Exciting Start to a Left of Center "Historical" Fiction Tale!
I hadn't planned on picking up this book ahead of time, until I noticed the creative team behind it. I became acquainted with Hickman and Pitarra via their previous book The Red Wing. A miniseries which I thoroughly enjoyed but I thought was flawed based on its short run. With Manhattan Projects being an ongoing, I hope to see Hickman and Pitarra's complex scientific and philosophical (Sci-Phi?) ideas have room to stretch and grow.
I'll be honest, conceptually, the "secret history of the Manhattan Projects" is a trope that's been done to death. This is why I shied away from the book after reading the premise. I guess it remains a perfectly good set-up for conspiracy science tales, but what new takes could it offer?
This first issue reminds me, in a lot of ways, of Morrison and Quietly's run on Superman a few years back. I absolutely love the gorgeous, detailed, thin, style of Nick Pitarra. There's lots of cavernous labs, guns'n'ammo, samurai robots, etc. No problem there. Another problem I had with the Red Wing, was sometimes lengthy exposition. I believe this was symptomatic of trying to fit so much into just 4 issues. It seems here Hickman has found a nice pace to bring forward his ideas, without boring the reader right off the bat. Not to say exposition is bad, but balance is key, and I think he is hitting his stride here.
As for the plot, I won't go into too much detail, there are other plot summaries available, but in this alternate history, Oppenheimer as we know him was murdered by his evil twin brother, who subsequently assumed his identity. Now this evil Oppenheimer is in charge of the Manhattan Projects...
All in all, great first issue. Lots of potential here and I'm psyched these two creatives have a wide-open canvas to express their wildest ideas. Consider me subscribed, and looking forward to issue 2.
