The Manhattan Projects, Vol. 1: Science Bad

Such fun. A different take on some famous scientists of the past.

I loved this book!!The characters are insane, a very wierd and twisted look on history. Albert Einstein-alcoholic, Oppenheimer - schitzo/angel of death, von braun- cyborg, fdr-super computerThis book is so awesome on so many levels. Totally crazy and great twists. If you enjoy sci-fi or conspiracy theory/alternate history type stories this book will be right up your alley. the first volume starts off slow, but picks up around issue 3. I couldn't wait to pick up the 2nd book.

A unique gem. There are few or any comics like this. The story is not fixated on the physical appearance of the characters to embellish physique and some ideas of far reaching sci fi are put forward and not fixated on grandeur of tech. It is also great how there is also parts of magic realism and personalities of scientists that shaped our world are presented.*for those who have read independently into the history of the manhattan projects, you can find many aspects hidden from common knowledge in the story. you can tell that the authors really researched the topic in depth. some aspects of the real history of the characters comes through in this story. All the major scientific minds are there with the exception of some key british scientists and szilard unless I forgot their parts in the comics. This is a true rarity as most entertainment does the same story line as always using some copy paste names.

Jonathan Hickman had a great run writing The Fantastic Four for Marvel the last few years. As good as some of those stories have been, though, they pale in comparison to his original series The Manhattan Projects, a collaboration with up-and-coming artist Nick Pitarra published by Image Comics. As the title suggests, the series is set in the 1940s around the Manhattan Project with a cast of characters that includes Robert Openheimer, Albert Einstein and Harry Truman. However, despite the presence of familiar people and and events, this series is far removed from the standard alternate-history approach. Put another way, Hickman is not dealing in what-ifs but rather WTFs. It's hard to summarize without spoiling the story, but a keyword is "multiple". The scientists involved are engaged in multiple projects beyond the atomic bomb, we encounter multiple US presidents and Doctor Openheimer has multiple personalities to name a few. Comparing any new series to one of comics' landmark series is going out on a limb, but this comic bears comparison to Watchmen. Though Pitarra's art is a very different style to Dave Gibbons' work on the older series, it certainly fits the tone of this book. As for the story itself, its intersecting plot threads traversing time, place and mental space may be even more complex than the relatively simply parallel structure Alan Moore used for Watchmen.

I really enjoyed the first volume. The handling of the Oppenheimer character was amazing, enough said no spoiler. The characters as a whole seem to have a good depth and variety. Whether or not it plays out well only time, and volume 2 and 3, will tell. This volume does a good job of laying a foundation, introducing characters, and coming to something of a conclusion while simultaneously leaving an opening for more story, hence volume 2 and 3. You really can't ask for more. The art is good. It grew on me as I read. This book would be good for people that enjoy a comic outside the normal "dude with gadgets versus bro in panties and a cape" stuff that we get in heavy doses. Don't get me wrong,I like superheroes plenty, but something like Manhattan Projects, Wasteland, and Walking Dead are a nice change from that formula. Nicely done and cool take as an alternate reality using some real people from actual history. Like Thor! Ok, maybe not like Thor but it is cool and unique. Worth a comic lover's time in my opinion.

This book centers around a fictionalized version of the science-projects spawned by world war II, featuring people like Einstein and Oppenheimer as characters in a futuristic super-secret semi-autonomous government powerhouse. There are many weird characters in addition to those well known names, and the mix between science and mysticism (Japan attacking using machines powered by the meditation of Buddhist monks) has its moments. This is in no way subtle - it is epic and in your face science action mixed with an attempt at psychodrama. It demonstrates a lot of quirky ideas and background knowledge. Also, there are aliens at one point.The art varies in quality. It can seem sketchy, but is imaginative and in certain places memorable. Some plays are made on color representing good and evil, real and not-so-much-so, but it seems contrived rather than intelligent or psychologically effective.All in all, I had some hopes for this one, but ended up with a feeling ranging from "meh" to "pretentious waste of paper". There might be a demographic for this, but even though I enjoy a wide variety of graphic novels, it didn't do anything for me. So, give it a spin if you already like the author. Otherwise, this may not be the best choice.

I am so disappointed in this book, in spite of the quality being very fine and the price is nice. It is however a book for teens of adults who wish to read comic books. It is the second time I have made a purchase of a book here that turned out to be a comic book type publication. I am disappointed in Amazon for not making that more clear in the selection process. If I wanted a book of pictures I would have searched for that and not artistic renderings of pictures. NOTHING BUT A JUVENILE DELINQUENT TYPE BOOK. A waste of my money.

