Super Robot Mayhem #1

The latest release from Subversive Comics sees a concept from Adrian Mursec & Jeremy Biggs became a reality thanks to Kickstarter and an already impressive fan base.

It tells the story of exploration in deep space with the events of a recent incident surrounding crewmates Ulysses & Raiden being the main focus of an internal enquiry. While that could have easily descended into a slog through facts and technical mumbo-jumbo it instead sparks the beginning of a tale with a unique blend of sci-fi & anime. There’s near death experiences that get the heart pumping and then there’s the new discovery of their first alien race and although that’s all pretty standard for some books it’s something that feels fresh & new in the hands of the Subversive team.

The friendship between the two main characters has that built-in familiarity between them through smart dialogue and risk taking to save each others lives.  The name-calling that bleeds in is all very natural too and with the creative team also tackling diversity with its cast there’s a number of different layers to this release.  The world we find them in is a stunning mix of epic scale and claustrophobic spaces and that sounds a strange combination at first but it’s executed so well that it ends up making this a smooth read that’s engrossing from the beginning.

Javier Bardon’s art is amazing across each element that’s poured onto the pages and the colours from Javier, Jeremy & Yel Zamer help enhance the roller-coaster ride of moods that plays out across this opening issue.  Jon Scrivens rounds off the creative team with his typically expert-level lettering that keeps in-line with all those different moods.

This all combines to make Super Robot Mayhem a joy to read with its nod to the likes of Alien, Gundam Wing, Akira & more with that unique Subversive Comics style that mixes a whole host of elements into pure comic book magic.  There’s the added bonus of an A4 printing for this first issue that shows off the art and adds the additional wow factor to the scale that’s weaved throughout – physical copy for the WIN!!

You can pick up this and the other Subversive titles through their website and keep updated with what else is on the way from them through Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

9/10

G-Man