Podcast - Episode 144: Agents of Atlas

The 2018 Living Between Wednesdays Summer Book Club has begun!

We're kicking things off with a really fun Marvel mini-series from 2006 by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk: Agents of Atlas. The fact that this series was shaped out of a long-forgotten "What If...?" issue is pretty impressive.

Next week we will be reading The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon in preparation for Garth Ennis's visit to Strange Adventures in Halifax on July 7!

Dave's Faves of 2010! Well Into 2011, Even!

This should have ideally been finished and posted somewhere around, oh, December, but general holiday craziness (and ongoing work on my comic Slam-A-Rama, on sale now!) kept me from compiling a list of my favourite comics of 2010. Better late than never, eh? Anyways, here goes. In no particular order...

 

STRANGE SCIENCE FANTASY By Scott Morse (IDW): Definitely not for everybody, but this six-part mini almost single-handedly restored my faith in single-issue comic books in 2010. Genres collide in this loving mash-up of sci-fi, film noir, and any number of other styles and tropes that might have at one point or other influenced Morse. The perfect antidote to Big Two event fatigue (see my original review here).

 

ELMER By Gerry Alanguilan (SLG): This absurdist fable imagines a world where chickens have gained the ability to think and speak, and chronicles their ensuing struggle for civil rights. Alanguilan's highly detailed, expressive artwork perfectly realizes the concept's equal potential for both humour and horror (see my original review here).

 

SET TO SEA By Drew Weing (Fantagraphics Books): A gentle giant of a poet is abducted into a life of high-seas adventure, with scary and ultimately uplifting results. This handsome little hardcover tells a story in full-page illustrations, in an intricately-detailed style reminiscent of conflicting influences like Tony Millionaire, Eric Shanower, Craig Thompson, and Steve Purcell. A special LBW shout-out goes to my pal Chris MacLaren to recommending this one to me after it initially flew under my radar.

 

THE SIXTH GUN By Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt (Oni Press): The weird, wild West comes alive in this supernatural oat opera. A roguish thief and an innocent young girl join forces to prevent the forces of evil from taking possession of six magically-endowed pistols, possibly at the cost of their own souls. A more rewarding monthly read than most offerings from the big two, but the first six are available in trade paperback form now too.

 

PARKER: THE OUTFIT By Darwyn Cooke (IDW): It’s hard to imagine how Cooke could have stepped up his game any further after his initial Richard Stark adaptation, The Hunter (see my review here), but this latest Parker caper effortlessly blows its predecessor away. Parker’s criminal fraternity wages war on the organized crime cartel of the book’s title, and the myriad of cons and stick-ups are presented in a dazzling array of different artistic styles.

 

THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER By Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee (Marvel): I hate that I live in a world where a book as charming and fun as this can’t even get a lousy twelve-issue commitment from its publisher. Marvel would likely blame it on the poor sales of all-ages books, but I’m gonna say it has more to do with the roughly eighteen zillion other Thor titles this book had to compete with for shelf space and reader dollars. It’s a damn shame, because this is easily the best of them. This freshly reimagined origin story for the Thunder God is a true "all ages" book--meaning, it's a great read for anybody, no matter their age or gender.

 

OFFICER DOWNE By Joe Casey and Chris Burnham (Image): The hyper-violent offspring of books like Judge Dredd and Marshal Law, this double-sized Image one-shot, starring an unkillable (or, at least, easily resuscitated) supercop, takes the prize for intricately-drawn carnage (see my original review here).

 

WILSON By Daniel Clowes (Drawn & Quarterly): Soon to be a film from Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt), this chronicle of an aging, disaffected loner trying desperately to connect with his estranged wife and daughter deepens with every re-reading. Come for the one-page Sunday Funnies styles, stay for the crippling emotional despair! (See my original review here.)

 

ATLAS By Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman (Marvel): I figure this latest relaunch of the revived 1950s-superteam-that-never-was (which I previously praised here) probably suffered as much from having a “Heroic Age” banner atop it as its previous incarnation (Agents of Atlas) did from having a “Dark Reign” banner atop it (take a note, Marvel, line-wide banners don’t encourage new readers, they drive them away!). Either way, five issues isn’t nearly enough to savour the globe-spanning fun of a team that featured a talking gorilla, a spaceman, and a 3D Man (among others). Let’s hope these guys make their way back into the spotlight sooner rather than later.

