[CBRC] Manhattan Projects #1

http://i.imgur.com/wXell.jpg

Manhattan Projects #1
Writer - Jonathan Hickman
Artist - Nick Pitarra

Quote:

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'INFINITE OPPENHEIMERS'
What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs? What if the union of a generation's brightest minds was not a signal for optimism, but foreboding? What if everything… went wrong? Welcome to THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, a brand new, ongoing, monthly comic from the creators of THE RED WING. Brought to you by award-winning writer JONATHAN HICKMAN and possibly the best new talent of the year, NICK PITARRA, THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS is a look at history through a darker, much stranger, lens.

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Preview of first 3 pages

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Everyone is welcome to join in provided you have read the issue. To be clear, you must read the issue prior to reviewing it. If it is obvious that you have not read the issue or your post is completely off topic, I will delete your post. I want this review session to be fun but I also want it to stay focused on the comic we are reviewing.

If you are interested but don't normally read comic books, don't worry, we have purposely chose an issue that is supposed to be new reader friendly. If you have questions on where to acquire this issue, feel free to pm me.

The Good: The writing is pretty much on par with what I expect from Hickman. Definitely not great, but "good" is the perfect way to describe it. Some of the panel layout was really effective as well.

The Bad: I'm not a big fan of fictional history. I didn't like the setting of Watchmen and I don't like this setting. I'm all for a little bit of absurd, but

spoilers

origami deathbots, killer kamikaze samurai robots manufactured by Honda, and soul eating cannibal siblings

are a bit too much to handle all at once in a single issue. In addition the "twist" of the issue was a bit extreme and was done with the subtlety of a jackhammer.

The Ugly: Oh dear god the artwork is so bad in this book that it was physically painful for me to look at it. If I could review that issue of Secret Avengers again, I would probably compliment it on its amazing artwork now. It's as though the artist from Rugrats developed parkinsons and decided to go into comics. It's so bad on so many levels that I can barely even begin to put into words how offensive it is to me.

Final score: 3/10

The artwork is unforgivable.

2 weeks ago my local comic book shop was sold.

Fortunately, the guy who bought it has been visiting the place on a weekly basis longer than I have. The previous owner "retired" and is now recording his own music.

The reason I tell you this is because this was my first Wednesday in the place under the new owner. A few things were moved around and I had to ask the new owner (who's awesome and quite helpful) where "Manhattan Project" was. It turns out it was back by the "adult" comics like "Tank Girl" and and the various Marvel MAX series. He asked if I wanted to add it to my pull list and I (apparently, quite wisely) replied "I want to read this one first, I'll let you know next week."

Emphatically, my answer, when I go in there later today will be "FUCK NO"

I had to struggle to get through this comic book. Like Nermy the art was actually painful. I honestly think a 5 year old could finger-paint something far better looking that whatever the hell this was. I really wish I would have opened it up and at least looked at it before I bought it because I would have put it right back on the shelf.

I mean, I'm by no means in any position to try and judge artistic merit since I have whatever the opposite of artistic ability would be, but I'm pretty sure I could draw stick figures better than this. It's just that bad.


The story was utter garbage as well. I'm not sure what I really expected, though. I guess I was hoping for more of a "You know the history, here's what REALLY happened" type of fiction. You just don't get that. Portals to Japan, oragami robots, an evil twin... ugh.

The book jumped all over the place too. from Robert being recruited into the "Manhattan Projects" back to a full two page spread about the differences between him and his brother, then back to the story which picks up in a different place at a different time. It's like a journey through a ADHD child's mind.

Seriously, if you're thinking of picking up this series, just don't. There was such potential here and it was completely wasted in the first issue.


Rating: 2/10

Art
I totally agree that Nick Pitarra's art was pretty bad. Everything just looked... messy. The coloring by Chris Peter was decent though.

Spoiler

I particularly liked the coloring when Joseph kills Robert. I thought that was nicely done.

Story
This was not what I was expecting. Like DaiTengu I was expecting more of "You know the history, here's what REALLY happened" type of work. I actually love alternative history fiction and that's what drew me to this comic. But this doesn't feel like alternative history at all because it's just way too goofy and unbelievable. For example when Oppenheimer is getting the tour, he sees all this fantastical shit such as "mining...pan-dimensional space for... fringe materials", yet at the end of the tour it's revealed that they still need him to build an atomic bomb. It doesn't make sense to have all this super advanced technology and then still need someone to build something that is era specific. I mean couldn't you have someone knock out the atomic bomb in an afternoon if you can already "recover mythological artifacts from discarded space"?

The thing that annoyed me the most about The Manhattan Projects is that it just seems like left overs from Hickman's other "alternative history" comic book, S.H.I.E.L.D. Set in the past in Marvel's continuity, S.H.I.E.L.D. is about how all the great thinkers (like Da Vinci, Newton, Archimedes, etc) were all secretly members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it reveals the secret history of the Marvel Universe. Most of the things in The Manhattan Projects felt like ideas that just wouldn't quite fit in S.H.I.E.L.D (especially that Japanese robot scene).

I was really disappointed because the solicitation made this comic sound super interesting and I enjoy Hickman's other work.

3/10

PS lol that the solicitation describes Nick Pitarra as "possibly the best new talent of the year"

Must be a slow year.