White House Robot Romance #1 // Review
So there are two robots in the kitchen. One has been designed to make the U.S. president’s meals. The other has been made to serve as his a member of his security detail. They’re both discussing their programming and the emotions that they have. The chef bot tells the security bot that he’s always so serious. He tells the chef bot that he’s been programmed to BE serious. This is the beginning of an interesting relationship in White House Robot Romance #1. Writer Chip Zdarski and artist Rachael Stott open-up a charmingly weird AI romance with colorist Tamra Bonvillain.
Service-1 is told to open-up. The chef knows that he’s going to have to analyze it before it is officially offered to the president. 12% potato. 10% tomato. 8% sweet onion. 5% carrot. 0.03 % thyme. 0% poison. It checks-out. All is well. Of course, it's a more or less trusted chef bot. But it's not like the US president can't afford to be anything other than extremely careful. The Russians are not exactly on good terms with the US. And there is some suggestion that that they might try to get rid of the US president. Service-1 needs to be on high-alert.
In the past, there had been a single suggestion made in the submissions guidelines for any major science fiction magazine: the should have science fiction at its heart. If the story could be told in any other genre and still be recognizable, it’s not really science fiction. The two robots at the heart of the story are very much a product of science fiction, so much of what is going on in the story really could be told in a more traditional way, and it wouldn't lose all that much. That being said, the two robots and question are very charming. And the science fiction elements of it had a little bit to the atmosphere of the issue.
Stott has found a delicate balance between a sleek look for the robots and something that looks bulky and crudely mechanical. They need to look cute. They need to look like they've been designed for what they're doing. And they need to look like there's some artistry to the design. Otherwise, it just feels kind of strange and awkward. They need to be all of these things because otherwise the visual aspect of a romance between two robots just isn't going to work on the page in a comic book format. The emotions between the two romantic leads are delivered, almost entirely and dialogue, though. They're really aren't any facial expressions worth speaking of. It's all delivered imposter and context. And it actually works quite well.
It's a strange experiment. The title would suggest something much more weird than what the creative team is putting together here. Which is really too bad. Once it becomes a parent that it's a political drama at romantic political drama, and everything else, the weirdness takes a backseat, and it just sort of becomes much more serious and straightforward than it probably should be.