 

"Snapshot: Revelation!" from DC UNIVERSE: LEGACIES #8, By Len Wein and Frank Quitely (DC): A reasonably faithful 10-page retelling of NEW GODS #1 (with some other assorted Fourth World recaps thrown in for good measure). For straight-up clarity, call it the anti-FINAL CRISIS. And Quitely drawing Kirby's New Gods? Get outta my dreams, DC UNIVERSE: LEGACIES! Kudos to Mr. Quitely for drawing the most hideous “true face” of Orion I’ve ever seen—dude looks like he just snuck a peek into the Ark of the Covenant:

 

This Atlas Don't Shrug!

Reading mainstream superhero comics is becoming a bit of a chore lately—if a comic isn’t part of a line-wide crossover that has two or three good ideas spread out over way too many issues, it’s rife with death, destruction, despair, and misogyny. Often, it’s both. That’s why I’m glad a book like Marvel’s Atlas is around. I don’t read superhero comics to be bummed out, I read ‘em so I can follow the adventures of reformed killer robots, talking dragons, and wisecracking gorillas who occasionally wear Hawaiian shirts.

 Atlas has been around, in one form or another, for some time now. Writer Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk launched the team (well, re-launched, but more on that in a minute) in a six-issue miniseries a few years back called Agents of Atlas, which introduced the covert superteam comprised of characters who were published separately by Marvel’s 1950s incarnation, when they were called--wait for it--Atlas. The team, made up of Gorilla Man, The Human Robot, Marvel Boy, Venus, Namora, and rejuvenated secret agent Jimmy Woo, had worked together briefly in the Fifties to fight the menace of the Yellow Claw (not really—this back-engineered origin was spun off from an issue of the original What If? series that imagined an Avengers team formed during the Eisenhower administration).

This diverse group reunites to help Jimmy track down his old nemesis, who is behind a globe-spanning science terror organization known only as the Atlas Foundation. However, by the end of that initial miniseries, Jimmy learns that he is the true heir to the Foundation, which dates all the way back to the Mongol Empire; seizing control of his destiny, and with his old comrades in arms, Jimmy sets about trying to change the Foundation from within—a task that may be impossible when the organization he commands is responsible for nurseries full of giant killer plants and orphanages populated by white-haired psychic toddlers.

 

Agents of Atlas appeared again (this time as an ongoing series) in the wake of Marvel’s Secret Invasion crossover, but was sadly cut short after 11 issues. Having that stupid Dark Reign banner on the early issues might have helped out with the initial sales, but that kind of quick sales fix is a short-term solution that hurts a book more in the long run—in my opinion, anyway. Regardless, Marvel’s commitment to this cult favourite has been surprisingly steadfast; the team appeared again in a two-part X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas mini, and then later in a four-part Avengers vs. Atlas series. There was also a recent Marvel Boy three-parter, which filled in the 1950s backstory of the team’s mysterious spaceman. And now, in the wake of yet another crossover (Siege), and with yet another banner (The Heroic Age), the gang is back again, in another ongoing simply titled Atlas. Despite the banner, however, Atlas doesn’t have much to do with the rest of Marvel’s publishing line—it occupies its own cozy corner of the Marvel U, one teeming with secret intrigue, pulp adventure, and mad science to beat the band.

 We’re only two issues in, and so far the new Atlas is loads of fun. The retro adventurers are joined by the current incarnation of 3-D Man (whose predecessor was part of the lineup in the original What If? story, rather than Namora), a fugitive hero trying to unravel the mystery of a cabal of sinister aliens that only he can see. The art by Gabriel Hardman has a gritty quality reminiscent of Michael Lark, but he’s more than capable of handling the otherworldly aspects of Parker’s scripts (like the giant, remote-controlled subterranean golems who appear in issue #2). Elizabeth Breitweiser’s subtly psychedelic colour palette provides the properly glossy finish, and the covers are provided by some of the best in the biz. Terry Dodson turned in a slick montage of the team’s new lineup for the debut issue, and check out Carlos Pacheco’s interpretation of the original 1950s team for issue #2!

 

So, if you’d rather read about mystical hidden cities and electrically-charged zombies than drug-addicted antiheroes and sexually dysfunctional former sidekicks, give Atlas a try. The new series is a great jumping-on point—3-D Man’s entry into the team provides a great point of reference for new readers—but the earlier adventures are available in trade paperback as well. If you’re a fan of Astro City’s wistful approach to gee-whiz superheroics, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’s shared universe of pulp archetypes, or even if you just think a book about a talking ape, an old-timey robot, a love goddess, and a secret agent cruising around in a flying saucer from Uranus (yeah, Gorilla Man laughs at it every time too) sounds like fun, then you’ll find Atlas is where it’s at.

"It's Your Kids, Marty! Something's Gotta Be Done About Your Kids!"

