VS*Chronos - Injustice Gang card

"A minute here. A second there. I've got plenty of time to kill."

YES! Chronos is so bad ass it hurts my internal organs.

I posted my first VS card Chronos badassery here.

On this card, with art by Jonboy Meyers, Chronos looks to be an iron-jawed, iron fisted, powerhouse to be reckoned with.
Which is, of course, what he has always been.

Nice touch, sticking lil Ray in the hourglass.

Hawkman Super Powers stamp set

DC Guy: "Okay, for our Super Powers stamp set line, we'll obviously go with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman."

Other DC guy: "Obviously."

DC Guy: "I think we should have 4 characters though. 4 stamp sets."

Other DC Guy:"Hmm... yeah. But who else should we throw in there?"

DC Guy: "Get the hat."

5 minutes later...

DC Guy:"Okay, pull a name out."

Other DC Guy:"Tyr."

DC Guy:"Who?"

Other DC Guy: "He's... never mind. I'll pull another."

::pulls another one out::

"Hawkman."

DC Guy: "Who?
(pause)
Oh wait, the bird dude, right? Yeah, sure. Kids love birds."

And there you have it kids. The birth of the Hawkman signature stamp set. And thank God for it. You can also see there's a bonus Superman stamp thrown in there. Guy has got to get into everything...
I love finding stuff like this. People go to cons and the like for autographs, comics, sketches, and all that other nonsense. I'm the guy stalking around for stamp sets.
15 piece fram try puzzles.
70 PIECE PUZZLES.
Stain*a*stickers!
Can't stop me. Can only hope to contain me.

So when I saw this one from across a crowded room, I knew then... at that moment, that we were destined for each other.

Really, stuff like this will always be my fave. A Hawkman stamp set. I'm saddened by the fact that the Atom will never have something like this. No, he'll never have a mego, or a Super Powers figure, or any of the SP line (Viva Super Amigos!) and that sucks, sure... but he'll never have a signature stamp set from the early 80's. He won't be on a sweet Pepsi glass or a measuring ruler.
It's Hawkman's appearances on random things that makes me glad I took to him as much as I have. He made it on to school supplies. That's when you know you're somebody.

Here's what's going on in the back:
Amidst the card dings, you can see the wonders that await you.

Atomo- Super Amigos trading card!

Fly Atomo, Fly!

Check out those numbers! Er... whatever they mean, that is. I'm sure 0.15 Altura m. isn't all that good.

Nice art they chose to put on these cards, not to mention that... they put the Atom on a card. The choice to include Ray in some of their merchandise is heartwarming. Warms the cockles. Something the Super Powers line obviously had no interest in doing. Zero cockle warming coming from that lot.

I have 2 other cards from this series. A shiny buffalo nickel to the one that guesses them.

See, I can run sweet contests too!

Tomorrow we'll see how Hawkman put his stamp on random merchandising, back in the days of the A- list.

Bug-Eyed Bandit Who's Who entry

Continuing on with Atom related Who's Who entries as originally suggested by M.O.T.A. member and aquaman shrine keeper Rob Kelly, I hurl forth... The Bug-Eyed Bandit.

Enough said.

Hembeck Hawkman #3

The third in the Hembeck Hawkman trilogy. Those guys crack me up.

Now stay tuned for the cgi drenched prequels...

This week coming up promises thrills galore! Maybe not thrills galore, but certainly some pretty cool stuff featuring muh favorites of DC's finest.

The Atom team-up ad

Finally the unpredictability of my work has caught up to the Titan, so there are gaping post holes. I'm actually surprised I made it this far.

Back to work here, I offer an Atom ad! This, to me, is a beauty. Achieves all it set out to, I would imagine. You've got catchy colors, with the text nicely spread out but not all over the place. It grabs you.

"Fistic Fireworks." It says that. It really says that.

Doesn't hurt that you've got a sweet Gil Kane cover there with the two Atom's being smacked around.
Who the hell is this "Thinker?!" I've got to know!

As always, available at your local newsstand.

The Atom "Legacy" card

I completely bypassed buying up packs of these cards and waited until I could seek them out individually. I guess I'm just not a good DC fan.

After all, these cards are pretty cool. And as you can see, it's Choi and Palmer, further enforcing the fact that Pratt and Palmer just had absolutely nothing to do with one another.
As far as I know, there isn't a Pratt legacy card, even though they'd get to put his nifty costume transition on the front.

