Category Archives: Robocop

Yeah, it’s awful.

Lewis doesn’t appear in the issue. Robocop doesn’t go to Detroit. The entire issue, for him, is set on an Aztec pyramid; something along those lines.

Robocop spends most of the issue talking about what it means to be Robocop.

What I find most amusing about the comic is how everything Furman worked on–this intricate frame job, Lewis’s romantic interest in Robocop, even the development of a more recognizable police force–gets flushed here for a really lame comic book.

Worse, Robocop’s out of helmet for most of the comic so Sullivan’s art on him is weak.

I realize Marvel could have cared less–they didn’t renew the license, I’m guessing–but… wow. It’s an awful comic book. Anyone involved with the writing and editing with any shame should have used a pseudonym.

Even after all these issues, this one’s utter lack of quality surprises me.

CREDITS

Beyond the Law, Part 3; writer, Simon Furman; artist, Lee Sullivan; colorist, Gregory Wright; letterer, Ken Lopez; editor, Rob Tokar; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Furman can’t wrap up the comic in an issue, which is what Marvel’s Robocop has left so he’s undoubtedly going to leave some things hanging. Or he’s going to force it all into one issue, which is going to be a disaster.

The series is wrapping up to be incredibly silly. When Marvel got rid of Grant, who brought the series into a more realized future, and brought in Furman to eighty-six those futuristic elements… well, I don’t know what artistic possibilities Robocop had, but it at least read well.

Furman more fully utilizes the licensed property elements (more characters from the movies), but not to any successful end. He’s running the series off a cliff out of sheer incompetence (though I think some of these decisions must be editorial, they’re too stupid not to be).

Again, some lovely Sullivan art and some fine human potential. Furman wastes both.

CREDITS

Beyond the Law, Part 2; writer, Simon Furman; artist, Lee Sullivan; colorist, Gregory Wright; letterer, Ken Lopez; editor, Rob Tokar; publisher, Marvel Comics.

So when the series started Robocop 2 hadn’t been released and the Old Man was still a good guy. Now he’s a bad guy. But still not as bad as he was in Robocop 2. This issue ends with him manipulating Robocop into assassinating a foreign dictator.

Meanwhile, Robocop’s cracking heads (but not enough to really find his wife and kid) and the cops are under assault and Robocop’s abandoned them in general and Lewis in particular. I don’t see Lewis’s crush working out for her here.

Sullivan’s back, inking himself and Robocop looks great. Sullivan spends a lot of time on him, making him look good. He doesn’t spend anywhere near as much time on the regular people, which is a problem.

Furman packs the issue with newscasts and details about the foreign dictator and it’s a bunch of fluff. He’s pretending to have layered this story but didn’t.

CREDITS

Beyond the Law, Part 1; writer, Simon Furman; artist, Lee Sullivan; colorist, Gregory Wright; letterer, Ken Lopez; editor, Rob Tokar; publisher, Marvel Comics.

So we finally get Lewis and Robocop about the suck face and it turns out it’s a stupid brainwashing thing? Or, worse, we don’t even find out if it’s a stupid brainwashing thing. It’s never followed up on, instead Furman has Robocop’s human mind battle his computer mind in a scene straight out of Superman III (with some Empire Strikes Back visuals–Luke in Vader’s helmet–thrown in).

It’s Sullivan inking himself again, which runs hot and cold. The art’s nowhere near as strong as when Kim DeMulder inked him on the first ten or twelve issues. It’s okay, but it’s not great like it was. It doesn’t matter much, since Furman’s a boring writer. He’s mildly competent–he knows to have the police sergeant reflect once the brainwashing is over–but there’s nothing particularly striking about it.

Oh, wait. No, he sucks… I forgot all about the super-villainess.

CREDITS

Mind Bomb, Part 2; writer, Simon Furman; artist, Lee Sullivan; colorist, Gregory Wright; letterer, Ken Lopez; editor, Rob Tokar; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Furman goes episodic here. I mean, TV episodic, maybe the five minutes before the opening titles role. It’s all about cops going crazy and whatever it is driving them crazy also effects Robocop so there’s a cliffhanger with him about to shoot a bunch of people.

Sullivan inks himself here, which is an improvement over the latest issues, but is a mixed bag. Some of his faces don’t look very good (a definite improvement, just not as strong as when the series started), but there’s a lot of great detail. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Robocop look so good, for example.

What’s striking about the issue is the lame and unrealistic characterizations. Cop going psychotic–only Robocop reacts to serve the public, other cops want to defend psycho cop.

Oh, the villain–her name’s Lot’s Wife. Furman deserves a special place in the Comic Writer’s Penitentiary for that one.

CREDITS

Mind Bomb, Part 1; writer, Simon Furman; artist, Lee Sullivan; colorist, Gregory Wright; letterer, Ken Lopez; editor, Rob Tokar; publisher, Marvel Comics.