There is a hole in your life. You may not know it exists, and you really won't until you have read Manhattan Projects. That hole is a need for a supremely bad ass Albert Einstein. This is what I told nearly every customer I saw back when I still worked at a comic book shop. It made a lot of them give it a look, nearly all of them who read it ended up buying the following issues. I mention this, because over two years later, with issue number 25, Manhattan Projects is finishing up phase one of its story...it also features Albert Einstein in a parallel Earth with a double sided battle axe along side another Einstein with a chainsaw. Along with more historical scientists from the Manhattan Project dealing with insanely mad science. So there's that.
Issue 25 isn't for the new reader, this is the coda of the first part of the series. We are shown the events right after a President's death, what two Einsteins are up to on a parallel Earth, and what the general status of every other character still alive is up to. We also get hints for the future. The story isn't over by a long shot, there is just a short hiatus. Coming in March is the new Manhattan Projects, and I for one can't be anymore excited. Please take some time and catch up between now and then.
Why should you read Manhattan Projects? Well do you like science fiction? Do you like alternate history? Then you should read this comic. It is all about what if the scientists who were behind the creation of the atomic bomb also had a lot of other projects in work? The premise is simple, and features some of the greatest scientific minds the world has known. The first issue starts to introduce us to these scientists...and also shows how Japanese robots attacked their secret base by using portals across the world that were powered by death monks.
Yes, the first issue featured robots and death monks, and first hinted how completely bad ass Einstein is. For most comics that would be enough, we would slow down a bit. Manhattan Projects just scoffed and moved forward to more mad ideas. It moves at a quick speed, spewing out more brilliant mad ideas in a single issue then most completed series hold. There are eventually aliens, there are shadow wars, there are more robots, parallel worlds, and a mind scape where two twin brothers fight for the fate of the entire world.
Trying to explain the events of this comic just don't do it justice. This is THE Jonathon Hickman comic. The huge ideas, the giant conspiracies, the ability to make a comic so completely dense yet also fun. It is everything his work strives for and does so beautifully. Nick Pitarra's art somehow brings this mad world to life in a way no other artist could. Where once I thought only Hickman's own art could work in conveying his scope of ideas and story, but Pitarra proved me wrong. It is not only well written, but it is masterfully drawn.
If you've read the issues thus far, you will love issue 25. If you have never read the book before, go pick up volume one, Science Bad. It is only $10 and worth every dime.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Jonathon Hickman Artist: Nick Pitarra Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 11/26/14 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital