Sword of the Atom Special #3

I took one final look at the Sword of the Atom universe in this special that pulls at just about all the stops. Atom and his new wife visit a neighboring tribal city and accidently set off a biological booby trap. This turns many of the dwellers into rampaging zombies. It’s a race against time to find a cure as well as a race to safety for the Atom in this thrilling final chapter to the Sword of the Atom series of mini-series and specials.

  At the end of this issue was a letter by some of the writers and editors of SOTA asking fans to write in for a permanent series based on Atom’s adventures in the Amazon. I think if DC had decided to let Gil Kane re-team with Jan Strnad on this special, it would’ve happened. While I really enjoyed this creepy tale, the magic behind the art of Sword of the Atom was missing with the new creative team. Now, I don’t know a lot about the publishing world but if you’re trying to get something picked up for regular publication and you’re basing your decision on customer opinion, wouldn’t you put your best people on the project? Maybe Strnad and Kane weren’t but I’d rather stick with the team who knew Sword of the Atom best instead of handing it off to a new team.

   That decision strikes me as proof that DC had no intention of SOTA ever becoming a full-time series. If they had, Strnad would’ve still written this and but Kane would’ve penned and inked it! So, alas, the history of comics pits us with another what if scenario. I think if this is a standard practice of DC in order of making things go away then we also finally have our answer to the age old question “Why did George Clooney’s batsuit have nipples?”

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Sword of the Atom Special #2

Jean Loring and her new husband are forced to return to the world of Sword of the Atom. When Jean is accidently shrunk by one of her ex-husband’s old shape changing device, the machine shorts out leaving her at just 6-inches tall. Meanwhile, a rival tribe of tiny alien Amazons that use hawks for travel and warfare, has attacked the Atom’s people and kidnapped his new bride. Returning to their home base, these air raiders happen upon Jean’s expedition and kidnap her too. Thus it’s ex-husband and current husband teaming up to save the women they love without killing each other in the process.

I rather liked this issue. It was a very good way to progress the Atom storyline while keeping us in the loop as to what happened to Jean Loring after her divorce from Ray Palmer. I think if they had switched back and forth from the action of the Amazon rainforest to the hoo-hum world of Ivy Town USA, the book would’ve been uneven and it would’ve taken the story literally forever to progress.

Kudos to writer Jan Strnad and artist Gil Kane! They did a fantastic job on this issue. Full of action, adventure, romance, and just a pinch of jealousy amongst former and current rivals of the heart, this was a DC special that was truly special.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Sword of the Atom Special #1

  I’m a little torn to this sequel to the Sword of the Atom mini-series. While I am very happy with the ending to this special (it’s the ending to should have happened in SOTA #4), most of this book is a recap of the 4-issue mini-series. After the Atom returned to America, a journalist turned the failing marriage of Ray Palmer and Jean Loring and the Atom’s subsequent adventures in the Amazon into a bestselling memoirs. The events of the book are then used to progress the story forward

   Back in the states, the Palmers decide that divorce is the best option and Ray returns to the rainforest in hopes of reuniting with the tiny race of people he grew to care for and the princess he grew to love. There’s only one problem, shrinking and re-growing from his Atom persona has become a deadly situation so when he finds his ‘people’ it will be the last time he ever changes sizes. But when he and the journalist accompanying him on his expedition stumble upon a drug cartel, the Atom accidentally shrinks for the final time endangering any chances of being reunited with his new family.

This book was around 48-pages but just under half of this book is recap from the previous series. I understand this was needed to keep newcomers to Sword of the Atom in the loop with the storyline thus far. But for someone like myself who did read the first series, I felt a little cheated out of an all-new story.

  But as I said earlier, this issue did end how I wanted the last series to finish. With a very good final act and classic DC art from the mid-1980s, I was satisfied enough to rate this issue Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Sword of the Atom #4 (of 4)

  The final chapter of Sword of the Atom comes to a close. It’s appears that the Atom has saved the day. That is until the main reactor to the city of tiny aliens goes into overload. Looking to prevent a meltdown that will kill the citizens he has grown to love, the Atom must sacrifice not only his life but his happiness and symbolic freedom from his oppressive marriage in one awesome rampage of gigantic proportions.

   The action in this issue was fantastic. However, I was not such a fan of the ending. There are 3 more ‘specials’ set in the ‘Sword of the Atom’ storyline. Hopefully, they will boast a better conclusion to this series than what happens here.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Sword of the Atom #3 (of 4)

The Atom leads his band of tiny rebels in the deepest darkest Amazon against their despotic overlords. Meanwhile, estranged wife Jean Loring is convinced that her husband is still alive and begins a search for Ray Palmer in Brazil. The action ramps up to 11 as betrayal, murder, rampage, and general angst is on this books penultimate menu.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Sword of the Atom #2 (of 4)

Ray Palmer awakes finding himself garbed as the Atom and permanently trapped at six inches tall. Now the prisoner of a race of aliens who now reside in the deepest, darkest recesses of the Amazon, the Atom is placed in that society’s arena for sport. His opponent is Taren, the leader of a band of rebels who hope to overthrow the despotic Caellich. Also, he’s the lover of the emperor’s daughter.

But when it’s discovered that the deck has been stacked in Atom’s favor by having Taren blinded, the people revolt. This gives Atom, Taren, and the Emperor’s daughter a chance to flee. Once safe,  the Atom becomes the de facto leader and now must earn the trust of Taren’s supporters in order to free all of Taren’s miniature people from tyranny.

All of the action that was missing from issue 1 was obviously saved for this dynamic issue. I was afraid this was going to turn into a John Carter of Mars rip-off. With strange peoples and even stranger technology and creatures, there are some elements just as there is a hint of the classic 50’s B-movie adventure, The Incredible Shrinking Man. However, seeing the Atom as a swashbuckling heroic type was kinda neat. The art continues to be first rate and I loved the thrills, the twists, and the shocks. It doesn’t get much better than this.      Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Sword of the Atom #1 (of 4)

This miniseries is the beginning of all of the marriage troubles between Ray Palmer and Jean Loring. What happens here will go on to affect the DC Universe in a multitude of ways- it’s what sparks the Identity Crisis and the death of one of the most beloved characters in the DCU. It will later reveal Batman’s spying on his fellow Justice League members and for the JLA to disband. The end of this relationship in many ways causes the Big Three of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman to go on a year-long sabbatical that will led the DC Universe into 52, the Search for Ray Palmer, Countdown, and the spawning of the New 52 universe.

   Yes, this single issue, published months before the Crisis has probably been the single issue to most affect the continuity and storylines of the past 15 years of DC Comics. That’s how important the act of unfaithfulness on Jean Loring’s part is to the comics your read today. In some ways, Sword of the Atom #1 is the New 52 as Flash #123 when Barry Allen crossed over into earth 2, is to the Post-Crisis DC universe.

  Here’s the weird thing about this issue. Other than a marriage falling apart, very little else happens in this issue. The sword and sorcery scene on the cover doesn’t ever take place yet as Ray Palmer doesn’t even wear his costume in the entire opening chapter. So, I was a little surprised how such an influential issue could be so dull.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this opening segment. But it was too much like a soap opera and nothing like a super hero comic. Everything that happens here is needed to (I’m hoping) get the Atom to this microscopic race of yellow-tinged jungle dwellers. But don’t expect much excitement in the way of fighting with anything more than the ammo of two spurned lovers.

The art is fantastic. Plus, I just love the color palette. It’s classic 1980s but it’s the style I grew up with and I just adore it. Issue #1 is required reading but it’s scope of drama compared to what’s on the cover is miniscule at best.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.