The Manhattan Projects
The Manhattan Projects is a comic book series co-created by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Nick Pitarra published by Image Comics. It is a story about an alternate history of the end of World War II in which the Manhattan Project was a front for other more esoteric science fiction ideas. The series is a monthly ongoing and began in March 2012 to much critical acclaim.
The series was relaunched as Manhattan Projects: The Sun Beyond the Stars on March 11, 2015.
Characters
- Joseph Oppenheimer, an American physicist with multiple personalities; Robert Oppenheimer's evil twin brother
- Albert Einstein, a German physicist and barbarian
- Albrecht Einstein, a German physicist and alcoholic from an alternate reality
- Richard Feynman, an American physicist and wormholer
- Enrico Fermi, an extraterrestrial disguised as an Italian physicist
- William Westmoreland, a US Army general and butcher
- Harry Daghlian, an irradiated American physicist; the "Atomic Messiah"
- Wernher von Braun, a German rocket scientist with robotic prosthetic limbs
- Leslie Groves, a US Army general who constantly smokes cigars and prefers the use of bombs in combat
- FDR: A.I., the artificial intelligence of the deceased American president, Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Lyndon B. Johnson, an American president from Texas
- Harry S. Truman, a Freemason and American president
- Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut and hero
- Laika, a Russian space dog who can speak and is much smarter than people think
- Helmutt Gröttrup, a German rocket scientist and slave
- Dmitriy Ustinov, a Russian Minister of Defense
- John F. Kennedy, an alcoholic, drug-addicted, womanizing American president
Collected editions
| Title | Material collected | ISBN | Story |
| Vol. 1: Science. Bad. | The Manhattan Projects #1–5 | In 1942, US Army lieutenant general Leslie Groves hires Joseph Oppenheimer, the murderous twin brother of Robert Oppenheimer, to work at the top-secret Manhattan Project. Groves is unaware of his true identity, or that Oppenheimer's mind has split into infinite fractal personalities that control him. Joseph meets scientists Enrico Fermi, Harry Daghlian, and Albert Einstein. After their laboratory is invaded by Japanese robots through a torii, president Franklin Roosevelt dies suddenly and his cells are used to develop an Artificial Intelligence to replace him. Wernher von Braun betrays the Nazis and joins the project. Joseph Oppenheimer kills an invading alien and eats its brains to gain the knowledge of space travel. The Enola Gay bombs Hiroshima and Japan surrenders. | |
| Vol. 2: They Rule | The Manhattan Projects #6–10 | Following the projects' success with the atomic bomb, and the end of the second world war, the projects begin to turn their attentions towards advancing the human race. They secretly make an alliance with the Russian Government and catch the attention of the Illuminati, the secret rulers of the world led by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. | |
| Vol. 3: Building | The Manhattan Projects #11–15 | This volume details the first half of Oppenheimer's master plan. With the Illuminati now completely destroyed save for the FDR AI, a simple question looms over the scientists of The Manhattan Projects: how are they going to govern the world? The Projects are split into three divisions with their own goals: Project Ares will deal with space exploration and colonisation, Project Vulcan will deal with the accumulation of renewable energy sources and Project Gaia will deal with perfecting the human condition. All of the projects are to be controlled by Oppenheimer's secret project, Project Charon, with the aim of gaining knowledge and control throughout creation. | |
| Vol. 4: The Four Disciplines | The Manhattan Projects #16–20 | Oppenheimer aims to gain control of all the projects by imprisoning the leaders of the various projects and torturing the information out of them. The result of Project Gaia, an alien-human hybrid, is killed by Westmoreland. Oppenheimer recruits Albrecht to finish Project Charon. Robert and his blue alternates wage war for the control of Joseph's mind, eventually winning, resulting in the failure of Charon. However, at that moment, Albert emerges from the gateway and kills Joseph. Albert and Albrecht reconcile and set off for parts unknown. | |
| Vol. 5: The Cold War | The Manhattan Projects #21–25 | "The Cold War" reveals the dark days of the 'real' Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of an American president, and the end of the Manhattan Projects-Star City alliance. | |
| Vol. 6: The Sun Beyond the Stars | The Manhattan Projects: The Sun Beyond the Stars #1–4 | Yuri Gagarin and Laika are lost in space. |
The Manhattan Projects has been collected into the following hard cover collections:
| Title | Material collected | ISBN |
| The Manhattan Projects Vol. 1 Deluxe: Science. Bad. | The Manhattan Projects #1–10 | ISBN |
| The Manhattan Projects Vol. 2 HC | The Manhattan Projects #11–20 |