Webcomic Weekly: Mega Robo Tantrum… It’s Neill Cameron’s ‘Mega Robo Bros’ Bonus Episode
by Richard Bruton
Webcomic Weekly, a couple of weeks of weekly, a couple of absolutely not – it’s Comicon’s semi-regular (it is until it isn’t) look at the world of online comics. This week, a brilliant Mega Robo Bros short from Neill Cameron…
So, time to enjoy a wonderful little Mega Robo Bros episode that didn’t fit into the books this week – you can find it free to read on Neill Cameron’s substack here, but while you’re there you should also sign up and receive insightful and fun comic tips and Cameron news regularly.
If you didn’t already know, Cameron’s Mega Robo Bros is something I’ve looked at several times here at Comicon, a great strip from The Phoenix Comic here in Britain – previewing b reviewing the books here and here, and taking a deeper look at one particular heartbreaking and brilliant moment here. Not to mention Neill’s X365 project, first as a Webcomic Weekly here, interviewing Neill about it here, and then the successful Kickstarter for it here. He is an incredibly talented writer and artist and Mega Robo Bros is one of the best things in The Phoenix
Mega Robo Bros is now up to Book 5 – Next Level (ignore the coming soon graphic on the image above – it’s out now!) with Book 6, Carnival Crisis, coming out on 3rd August 2023.
But before that, here’s a perfect example of just why it’s a great book, packed full of adventure and comedy, the everyday lives of two of the most powerful robots in the world, Alex and Freddy, and how they manage to get on as brothers, trying to live as normal a life as they possibly can in a futuristic-ish London.
According to Neill, this is one of those funny little shorts that appeared in The Phoenix Comic a while back and fits in around the time of the stories that made up parts of Next Level. However, sometimes things just don’t quite fit into a book and it was just that case here. Instead, prompted by a few questions about just how Alex and Freddy grow, how they eat – and I’d imagine, because it crops up so often in MRB, how they poop – Neill decided to reissue it for you.
It’s all freshly reformatted as a webcomic short to scroll through on your phone. A quick MRB of finding out just how Freddy and Alex eat and just why they need their extra medicine to make up their nutrients. And as you can imagine, Freddy is about as happy about medicine as you’d expect…
Yep, poor old mum and dad, now have to convince Freddy to take the medicine.
It doesn’t go well… but there is a perfectly valid explanation of things for readers in terms of food. Poop, not yet. C’mon Neill, what’s keeping you from answering that question?
Yes, here’s Alex, the sensible one, the calmer one, the older brother who’ll be there to help his younger brother along… right Alex?
Oh yes, thanks a bunch Alex. Good one.
So it’s over to dad, poor dad, to deal with the fallout from this one – maybe a spoonful of sugar will make it taste a bit better?
Well, it might. Of course, Freddy being Freddy, that’s just a start. Next, there’s some chocolate syrup, and ketchup, and a banana, some pickled eggs… a medicinal mixture Freddy’s finally ready to have a go at drinking.
No surprise for realising where this one’s going to end up… but kudos to Neill for making it so perfectly done, the comedy timing he’s always shown coming out in spades here… it’s all in that mid-panel and the ‘…Ahhhh.’ – that’s what makes the gag just fly perfectly.
And that final panel… well, I’m not putting that on here because you need to be clicking through to Neil’s substack to see the brilliance of the finale. So get with the clicky-clicky and remember to subscribe!
