DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE ALL NEW ATOM #14

Hunt For Ray Palmer, Part Three:  Heavens To Bitsy

October 2007

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Mike Norton

Inks by Trevor Scott

Cover by Ladrönn

Synopsis

One of the multiverse Monitors, along with Jason Todd and Donna Troy, have come to Ivy Town to enlist the help of Ryan Choi (aka The Atom) to search for the original Atom, Ray Palmer.  Ryan suggests that Ray is hiding with the alien that recently target Ivy Town, which means Ray is hiding on Ryan’s pet dog.  The foursome shrink in size and find themselves in the middle of the alien city.  They question one of the soldiers and get a lead to his location.  The foursome shrink in size once more and find themselves in some type of heaven, where they encounter Ted Kord as well as number of other dead heroes.  The Monitor, however, doesn’t think they have found Heaven.  Despite that, they realize the gates of hell have been opened and they are besieged by dead villains.  In the midst of a fight, Ryan flies upward and breaks the glass, causing all of the “dead” people to fade away, revealing them to be constructs meant to confuse them.  However, the find a message, written in blood, tell Ryan to turn back and signed by Ray Palmer.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Ladies and Gentlemen...welcome to the city on the edge of my dog’s ass!””

In Countdown, the Challengers from Beyond (as they are called on the cover) are searching for Ray Palmer, but are looking in a vastly different place than where they are searching here.  This means that in one of these books, they are on a chase that will lead nowhere.  As such, it is difficult to really get excited about the events in this book.  The overall plot feels flat and lifeless, mostly because as a reader I doubt Ray Palmer will be found in this book and I get the feeling that Simone as the writer knows this as well.  Further, the basic premise of this particular issue (the hero and villain heaven) seems like a throwaway gag that has nothing to do with the overall thread of finding Ray Palmer or anything connected to the mysteries of Ivy Town.  Having said that, this is still an enjoyable issue.  Simone’s trademark craziness and humor are on display with bits and pieces that I really like (such as the meta-textual comments that Simone tosses aside). 

I think DC made a huge mistake to allow the search for Ray Palmer to carry over two different books and having them search in different places.  It lessens the impact of both searches.  What makes it worse is that the Challengers will be involved with their own mini-series later, suggesting that neither book will lead to Ray Palmer.  It would’ve been better to concentrate the search in Countdown and allow Simone to continue Ryan’s wacky adventures, exploring the weird aliens to her heart’s content.  Editorially, having Simone write what looks to a pointless story arc just means she is treading water until she can get on to something else. 

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