Atomic Robo

Since 1923, a nigh-unstoppable robot has been working, first with inventor Nikola Tesla, and then the fighting scientists of Tesladyne Labs, to protect the Earth from weird science menaces like giant monsters, ancient robots, vampires from another dimension, giant insects, gangsters in the Old West, ancient conspiracies, artificial intelligences, Nazi mad scientists, and dinosaur mad scientists. (Among others.) He’s been assisted, at various times, by spies, action scientists, masked crime fighters, and a squad of female fighter pilots in the South Pacific during WWII. Atomic Robo is one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite comics, told by the same writer and artist team since 2007. And it’s all available for free.

The Shadow

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!”

I first encountered the Shadow, the pulp hero, in the pages of Comics Scene Magazine, I think. They had a new item about a movie in development, accompanied by a reproduction of one of the pulp covers. I couldn’t tell you which one. It doesn’t matter; it was the look of the Shadow that caught my imagination—that face with the intense eyes, the eyebrows and aquiline nose, both of which went on for miles, the rest of the face hidden by the broad-brimmed hat and the red scarf, the only color in an otherwise black costume—and I was hooked.