 Wow, Marvel really stepped up their campaign to destroy me this week, releasing Enter The Heroic Age, Heroic Age: Age Of Heroes, and Heroic Age magazine all in one week, making the accounts pull a frustrating and confusing experience (having the Heroic Age banner on Avengers, Atlas, and Deadpool, not to mention all the Heroic Age variant covers, really didn’t help). So, just to get back at them, I am going to be totally childish and use a couple of panels from Ultimate Avengers II #2 out of context to make Bruce Banner look racist:

 

Oh, Bruce. “You people”? Poor choice of words, buddy. Anyway, as you may have guessed, The Heroic Age kicked off proper this week with the launch of the brand-new Avengers ongoing series by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. (to be followed up by New Avengers, Secret Avengers, and Avengers Academy—apparently, Marvel wants to keep using the word Avengers until it has completely lost all meaning). This debut issue features the new team lineup of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Spider-Woman, and Hawkeye, overseen by Maria Hill in the Henry Peter Gyrich role, I guess.

Strangely, though, only the characters who have been in, or will soon be appearing in, major motion pictures made the cover. Funny that, eh? Kang shows up to crash their launch party by telling them, Doc Brown style, that their kids are going to ruin the future and screw up the timestream or something and they have to come into the future and help save it. Bendis continues to aim straight for the lowest common denominator here; it’s all awkward dialogue, unfunny banter, and time-travel mumbo jumbo, with a good dose of “Let’s run and fight!” thrown in for good measure. I’m glad to see Clint Barton back as Hawkeye, but it doesn’t happen in any kind of dramatic or cool fashion. He just shows up and is Hawkeye. With all the Siege crossovers, couldn’t there have been a moment where Bullseye/Hawkeye suddenly switches sides, and we realize that Clint had beaten up Bullseye and taken his costume back so he could infiltrate the Dark Avengers? Something, anyway! Anything would have been better than just, “Hey, it’s me, I’m Hawkeye again”, and him and Spidey make a few dumb jokes about it or whatever. Sorry, my inner Hawkeye fanboy got away from me there for a second. Like Siege, this feels like it was thrown together in a hurry, and maybe I’m expecting too much of it, but it’s sloppy and I don’t like it. So there.

 

A much better Heroic Age book this week was Atlas #1 by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman. It spins out of the now-defunct Agents of Atlas series, riding a crest of publicity for these characters that its predecessor never had (lots of guest appearances and spin-off miniseries led up to this relaunch). The Atlas team is composed of the modern incarnations of various 1950s Marvel characters who were published separately under the old Atlas publishing imprint, and is a fun bunch of science fiction archetypes—a Goddess (Venus), a robot (M-11, the Human Robot), a spaceman (Marvel Boy), a talking ape (Gorilla Man), an Atlantean (Namora, cousin of Namor) and a secret agent (former SHIELD agent Jimmy Woo). Don’t be intimidated by all that has gone before, though—this new first issue tells its story from the point of view of new team member 3D Man, as he seeks out Atlas after being plagued by visions of the mysterious superteam, while being pursued by murderous aliens that only he can see (shades of They Live!). This is a fun, retro-tinged team book in the Mighty Marvel Manner, light-hearted but not goofy, while being serious yet not grim.

 Now, let’s finish out the day with this amazing scene from Stephanie Buscema’s story in the long-delayed and quite excellent Girl Comics #2 (featuring stories by Jill Thompson, Kathryn Immonen & Colleen Coover, and LBW pal Faith Erin Hicks!):

 

That Doom really knows how to enjoy his day off.

John Buys Comics, It's Official

Underground No. 1 (of 5)

Well, all right. Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber tell the tale of a town and a cave. Crap, wait. I meant to make it sound better than I just did. Let me start over.

The town of Marion isn't doing so well financially and so the people are all for a plan to open up a local cave system for tourism. Of course, the presence of massive crowds of people tends to irreversibly screw up basically everything about a cave's workings, so the area's park rangers are opposing the plan.

And since what I just laid out for you is a recipe for a comic about council meetings and petitions and possibly a bit of filibustering, there are ample amounts of nefariousness, licentiousness, explosions and sass-mouth to liven up the proceedings. The protagonist, a rare-in-comics short lady name of Wesley Fischer, is passionately against the project and, unless I miss my guess, is about to be put in mortal peril because of it.

Plus, it's interesting and written well and doesn't feature anyone in a cape - we might just have a new addition to the "lend to those who don't like super-heroes shelf". Huzzah!

Wednesday Comics No. 12

The end of the great experiment! Let's break down how it all went down!

Batman: Looked great all the way through. I reckon that this story would read better in a single reading than sequentially, though. Hey, what do you know, it's on the front page! It's the easiest one to read! There were no aliens or demons.

