Justice League of America: The Atom Rebirth #1

   As a longtime fan of the Atom, I was glad to see him getting the Rebirth treatment - heck, I'm just glad to see him in a comic, period.

   Apparently he's going to be a member of the upcoming Justice League of America title (in some capacity), so DC is rolling out a series of one-shots focusing on the team's lineup.

   This isn't an origin story - not quite, anyway. It follows Ray Palmer, the scientist who created the shrinking process and the Atom costume, and it brings back (thankfully) Ryan Choi as his working partner / lab assistant / possible successor.

   And that's about all you get here - an introduction to both men, and a possible setup for the first JLA adventure.

   I was really hoping for much more - this issue just offers some backstory for those who came in late.

   For those of us who've been here a while, there's nothing new here.

   Darn it.

Grade: B-

------------------

Classic Comics - The Atom #8

   One of the knocks on the Silver Age version of The Atom was that he didn't have much of a rogue's gallery.

   And that's a fair cop - far too many of his adventures were either against plainclothes crooks with super science weapons or Time Travel action (courtesy of the Time Pool).

   In fact, the only villain I can name offhand who exclusively fought the Atom was Chronos (and a strong villain he was).

   But that doesn't mean all his other foes were pushovers. Perhaps his biggest challenge early in his career was Dr. Light, the villain who almost destroyed the Justice League through his mastery of light-based weapons.

   So what chance does the smallest member of the League have - especially when his size-changing equipment has been disabled?

   Ah, but that's the fun of the hero - he always found a way (however painful) to escape deathtraps and outwit the bad guys.

   As always, writer Gardner Fox provides a sharp, clever script, and the amazing art is by the team of Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. They skillfully manage to convey the otherworldly adventures of the Atom, constantly placing him in situations where you get a sense of his stature.

   Continuity fans will also enjoy the brief crossover with the Justice League - one that actually spilled over in a small way into an issue of the JLA (and such things were extremely rare at DC Comics in 1963).

   Oh, there's a backup story in that issue, too. It provides a mystery for the Atom to solve, one that involves a plainclothes villain with a super science weapon.

   You can't win them all!

Grade: A

---------------------

The Classics - The Atom #19

   While team-ups were pretty common for both Marvel and DC in the '60s, it was generally only done as a one-issue event (Hawkman and Atom met often in each other's comic, as did Green Lantern and the Flash), or in a regular team-up comic like World's Finest.

   (To be fair, the annual Justice League / Justice Society crossover was typically a two-issue event.)

   But in 1965 editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox had a unique idea - sort of a precursor to the mini-series. They'd create an ongoing crossover story that would start in one title and weave through several different titles, culminating in an issue of Justice League of America.

   The story also introduced a new character who almost instantly became a fan-favorite: the magician Zatanna. She was searching for her missing father, the Golden Age magician Zatara.

   The story started in Hawkman #4 and continued in this issue of The Atom (eventually continuing in Green Lantern, Batman and even an Elongated Man story). She recruits the Tiny Titan to help her journey into a magical book where she'll confront an evil magician who managed to defeat her father.

   Her ongoing story featured several surprising turns (although the opening part of this story is pretty standard "Atom versus dumb crooks" stuff). But the story kicks into high gears when Zatanna appears on the scene sporting her va-va-voom stage costume, complete with fishnet stockings.

   It's a fun story, loaded with lots of action. It doesn't hurt that the art is by the legendary Gil Kane and Sid Greene, working at the top of their game here. Worth the cover price for that first shot of Zatanna, which delighted a certain 9-year-old fan.

   It was a one-time-only experiment that (as I recall) wasn't repeated - and it must have been a challenge to coordinate, even with Fox handling all the writing - but as a fan, I loved it.

   It made the DC Universe seem more "real," as adventures overlapped and connected. That would become commonplace in the '70s and '80s - but I'm pretty sure the idea started here.

Grade: A-

-------------------
 

The Classics - The Atom #1

Sometimes you get lucky.

By 1962 I was really getting interested in superhero comics, and at this point I was almost exclusively buying DC's heroes - especially The Flash and Green Lantern.

