Comics

Review: RoboChuck #2

Those of you who can think back to before when Toy Story was released in 1995 (thankfully I can’t) will know that at one point all animation was 2D. And while CGI is certainly more advanced than 2D animation, you have to admit that it takes away some of the charm of watching hand drawn images coming alive on the screen.

So the world of RoboChuck, where cartoons literally are alive, the rise of CGI does not bode well for 2D animtion, causing many hand drawn characters to become redundant. But the creators don’t exactly care, after all, Don Masshurter is the richest and most powerful man in this world, and the ‘Police Division of Piczar’ refuses to find missing persons unless they are paid a hefty fee.

But who needs police when you have cartoon dog Inksplatt Magee? Forget Batman. Inksplatt Magee, as we are told, is the world’s greatest detective. But as he seems to rarely be around when he is needed, the hero of the story is instead his adopted son RoboChuck, who is, in his own words, “the second best detective in the world” and also one of the few CGI characters who is actually worth a damn.

rob fixed

RoboChuck seems to have given up on everything when he discovers Shirley, a young girl whose mother has disappeared. But can RoboChuck really carry out a good deed and help her find her mother in a world that has evidently gone mad? Considering there are marketing departments so obsessed with making a profit that bus drivers are electrocuted when they refuse to promote the latest movie starring superstar Ballie  to their passengers, things don’t look good.

One of the best things about creating a world entirely different from our own  is that every detail and every element can be made with an entirely new perspective to fit the writer’s vision. And Chris Callahan’s vision is a world where every character and every visual elements has a unique style and design. Everything on display has its own personality and history told through its visual design, and you never feel that you have seen anything twice.

And is the world of the story really fully CGI or is it still 2D? Probably something in-between. Either way, this is a world that, quite rightly, we can expect to see a lot more of in the near future.

Find out more about RoboChuck and pick up a copy for yourself here!

About the author

Davidde Gelmini