Comics
[5/5 Review] “Robocop” #12 Is The Perfect Finish
I can’t believe it is already over. “Robocop” #12 concludes what is hands down the best Robocop series ever written. It isn’t nearly as bombastic as issue 11, but the stand-off between Murphy, Killian, and The Old Man plays out like a exquisite game of chess, and the resolution, though Deus Ex-ey, is a satisfying conclusion that leaves you wanting more.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver
ART BY: Amancay Nahuelpan
PUBLISHER: BOOM!
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: June 10, 2015
If you have stuck with it this far, I would have to say issue 11 was really the climax of the series and the big pay off for fans. We have seen a lot of delicious brutality throughout the series and #11 turned things up to 11. Though Team Robocop saved the final showdown for the finale, this issue is more of a epilogue to the series. Order is restored, the status quo is reset, and everybody learned a little lesson. It was an appropriate conclusion to a series that read very much like a film. “Robocop” managed to stay so faithful to the tone and style of the original film that I consider it to be the true sequel. It was consistently steeped in brutal 80s action goodness while attending to the more complex narrative sensibilities audiences of today require. It sets an example of how comic adaptations should approach the source material by concentrating and extracting everything we love about the original. “Robocop” captures the same feeling you had the first time you saw the film. That is a rare quality.
Killian is the best Robocop villain so far. He is an exceptionally evil mastermind who terrifies because there is no line he won’t cross and is singularly focused on his goal. At the start we write off his motives as power and chaos; a perfectly acceptable motivation for a 80s action villian. When his true intent is revealed at the end of the series it gives him great pathos and in fact led me to root for his crusade of villainy. The lines of good and evil are blurry in New Detroit, only Robocop himself stands righteously on the side of the law.
The supporting cast receive their dues as well. Lewis uses her information to reset the status quo and promote herself to something better than the fake detective position she got. Jansen proves her worth big time in issue 11 and is actually the reason Lewis is able to uncover the truth about Killian with her persistence that they follow up on the cold cases. And Kaplan turns out to be a big goddamn hero despite his loathing of Robocop. Everything gets tied up quite neatly here and Williamson has grown the supporting cast to include a couple a fantastic additions I hope we will get to see more of in the future.
Personally I felt Murphy got a little to communicative by the end of the series and lost that cool stoicism I love so much about the character. He is still the supreme ass kicker that can never be swayed from his crusade of justice, but once he started talking about wants and needs and his feelings I thought he kind of lost something. Not enough to take away from the incredible triumph that this series is, but it was noticeable.
“Robocop” #12 is exactly everything it should be. As much as I wanted to see Murphy smash some more heads together, the story needed to end eventually, and 12 issues is an impressive stretch of consistent quality work. I hope more franchises take note of what Williamson has done with Robocop because this series was an incredible success.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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