History ComicBook / AtomicRobo

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Inverted with [[spoiler:Otto Skorzeny in the '70s. He attempts to have Robo give him a soldier's death by informing him he killed Tesla and used his technology for the Nazi war effort - and even ''gives Robo a weapon first.'' Robo seriously considers doing it, but instead leaves him to die a painful, lonely death of cancer.]]

** In ''The Ring of Fire'', the [[spoiler:"Scientific Emergency and Containment United Response Experts" ([[TheWarOnTerror S.E.C.U.R.E.]]) Act, which essentially outlaws Action Science, leaving world-saveage in the hands of the incompetents in Majestic 12. During a Kaiju invasion]].

->''"Y'know how you can watch a documentary about archaeology, and it’s a bunch of university professors and grad students carefully brushing dust from rocks? And then they learn something very important about pottery? Meanwhile Franchise/IndianaJones is also an archaeologist, but mostly he [[AdventurerArchaeologist runs around shooting bad guys and having car chases]]?\\

"Now apply the Indiana Jones model to [[ScienceHero every other field of study]].\\

There's also a TabletopRPG spinoff, which uses the [[TabletopGame/{{FUDGE}} FATE]] system.

%%* DemBones: Undead Edison.

* YouKilledMyFather: Skorzeny reveals to Robo in Madrid, 1974, that he killed Tesla. It's an attempt to get the latter to kill him and spare him a slow, painful death due to cancer. Robo doesn't give it to him.

* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: ''The Deadly Art of Science'' opens with Robo remarking gloomily that "Nothing exciting ever happens around here"; within pages he's become tangled up with a masked vigilante and a sinister mastermind with a crystal skull. It's played with a bit, though, with the intervening pages reminding us that Robo's baseline for "exciting" is a bit unusual in that for him UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla attempting to pierce the subatomic veil with giant arcing electrical machines is an everyday occurrence. (Also, he's a ''talking robot''.)

* ObviouslyEvil: The computer Robo's employees construct in Volume 3 Issue 5.

-->'''Koshchey:''' My bomb will kill everything in the world. [[{{Unperson}} I was robbed of my place in history]], so humanity shall be robbed of its ''future''.

-->'''Robo:''' ''[noticing that his employees have built an ObviouslyEvil computer]'' I ''really'' need to restructure my life so I can spend more time reading abstracts and less time punching dinosaurs.

-->-'''Intro to the ''Atomic Robo Roleplaying Game'' book'''

* DVDCommentary:
** Sort of. The website has pages of writer Creator/BrianClevinger and artist Scott Wegener commenting on their issues over instant messenger ([[http://www.atomic-robo.com/?p=187 here is the page for issue #1]]), doing such things as mocking the early art, arguing over how Helsingard should have been more obviously not-Nazi and pointing out that [[ImproperlyPlacedFirearms they gave Germans English guns]].
** As of volume seven, Clevinger and Wegener have been doing a segment called ''[[http://nerdyshow.com/atomicrobo Atomic Robo: Nuts and Bolts]]'' on the Nerdy Show podcast. They and the interviewer go through each issue as it comes out and discuss where certain ideas come from, their writing process, and how Scott never looks at Brian's scripts.

* TheWikiRule: Has a [[http://atomicrobo.wikia.com/wiki/Atomic_Robo wiki]].

The series was originally published by Creator/RedFiveComics. When the contract expired, the series shifted to a free webcomic format starting with Volume 10 in 2015. Later in the year, Creator/IDWPublishing picked up the license for the physical print versions. ''Real Science Adventures'' also shifted to a web format in 2016, but only released one new volume and stopped updating soon after; the following volume a couple years later returned to being print-exclusive.

*** ''The Nicodemus Job'' has Terazin Berikos, a crime lord.

''[[http://www.atomic-robo.com Atomic Robo]]'' (written by Creator/BrianClevinger, of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' and ''Literature/NuklearAge'' fame) is a comic about, well, Atomic Robo, a robot built by UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla in the 1920s. Given citizenship by the US government in exchange for missions against [[StupidJetpackHitler Nazis and other similar scumbags]], he later started Tesladyne, a high tech organization devoted to fighting really weird evil and advancing human knowledge. Along with his elite team of Action Scientists, he travels the world (and further) fighting things on the fringes of human knowledge.

In addition to the main series, there's a spinoff called ''Real Science Adventures'', which features side characters in non-Robo-related stories. These characters include the Sparrow, a lineage of British spies; the Centurions of Science, an adventuring group that Tesla was a part of before building Robo; and the Flying She-Devils, an all-female crew that fights sky pirates post-WWII.

** '''4:''' ''The Nicodemus Job'' (2018)

The series was originally published by Red 5. When the contract expired, the series shifted to a free webcomic format starting with Volume 10 in 2015. Later in the year, Creator/IDWPublishing picked up the license for the physical print versions. ''Real Science Adventures'' also shifted to a web format in 2016, but only released one new volume and stopped updating soon after; the following volume a couple years later returned to being print-exclusive.

