When Comics on the Brain glanced through RoboCop: Last Stand No. 1 at the store, we were a little reluctant to buy it.
In general, we think that people give Frank Miller too much credit for his RoboCop chops. Sure, he’s the storyman for RoboCop 2, but he’s also gave us RoboCop 3. Yeah, we know he dealt with a lot of corporate interference in his Robocop movie experiences, but still have our doubts.
Sure, we delivered a good RoboCop comic in “Vs. Terminator,” but he also seemed to miss the mark with “Frank Miller’s RoboCop,” which co-writer Steven Grant also contributed.
Anyway, looking through the book, I found the artist unconventional at best. For my RoboCop stories, I like the Geoff Darrow style of art. Lots of details. Lots of work in every panel. I want it to look real, or at least have lots of layers.
Enter Korkut Oztekin, a name I don’t recognize, as the artist. This guy’s work reminds me a lot of a storyboard artist. In Storyboarding, consistency isn’t the key. Portraying action is. Guiding the camera is what a storyboarder does. And it’s this kind of work that Oztekin offers.
As for the story, CotB did end up liking it, and we suspect that a little extra care from Boom! helped wear down some of the rougher edges Miller applied. As usual, Detroit’s a mess and OCP is muddling through its efforts to make money off the municipal disaster-state. RoboCop is considered a rogue agent and being hunted down at the same time a OCP project is desperately trying to get off the ground. The two, of course, collide violently.
Along the way, we see RoboCop pining for Lewis and then running into someone who looks a lot like her and has the same sort of moxie Lewis always displayed.
We also learn that building another “full body prosthesis” has not only never worked, but it has also been outlawed. That means RoboCop is the first and last in the line.
In all, it’s a book I enjoyed and hope to pick up more.
RoboCop: Last Stand No. 1 of 8 (Boom! Studios, $3.99, 2013)
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