Category: Agents of Atlas
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Ladies and gentlemen… the writing stylings of Roy Thomas! Yay! Yay! Oh, wait. Umm. No. Not yay. I suppose if someone wanted to read some really bad seventies young person counterculture dialogue, he or she could read Roy Thomas’s Adam Warlock story. It’s painful to read. And eventually painful to see too. It’s another issue…
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Parker ends Agents of Atlas with M-11. It’s very appropriate since he’s been the biggest mystery of the series and to the team members. There’s something incredibly tragic and beautiful about the character; Parker goes for it and succeeds. It’s too bad M-11 couldn’t carry a limited of his own. The issue itself, setting Jimmy…
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And here again, Parker does the improbable. The issue has a relatively short present action, something like a half hour. Maybe a little more, but the big part of then issue isn’t long, as watched on a clock. Well, actually I’m wrong–it’s indeterminate. Parker sticks with Derek as a narrator, which brings–I’m realizing for the…
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Oh, Jeff Parker, how I love thee. This issue–this modern Marvel comic book–takes place over a week. Maybe even a few days more than a week. Parker resolves the previous issue’s cliffhanger, brings in a new character, has two big action sequences and has time for character development and a bunch of summary action scenes.…
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After opening with a nice fight scene–it starts with just Jimmy, then brings everyone in–the issue moves to some Atlas investigating. The book’s title still doesn’t make any sense in the context of the content, which is kind of awesome. I wish I remembered what I thought it meant at this point during my first…
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Derek, the SHIELD agent, narrates this issue. The result is a more procedural issue, like Parker is trying to keep the reader a few steps removed from the principle characters. He does it a few times, more obviously, in the narrative, like when Venus says hello to a changed Bob. A little about the art.…
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Coming back to the first Atlas series is a bigger treat than I thought it would be. I don’t remember much about it, but I certainly didn’t remember Parker uses Gorilla Man as the narrator for the first issue. It’s a nice entry to the setup because–strangely enough–Ken is the most human member of the…
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Parker wraps it all up nicely, answering some half-asked questions (i.e. what was the dragon thinking sending him over to see Jade Claw without a briefing), while not seeming like he’s doing anything abrupt. There’s even something organic about it, since Temugin joined the team at the start and now he’s off on his own,…
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Is Parker’s intent to make me cry, to weep for this brilliant comic book in its second-to-last issue of the ongoing? Because he’s close to successful. I mean, wow. Parker turns in maybe the best “team” book issue I can remember reading here. It’s a perfect comic book (even if the coloring on Hardman’s art…
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Do I complain too much about artist changes on Agents of Atlas? Because, if I do, I’m going to really seem like I can’t stop as I’m now going to complain about Dan Panosian. He does an adequate job, but he really doesn’t have enough fluidity to his forms, especially given how much action this…
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Maybe I need to take a break from going through these straight because everything’s starting to run together. I’d totally forgotten Suwan (not just the name, but the character), though seeing the team in action against the Hulk is fun. Unfortunately, Pagulayan is back and there’s, once again, something way too finished about his art…
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Parker basically undoes what he did in the previous issue–the Namor and Namora romance, at least the impending nuptials–as fast as he can. There are some backstory developments and some supporting cast developments, but it’s really just an excellent exercise in drama. Parker’s undoing of this romance, he does it in one issue instead of…
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What am I going to say about him doing a breather issue with the sixth? Ostensibly, it’s another action issue–there’s the cover promised fight between the Agents and the Atlanteans–but it’s really this mellow, relaxing sixty-two year payoff in the story between Namor and Namora. Parker doesn’t miss the opportunity for humor (underseas hillbillies), but…
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The “Dark Reign” tie-in, at least the storyline Parker started with, ends here with a rather convenient uncontrollable outburst from killer robot M-11. It ties into the first issue’s backup story, which probably cuts down on Atlas‘s accessibility to new readers, but certainly rewards the faithful. Pagulayan’s return is a double-edged sword, while it does…
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Parker brings his two stories together to great success, even if Clayton Henry’s art is uglier this time around (last issue they seemed to be going some kind of connection to Pagulayan’s–here it’s clean and bright, kind of like art on action figure packaging). But, again, Hardman’s art makes up for it. Parker ties his…
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Frank Cho likes women with big bottoms, Clayton Henry likes women with big foreheads. To each his own. I thought Henry was one of those CG artists, but maybe not (didn’t he do that Venom/Carnage limited, the awful one by Milligan?). Anyway, I hate saying it, but I really missed Pagulayan’s grandeur this time around.…
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Good grief, it’s good. I’m not actually sure what’s going on with Jimmy’s whole Norman Osborn deal (all indications are it’s a fake-out), but Parker gets in a ton of character development. One quibble has to be how much Parker expects his reader to remember the original limited series. I guess it’s been six or…
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So Castro was mind-controlled into being a Communist? Sorry, couldn’t resist. Since I’ve heard about the series, I’ve heard Marvel didn’t know what to do with Agents of Atlas, this incarnation is no different (I think it’s more, Marvel doesn’t know what to do with Jeff Parker–it’s like he’s way too good for them). The…
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