I recently discovered the Book Bundle from Humble Bundle; what magic and madness is this?? Pay what you want for access to DRM-free online files from featured publishers?! I have recently entered the world of comics and graphic novels, supported largely in part by the range of material I get when I purchase a Humble Bundle. The most recent bundle I bought was from Image Comics, and I’ve found some amazing new comics to follow. Among those I read were The Manhattan Projects…
Title: The Manhattan Projects: Volume 1
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Illustrator: Nick Pitarra
Year: 2014
Genre: Comic
Setting: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Characters: Robert Oppenheimer (gifted physicist), Joseph Oppenheimer (soul-eating schizophrenic twin), General Leslie Groves (Commander at Los Alamos), Richard Feyman (young physicist), Albert Einstein (German physicist), FDR (AI ex-President), Dr. Werner (ex-Nazi with robo-arm), Dr. Helmutt (ex-Nazi rocket scientist)
Plot: Oppenheimer is contacted by General Groves and asked to join The Manhattan Project as a physicist. Upon arriving at Los Alamos, Oppenheimer sees that the Manhattan Project is just a cover for a range of exploratory science missions the government is running. He passes by Einstein. who is locked away in a room pondering what will become the gateway to other worlds and dimensions. While the U.S. develops its projects, the Soviets are in Star City, on similar paths of exploration. After engaging with aliens from another galaxy, the U.S. and Russians join forces to fight the invaders who are entering through the galactic gateway….
(I think that’s the plot, anyway. I could be way off.)
Verdict: The comic has its own brand of whimsy–that’s for sure. If I were to channel my dead grandfather, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, and if I were then to tell him there’s a comic being written about Oppenheimer as a schizophrenic soul-eating serial killer, I’m fairly certain he wouldn’t even deign to give me a response. It’s a crazy take on imperialism and crackpot conspiracy theories, and for that, I enjoyed it. It only earned half of my likingness because it just wasn’t really my bag; my rating is based more on my preferences rather than the quality of the material. The art is beautiful, the plot inventive, and the characters unexpected. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who are just entering the world of comics; it’s not a great entry point for the general population. I would be more inclined to direct newer readers to East of West, Jonathan Hickman’s dystopian western, featuring the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. I’ve read Volumes I and II of that, and who am I to resist Death foiling fate by falling in love? 5/10.
Joy Reads 