X-RAY ROBOT

X-Ray Robot

by Mike Allred (Writer / Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

Max is a family man seeking a more interesting life. While conducting a new experiment at work the fabric of his reality is torn before his eyes, and a robotic figure appears claiming to be his 277 year-old self.

The robot is able to "X-Ray" multiple dimensions and battles a nihilistic entity from another dimension who wants to take all life to its "Pre-Big Bang" status. Max and the robot embark on an interdimensional roadtrip through past and future to take down the "Nihilist" and save the universe!

Collects X-Ray Robot #1-#4 and features a 3D cover section and pinups by Chris Samnee, Greg Smallwood, Tradd Moore, and David Rubín.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2021

About the author

Michael 'Doc' Allred (Also Credited as M. Dalton Allred) grew up in the 60's and 70's and was surrounded with the best in pop culture and a steady diet of music, movies and comic books including the three B's: Beatles, Bond and Batman to the point of obsession.

So it should come as no surprise that he keeps a hand in film and music (He's the lead singer and guitarist for The Gear), but comic books have always been a seminal source of joy for Mike and that joy remains the main ingredient in most of his work.

Allred first tasted success in the comics field with his wildly popular MADMAN series, which is currently being developed for a live action film with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. His earlier work from GRAFIK MUZIK was turned into the cult hit movie G-Men from Hell directed by Christopher Coppola (featuring Robert Goulet as the Devil). Other work includes Red Rocket 7, his history of Rock and Roll told in the context of a sci-fi adventure storyl the Madman spin-off THE ATOMICS and his magnum opus, THE GOLDEN PLATES, where he's illustrating the entire Book of Mormon.

Mike counts the secret to his success to be his wife, and creative partner, Laura Allred, who is is considered to be one of the best colorists in the business.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a lot of Mike Allred's stuff, it's very trippy. Deals with time travel and alternate dimensions. The Allred's make interdimensional travel really sing with their inventive art. I love the little easter egg thrown into issue #4.

[Dan Schwent · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Max Wilding and his colleagues send a robot across dimensions, it returns bearing Max Wilding's consciousness and a dire message..

I'm a Mike Allred fan from way back so this one was a no brainer for me.

First off, the story doesn't have a lot of meat to it. X-Ray Robot and Max and his friends go dimension hopping to pull reality back together before The Nihilist can pull it further apart. Apparently just visiting the other realities is enough to stitch things back together. X-Ray Robot says he doesn't have time for explanations so we don't really get any beyond that. The gang visit various realities, none of them great, and wind up back at the beginning.

The art is pants-shittingly awesome, as per usual with Mike Allred. In addition to the usual Allred greatness, there's some trippy 1960s Marvel stuff going on as well. The designs of Max's suit, The Nihilist, and X-Ray Robot were pretty slick. A cameo appearance by an old favorite was a bonus.

I guess my only problem with the book is that there wasn't much to the story. X-Ray Robot tells us about reality splintering but we only see four or five locations. We pretty much take X-Ray Robot's word on everything. It's kind of like a Doctor Who episode where the Doctor talks really fast and the companions do as their told.

X-Ray Robot is a nice exhibition of Mike Allred art but I thought the story could have used something more. Three out of five stars.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a heckuva lot of fun and the Allred’s have produced the best artwork of their careers on this book. My one complaint is that, at just four issues, very much like this ‘review’, it was much too brief!

[Harry Jahnke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story, loved the art. This reads like a Venture Brothers plot or maybe a classic Jack Kirby story. And Allred's art makes this worth a read alone. Highly recommend.

[Alex Sarll]

A research project probing at the boundaries of space, time and robotics finds itself unwittingly threatening the integrity of everything that is, has been or could be, forcing the staff to voyage through possible worlds to untangle the mess, aided by one of their own future selves. The weirdest bit of which is, in comics, that story doesn't in itself feel very novel, and is the sort of thing that can easily fall very flat, precisely because when anything can happen, even in contradictory versions, nothing matters. Sometimes I feel like as many branching timelines as there are, I've nonetheless read more overambitious, underachieving comics about them. The secret weapon here, though, is the Allreds, who as ever make it all feel (sur)real, alive, meaningful, powerful. The cosmic strangeness, the characters' faces, even the bit parts, and especially the eponymous robot – you look at them, and you believe in them, and you care what happens to them. A delightful slug of pop strangeness.

[Cal Brunsdon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so leaving aside the gorgeous art for a moment, there was a LOT going on in X-Ray Robot. This book was kind of insane, kind of a mess, kind of awesome... kind of a bloody lot.
The plot, (taken from the back): Max is a family man seeking a more interesting life. While conducting an experiment, the fabric of reality is torn before his eyes, and a robotic figure appears, claiming to be his 277-year-old self. The robot is able to ''X-Ray'' multiple dimensions and battles a nihilistic entity who wants to take all life to its ''Pre-Big Bang'' status. Max and the robot must embark on an inter-dimensional roadtrip through past and future to save the universe!