So Ryan heads up the front, while Ray does his "light as a feather" deal on the back.

The card provides a wealth of information, so allow me to share some of it with you.

Raymond "Ray" Palmer, the Atom II, had himself his first appearance in Suicide Squad #44.

M'okay.

Soon after the disappearance of Ray, Ryan Choi took over, becoming the Atom III.

Gee whiz, I wonder what else I can learn from these cards!

They look nice anyway...

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure production drawing

This may appear very faint on your computer, so feel free to click the pic to get the real deal version. No extra charge, although gratuities are greatly appreciated.

This is a production drawing from The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure tv series that aired in 1967. I picked up a bunch of these, along with some cels from the same show, and the lot is amongst some of my most favoritest stuff. I think it's just the fact that it's the Atom... on a tv series... in 1967. I do love my history.

This one in particular is exceptional because... well, he's on a cat. Big ol fluffy one. I don't know if he's waking cat up, or putting cat to sleep. Perhaps he's preparing to challenge the 8 second mark of cat riding without getting thrown.

Feel free to throw in your thoughts on what exactly is transpiring here.

DC Official Licensee display

I am hereby licensed to dish out DC Comics!

Why, you ask?

Because I've got myself a sweet licensee display, that's why damnit!

Sweet! Hey JLA... oh wait... hey Shazam.
As we all know, Shazam shows up on things from time to time. And at the time he was still very much a face and a name, so what better place to put him?

I snagged this from a comic book store which no longer dishes out comics of any kind, and I'm glad I did. Acquired for the inclusion of man with Hawk mask and wings, this is just another one of those items I love having. Although the "DC" is in pink, which I could do without.

And it came with a hefty price. Not monies. I believe I signed something in blood for this puppy. True story...

Justice League Unlimited Atom 10 inch #2

A few months back I posted the first Mattel 10 inch Atom doll... pardon me, figure, I have here.
Today is the exciting conclusion to the 10 inch Atom doll FIGURE extravaganza.
If you'll look at the first one I posted, you'll notice the two items are like night and day.
One Atom comes packaged with another shrunk Atom, in a blue box.
This one here comes packaged with another shrunk Atom... in a not blue box. Although it's obscured in this picture. Take my word for it, tiny Ray is in there.
This package says "DC SuperHeroes" along the side of it.
The blue package did not say "DC SuperHeroes" along the side of it, but does show the magnificent seven crowded around the bottom.

Let's cut the crap and get to the dollsfigures themselves:

There's no difference.

Thanks for stopping by!

Okay, I think the blue packaged ones were released in 2004. These yellowish boxed ones, 2006 perhaps.

I love... repeat LOVE that the powers that be released this figure again in a slightly different package. I've always wanted an Atom figure to be re-released with only slightly different packaging. It means you're somebody.
And they weren't done. He was one of the few that got himself a JLU die-cast figurine, which I've actually yet to pick up. Sad face. My die-cast day will come!

Hawkman patch

It's exciting post time at the Titan again! I eagerly anticipate and fear at the same time, the flood of comments that await such a conversational piece.

I love when people get dressed up as their favorite characters and go to cons. It's the dedication.

Wassat?

Oh, turns out this a patch representing the actual Hawkman, and not a fan. Or his half-brother Carl.

You're led to believe it's depth perception, but as you can see, Carter, having hit a rough spot, needs to work out his right arm in order to catch up to his left arm... then work everything out. Otherwise he's just a guy flying around wheeting.
Which will probably be his next incarnation.

It's little nuggets like this that are the cornerstone of any geekly collection. Sure the comics are nice. And the figures made solely for collectors get better and better, but this was where it was at. There just isn't nearly enough new crap like this floating around out there in the DC world.

Mystery in Space and The Atom ad

Compliments of M.O.T.A. member Robquaman (run with it I say) For the very best in Comics reading.

And for me, it would have been AND is the very best in comics reading.
Hawkman and Adam Strange!
The Atom vs. one of his nerdling villains!

It's a shrinking, flying, mace wielding, tomorrow land living, ray gun shooting bonanza!

