X-Ray Robot #2, from Dark Horse, is written and drawn by comic artist favourite Mike Allred. Let’s ‘X-Ray inside’ the issue, and see what we think of its “bones”…
Well, for those of us who missed issue #1, from the pre/early COVID month of March 2020, our first glimpses of issue 2 are pretty chaotic. But perhaps a summary of that first issue can give us some help: call it a ‘consultation’, a second opinion…
Here’s a summary: Max conducts an experiment at work, and is split into himself plus a robotic figure. This figure is also claiming to be Max but at the age of 277. The Robot can X-Ray multiple dimensions and is battling a nihilistic entity. So, Robot wants to go back in time, and stitch together the divergent strings of reality that result from OTHER people going back in time and messing things up.
Got it? Okay, I’m glad, because I’m thinking of every Flash episode, every Star Trek movie where characters met themselves while meddling with time and space.
And while I only have the brain capacity and time and space in this review to tell you a few things before you move on. This scenario is a LOT LOT LOT to take in.
Allred’s visual style of thick black brush lines, outlining figures who seem rather two-dimensional (not a lot of shadow and so on) is a fair match to this story. His figures pose well, but their physical proportions are puzzling. But I’m a reviewer and artist, not a Doctor! Laura Allred colours the tale, attempting to give dimension and a campy bright look to most of the book. It’s 1960’s robot SciFi re-examined, using today’s higher quality printing methods (the creative team has included a few bonus pages printed in 3D, but apparently have not included glasses in the comic? (“3D glasses not included”))
All in all, it’s about time, it’s about space, it’s a complicated story with characters whooshing back and forth across dimensions, exploring alternate realities. Unfortunately, the comings and goings get in the way of getting close to the characters. I’ll just stand back as they transmit themselves to issue three.
Dark Horse, X-Ray Robot #2, $3.99 for 25 pages of content
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