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.
Yes, this final arc for Atlas is filled with all sorts of detours, which may or may not of been influenced by the shockingly poor sales for the book, and Parker’s reacting to them. This arc was definitely the clunkiest, finished by trunication of the series into presenting a final issue with pages of prose, of all things. read on…