All for 24 cents. Oh. Yes.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

JLA Classified #52 - The Truth Hurts

Written by Roger Stern/Penciled by John Byrne/ Inked by Mark Farmer

Part 1 and Part 2

Moving on to the third part of this 5 part mini-offering from Stern, it opens with Wally West hurtling through different dimensions after getting himself zapped by the big bad mofo cleaning some JLA house.
Back at JLA headquarters, Bats and the Atom prepare a big bad mofo thwarting, which ends up... unsuccessful.

After some taunting, B.B.M. manages to zap Ray in mid-shrink, which is no easy task.
While the thing trashes Supes and WW, Bats and Atom fall back to pow-wow with GL Johnny whom due to a bout of unconsciousness is being used by J'Onn to speak through, and a recently returned high octane Wally.
With their noggins put together, it's found that the B.B.M. is a Godling called Titus, that the league, of course, had a run in with earlier.

But what are they going to do about it?

Another nice piece of the mini-epic Stern and Byrne have put together here while the JLA headquarters turns into Drub Med. One might think the continuous beating of Superman and Wonder Woman would get old... but it doesn't.
The series has been a nice change for the fact that each of the characters has had almost the same amount of page time. Everyone is doing their thing, and each play an important piece. And from looking at next issues cover, I'd imagine there'll be more GA and Arthur and friends action in our future.
So that's it, it's just been good fun. The outlook is still bleak for our heroes, but there isn't the grimy "end of everything" feeling I get from Countdown, along with my one page of Palmer per issue. So I look forward to the next.
And I end with this, which is the reactions of some of the folks after Superman, J'Onn, and the Atom launch him through the airlock and over the meadow and through the woods.

Sword of the Atom insert (1984)

Thanks to numerous obstacles not at all unlike Double Dare, I'm posting when I get the chance during the day.
Frank had asked me if I had these inserts, which I sadly at this time, do not. But he does, and has provided them for me, making him the brand spanking newest member of M.O.T.A.!
Welcome aboard.
He's put them up over at his site nurgh, and that's where you'll go to see the entire sweet setup.

I repeat... that's where you'll go to see the entire sweet setup.

nurgh! Catch the fever!

In regards to The Shadow War of Hawkman, Frank, I should have it. Although if I do not, and you provide it, you might then become a member of F.O.A.F!

Friends of a Feather?

The Atom: Who's Who entry

A little ways back, thanks to the suggestion by Robquaman, I posted the first of the T3 related DC Who's Who entries with the Atom. The shrinking one. Here we are having ourselves some Al Pratt Who's Who-ness. Yanno... the first one.

We've got some great Atom artistry going on there from Rick Hoberg and Romeo Tanghal, two men more than familiar with the mighty mite throughout the years.

It's as good a place as any to really see the changes Al went through during his tenure. While he's quite super-heroic looking in his second look, the first one can smell your fear. And that's WITH entire head piece intact, lending to quite a good amount of the fear.
Sans tights was another matter.

Atomic bonus: Treat yourself to some fine chest hair, occurring in the background.

Hembeck Hawkman #2

I thought we'd celebrate the one week anniversary of the Hembeck Hawkman posting... with another!

Preach on, Carter! Preach on!

Aquaman and the Atom: The Brave and the Bold ad

If I had even a modicum of timing, maybe I would have posted this before the recap/review of the issue the ad is for. Buuuuuuuuut that's just not me.

But here it is!

It's a great ad, certainly helped along by the B&B cover which was a good one. Unconscious Arthur in his bubble, and squirming Ray in the claw of Galg, the destroyer!

In case you missed it, feel free to check out mine and Rob's dual Aquaman/Atom Crisis on earth's B-List coverage here and here.

All New Atom #20

Written by Gail Simone/Art by Mike Norton/Inks by Trevor Scott

The issue starts with Choi wrapping up saving the entire population of Superman's planet by shrinking them onto a crystal. He then proceeds to fly back to Earth with the Green Lanterns, hitch a ride with the Flash to his University where he is welcomed with a bright, young class of eager minds raring to learn. After learning minds, he heads on home to his girls, including but not limited to - his high school crush and Wonder Woman..

Of course he's dreaming.

But it's no regular dream. No noooooooo! The evil Dean has him push-pinned to a desk with a big ol purple tentacled thing attached to him causing all sorts of mayhem. Pretty much what you see on the cover there.

