So, either Parker wanted the story to go six issues or eight. It’s hard to tell. I imagine if it had gone at least six, he wouldn’t have needed the three pages of text he uses in this one to move the story along. As a prose writer… Parker should stick to comic scripting.

As for the final issue… it’s a little defeatist. I imagine Marvel’s unsympathetic to another Atlas series, but Parker kind of throws in the towel for the final few pages.

Nice work all around though—Rosanas and Hardman do well—so does Parker one a story he pencils and inks. Actually, I think Hardman has the most problems, but he’s got the most compressed part of the story.

There are some really good moments in here for the team (Bob’s very non-traditional superhero is a surprise).

I just wish it’d been a stronger series overall.

Poor Bob. This issue reveals he’s really a lot more alien than he’s let anyone know, keeping his appearance hidden. Parker hinted at it in the Gorilla-Man series, but it didn’t make sense until this issue.

But that revelation is just another reason to love Agents of Atlas. Parker does a beautiful job on the humanity of his characters, it’s just fabulous.

Once again, he changes gears and Atlas works again. A little action to resolve last issue’s cliffhanger (Mr. Lao helps) and then some thinking and investigating and then Rosanas takes over the next part of the story. It might have worked better if Parker had used that breakdown each issue (Hardman handles one half, Rosanas another).

The story’s moving in an unexpected DC “Crisis on Multiple Earths” direction… it reveals, once again, Atlas is a great DC series at Marvel.

Parker and company produce a fantastic issue.

Huh. It’s hard to say what Parker’s doing or why.

He basically drags a quarter of an issue’s worth of story out to an entire issue—the bad guys infiltrate the Atlas headquarters, nothing else important happens. He ends it on a hard cliffhanger with Venus shot and Namora possessed. There’s some investigation into 3-D Man’s story (I’m still not sold on how good an addition he is for the series) but it’s drawn out.

It does give Hardman a wide variety of things to draw… but that opportunity shouldn’t dictate the narrative.

Parker’s still got the enthusiasm for the characters (3-D Man’s presence aside), but I can’t say the same thing for his plotting. It’s like the Atlas backups in Hercules changed up his pacing style.

Atlas feels off.

The Rosanas illustrated backup about M-11, however, is a lovely little recap of M-11’s origin.

There’s the Atlas I love. Parker brings back everything great about the series (the serious tone with the humor, Mr. Lao having something going on he forgets to tell Jimmy about) and adds 3-D Man to the roster.

The issue’s pretty simple—we get an introduction to the team as 3-D Man tries to escape (including some additional revelations about Venus), an origin recap, then a mission for the team and a set-up for the next issue.

What’s wrong has nothing to do with the content (Hardman gets some beautiful stuff to draw this issue). No, it’s when it’s happening in the series run. This issue is a first issue, not a second. 3-D Man becomes very likable here, not puzzling like he was in the previous issue.

The backup, illustrated by Rosanas, is also very nice. It’s not so much fun as just well-executed.

Parker does something very strange for the first issue of Atlas. He barely features them. There’s a backup with the team in the fifties, which helps, but the primary story belongs to 3-D Man, a character I’m unfamiliar with.

He’s got ties to the fifties too, so I guess he sort of works, but giving him the entire issue doesn’t.

Also, Parker has a very strange narration for it. He narrates with 3-D Man talking to, near as I can tell without going back and checking, a guy in a coma. Except, of course, he’s talking to the guy in his head, not in actuality.

Some of the writing is strong as usual, but it’s as though Parker willfully sucked all the charm out of an Agents of Atlas title. It’s a shocking choice.

As always, lovely art from Hardman… he just doesn’t have anything interesting to draw.