‘Atomic Robo’ creator living his dream job

Those who know the name Brian Clevinger typically think comedy in comics.

He has written stories about superheroes bickering like children, Carl Sagan helping a robot save the world and a homicidal mage with the ability to rewrite history at his fingertips, each done in ways aimed at making the audience enjoy themselves with these bizarre scenarios.

"Wow, I get paid to write comics. This is amazing," Clevinger said in an interview with The Daily Athenaeum.

Clevinger is one of the creators behind science-fiction action spoof "Atomic Robo," as well as having written the last "Infinity Gauntlet" series for Marvel Comics.

He's also written a short story in the series "Skullkickers" for Image Comics.

Before moving into mainstream publications, Clevinger produced webcomics – best known for his sprite-based comic "8-Bit Theater."

"It started as a college project and was never intended to go more than 25 pages," Clevinger said.

Yet, "8-Bit Theater" ran for nine years, totaling more than 1200 comics.

The story was a retelling of the adventures of the "Warriors of Light" from the video game "Final Fantasy."

Instead of focusing on epic battles and heroes rescuing damsels, it told the tale of four wannabe saviors who all ended up lumped together and were, for the most part, simply trying to think of a way to get themselves ahead.

The comedy was both slapstick and dark, the jokes were long running – sometimes years between a joke first appearing and the punch line being told – and, it had a devoted fan base.

Eventually, Clevinger, along with artist and co-creator Scott Wegener, pitched their idea of "Atomic Robo," a character who is, according to Clevinger, "an amalgamation of all my childhood heroes."

The character has been described as equal parts "Ghostbuster," "Indiana Jones" and Sagan, with the main character thread being the cantankerous and sense of justice of Clevinger's grandfather.

Their initial pitches were met with either silence or refusal, until fledgling publisher Red 5 Comics, named after Luke Skywalker's call sign in the original "Star Wars: A New Hope," contacted the pair with interest in the project.

Red 5 Comics is currently putting out the character's fifth mini-series, "Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science," with a sixth planned for later this year.

Clevinger also pitched a new version of the "Infinity Gauntlet" story to Marvel, one with a more ridiculous tone, where characters such as Dr. Doom, the Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man team up with U.S. Ace, a trucker in space.

"I wrote it under the assumption that if I probably wasn't going to get hired anyway, I may as well write something crazy enough to deserve not getting hired again," Clevinger said.

"No one is going to believe this, but I don't set out to do jokes," Clevinger said, who discussed how all the humor in his writing comes from character motivations and their reactions to what is going on around them.

"Stories devoid of humor are just false. Real life is hilarious. Stories that don't admit that at least for one second come across like a kid's embarrassingly wrong idea of what being a serious grown-up would be like."

Marvel must have liked what they saw, as Clevinger also wrote for them "Captain America: The Fighting Avenger," which is expected out in April.

Yet, even with all of his print work, Clevinger is still active online with his website, Nuklear Power (www.nuklearpower.com).

The site not only hosts the entire archive of "8-Bit Theater," but also pages from "Atomic Robo" and the series "Warbot in Accounting," "How I Killed Your Master" and "The Dreadful."

Each comic is free. The site also has an online store featuring Clevinger's character.

As for what is next for the writer, Clevinger summed it up best, saying "Who knows?"