What you get in this, the final hurrah for Simone and Norton on this title, is the aforementioned purple tentacle thing, the evil Dean turning into a fangled squid monster, the big boss and guy behind all the evil and chaos and goofery that has taken place in Ivy Town (an old friend), a Destroy all Monsters rubber suit kaiju attack on the town, a clutch appearance by the giant blobby cancer god of the sewers, and head shouting.
Those are just some things that occur.It may seem like a lot to cram in, and for a normal book of this length it is. It's a nice wrap up of their run, but I wish they had more room to let things play out and really have fun with it. Especially since I'm a big ol sucker for every device used in this issue.

But that's all she wrote. In #21, Choi is handed over to Rick Remender, and Pat Olliffe works the artistry. We'll see what these boys can do and how long All New runs on for.

There'll of course be a tie-in somewhere when they kill of Palmer in Countdown.

Atom vs. Ant-man: #2 - Gary Gretsky

The bout has come to a conclusion, with the Atom's K.O. of that bug only slightly delayed. As you can clearly see, Ray has done this with both brains AND brawn.

Gary graciously did this for me even after my insane reaction to the first piece, which is very cool of him.

Nice job Ray, we all knew you had it in you!

You can view countless Gretsky sketches over at his site, here, free of charge. No height requirement. Fair warning should be given though, there's the occasional raunch!

Atom vs. Ant-man: #1 - Gary Gretsky

I've been a bit under the weather here, and I was going to skip posting all together. However, something arrived at the house, and I feel it necessary to share with all.

A week or so ago I was randomly searching for Atom stuff, and I came across this. The Atom fighting that bug.
And losing...

I thought, hey, awesome sketch... but I can't believe this guy has the Atom losing to this rip-off insect.
So I, of course, emailed the artist, complimented him on his artwork and lambasted him on what appeared to be the outcome of this miniature battle royale of sketches.
He, of course, never expected some lunatic Atom fan (who does?) to come banging on his door spewing all "he could easily shrink out of that, shift his weight, and knock that punk out..."

So I do kind of feel sorry for him. He was just trying to draw something damnit!

But it's not over...

VS Card * Chronos

"Been there, stole that."

Yesssss David, you go with your bad self. (send all complaints to the electronic mail address provided on this site)

I'll admit I'm still a bit hazy on how to wield these cards, but I do know one thing: I'm liking the Chronos art, compliments of Stuart Sayger.

You've got some faint clock action in the back, his cape looking great blowing around while he administers some kind of thieving mayhem to that device.

I also noticed that those responsible for this card opted to put "to" instead of the "->" which Siskoid was a big fan of, and can be found on the first vs. card I posted, here. Maybe it's an Injustice Gang thing.
Don't kid yourself, it means something.

Maybe it means it's time for another Chronos comic, with pencils by Stuart Sayger.

Atom switch plate: Part 2

In my attempt to corner the market on Atom switch plates, I provide this.
Again, custom items do not easily get past security, but occasionally we make exceptions.

Ah, who am I kidding? Take anything the Atom has ever been on and slap him on anything you can find, call it unique, and I'll be all "Gee whiz, sweeet sweeetness!"

"Damian, check out this one-of-a-kind tennis ball with the Atom done in sharpie by an artist who never drew another thing."

Awesome. Sign me up.

The first and finer of the two, can be seen here. That's not too say that the original artwork this was lifted from (a pin-up from that Superman and Batman mag), both by Mike Parobeck, isn't great, but this here doesn't translate as well onto a switch plate as the first one does.
And the fact that he's fighting a giant bug in aforementioned pin-up, leaves one wanting more.

I invite everyone out there to share their Atom switch plates with me, with the T3, in an effort to bring us all that much closer.
____________________________________________________________________

In exciting non-switch plate news, thanks to a hot tip from M.O.T.A. member Ilke Hincer, the Hawkman Companion, from TwoMorrow's publishing, is available for pre-ordering!
Written by M.O.T.A. member Doug Zawisza, through countless hours of sweat and passion, with the grace of a swan and the laborous grunting effort of a Moria dwarf, the Hawkman Companion promises to be the severe hotness. I'll be pimping it (is that correct? I'm iffy with the jive) constantly so ya won't forget.

I'm excited Doug!

Hembeck Hawk-heroes

It's that time again. Another Monday, another Hawkman, another Fred Hembeck strip.

This is one of my favorites, and I think Carter looks pretty damn cool.

Plus, you men ensconced in some form of relationship take note! There's a lesson to be learned here. Somewhere...

