The Manhattan Projects, Vol. 1: Science. Bad.

This is insane. I love it

Hoezodatzo, Manhatten Projects? Er is er toch maar één geweest, het R&D-project voor atoombommen tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog?

Ha, wel: Jonathan Hickman (Pax Romana, East of West, Nightly News, ...) gaat ervan uit dat het ene Manhatten-project dat wij kennen maar een dekmantel was voor véél meer.

Extra dimensies! Alternatieve universa! Nazi's en communisten! Krankzinnige wetenschappers! Psychopaten! Sprekende honden! Cyborgs! Aliens! The Manhattan Projects heeft ze allemaal, en het is dan nog eens bijzonder grappig ook.

Niet alleen grappig, maar gewoon goed geschreven — al moet ik moet er wel niet aan gedacht hebben om dit nummer per nummer en maand na maand te lezen, want Hickman neemt ruim zijn tijd om de wereld en de personages op te bouwen. Uitstekend getekend en machtig gekleurd, zeer aangeraden, hopla ge moest al op weg zijn naar Comixology.

Argh, my eyes. What is it about this period in history, these famous physicists, that inspires the most crazy, far-out stories? I refer specifically to Lydia Millet's Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, which is another insane Manhattan Project-derived sci fi/fantasy... thing.

Unfortunately, I just didn't enjoy this comix. In fact, it felt like the second half of Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, when the novel just falls apart, gratuitous carnage abounds, and the characters don't make any sense to me. This is kind of like that. It combines (uncomfortably, for me) a sort of rampant cynicism (all the characters are either pathetic or cruel or disgusting or all of the above) with gleeful stupidity (the aliens... sigh...).

I wanted smart commentary about, you know, the whole “our technology outstripping our moral capacity” thing. The whole “we're gonna blow ourselves up” thing. Oppenheimer, Fermi, Einstein, etc. are such interesting figures! Here they become inscrutably, monstrously silly.

So as not to completely bash this (since it's not terrible, it just wasn't for me), I did enjoy the Feynman excerpts, I can rationally admire the inventiveness of the plot (which takes many sharp turns), and I can also say that there are some very clever curlicues: e.g. the “Cast of Characters”, with its changing epithets. Even though I don't necessarily AGREE where they're taking this story, I can say they're skillful storytellers.

Very very strange. This is the story of a top secret weapons research project disguised as a top secret weapons research project, with only Franklin D Roosevelt knowing the true nature of it. This takes place during WWII and involves the countries involved in that war, it also includes people truly involved in the original Manhattan Project, but from there, it takes on a heavy science fiction bent.

First off, there's an Oppenheimer, but it's not Robert, it's Joseph who can only be described as Robert's evil identical twin since he killed and ate Robert and took his place in the Manhattan Projects. Einstein is here as well, but he's also not completely who he says he is. Richard Feynman is a brilliant, young, and troubled, man in the program who seems to be the most level headed. Beyond that, there's a cast of other scientists involved, including Harry Dahglian who (in real life) irradiated himself, but (in the book) is (somewhat) alive and is still helpful to the Manhattan Projects. However, he needs to be irradiated and is a floating skull somehow attached to a body. When others are exposed to him, they too are irradiated and die. Mid-way through the story Roosevelt dies, only to be brought back as an artificial intelligence thanks to the scientists of the Manhattan Projects (a very gruesome process). It's at about that point that the bomb is dropped on Hiroshima by General Leslie Groves, the man in charge of the Manhattan Projects.So as you can see, this comic book is clearly bonkers, but there is a bit of a yin-yang to it all. Part of the book is about Einstein's portal of sorts. Before that, we are told the story between Joseph and Robert Oppenheimer. In both there is a duality between our normal world and a much harsher world and those panels are always shown in opposing colors: blue for the normal world and red for the harsher world. For example, Robert Oppenheimer was always shown as blue and Joseph was shown as red. Near the end of the fourth issue, we see Einstein asking for help from Feynman to crack open this "gate" he obsesses over in his private (and previously locked) laboratory. Feynman eventually figures out the key to opening it (pi, not fibonacci) and it's then revealed that we have the "harsh" Einstein (red one) and not the "normal" one.

I'm not sure what's left to say other than the book was very interesting and I'm awaiting the next volume (I can't stand episodic content). The art style is not my cup of tea, but it's consistent and it works. The writing can wrap around itself in a few places, but was rare enough that it wasn't a big deal.