Review – Robocop #3 (BOOM! Studios)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer(s): Joshua Williamson
Artist(s): Carlos Magno
Release Date: 3rd September 2014

Oh hey, finally a decent RoboCop 3. Hell, I’ll just repeat what I said in my first review: this series really feels like a comic adaptation of a lost RoboCop sequel. And a good one at that. Issue #3 manages to give this story the final momentum necessary to move out of story setup mode and into an exciting crisis.

I’m struggling to find something to say about Carlos Magno’s art that I haven’t already said before. The same high standard has been kept throughout these opening issues, and the aesthetic completely mirrors the RoboCop universe as you remember it. Standout work in issue #3 includes a newscast on a CRT monitor which flawlessly sells RoboCop’s version of the 1980s, complete with unnervingly cheerful news anchors, scan lines and colour bleed. The use of neon colouring has died down somewhat in these last two, less action-focussed issues, but whenever it is used to denote motion or action it adds a unique visual flavour to this comic adaptation.

Also one splash page has more guns than Chuck Norris’s sleeves.

On the story side this issue is deceptive, in that not much appears to happen until all hell breaks loose in Detroit, and you realise how imminently the fight with Killian is approaching. The first half of the story shows just how far Killian has come; from gun-runner, to gun-runner with big backers and a sleazy suit. Killian’s transformation, and the encroaching reveal of just who is backing him feels very RoboCop, with all the sleaze and conspiracy saying such a thing implies. Killian has become a folk hero with dark plans, while RoboCop becomes hated despite his incorruptibility, and although Killian’s true intentions may have now been revealed as his planned riots finally emerge, it was still nice to see that RoboCop can’t catch a break in a city that loves criminals more than its heroes.

Ultimately we see little action in this issue, as Killian’s plan unfolds, and Lewis and Murphy finally catch on to him. This investigation achieves a great many things. It helps to explore the partnership between Murphy and Lewis, which has become threatened by Lewis’s plans for promotion, and show why they work so well together. It is also nice to see Murphy using his robotic skills to investigate, rather than kick ass, as this is the man who solved his own murder after all. The investigation also gives us RoboCop using his speed-reading skills to read an entire room of unsorted paperwork. It’s a cute moment which feels very Hot Fuzz.

This issue ends with the return of the hillbillies, who thankfully give more of a Deliverance vibe than a Dukes of Hazzard one this month. They personify the brutal threat that is approaching the City of Detroit and RoboCop himself, as the story finally catches its stride and breaks out of setup. From this point on I can imagine much more action coming our way from this series.

Also RoboCop ‘fights’ a monster truck.

Rating: 4/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK.

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