The Manhattan Projects, Vol. 2

The book deserves 5 stars, the shipping gets 2 stars. Let's get this out of the way first, in agreement with the reviewer above, Amazon has been slipping on their shipping of late. I used to get these trades in boxes delivered to my building's front office. Now I find them in oversized semi-padded envelopes shoved into my tiny P.O. box by USPS (that master of delivery). It leads to bent, misshapen books, and Amazon is better than that.As for the actual review: Jonathan Hickman, for those who don't know him, is a master of grand ideas and bold intricate plotting. His other books  The Nightly News , Pax Romana , and his celebrated run on Fantastic Four and FF display a staggering imagination, and you really just have to strap yourself in and go along for the ride. In my experience, it always pays off. Manhattan Projects, Vol. 2 is no different. The series revolves around an alternate history of the men behind the Manhattan Projects (Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman, etc.) in which, frankly, they're all mad scientists run amok.While Volume 1 was quirky, unusual, and vaguely unsettling in its eccentricities, Volume 2 is equal parts wild and exciting. Volume 1 involved a lot of setup, exposing the reader to the players in Hickman's grand world of science gone bad. Volume 2 introduces their Soviet counterparts, including the ubiquitous but suitable brain-in-a-jar-on-a-body, Yuri Gagarin, a talking space dog, and an ex-Nazi scientist who sheds new light on Wernher von Braun. Hickman remains witty as ever while exploring the idea of what happens when science reigns supreme.And it's also just good fun.No review of this book should go without mentioning the art of Nick Pitarra, Ryan Browne (fill-in artist for issue #10), and the incredible colors of Jordie Bellaire. This being a comic book, the art truly does speak for itself, providing a frantic, slightly off feeling to the whole proceedings. Also notable is the gorgeous use of white space in the interstitial pages with quotes from the pages lend a real sense of the epic and foreboding.Do not ignore this book.

I didn't think it had quite the delivery and uniqueness of the first books. I hope this project has a set direction in mind.....I like the characters and the story. The artwork is also quite well done and has a very scematic feel that lends to the scientific theme. I hope the story finds some firm direction towards a goal...the second issue just had a bit of write as we go feel. I will buy volume three before deciding on the series overall.

While understandably not as riveting as the first volume of the "Manhatten Projects" TPB/graphic novel, in that the irreverent cast of characters and imaginative twisted speculative history are familiar to the reader by the secong book, Volume 2 of the series still entertains even as it slyly manages to ask pertinent questions about man's obsession for technological advance and the ethics of its pursuit.Well written, well drawn. The series' tagline is "Science. Bad." The first two volumes I've read, however...? Book. Good.

This series, i have no fricking clue whats going on but I enjoy it so much. Dogs astronauts, nazis, aliens, its awesome! I feel like a baby who watches the teletubbies- whats going on? IDK but its SO ENTERTAINING. maybe if you're smarter than me you'll be able to keep track of the complicated plot line(s?) but either way its awesome

Hint: if at all confused about the characters, skip to the back. The last two pages summarize the cast. The way my deliveries went, I ended up reading Vol 2 first. I read it cover to cover, so I was unaware of the cast summaries until I'd finished reading the stories. I might have understood character identities and motives better if I'd read that first.

This book is showing a strong second wind. I originally read it because I enjoy Hickman's work and I loved the art. Vol 1 held my interest but vol 2 starts to put the story together and define the characters better. If you read vol 1 for the same reasons as me you will probably like vol 2.

I love how the author mixed science with fiction. This story comes from a mind with a wonderful imagination and I am enjoying the journey.I recommend this .

A great book if you read the first one. It is a weird sci-fi story. Very weird. The art is great, the story is great, the colors are awesome and done by Jordie Belliare. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art is by Nick Pitarra and Cris Peter.

I really enjoy this series. It has the kind of imagination to it you will never mistake as plausible, yet it has so many ideas and crazy characters, you can't give up on the reading for sheer curiosity. This is great stuff. Animation is different and requires some getting use to. This is not a superhero or movie-like looking series, but something more introvert, yet good.This second book is a little less rich in plot twists than the first, but it puts the story into perspective for what comes next. If you are a science fiction fan, you will enjoy this a lot.

Really weird but awesome all at the same time

Not as exciting as it plugs itself to be

Having now read the first two volumes of Manhattan Projects, I like the concept of the books; an alternative vision of the project whereby the development of the atomic bomb was merely the public face of an Area 51 style establishment developing all sorts of crazy technology, making contact with aliens, etc.The art style is interesting, and definitely a break from the usual over-glossy illustrations found in most Marvel books these days. My major complaint is that the reader is left to fill in a lot of the gaps in the storylines, and that the books (thusfar) have lacked much of an overall story arc, preferring to focus on individual stories from the projects, some of which are explained better than others. There is great characterisation in the books (the story of Oppenheimer's brother killing him and consuming his soul is a brilliant depiction of a fictional psychopath) but the stories feel meandering and sometimes it's difficult to work out exactly what is going on.I'll probably pick up the third volume when it surfaces because I'm interested to see where they take the concept, but compared to the coherent storytelling of books like Saga this falls short.

Die Story ist auch im zweiten Band noch durchaus interessant und man möchte immer noch wissen wie sie sich weiter entwickelt.Leider wird die Handlung ab dem 3. Band völlig abstrus.Den Zeichenstil kann man mögen oder auch nicht - ich mag ihn definitiv nicht.