The Manhattan Projects #18

By Jonathan Hickman, Nick Pitarra and Jordie Bellaire

The first thing you’ll notice about this issue is Nick Pitarra and Jordie Bellaire’s incredible art. It’s gritty, very well done and on some pages the gore is even a little cringe worthy especially in the digital format. It ties together with the story very nicely; alien fights, rocket launchers, mini-guns and even friendly fire all make an appearance in The Manhattan Projects #18.

It’s hard to not give away any spoilers with this issue but, without a doubt, this is one of, if not the most, single bloodiest one-on-one fights of this whole series and you’re in for a treat even before the end. Even with all that violence this issue, with the introduction of our four brained blue eyed friend, there is some humor in there too. Even with its life on the line, the blue alien that Einstein caught in an earlier issue, still gets a laugh as it like, you know man, talks like a surfer bum even with a knife to its throat. Einstein makes some key decisions on who he really wants to help with regards to his fellow scientists and their current state, behind bars.

The art… “Wow” is the only word that can really be used to describe it. VERY detailed, colored excellently and really makes you feel, like you see early on, that there IS a brain and intestines stuck to the ceiling. The art maintains consistency even when the characters are having the ever loving crap kicked out of them, drugged, ripped apart by bullets and reluctantly agreeing to situations. You can really feel the emotion come out of the pages of people like Werner, Einstein and even our favorite radioactive skull, Harry.

In no way, shape or form is this a filler issue. It’s one of the most, if not THE most, violent issues of this series and well worth picking up. We learn a lot about supposed “good” and “bad” guys in #18 and with twists, turns and a big shocker it will be exciting to see how The Manhattan Projects #19 will pick itself up after the dust from #18 settles.