It’s not a terrible issue. So far it’s probably Furman’s best, only because it’s an all-action issue. The inking is a little better this time too. Maybe it’s the lack of thought balloons for Robocop. Robocop thinking kind of ruins it, at least the way Furman writes his thinking.

It’s not particularly clear but it reads like evil triumphs over good here, that the corporate bad guys get away unpunished. It’s hard to say. Furman uses a news story to wrap up the issue (much like Marvel’s adaptation of the first movie does) and the whole thing–the three parter this finishes–feels like a tv pilot. It pretends to be gritty, but it’s really super positive and smiley.

Sullivan has some nice work, visible through the mediocre inks and the plotting makes it more readable than usual.

It’s a more tolerable read than usual, if still absent merit.

Ok, so this issue of Robocop is a little more interesting than usual–a little more interesting, maybe, than any licensed property comic outside of Dark Horse’s Star Wars ones where there was a “enhanced continuity” or whatever LucasFilm called it–this issue of Robocop features one of the series’ mainstay characters, the sidekick and token black executive, Johnson, going bad.

It means next to nothing to anyone who isn’t a Robocop fan (the third film ignores the Marvel comics continuity, apparently–and unfortunately) but it’s a big deal. It’s also amusing because the opening shot of the character looks like an Obama campaign poster.

Anyway, otherwise there’s a lot of lame stuff, like Robocop’s partner still not getting to him and some evil military cyborg who’s got daddy issues.

Sullivan draws some amazing panels and the inks just fail him, over and over and over again. It’s tragic, really.

Maybe I was too rough on Furman last issue–I ought to be saving my bile for inker Candelario, as this guy completely wrecks Sullivan’s art. Having gone over ten issues with Sullivan inked well, seeing this disaster is just … upsetting.

But Furman, well, Furman’s not terrible. He’s got a handful of decent scenes. There’s some really stupid stuff in it like the Sergeant from the movies being more interested in OCP orders than being a good cop and a mystery bad guy out to get Robocop. Not to mention Robocop’s partner being in a single, totally useless scene.

It’s an action issue from an era where action issues weren’t the norm. The result is a banal, with more bad than good, comic book.

Furman does incorporate the movies well, but it’s like he never read Alan Grant’s issues. The ones far superior to the ones he’s creating.

Blah.

Blah.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Furman lacks Alan Grant’s deft touch, since the new editor basically said he would. Furman’s Robocop is, as a protagonist, pretty lame. The series is now a sequel to Robocop 2, but Furman’s Robocop is still all bent out of shape about having been turned into Robocop, something the second movie kind of dealt with. I mean, it ends with him grinning.

The book’s also got a new inker–Harry Candelario–and he looks lousy over Sullivan’s pencils. Robocop isn’t goofy looking, but regular people’s faces lack definition. It’s incredibly boring artwork.

Furman’s also setting up a big conspiracy–flushing the bigger story Grant had been working on–but it’s a licensed property so who knows how much interference they got.

Lots of movie callbacks here, to remind the reader it’s Robocop, even if the character only resembles him visually.

It’s a big snooze.

In one of the letter pages, the editor said Robocop would never meet up with any Marvel superheroes (I guess the licensing worked differently than that Spider-Man crossover with the Transformers) and this issue kind of shows why it wouldn’t work.

The last two issues have been about costumed vigilantes. Some of them are silly, some of them aren’t. And in the issue, it turns into a huge bloodbath. Grant tells this story without making any kind of comment on the superhero comic other than generally–he doesn’t point out the absurdity in the superhero comic as a concept–it’s not like there’s a scene where the Joker just shoots Batman.

It sets up Robocop a little different than the traditional comic book, as these issues sort of dismiss the idea of Robocop as a “comic book superhero.” Instead, it’s something else.

It’s a good issue, though occasionally obvious.

Thank goodness, DeMulder’s back.

Grant’s doing another multi-part story here, with Robocop trying to deal with OCP (his bosses) inspired vigilantism. It’s a little strange, just because it’s in a comic book so you’ve got the protagonist fighting the traditional protagonists of the medium. There are some absurd vigilantes and then some more serious ones–it’s never clear where the more serious ones get their wonderful toys.

Robocop’s sergeant shows up in this issue–maybe the first time he does in the Marvel comic series, I can’t remember–but still no Officer Lewis (did Grant forget he implied romantic tension between her and Robocop in the series’s first issue?).

There’s some weak dialogue from Robocop and the gang emphasis reminds a little too much of the previous issue, but it’s fine. I’m a little less impressed than usual, just because the vigilante stuff is so contrived and so silly.

Wow, I really miss Kim DeMulder. Keith Williams inks this issue and it really doesn’t work. Robocop’s definition is silly, he looks clunky instead of streamlined. Worse are faces. I was lamenting the lack of Robocop’s partner, Lewis, in my response to the previous issue, but she’s here all the time and it never feels like it. There’s an almost complete lack of personality to the issue, something I’ve got to the point of not expecting with Marvel’s Robocop. Though there was a Roxy Music poster on a wall, which I found interesting (I think it’s the first such reference in the series).

The story’s a solid little episode. OCP, the big company, is trying to lower property values by inciting gang violence; Robocop and Lewis get involved and then have to try to save their CI too. It’s a fine done-in-one.

Grant’s Robocop continues to be readable.

So Alan Grant did Westworld with dinosaurs before Michael Crichton? There’s a dinosaur park in this issue, which came out a few months before Crichton’s novel, and, strangely, things go wrong. They go wrong for different reasons, but still… this issue could have been called “Robocop vs. Jurassic Park.”

There’s a lot of action here and a lot of–well, it’s not procedural, but it’s Robocop solving the mystery, but instead of it being an investigation with revelations, it’s an investigation with action sequences. Grant does a fine job with it, adapting the procedural both for the comic medium and Robocop as the protagonist.

Still, I miss seeing Lewis in the comic.

Sullivan’s dinosaur art is nice and the whole thing works well.

I mean, if you don’t dwell on Robocop’s internal dialogue, which is still way too human. The Judge Dredd influences come back too, with Robocop street judging.

Grant’s resolution to the Robocop at war thing is surprising.

First, the big revelation (of why the Arabs aren’t really the bad guys) is good enough I’m not even going to spoil it. Second, he’s got a very mild, conclusion (albeit some lame lines about Murphy being a good cop again). Third, he introduces cybernetic Un-Men. They’re part machine gun or part moped. They’re perfectly disgusting and I don’t believe they’re suited for desert warfare, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned Sullivan’s art much since I’ve been reading these comics, but he does a fine job. Some of it’s a little loose, but this issue has a fantastic fight scene between Robocop and an ED-209. Sullivan makes the combatants both technologically bulky and graceful; he also has a lot of opportunity for scenery here and does well.

Surprisingly creative issue.

Robocop goes to war. It’s an interesting idea, Robocop being used as a military weapon–leased out by his owners, instead of policing–but Grant seems more concentrated on the action potentials for this issue. There’s a lot of suggestions the morality of it will come into play next issue, but for now, it’s Robocop versus weird and wacky war weapons (he fights these motorcycle troopers who look like they’re out of a Road Warrior cartoon).

Grant seems to be revealing up the backstory gradually–it seems like a bunch of starving African refugees are going to Spain, who’s either refusing them or sticking them in concentration camps–and it’s hard to believe there’s not going to be some kind of double cross. Not with all the foreshadowing.

So, points for concept, deductions for common sense–what about sand in Robocop’s gears and such.

Grant should’ve thought of that one.