Too….much…snow!
With all the snow shoveling and running around I did this week, I thought I’d do a short Scanning My Collection, something I could quickly crosspost between my usual site and Reviewers Unknown, a site I contribute to, with little effort, since it’s all my energy is going to shovel snow. Additionally, I’m taking advantage of the new RoboCop remake I won’t be able to see for at least a while by looking at Marvel’s adaptation of the original movie. And since I didn’t have time (again) to finish a minor project (stupid winter) I’m going to post it here as well. I’m also going to assume the majority of people coming across this article are already fully aware of the original movie, so I’m just going to do a quick review of the presentation.
“Also a little bit country and a little bit rock & roll.”
RoboCop
Marvel Comics (October, 1997)
I won’t call this #1 because they would later release a full series, and this isn’t the first issue of that.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner ADAPTATION: Bob Harras PENCILERS: Javier Sallares & Alan Kupperberg INKER: Tony DeZuniga COVER ART: Mark Texiera LETTERER: Agustin Mas EDITOR: Michael Higgins MANAGING EDITOR: Craig Anderson
The first thing to note is that as far as a comic adaptation can, this is quite faithful to the movie. The only thing missing is the “I’d buy that for a dollar” guy, for which I’m eternally grateful. Seriously, what do fans see in that gag? It makes no sense but it’s all over the movie. Actually, the commercials and news commentary are also gone for space, so that’s why I never considered them part of the theme of the story.
Meanwhile, there seem to be a few things added, and I don’t know if that’s an early script or what. There’s a scene in the beginning where the cops are joking around prior to being attacked by Boddicker that I was disappointed wasn’t in the actual movie when I finally saw it.
“Hahahaha…we got reprimanded HARD for that!”
The comic also ends with the union strike over as OCP agreed to key demands, presumably in response to Murphy saving their lives and exposing Jones. As we all know, however, the second movie has the strike still going on. This did leave an opening for the Marvel ongoing and possibly the Sunbow/Marvel produced animated series (the watchable one…if the subtitle says “Alpha Commando”, run….RUN!) and maybe that was the intended ending. Or maybe Marvel just wanted the story to end with RoboCop standing on a roof like a movie superhero? I don’t know.
I can’t end the review without talking about the art. Although it’s in black and white (I know Marvel had both b&w and color for the second movie but I don’t know if there’s a color version of this adaptation) the art still does a good job of matching the movie. The characters and ED-209 all look like the actors or model used in the movie. Leading me to wonder what happened to RoboCop’s helmet. Look at the cover again.
Compare it to how it actually looked in the movie.
Film poster for Robocop – Copyright 1987, Orion Pictures (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Or in the animated series I mentioned.
Protagonists of the animated series. Robocop (left) and Anne Lewis, officers of Detroit OCP Police. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Or in the Marvel ongoing.
RoboCop (comics) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The only real problem I have with how it’s drawn here is trying to figure out how Murphy’s head fits in that thing. Later images of Murphy without the helmet looks like a normal human-shaped head, and Peter Weller. The helmet looks like one of those rubber heads being squeezed. It stands out because everything else matches up so well. I can’t blame possibly test sketches because ED-209 looks quite close.
Overall, though, it’s a very good adaptation of the film within the space of a comic “magazine”. If I can find the energy to dig them out, next week at my other site will be reviews of Marvel’s run, or the ones I have. If I can stop shoveling snow long enough!
The Clutter Reports 
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