The Manhattan Projects #3

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

I guess if you're going to have a comic about the hidden scientific projects that received funding from the real Manhattan Project, it's probably best to drop the bomb at some point, and that's exactly what Jonathan Hickman does in this issue.

This comic has been laying the groundwork for Hickman's large-scale vision of scientific mayhem, but with this issue, much of it comes together into a cohesive whole.  The issue opens with Richard Feynman approaching Albert Einstein for advice on which delivery system to use for the atomic bomb (build both, says Albert), and then follows through Hickman's interpretation of the bombing, with a few forays into theology and governance.

Hickman is clearly having a great time writing this book, using real-life members of the Manhattan Project to his own ends.  We learn in this issue that scientist Harry Daghlian didn't die when exposed to high amounts of radiation, but instead became an undead living skeleton in a containment suit.  Hickman also hints in the back of the book that Italian scientist Enrico Fermi is not actually human.

Most amusingly, we are shown a scene where Harry Truman is presiding over a particularly bloody Freemason ritual when he learns that Franklin Delano Roosevelt has died, making him the president of the United States.  Of course, Roosevelt's body is being hooked up to a machine in the Manhattan Projects, so that he can continue to live.

Hickman has conflated Roosevelt's death with the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, events that took place almost four months apart in real life, which adds a lot more dramatic tension to the comic.  I'm really enjoying this book, which has excellent art by Nick Pitarra that still reminds me a little of Rick Geary's work.  I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something a little different.