ATOM: THE BEGINNING (VOL. 7), by Titan Comics on 4/23/24, concludes the first day of fighting at the World Robot Battling tournament, and the shocking outcomes lead to more questions than answers.
The Details
- Written by: Osamu Tezuka, Masami Yuuki
- Art by: Tetsuro Kasahara
- Letters by: Lauren Bowes
- Cover art by: Tetsuro Kasahara
- Comic Rating: Teen
- Cover price: $12.64
- Release date: April 23, 2024
Is ATOM: THE BEGINNING (VOL. 7) Good?
Osamu Tezuka and Masami Yuuki’s prequel to Astro Boy keeps getting better and better with a rip-roaring robot battle that mixes action, science, philosophy, and heart. The heart of this volume is just that – heart.
When last we left Tenma and Hiroshi’s creations, U-Ran all but obliterated the competition on the first day of the World Robot Battling tournament. Then, Mars arrived with orders to destroy every robot to prevent the Bewusstein programming from infecting any other robot with “emotions.” Meanwhile, Six was left helpless to interfere because Tenma installed a kill switch that would depower the robot if he tried to interfere.
Now, the battle between Mars and U-Ran heats up. Mars issues a barrage of flying kicks and slashes to counter U-Ran’s recklessly evolving combat skills. Sadly, Mars gets the upper hand and incapacitates U-Ran by chopping off most of her limbs.
Nearby, Ran figures out why Six won’t power up. She undoes the kill switch Tenma secretly installed, powering up Six to leap to action to stop Mars from obliterating U-Ran.
Dr. Lolo anticipated Six’s interference and disabled all of Mars’s communication signals to prevent the robots from talking. However, Dr. Lolo didn’t anticipate that Six would figure out how to get a message across by using light signals as a form of Morse Code. What follows is a deep conversation, hidden from the present humans, about the unstoppable evolution of emotions and heart within their AI. Six chooses to let mercy and empathy guide his next steps, but Mars chooses to destroy his “heart” and attack.
Ultimately, a last moment of sacrifice by U-Ran saves Six and motivates him to stop Mars… for the moment.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump to the Final Thoughts and Score.
What did we like about ATOM: THE BEGINNING (VOL. 7)?
The big deal accomplishment of this volume is the surprising amount of action, art, science, philosophy, and drama that all come together to make this a memorable volume. Tezuka and Yuuki expertly craft a story that looks realistically and closely at what it truly means to build Artificial Intelligence and look at the consequences of that development through a lens of adventure.
What didn’t we like about ATOM: THE BEGINNING (VOL. 7)?
As much as we enjoy the mix of genre and schools of thought, a few of the moments where the conversation delves into the minute intricacies of how the science works tend to drag the pacing down. If you’re a science nerd who enjoys getting into the nitty gritty of Tenma and Hiroshi’s work, you’ll enjoy those deep dive conversations, but readers focused on the action aspects may tune out.
How’s the Art?
It’s not easy to convey thought and emotion through the faces of robots who don’t have faces that move or express. Tetsuro Kasahara makes the difficult look easy by showing Six and U-Ran in all their fighting glory while managing to use the panel angles and body gestures to run the gamut from resignation to rage.
Final Thoughts
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ATOM: THE BEGINNING (VOL. 7) conclude the first robot fighting tournament with wild action, thought-provoking ideas about science and philosophy, and the next stage of discovery for Tenma and Hiroshi. Tetsuro Kasahara’s ability to portray drama and emotion through faceless robots is impressive, and the scientific deep dives into Artificial Intelligence are thought-provoking.
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