** It's vaguely implied that [[spoiler: the subsequent trap was sprung because they knew Robo couldn't answer a ringing smartphone, and thus had confirmation that he was the one holding it]]

* CapsLockNumLockMissilesLock: When Robo and [[Magazine/ForteanTimes Charles Fort]] go hunting an EldritchAbomination, Robo brings [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v3ch2-page-3 appropriate hardware.]] Just mind the dial. Better yet, don't touch the dial.
-->'''Robo:''' ''These'' are {{Lightning Gun}}s. They collect electric charges from the air and boost them to ''obscenely'' dangerous levels through an even ''more'' dangerous process. Nothing unusual.\\

--->'''Robo''': …My years with Mr. Tesla have taught me that there’s one underlying scientific principle common to *all* existence.\\

-->'''Robo''': ''[noticing that his employees have built an ObviouslyEvil computer]'' I ''really'' need to restructure my life so I can spend more time reading abstracts and less time punching dinosaurs.

--> '''Robo:''' Bruce, c'mon. ''[on the ground]'' Wait. What just happened?\\

-->'''General Sheng''': In years past, the international science defense community could be trusted to put politics aside in a crisis. Task Force ULTRA makes this impossible. [[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v10ch3-page-3a No one trusts anyone.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Robo.

* DemBones: Undead Edison.

* GeniusDitz: Dr. Dinosaur. Capable of great scientific feats, but at the same time:
-->'''Dr. Dinosaur:''' I ''knew'' you would be here, Atomic ''Hobo''! Witness how I have deconstructed your name into an ''insult!''\\

-->'''Bernard:''' You think they'll mind?
-->'''Robo:''' About the tanker? We're neighbors and adventure industrialists. That was like borrowing a cup of sugar.
-->'''[[DistantReactionShot Sir Richard Branson]]:''' [[ThirdPersonPerson Sir Richard Branson]] thinks you should ask ''before'' you borrow something.

'''Robo''': I don't joke around about Marconi, Lang.

'''Edison''': I say, you've been busy, lad.\\

--->'''Bernard:''' We really should come up with a name for Hollow Earth stuff one of these days.
--->'''Robo:''' Wonder what they called themselves.
--->'''Bernard:''' ''*[[CreepyMonotone remembering]]*'' Akni. 'The People'.

--> '''[[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v6ch3-page-11 Lewis]]:''' The sheer bureaucratic gymnastics behind that are ''mind bending''.

-->'''Dr. Dinosaur''': From hell's heart, I spam at thee!

* PsychoExGirlfriend: "Along Came a Tyrantula".

--->'''Robo''': [[KirkSummation You didn't steal a pile of notes]]. You stole what the world '''could''' have been. For ''what?''\\
'''GeneralRipper''': You can't afford to be this naive. There was a UsefulNotes/ColdWar. [[ShutUpKirk Perhaps you heard of it]]?\\
'''Robo''': Yeah, the Cold War, where men like ''you'' [[ShutUpHannibal wasted trillions of dollars and half the scientific talent of the world]] for ''three'' generations.

* RetiredBadass: Tesla. [[SeenItAll He never, ever]] [[FantasticallyIndifferent even so much as]] ''blinks'' at all the Mad Science and insane adventures that crop around him. Compare to Robo, who normally is flabberghasted by the shenanigans of the working Universe even after 80 years of life. Just by passing references, Robo is barely catching with him 57 years after he died.
-->'''Tesla''': ''[while Robo is battling a vampire]'' Robo, it is my conjecture that [[DullSurprise the Electronoscope is in fact, a portal to another dimension]].\\

'''Tesla''': [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight Either that or the subatomic world is actually filled with monsters]]. Hmmm.

--> '''Robo:''' [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood You could have helped them]].

--> '''Jack Tarot''': ''[after witnessing [[spoiler:Tesla's thunder suit]]]'' It's official, we are ''out'' of our league.

-->'''Dr. Martin''': You rob a bank with a note and a candy bar in your coat pocket. You don't drag the ''whole vault'' down the street.

-->'''Dr. Valkyrie''': Hitler gives too little funding to too many projects and they are ''all'' crippled for it.\\
'''Robo''': ''[seventy years later]'' That was Fritz for you. Why build ''one'' super weapon to win the war when you can underfund a ''dozen'' of them?

---> '''Bernard:''' "[[http://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/bug-hunt-page-8 We have to go now.]]"

--->'''Dr. Dinosaur''': And mankind won't know what happened to it! Because mankind won't have happened, so they won't know what did had happened instead of them! ... Look, it is not my fault the meager tenses of your pathetic grammar are no match for the simplest complexities of time travel!

