can't now. But Fegredo is doing great stuff, and I really took to Guy Davis on BPRD.
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Corben was never really in my wheelhouse either, but something about his style really fit that story well. I think Mignola knows exactly what aspects of his stories fit which artist (Voodoo Zombies=Corben, Lots of cows=Nowlan).
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He is nothing if not careful and savvy about how he allows people into his empire, that's for sure!
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