Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Frank J. Barbiere
Artist: João Vieira
Release Date: 19th February 2014

The Robocop remake had its problems, but BOOM! Studios one shot comics are doing a great job exploring the more interesting concepts the movie introduced. Last week’s issue made more sense after seeing the film dealing with Murphy being under the software’s control where he seems zombie-esque but focused solely on the task at hand.

Barbiere’s story literally dives into Murphy’s subconsciousness while he is under the knife. Murphy chases Mob Boss, Vallon, who is a personification of Murphy chasing down answers from dream to dream like Inception. Makes you wonder if these are the dreams that Agent Coulson had on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since some of them turn into nightmare-ish visions.

Similar to the movie, the comic book also handles the logistics of the story really well. In the movie Dr. Dennett Norton tells the viewers that Dopamine would result in a “nice dream”. Whereas this time around the doctor informs the reader that one wrong move during the surgery could erase years’ worth of memories.

The issue is bursting with some funky colors, which works since it’s all in his head, while Vieira’s artwork is reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman but with a minimalistic approach.

This one is for fans of the film or the character in general, either way it’s an interesting take on the character. If the 28 Days Later tin-in titles are as good at expanding the movie’s universe as they have done with Robocop’s, I’ll be curious to check it out that and any other movie tie-in the Boom!Studios does.

Rating: 4/5.

---

INTERIOR ARTWORK PREVIEW
(Click image to view full page)

 

---

The writer of this piece is:

Laurence Almalvez
Laurence has previously written over at Whatculture.com.
Laurence tweets from @IL1511