Pretty cooked, right? Here’s the thing, though - with a release like this, I don’t think the plot really matters. Mike Allred just might be my favourite working comic book artist, and the books he produces with his wife Laura are consistently stellar: part Jack Kirby, part new-wave, all-at-once iconic. The trade paperback release of X-Ray Robot includes about 20 pages of splash pages and alternate covers in the back, including a very retro ‘3D’ magic eye section.
.
Total fun.Nonsensical at times, thinly drawn characters, (though there’s some heart to the narrative), and trippy sci-fi superhero art that almost oozes from the paper’s pores.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cant find the #1 on here. This has a lot of potential. Becomes a little wacky towards the end. I feel like the bizarre wackiness has only just begun. Will need a few more issues to really get going

[Deborah Zeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trippiest comic I’ve read. Inter-dimensional realities, bad guys, experiments…just not my cup of tea. Still trying to figure out the storyline…

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genuinely wish it had a couple more issues to really flesh out the story. The Allreds' art is, as always, gorgeous, but such a wild, out-there story definitely suffers from only being four issues long.

[Jipi Perreault · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun sci-fi time travel story. Though, I find it to be just a bit safe for an Allred book.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Allreds' phenomenal pop-art can't save this nonsensical nothing of a plot where character ms blithely pop in and out of alternate realities with no real stakes or emotional consequences whatsoever.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad story. Needs a couple more issues to bring it out.

[Jeff Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully drawn, but a very thin story, poorly explained.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yep, it's a Mike and Laura Allred book. You can tell from the cover, by the art on any page, and by the way the story is within waving distance of rational, but never quite jumps over to that track.
An experimental robot inadvertently explodes into a multiverse, and the scientists involved have to try to stuff the genie back into the bottle. Except they can't do it alone - instead the X-Ray Robot serves as the cornerstone of all realities and another creatures serves a deus ex machina that is used over and over again. Now that I think back on it, I don't think our scientist protagonists ever actually DO anything that helps resolve the plot. Instead, they're thrown into multiple timelines, and then are rescued. Their ostensible goal doesn't seem to have been accomplished anywhere. Instead, their hijinks are an excuse for Allred cameos and variations on character relationships. And it all ends cleanly, which honestly makes no sense at all in light of the situation.
Ultimately, what you've got here is a lot of signature Allred art that will appeal to their fans, and a weak excuse for a story to explain the art. If you're coming for plot, you'll leave underwhelmed. But if you want to see the family at their most... Allred, you've come to the right place.

[April Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a groovy little time travel romp through alternate dimensions with some science-y jibber jabber and some seriously trippy psychedelic art- I mean, some of the spreads in this are just gorgeous, and would make great black light posters. The story is basic and trope-y (not that that's a bad thing), it hits the "version of the MC from the future travels back in time to stop the MC in the present from creating the thing that allows travel between dimensions and time" thing right on the head, and I'm cool with that- it does it in a kinda cheesy, fun way, and it was entertaining. The solution/resolution could've used more oomph- think you wanted Campbell's Chunky chicken noodle soup and got served regular Campbell's chicken noodle soup instead; both are yummy, but one is more satisfying, and I would've liked more meat in the jumping through dimensions action. Still, a rollicking good time, just enough tongue in the cheek, and the awesome visuals make this a worthy read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, this is some superb art by Mike Allred. The story is a little sparse and intentionally obfuscating but it's kind of good schtick that fits the narrative.

Closer to 3.5 stars, but someone else one commented that this could be imagine as a Twilight Zone/Outer Limits episode that a top-tier comic illustrator decided to illustrate.

It's also got a cute crossover with Allred's classic namesake.

[Laura Ess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the library mainly because of the artist, whose work echoes the comics of the 1960s. The story is more whimsical than anything else, and involves travel into alternate universes, Finished it in less than an hour, but it was fun.

There also heaps of references to various comic folk and previous work by the same artist, blatantly contrived in part three. I liked it.

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read from the Allred team. Conducting an experiment at work, Max taps into the space-time surreality and other planes of existence. A future version of himself in a robot helps to prepare and save the timelines from the Nihilist. Good stuff!

[Rob Schamberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun, highly inventive and gorgeous!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trippy, exactly what you'd expect from the Allreds, but more flash than bang.

[Robert Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Groovy.

[Matt]

Meh.

[David Sheward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love Mike and Laura Allred's X-Ray Robot. Trippy time and dimension travel. I love all of Allred's work.

[Logan Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Allred comics: 1 part trippy sci-fi fun, 1 part weird psychological introspection. Wonderful.

[Al McCarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like everything Mike Allred. This isn’t the best, but ,some is better than nothing.

[Ma'Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much story or character development, but I did enjoy seeing the Allreds have fun.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for the art
3.5 stars for the story
A fun, breezy, multi-versal and colourful take by Michael Allred; that says it all really...

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic novel about some multiverses. Not much plot but a fun read with great illustrations and there are 3D pictures in the back.

[Santiago Fedorowicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

6

[Index Purga]

Recopila el X-Robot de Allred y cía. Índice pendiente.