Kamandi: My Christmas wish to Grampy Tanglebeard this year now includes an ongoing Kamandi series. Post apocalyptic adventure comics at their finest. There were no aliens or demons.

Superman: I was never very taken by the art but now that this is done I like it a lot more, partially because it, more than any other Wednesday Comic, works better as a complete story than as a series of installments and even more because of today's installment, in which Superman is revealed to be absolutely gigantic, much to my drunken amusement. Also, a lovely Batman gag. There were aliens and no demons.

Deadman: Terrific. This comic looked great and never stopped being a good time, especially with the neato reveal a couple of weeks ago. There were demons but no aliens.

Green Lantern: A decent enough yarn, but it seems.. unbalanced. I'm pretty sure that there were more weeks devoted to flashbacks than alien-fighting. There were aliens but no demons.

Supergirl: Nice and light, in the best possible sense of the word. Brought me nothing but joy and was the only one to end on a note of  adorability. There were aliens but no demons.

Metamorpho: A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of an inkling, but today I was suffused with joy: Gaiman and Allred were continuing the Haney run from where it left off! That alien guy was Metamorpho's mysterious enemy from the 60s comic! The one who was never revealed because the book was canceled! Element Dog! You two beautiful madmen, I love you! There were aliens but no demons.

Teen Titans: I wasn't too sold on this at first, but this was a solid story. The art was very nicely adapted to the format after a rocky first couple of weeks and the plot was entertaining to me. It pleased my brain. Most improved. There were no aliens and no demons. Wait, except Kid Devil. And Ms Martian.

Strange Adventures: Paul Pope wins the awards for best adventure comic of the bunch, best title and best use of mandrills. If he could be persuaded to keep doing this then I would buy Wednesday comics forever. There were aliens but no demons.

Hawkman: Man, I wasn't feeling this one. I liked a lot of moments from it but I couldn't get into it as a whole. Still, the last installment, like that of the Superman story, made me smile and redeemed its brethren somewhat. There were sliens but no demons.

Metal Men: I love me some Metal Men, and this was a decent Magnusbot experience. the penultimate episode was the best. There were no aliens and no demons.

Wonder Woman: Like Teen Titans, a much improved comic. The odd style grew on me after a while and the art looked better suited to the format at the end than it did at the  beginning, but the biggest thing that sold me on it was Etta Candy. I'm a big fan of the Golden Age Etta and this might just be the best reimagining of her that I've ever seen. Woo woo! Also, Dr. Poison is a great villain name. My only real problem is with the whole "last of the Amazons" thing. Is it like, the fact that she's the last of them to be born or are the rest of them gone? Is Diana just hanging around on an empty island? So confused. There were demons but no aliens.

Sgt. Rock: Oh dude. This was lovely to look at and feature satisfying Nazi beatdowns, but... twelve installments dedicated to a guy getting out of a room? That's rough. There were no aliens and no demons.

Flash: This one just kicked my ass on a regular basis. Seriously, just look at some of the design-work on this thing. I think that I clapped once. And neither aliens nor demons!

Demon and Catwoman: I was up and down on this one but the last couple of weeks got me back in the positive camp. I think that the  clincher was the implication that about an hour after the final comic ended Selina and Jason were humping like monkeys. That and the iambic pentameter. There were demons but no aliens.

So that's it. I would participate in this experiment again, doctor. No real insight on the alien/demon thing, just an observation on the fact that they are thick on the ground.

Detective Comics No. 857 - Or should I add the "Batwoman in" part to it? I guess I should, shouldn't I. It's like Action Comics Weekly or the like. In any case, the name that the comic goes by doesn't mean much as compared to the contents, which signify nothing but good times. Take all of the gushing that I have done about this run, even the bit about the octopus man, and smash it together for this issue. A truly entertaining read. And in the back, an appearance by irascible scientist Aristotle Rodor!

Supergirl No. 45 - Things that I liked about this issue of Supergirl other than the general good times of the story: a scrolling newsfeed making reference to the events of Detective Comics, Lois finally calling Cat Grant on her wenchery, the fact that Squad K is headed by the archetypal "leader too tough to wear a helmet like anyone else".

The Web No. 1 - Oog... I really want this  to be a good comic. I'm going to defer all commentary in favour of a SECOND ISSUE OF JUDGMENT. Fingers crossed, gang.

Superman: Secret Origin No. 1 (of 6) - I like it! But it''s late and I've had a couple of beer and I think I'll articulate more about issue 2. One observation: if every interpretation of Superman requires an interpretation of Jor-El then I have to say that that is a good Jor-El. Right up there with the Silver Age and Byrne versions.