Atomic Robo is a love letter to the old pulp fiction comics of the 50's and 60's. The nonsensical tech, the insane bad guys, the sheer hokeyness, all of it is recreated in phenomenal detail. There's no other word I can use to describe this comic but "amazing".

And yet it felt like such a chore to read. While there is a loose ongoing plot, every story arc finishes like a Super Sentai episode: Robo stops the villain of the month, The End. But the difference between Super Sentai and Atomic Robo is that Super Sentai episodes are 20 minutes long, while a chapter in Atomic Robo can go on for a hundred pages or more. How am I supposed to get invested in a 100-page story arc when everything is so predictable and formulaic? I won’t say shortening the chapters is the right play because then arc-specific characters wouldn’t get the development they need, I would just prefer that the villains actually felt like they were capable of winning even a partial victory, without the dreary certainty of Robo's plot armor.

Maybe this is just supposed to be playing to the schlocky conventions of old pulp fiction, where the good guys always win in the end, but I’ve read a lot of pulp fiction that didn’t make me feel irritated and impatient. I think part of it is that Robo seems to have a bit of MCU syndrome, where he's always gotta be wisecrackin' and spouting one-liners in the middle of fights. Which, yeah, that happened a lot in old pulp fiction too, heck, more characters were wisecrackers than straight men, but again, those comic books were usually over in 20 pages with a brand-new adventure next issue. Imagine if the old Spider-Man comics where he beats up the villain of the week had their incredibly straightforward plotlines stretched out to 5 issues every single time. That's Atomic Robo. I love it, but I can't stand it.

There's one old pulp comic series I can't remember the name of and I can't seem to find, which drives me crazy, which was about humans achieving utopia but then facing famine and getting involved with Venusian politics when they try to travel to Venus and grow food there. It was goofy as heck, but there was still tension, and the choices people made in that comic felt like they mattered. Very few decisions anyone makes in Atomic Robo felt like they mattered, aside from a few key events transcending individual story arcs, like Robo deciding to work with the American government in return for citizenship, driving away his 'father', the pacifist Nikola Tesla, in disgust and shame.

But for all my frustrations, Atomic Robo really is incredible. I liked the Lovecraft story arc the best, but the Wild West and She-Devil arcs were also quite interesting, with some surprisingly emotional moments.