DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE ALL-NEW ATOM #3

My Life In Miniature:  Part Three.  Binding Energies

November 2006

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by John Byrne

Inks by Trevor Scott

Cover by Ariel Olivetti

Synopsis

At Ivy University, Sylbert Rundine is given a belt similar to the Atom’s and a mission to perform by an unidentified stranger.  Below Ivy University, Ryan Choi (aka The Atom) encounters a creature called the M’nagalah that claims to be the father of life on this Earth.  Ryan escapes the creature’s attempts to hold him, but then runs into the aliens he had been running away from the first time.  Ryan is able to disable one of the alien’s cycles, finding a particle drive in the cycle’s engine.  Along with Panda, Ryan takes the particle drive back to Dr. Helmond Kettering’s basement for further examination.  However, Ryan has a class teach.  On the way to class, he is accosted by Professor Zeul, who kiss him and then sets up a date at the local drive-in.  During the movie, Dr. Zuel transforms in Giganta.  She then drops Ryan inside a plastic ball and eats.  After she walks away from the drive-in, several Amish looking folk attend the second movie, where they root for the creature, which look much like M’nagalah.  Elsewhere, Panda returns home to find Sylbert Rundine waiting for him. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“I think I’m failing the hero test.  Because when the hero meets the monster for the first time, I’m pretty sure they’re not supposed to have problems controlling their bladder functions.”

I could not help, after I finished this issue, going to back to the very first image and one of the very first scenes:  the sight of the Justice League of America tied up by those backward talking alien creatures.  While this is only the third issue, I can not help but feel that the events are going away from the beginning rather than leading us to it.  The question at the moment?  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  On the one hand, the plot and the story are obviously not taken us in predictable directions while on the other hand, I get this strange feeling that to get us back on track will require leaps of (bad) logic.  Obviously the answer to that tricky question will come in the next several (or more) issues. 

Regardless, Simone and Byrne are creating a wildly inventive and imaginative story.  I mean, really, Amish people rooting for the evil monster with the evil monster standing right behind them questioning how it looks compared to his screen version.  The moment was worth the price of the comic right then and there.  Of course, I’d have to give some of that money back since I am not sold the anti-Atom character or the strange person giving him orders.  The quirkiness and the inventiveness of both the characters and the town they inhabit seem to be enough without having to add a villain or even an arch-enemy (sort of like what Luthor is to Superman or the Joker to Batman).

Quotables

Dr. Ray Palmer:  The first Atom.

Per Degaton:  A fictional character in the DCU who can travel through time.

Dr. Isaac Asimov:  Author, considered the front runner of science fiction novels. 

Isaac Newton:  Scientist in the late 17th century who first described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion.

Albert Einstein: Physicist in the mid-20th century who formulated the general theory of relativity.

Comic Connection

M'nagalah first appeared in Swamp Thing, issue #8 (Jan/Feb 1972). That "reenactment" of their battle in this issue even includes dialogue from that issue.

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