As a fan of ​ATOMIC ROBO​ you’ve probably heard or read an interview where I, Brian Clevinger, co-creator and writer of ​ATOMIC ROBO​, talk for a bit about how I do ​Way Too Much Research.

Here’s the thing about that.

I like to learn stuff. Especially history stuff. It turns out that writing stories about a robot adventurer who can pop up at any point between 1923 and today — and sometimes ​before 1923 — is a great excuse to read a bunch of history stuff about whatever era the current story deals with, to call it “research,” and then get paid.

Now, it’s not all sunshine and paychecks. Sometimes you’re expected to write an actual script! ​Ugh!​ Or your manager comes up with a brilliant scheme to monetize all the research that ​doesn’t​ end up in those scripts he forces you to write so you don’t go homeless, and now you’ve got to write a whole series of blog posts like this one that you don’t remember consenting to but they're good for metrics and anyway there’s a deadline on the work-chat calendar, so there’s no escaping it.

Hypothetically speaking.

Oh, it’s a good idea, and I love talking shop, there’s just one problem. There hasn't been much research lately​ because we've been working in little bottle episode-ish volumes that takes place in the modern (though now ​totally alien​) period just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Actually, if COVID happened in Robo's world, they were able to quash it in a few months through responsible collective efforts instead of being forced back to work by corporate parasitic overlords who don't care how many thousand people have to die every week so long as Number Go Up.

Where was I?

Oh, right, writing. Over the next few weeks I will attempt to explain the hows and whys of plotting, outlining, and writing a volume of ATOMIC ROBO. Wish me luck.