Review – RoboCop #4 (BOOM! Studios)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Carlos Magno
Release Date: 1st October 2014

Another month goes by and I’m once again ready to continue watching this amazing, lost RoboCop sequel. It’s really strange though. It isn’t even on DVD or VHS or, god forbid, laserdisc. Instead, this film is viewed on paper, and is released monthly, making for very long pauses where one can use the bathroom or make some popcorn.

The film really seems to be getting into its stride this month, adding in some very risqué language which makes it seem far more like the RoboCop films which have been released on DVD. Much like those other films, we now see Detroit almost giving in to the primal urge to riot and chant NWA lyrics, and this makes for a very tense situation that will have you on the edge of your cinema seat (if you have chosen to take this paper film into a cinema to read). This month we see the redneck villains bested by sheer brawn, and our main villain, Killian, bested by the sharp wit of Officer Lewis, as she uses his own rhetoric to give him exactly what he professes to want.

The redneck villains in particular, as they use a monster truck to torture RoboCop, seem very much in line with thugs from other RoboCop films. They clearly care not for Murphy as a man, and treat him as little more than a machine. In underestimating him, they leave themselves open to the most violent moment seen so far in this story, with gore worthy of both praise and shock in equal measures. We are also treated to some great character development as Lewis explains why she took the detective exam, and Murphy replies with a heart-breaking speech about how he may have ‘lived’ past his own death, but that his dreams of one day making sergeant truly did die that day.

The cinematography is superb, bringing back a lot more of the neon-colouring that was so prevalent in the first issue. The beaten-up design of RoboCop is also fantastic, even if it does draw a lot from previous examples (the ‘visor cracks to reveal a human eye’ trope clearly shows that RoboCop’s visor is his weakest point). Unfortunately, at times some character’s faces look just a little off, mostly from angles looking up at the characters. Lewis bears the worst of this, as we seem to spend a lot of time staring straight up her nose while she takes an allergic reaction to a bee sting. Overall though, everything feels very stylised, brutal and cool.

As this month’s chapter closes, we now see that although Killian has been temporarily set back, his plans for Detroit involve far more violence than any moral person could be expected to counteract. The reveal that his plan involves the robbery of some very large (and very familiar) ordinance from OCP sends a shiver down my spine. It’s such a shame I now have to put this wonderful RoboCop film on pause for yet another month.

You guys want any popcorn while I’m up?

Rating: 4/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK.

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