I didn't see any of The Atom's earlier appearances as a try-out in Showcase, but by good fortune, I picked up this comic - the first issue of his own title.

I was immediately hooked. Written by Gardner Fox, the story was based in science fiction, giving the scientist Ray Palmer an interesting power - he can control his size and weight, so he can shrink to any size, become light or heavy and was clever enough to use his powers in creative ways to fight the bad guys.

His opponent is Jason Woodrue, a creature from another dimension who can change and control plant life - and threatens to use his creations to conquer the world. A cut above the usual villains, Woodrue never achieved much fame until Alan Moore brought the character back in a pivotal role when Moore reinvented Swamp Thing.

But I digress. The thing that really sold this issue was the artwork by the incredible Gil Kane (whose work I loved on Green Lantern's comic) and inker Murphy Anderson, about whom I gush all the time in this space. (Interestingly, the creative team received credits on the splash page - unusual in DC's comics at the time.)

With inventive layouts and powerful character designs - not to mention a fantastic superhero costume for the hero - Kane's work was in a class of its own, and made this title a must-buy item. That cover really stuck with me - the idea of getting caught in a Venus Flytrap was vivid and horrifying.

DC was really surging at this point, with top creative teams tackling Hawkman and the Justice League of America - they helped put DC at the top of the sales charts - at least for a while - and they got me hooked me on comics.

Fifty years later and I still haven't recovered!

Grade: A-

--------------------

Adventure Comics #521

Considering what a big fan I am of writer Paul Levitz's work on the Legion of Super-Heroes in decades past, I'm surprised to find that his modern-day work just seems... ok.

Maybe he's stretching himself too thin, since he's writing both Adventure Comics and the Legion's regular title.

Up until now, the stories in Adventure were focused on the early years of the team, and did a good job bringing new readers up to date. With this issue, we're back to the "present-day" Legion (if that term applies to a team from the future.

Most of the story is devoted to the search for a new Green Lantern. Instead of the creature Dyogene just going up to the new candidate and presenting the ring, the mystery of "which Legionnaire will wear the ring?" plays out for most of the issue.

It all seems anti-climatic, so the whole story kinda falls flat.

The art by Geraldo Borges and Marlo Alquiza is good - solid superhero stuff.

I'm actually more of a fan of the back-up story that stars The Atom, as that hero unravels a mystery from his past and tries to keep his technology out of the hands of the bad guys. It's a bit slim, but as written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Mahmud Asrar and John Dell, it's very entertaining.

The story ends on a cliffhanger, and this is the last issue of Adventure for the backup feature, but the story will conclude in the Atom Special #2.

I'll be looking for that comic - but I think I'm done with Adventure Comics - at least for now.

Grade: B-

--------------------

Adventure Comics #517

Writer Paul Levitz has an interesting balancing act going on here that should benefit readers new and old.

While he tells the story of the "modern day" Legion of Super-heroes in that title, in Adventure Comics he's taking us back to the earliest days of the organization.

It's a clever way of (slightly) retooling the concept and introducing the Legion to new readers. It's also a part of the Legion's story that (as far as I know) has never been told. When the team first appeared in the late '50s they were already organized, working together and adding new members.

This storyline starts with the original trio - Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl, and it offers an interesting look at their early training, their relationship with each other, and throws in a few surprises along the way.

It also addresses a question I have wondered about - how does Saturn Girl, whose power is mostly passive (telepathy) manage to hold her own alongside two powerhouses?

The artwork by Kevin Sharpe and Marlo Alquiza is good - solid and professional, marred only by a few odd character poses here and there.

I also enjoyed the backup feature with the Atom (Ray Palmer). The 11-page story moves briskly as the Atom tries to uncover a mystery attacker and stay alive in the face of a deadly trap.

He takes an action that seems ill-advised (which I won't relate here for fear of spoiling things), but by and large it's a good story. Kudos to writer Jeff Lemire and artists Mahmud Asrar and John Dell on strong work.

So, two entertaining features that long-time fans will no doubt enjoy, but they're accessible enough that new readers should have no trouble following along.

Grade: B+