Thanks in large part to bad Terminator sequels and remakes of classic films like RoboCop, you could say that I have some robophobia. Just kidding, the robots won a long time ago I mean just look at the job market. But yeah, everyone loves robots. If I could drive a Gundam suit or be a transformer I would leave my family and just do that all day. Just robo out all day long. The Day of the Robots is a quant one-shot that introduces us to a small fleet of robots that work in a warehouse. They’re informed by their computer boss that they signed human contracts and so they’re being given 24 hours of mandatory rest. It’s suggested that they look at the bulletin board for ideas on what to do and as such each of them pursue a different bulletin board event.
It’s clear early on in this story that there’s no humans. They’ve either been wiped out by the robots or are just dead. It makes the story interesting because these worker robots chose human things to do. One takes up golf, but has an encounter that prevents it from really taking a swing at the sport. Another takes up art and has a very modern approach to it. All of them do things that basically robots have no business doing and really it works quite well because the point of the story isn’t that they’re robots, but that we are.
At least that’s my take away. I mean sure it’s not a perfect allegory of how we all live and work, but it is what it’s going for overall. The only catch of course is that the jokes tend to be based around the characters being robots. The writing is good. It’s a simple story, but the pacing and execution is spot on. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would after reading the opening.
The art is clean and detailed. The robots each have a unique design, but they’re influenced by robots you know. One looks a bit like a Rock’em Sock’em robot, another looks one of the robots from Japan that have made the news more than once and so on. The coloring also plays a big role in the success of the art. It’s a lot of solid colors, but it really matches the world and sets the tone of the book.
I didn’t think I would actually enjoy this story. All joking aside, a one-shot about robots on their day off sounded kind of dull to me. While it’s not the most groundbreaking story, I did really enjoy it and read it twice due to how well it flowed. It’s a short and entertaining story so you really can’t go wrong with it.
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The Day of the Robots Writer: Daniel A. Prim Artist: Izsak A. Ambrus Publisher: Free Fantasy Comics Price: Free Format: One-Shot; Digital Website