Our heroes seems to have hit rock bottom as Killians master plan slowly starts to come together in this the first issue of this second arc. Robocop has been neutered and is now forced to fight Enforcement Droids with his bare-robot hands while Detective Lewis is locked alone in a basement drowning in cold cases and probably contemplating suicide. If you were worried this book would start to get stale you will be pleasantly surprised. I have nothing but love for “Robocop” #5.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson
ART BY: Carlos Magno
PUBLISHER: Boom!
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: November 5, 2014
Review By Eric Switzer
Splitting up Murphy and Lewis has actually provided an opportunity to split their narrative and intertwine them periodically. While Murphy does the heavy lifting and ass kicking, Lewis is discovering a plot to infiltrate Killian’s organization. Killian is completely absent from this issue until the last page which gives him this aura of a looming threat that everyone is talking about.
The narrative structure of this issue gave it a fantastically cinematic pace, and the opening bank robbery couldn’t help but invoke “The Dark Knight”. From a tonal aspect, this book is everything it has always been, and it is just getting better.
This has always been the kind of book I read in between two intellectually dense books. I like to put down the newest issue of “POP” or “Trees” and cleanse my palate with “Robocop”. But more and more, this book is giving me pause for consideration. There is a particular panel from an extreme angle that depicts Murphy standing in a sea of bodies delivering one of his programmed lines that just pulled him in for minute.
Looking back, the most metal of scenes were the ones I always looked forward too (can still perfectly visualize Murphy punching that dudes eye out in the first issue) but I also don’t want to sell this book short if there is something more to love. “Robocop” as a franchise was never entirely hollow or mindless, but the themes were always pretty surface. Perhaps this power team is bringing more to the man in the titanium mask, I would certainly welcome it.
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Eric Switzer is an aspiring filmmaker and screenplay writer living in Los Angeles. His work tends to focus on the lighter side of entropy, dystopic futures, and man’s innate struggle with his own mortality. He can be found on twitter @epicswitzer or reached via email at ericswitzerfilm@gmail.com.