DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE ALL NEW ATOM #18

The Atom And The Amazon, Part Two

February 2008

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Mike Norton and Andy Smith

Inks by Trevor Scott and Keith Champagne

Cover by Ladrönn

Synopsis

After Giganta attacked Wonder Woman and The Atom in the center of Ivy Town, the Department of Metahuman Affairs decides to quarantine the city.  Meanwhile, a shape-shifter manages to mind-control the townspeople against the Atom.  At the same time, the DMA attempts to capture Atom, but with Wonder Woman’s help they are able to get away.  They retreat to Ryan’s house.  There, Panda knocks on the door and then attacks Ryan when he is invited inside. He is able to knock the Atom unconscious and drag him outside where Panda uses the belt to make the Atom small before taking the belt away.  Then, with the help of the rest of the townspeople, Panda decides to burn the Atom in a grill.  Wonder Woman is able to rescue him, however, and the Atom knocks out the shape-shifter altering the townspeople minds.  Once certain Ivy Town is safe hands, Wonder Woman then offers the Atom a spot in the Justice League of America.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

The ending seems rushed, but otherwise I enjoyed this issue, especially the brief bit with Wonder Woman talking to the Head.  It was a goofy moment, but typical of Simone and it worked perfectly in the context of the story.  I also loved the way Ryan reacted around Wonder Woman, first caught up in her beauty and then babbling a bunch of “truths” as they were flying away.  Despite that, it just seems like Simone was building to perhaps another part of the story, but then decided to end it early.  Not only does the shape-shifter’s defeat at the end seem very abrupt, but the DMA subplot seem to be forgotten as well.  Since it is fairly obvious that the Atom’s identity is not a secret that the DMA should’ve been able to locate Ryan after he and Wonder Woman got away.  And even if they could get away, the helicopters and the quarantine should still be in effect, regardless what happened with the townspeople. 

It will be interesting to see if the offer for membership to the Justice League of America will actually be reflected in the JLA title or if it will be forgotten in a short bit of time.  It seems odd to me that the offer would come from only one member of the JLA; I would think that if DC really wanted the Atom in the JLA they would do an issue where the entire team comes for a visit to Ivy town.

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