Just throwing this out there

[Fifthfiend]

I keep looking at "Helsingard" thinking it should be spelled "Helsingaard".

Is it spelled Helsingaard, and whoever does the blurbs for Heavyink.com just screwed up? I could check but man, that sounds like effort.

PS The TPB is out tomorrow right? I have to remember to get down to the store, Atomic Robo sells in Berkley like crack rock sells in Oaktown.

[Kurosen]

The first tabletop game I played with the Orlando crew involved our Aberrant, Adventure!, and Trinity characters beating the goth-lovin' fuck out of the WoD. The primary antagonist in all this was this one creepy old school vampire Helsingard. He was this ancient malevolent force who was always three steps ahead of us. The name and basic mastermind concept was used for "main boss" guys in several other games prior to, during, and after the anti-WoD game. So, as a little reference to our nerdery, I gave Robo's primary mastermind antagonist the same name. We always spelled it "Helsingard" though it may be more correct to spell it with two "a"s. On the other hand, yo.

And, yes, our trade hits the shelves today. Good luck finding it! Hopefully it won't be as difficult to score the trade as individual issues. I mean, with issues of anything, they're there one week and gone the next. Or at least the next month. It's something of a race. But trades? Those are forever.

[Fifthfiend]

So I picked it up? What gives, I thought the FCBD thing was supposed to be in this.

Still, finally got to read the first issue, so that was all right. Although this does mean I've paid twice now for five of your six comics. Man, what a scam.

There were actually like eight of 'em on the shelves which was kinda weird in that Comic Relief usually blows through its Atomic Robo stock like nobody's business.

[Mirai Gen]

I'm pretty sure I'm the lone subscriber in my area.

Granted of course my town is Population: More Drunk Hicks Than Normal People so that's probably not a big surprise since I seem to be the lone Brian Clevinger reader here.

[Meister]

As long as no one proves me wrong I'll go ahead and claim I'm the only one in the country, at least as far as printed work is concerned.

[Mirai Gen]

I have easily been bested.

[Kurosen]

Our FCBD comic will be collected in the next volume's TPB.

[Fifthfiend]

LAME.

[The Wandering God]

I got the TPB last week and fell in love. (For the record, the only reason I waited was because I can't find them locally and paying for shipping 6x is a little tough on my wallet.) Now I'm going to HAVE to get each one as it comes out. Thanks.

In ANY case, I had a couple of comments.

1. Loved the Miyazaki robots on one of the onesheets in the back. The black and white one with the rocket launching crab thing.

2. I wish there were page numbers and some way to tell when one part ends and the next one begings. Aside from that, the formatting was excellent.

3. The entire team is a credit to their talent. Seriously, this is one fantastic piece of work.

4. Oh, and one question. How would you describe Robo's and Helsingard's voices?

The Wandering God

[Kurosen]

You can order through Heavy Ink and not have to pay shipping. No order minimums, either.

I lobbied for separation between issues but got voted down. As that's the one consistent complaint we've heard about the trade, it's my hope that future volumes (and reprints of this one) will include some form of divider between each issue.

The voices are tough. Robo grew up in NYC during the '20s and '30s. It's tempting to give him a very slight accent to reflect that. The Baron's no easier. He's a mid- to late 19th century German aristocrat who spends 70 years as a brain in a jar in a robot body. So, yeah, hard to say what that should sound like.