Shmobots [Paperback]

Adam Rifkin (Author), Les Toil (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

SMALL SOLDIERS and MOUSEHUNT screenwriter and DETROIT ROCK CITY director, Adam Rifkin, pairs with pin-up artist supreme Les Toil to create Shmobots! In an world where man needs robots to do menial labor, a city decides to contract with the lowest bidder in order to create its army workforce. But the whole thing backfires and the robots end up being lazy and stupid -- with attitude. So what do you call these slacker robots? They're a bunch of Shmobots! A darkly funny tale of passion, romance, and sexy-time! Once you go chrome, you never go home!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This hilarious graphic novel shows a futuristic society where robots were created to do the dirty work, only they were built by the lowest bidder, creating a race of metallic slackers—the shmobots. Rusty, Eyeballs, 69.5 and their human friend Miles sit around, drink beer, attempt to have a band and get cut-rate lap dances. Meanwhile, a shmobot serial killer is on the loose. The art (like the cars) has a '70s feel of hotel sleaze and cop drama. In one scene, the three mechanical characters remove their sexual organs, and we find that 69.5's has to be screwed on. Later, their robot dog, Clinky, tries to hump a jukebox. The humor is prurient, the subject matter is adult, but what makes it nifty is the whacked-out camaraderie of the four sentient, male beings. A killer's on the loose, but they're more concerned with TV. Corroded bee-otch!! Rusty yells at a robot prostitute who spurns them. It's total I-don't-care culture, and Miles, as the one who is supposed to grow up, can't. Meanwhile, Rusty, in his halfhearted attempts to keep the group together, does mature (a bit). Sometimes the parodies edge on stereotypes about minorities, but the plot whips along and delivers some dastardly fun. (Aug.)
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Review

"Over the years there have been so many stories about robots that I didn't think there could possibly be a new angle. Boy, was I wrong! Once you read "Shmobots," by the clever writer/artist team of Adam Rifkin and Les Toil, with a surprise on almost every page, you'll never look at robots the same way again!" -- Stan Lee

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: BOOM! Studios; Original edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934506400
• ISBN-13: 978-1934506400
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,392,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit of mindless fun, February 10, 2011

By 

Drektath - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shmobots (Paperback)

It's not brilliant writing and it's not laugh out loud hysterical. It is, however, a decent, fairly clever, and kind of fun story.

5.0 out of 5 stars SHMOBOTS is a blast, May 16, 2009

By 

Chris Michalek (Third Lake, Il United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shmobots (Paperback)

I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of Shmobot's and I found it truly impressive with Adam Rifkin's witty writing and Les Toil's phenomenal artwork. The concept of 'lazy' robots is astounding! The story is centered around Miles (a human), and his lethargic robotic friends. His friends are 'Shmobots', the new subculture of slacker robots and the city's new minority group. As great as the character Miles (the 30 year old lazy musician) is, the heart of the story belongs to Rusty (the fearless leader), 69.5 (the worrier and closet homosexual), and Eyeballs (the knowledgeable robot that was programmed to speak in third person).

When these guys aren't getting thrown out of nice little coffee shops, hitting up the local 'Egg Salad King', getting busted for soliciting by the 'fuzz', or getting bounced from the local strip club for hustling some free lap dances... They're running into local meat head jocks that can't help but give 'Bots a hard time about practicing for the 'big show' that Saturday night. If that wasn't enough, they also have to keep a look-out for the Shmobot Killer. This insane serial killer will stop at nothing until every last bot has been taken out... Will he succeed? Will the band get signed at the big show Saturday Night? Will Rusty get his date with the human Judy? Will 69.5 come out of the closet? There's only one way to find out... CHECK IT OUT NOW!!! --- Jeremy Morrison

5.0 out of 5 stars Schmobots the Madcap Robots (and their pet human), October 23, 2008

By 

Allene Rohrer (El Cerrito, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shmobots (Paperback)

The first thing that struck me about Schmobots, of course, was Les Toil's amazing art. The drawings are so clean and crisp with an incredible eye for detail; the coloring meticulously and artfully executed. After reading the story, I was compelled to go back through the graphic novel again and carefully examine every frame on every page. The perfection of detail stood up meticulously against my intense scrutiny.

I really appreciated the subtlety of Rifkin's humor around the kittens from outer space segments. I found these segments truly funny and silly (or ridiculous in a Pythonesque way). I also enjoyed the bawdy, sophomoric humorous moments (such as the robots' hard-ons) and thought the camaraderie amongst the 4 protagonists of the story (though I found Rusty to be more of an antagonist) felt genuine. While the story is pretty light reading, there are some disquieting moments when our heroes are subjected to racism (or perhaps in this instance, robotism?) - I thought the reactions of frustration and anger when confronted with the bigotry were poignant and on target.