--->'''Dr. Dinosaur''': ''Fact!'' Life arose on this planet over ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life three billion]]'' years ago. ''Fact!'' Radical changes in surface conditions have causes no less than ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event five]]'' mass extinctions in the past ''half billion'' years alone. ''Fact!'' Hollow Earth is a vast primordial ecosystem born of the subterranean migration of the giant immortal ''[[HowUnscientific magma worm]]'' named--\\
'''Robo''': [[StupidestThingIveEverHeard Fact. You're an idiot]].

--> '''Robo:''' Why do I even ''bring'' Action Scientists?

* MadeOfIron: Robo, naturally enough. Over the years, Robo has replaced ''all'' of his chassis save his brain and atomic heart as parts inevitably wore out, better versions and new materials were developed, and new technologies were invented. [[spoiler:He even lost his atomic heart at the end of ''Knights of the Golden Circle'', and had to replace it with an ALAN-constructed duplicate in ''The Ring of Fire'']]. As a result, he is really, ''really'' tough. So far, the only things that brought him close to death have been a collision with an ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill orbiting satellite]]'' followed by re-entry (''Ghost of Station X''), and a crashing zeppelin packed with highly explosive GreenRocks (''Knights of the Golden Circle'').

In addition to these, there's a spinoff series called ''Real Science Adventures'', with each issue containing several new stories, either one-shots or multi-parters, involving either Robo, side-characters from the main comic, or other people from the setting. One series deals with The Sparrow, while another focuses on the two-fisted science adventures of Tesladyne's predecessors; UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, Ehrie "Creator/HarryHoudini" Weisz, Charles Fort, Creator/HPLovecraft’s dad, George Westinghouse, Annie Oakley and Wong Kei-ying (father of UsefulNotes/WongFeiHung) - ''the Seven Centurions of Science.'' Which is ''exactly'' as awesome as it sounds.

The series was originally published by Red 5. When the contract expired, the series shifted to a free webcomic format starting with Volume 10 in 2015. Later in the year, Creator/IDWPublishing picked up the license for the physical print versions. ''Real Science Adventures'' also shifted to a web format in 2016, but only released one new volume and stopped updating soon after.

** '''10:''' ''Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire'' (2015-2016)

** '''12:''' ''Atomic Robo and the Spectre of Tomorrow'' (2017)

** '''2:''' ''The Billion-Dollar Plot'' (2014)
** '''3:''' ''Raid on Marauder Island'' (2016)

** "Project Millipede" (2017, break between vol. 11 and 12)

** Baron Heinrich von Helsingard in ''The Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne.''
** Otto Skorzeny in ''The Dogs of War.''

** Averted in ''Other Strangeness''; it's an anthology with no overarching villain.
** You just ''know'' that the mysterious grumpy gentleman from the first issue of ''The Deadly Art of Science'' is going to be revealed as Edison, even before you see his face.

** Matsuda, a Chokaiten operative in ''Temple of Od''.

* MadeOfIron: Robo, naturally enough. Over the years, Robo has replaced upwards of ninety-five percent of his chassis as parts inevitably wore out, better versions and new materials were developed, and new technologies were invented. As a result, he is really, ''really'' tough. So far, the only things that brought him close to death have been a collision with an ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill orbiting satellite]]'' followed by re-entry (''Ghost of Station X''), and a crashing zeppelin packed with highly explosive GreenRocks (''Knights of the Golden Circle'').

* BigBad

** BigBadEnsemble: Dr. Dinosaur and Majestic 12 in ''The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur'', Task Force ULTRA and the Biomega in ''The Ring of Fire''.
** BigBadWannabe: Butcher Caldwell in ''The Knights of the Golden Circle'', before being usurped by [[spoiler:a young [[HijackedByGanon Helsingard]].]]

** ''Real Science Adventures'' shows a veritable dream-team of these back in the late 19th and early 20th century: UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, Charles Fort, George Westinghouse, [[Creator/HPLovecraft H.P.]]'s dad Winfield Scott Lovecraft (the President's [[OccultDetective occult secret agent]]), HarryHoudini, Anne Oakley and Wong Kei-ying.

* MissingEpisode: The prologue to ''Ring of Fire'', showing Robo's team following ''Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur'' and how they met up with Foley, isn't included in the print edition.

''Atomic Robo'' (written by Creator/BrianClevinger, of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' and ''Literature/NuklearAge'' fame) is a comic about, well, Atomic Robo, a robot built by UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla in the 1920s. Given citizenship by the US government in exchange for missions against [[StupidJetpackHitler Nazis and other similar scumbags]], he later started Tesladyne, a high tech organization devoted to fighting really weird evil and advancing human knowledge. Along with his elite team of Action Scientists, he travels the world (and further) fighting things on the fringes of human knowledge.

As of January 2015, [[http://www.atomic-robo.com the Atomic Robo site uploaded the comics to be read for free online]], with a separate site for [[http://www.realscienceadventures.com/ Real Science Adventures]] launching in January 2016. Volume 10 is the first story to be released first in this way before being released in [=ComiXology=] app or print editions.