This is a really great original idea, which is something I appreciate in comics.The over arching theme and plot is one of the adventures of a cabal of mad scientists, centering on the english speaking world and the US, featuring scientists who will be familiar to the reader as those who actually were involved in the real manhattan project which produced the atomic bomb which was used in the war with Japan.Although instead of it being the Manhattan Project singular it is plural, there are many projects being undertaken, and it is set at the finish of the war so their are of course rival projects from other nations, the zen powered portal which operates on the suffering of "death buddhists" is such a crazy but brilliant idea for instance, and the kidnap and co-opting of nazi scientists is also a plotline.This volume essentially introduces the character cast for what I suspect will be a series which will run and run, each of the scientists, two of which are definitely not what they seem at all, and all of which have little or no redeeming qualities with perhaps one exception, although given the overarching theme of real mad scientists I suspect more revelations about the more apparently "good guys" in later volumes. There is one other very briefly featured character who seems to be a good through and through guy, well from the perspective of humanity at least, but he sort of is a little like a Star Trek redshirt, doomed to die before he has a chance to be wicked (or much else).However while the book is full of beginnings and presents some cliff hangers or points up possible future story lines, ie there's mysterious characters who say little but make an appearence and disappearence, there's people exiled who could return, that sort of thing it is a volume in and of itself and reading it does not feel like its a long advertisement for the next episode (like a graphic novel version of back to the future two).I loved the artwork and I loved the quotations which started and finished "chapters", recommended to fans of good comics, sci fi and mad science!

Having now read the first two volumes of Manhattan Projects, I like the concept of the books; an alternative vision of the project whereby the development of the atomic bomb was merely the public face of an Area 51 style establishment developing all sorts of crazy technology, making contact with aliens, etc.The art style is interesting, and definitely a break from the usual over-glossy illustrations found in most Marvel books these days. My major complaint is that the reader is left to fill in a lot of the gaps in the storylines, and that the books (thusfar) have lacked much of an overall story arc, preferring to focus on individual stories from the projects, some of which are explained better than others. There is great characterisation in the books (the story of Oppenheimer's brother killing him and consuming his soul is a brilliant depiction of a fictional psychopath) but the stories feel meandering and sometimes it's difficult to work out exactly what is going on.I'll probably pick up the third volume when it surfaces because I'm interested to see where they take the concept, but compared to the coherent storytelling of books like Saga this falls short.

I had originally read issue #1 of The Manhattan Projects for free on the image iPhone app, and it interested me so much that I bought this first volume. Issue #1 really captured my imagination - we follow historical figure Robert Oppenheimer as he is brought onto the Manhattan Projects, where as we know he will help invent the atomic bomb. However, this book proposes an alternative, secret story - the atomic bomb is just a cover for what the Manhattan Projects are REALLY working on - and that is anything the scientists can imagine. Portals to Japan? Yep. Artificial intelligences? Yep. And is Oppenheimer really who he says he is? To say any more would give away some great story lines!Featuring other famous scientists such as Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi and Harry Daghlian, the rest of the book didn't disappoint at all. Science fictions stories such as this seem to be quite popular at the moment, and Jonathan Hickman has really nailed the story here. I wasn't immediately enamoured by the art, but that was just my personal initial reaction - and by the end I was a fan.I enjoyed this book so much I will definitely be purchasing volume 2, and pre-ordering volume 3. If you're here because your interest was piqued by the premise, dally no longer - hit the buy button! You won't be disappointed.

So the set up is good and in the opening pages it's shows real potential but then it all goes to pieces.No real story arc, no proper plot to speak of and I could forgive it that if it was entertaining but it falls flat there too.Then there's the characters who are no more than a familiar name and (sometimes) a visual likeness, wasting the opportunities of using them in the first place.There's a couple of good panels and pages with enjoyable moments but those aren't enough to pull it back or lure me into reading more of the series, the Manhattan Projects isn't one I'll be coming back to.

I liked the premise of this, an 'alternate' universe where the Manhattan Project is a front for more wacky research and notable figures in science star. However, there was far too much happening in the book with very little development on the plots. It felt like it had great ideas but it couldn't decide which one it wanted to make prominent and instead put a range of half developed stories into one book. It was kind of like reading an anthology of short stories and preludes that might get released at the end of series after you've known the characters for a while and has little nods to earlier plots.If the later stories slow it down and take their time a bit this could be really great, but looking at the reviews of the next volumes it seems that's not the case.