Digitally Speaking...50

This column features an ongoing tour of material I've read from my comiXology account...

The Trial of Atomic Robo (Tesladyne)
From 2015.

For the first time since Red 5 has existed and participated in Free Comic Book Day, it didn't feature Atomic Robo in its release.  No 2015 FCBD Robo.  That may have something to do with the fact that creators Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener are migrating Robo to a new publishing platform, which is to say, he's becoming a webcomic.  Apparently that's how Clevenger started out his career, and so that's where he's returning, and he's taking Robo with him.  Trial is part of this transition, and as part of the festivities Doctor Dinosaur returns.  Atomic Robo is one of many, many comics that heavily feature absurdist humor, and there's no character in its history that better features this instinct than Doctor Dinosaur.  The title is somewhat misleading, since it's in fact a Doctor Dinosaur trial (which rapidly degenerates and is resolved in typical blunt Robo style).  The whole thing explains the appeal of Atomic Robo in one of its more charming aspects, but doesn't necessarily translate the overall thrust of Clevenger's storytelling, which is not always so absurdist.  Still, if you like your comics absurd, then Trial makes an excellent argument for joining the ranks of Robo's fans.

Descender #3 (Image)
From 2015.

The previous issue introduced emotional depth to the story, and so it was a matter of building on that for the follow-up, and not just the apparent death of the lead character...This issue manages to pull off such a difficult task by introducing new depth to the story itself, giving Tim a quest and even additional wrinkles to the existential matters inherent to Jeff Lemire's little robot.  Descender isn't the first story to tackle the rights of artificial life, but it's doing so with uncommon nuance, which once again is down to not only Lemire's writing but Dustin Nguyen's art.  Recently I became aware of the fact that the series launched to a sizable audience, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Fighting Stranger: Chapter Two (HicksVillain)
From 2013.

By the end of Chapter One, we learned somewhat unexpectedly that Stranger's day constantly repeats.  Chapter Two explains how this is an entirely orchestrated spectacle, and how a few citizens of the city Stranger escapes each day band together to change Stranger's day, break the loop, and hopefully one day overcome the mutant overlords that keep them all oppressed.  Fighting Stranger remains a pleasant discovery, filled with excellent storytelling and the occasional killer line, and this second installment enriches the whole thing even as the title character takes a backseat to help accomplish it.  The movie Edge of Tomorrow, I'm told was something like this.  If you were one of the people pleasantly surprised by that movie, you might enjoy Fighting Stranger as well.  The story continues here.

Swamp Thing #40 (DC)
From 2015.

The final issue of the series and also Charles Soule's last work for DC (for however long that lasts; at least Marvel had the good sense to let him write the Lando comic in its Star Wars line), something I'd hoped to read in print, had the local shop order me a copy when it sold out on original release, still haven't seen, gave up waiting for, and so I bought it digitally...I hopped around Soule's run and was always playing catch-up anyway, so it's only appropriate that I'm a little late to the conclusion.  Soule once again pulls off the unthinkable: imagine if Grant Morrison didn't go full meta in Animal Man and instead left it simply at Buddy Baker only realizing he was a fictional character.  That's what Swamp Thing discovers when he hides in the pages of a book.  By the end of the issue, he's seen reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, which is a novel about cyclical life that eventually ends.  It's clear that Soule parted with Swamp Thing reluctantly, but he also recognizes that above all else he was part of a whole tradition, and that regardless of what happens in this issue, Swamp Thing's story continues.  It's a fitting way to go, with far more grace than creators tend to exhibit, taking the ego out of the proceedings where it's far more common (even though this is usually pretty enjoyable to read) for the departing writer to weave some clever metaphor about why it's such a bittersweet if not outright bad development.  I may lament DC's loss, but it's not as if Soule hasn't left a lot of great storytelling behind.  That's a legacy, folks.