Oh, and it's funny!

Merry Monday folks, enjoy!

JLA Classified #51: First Contact

Written by Roger Stern/Penciled by John Byrne/Inked by Mark Farmer

Here’s a new one. A post not featuring any Atom, nor any Hawkman. Not even Red Tornado! I said I wanted to go with this JLA classified mini-series (the first part I covered can be seen here), and by God I’ll do it.
Now how, you may ask, is it that there’s no Atom in this issue, when the last one left off with Ray and the Batman tenderly holding each other in the corner whilst some behemoth raises the roof in celebration?
I answer: because it’s flashback time.

The story is narrated by the Martian Manhunter as he explains the first contact they had with the “enemy,” a decade ago.

The story opens on a student archaeological team sorting through ruins on a tiny island in the Aegean sea. Upon finding an altar, that may or may not have been used to worship Hera or Zeus, a great big lunk waltzes up to the team and begins to question them about the temple they’re currently rifling through, and who folks worship nowadays.
A few days later, houses of worship begin to mysteriously collapse.

Aquaman finds a vehicle of sorts on an islet in the Falklands, and Flash, Ollie, Hal, MM, and Canary go to check it out, whereupon they find footprints leading out of the thing. They take it back (much thanks to Arthur) for studying and are… a bit perplexed as to what they find. That’s basically the first half of the book.

The second half could be simply explained as: the pounding of the JLA. Once again this thing cuts through them like butter, crushing ribs, breaking arms, and surprising all.
Supes, who was in Paris attempting to figure out how the spire of the Great Cathedral gets torn off by a thunderstorm flies in and does his normal “those are my friends, now you have to deal with me,” bit.

This is what the “enemy” thinks of him.
Whoops.

The second solid entry by Stern and Byrne (Sternbyrne?). It's great to see old characters (particularly Arthur) hanging around, doing what they do.
As I mentioned previously, I'm a sucker for the JLA running into a seemingly unstoppable force.
I'm looking forward to the next issue.

Comic Cavalcade ad

Now there's a fun ad!

Hop Harrigan!

Al Pratt stuff is few and far, but the time had arrived for this ad. I like him charging towards the viewer while the Flash,GL, and WW seem... confused.

As always, at your favorite newsdealer.

_____________________________________________________________

Also, do yourselves a favor if you haven't already, and head on over to Michael Netzer's page where Martian saving continues. You'll be treated with Steven Segal references, assorted news, pleas from Martian fans, and the beautiful beginnings of an Aquaman sketch for Rob of the shrine featuring the Martian Manhunter... and the Atom!

The Brave and the Bold #9

Mark Waid and George Perez are those responsible.

I'm double posting again. I know, I'm out of control.

I wasn't aware of this until I saw it on the shelf at the comics store, and I wish I had just walked away.
But I didn't.

There's 3 stories in this "Star-Studded Spectacular," and with the Hawkman and Atom occupying 7 pages of it, I could have just read it right there and put it back on the shelf.
But I didn't.

I initially planned to just include in my previous post as a "hey, look at this," but after reading, I couldn't.

I'm not interested in the other two stories. They were cute. One group fought another. Good guys won.

Let's catch up first:
The last contact the Atom and Hawkman had involved Ray telling Carter that he was going away for a while, and not to tell anyone else. Then Ray disappeared and the two have not been together since.

Fast forward to The Brave and the Bold #9. We're at Ivy University where an auditorium full of people are listening to some speaker drone on. Sitting two seats apart are Ryan Choi and Carter Hall. Neither has any knowledge that the other puts on a costume and fights crime. Carter has no idea someone else has been running around, performing "Atom" duties.
Ryan sits there wondering to himself how someone of the physical nature that visiting Curator Carter Hall is, manages to be literate.
Then there's an explosion, people scatter, the Warlock of YS appears, and two superheroes suit up.
Whatever, that's fine.

Here's the first meeting of these two. The first time Carter sees someone, whom amidst the chaos , hethinks is Ray.
After that, it's business as usual. The story ends with the duo defeating the Warlock thanks to quick thinking by Ryan, and the baddie spinning off into some bad place. Nothing else is exchanged between the Atom and Hawkman.

The "Don't embarass yourself in front of the famous super-hero" bit is funny...

But what the hell is this?

First of all, aside from the mild feeling akin to finding the mailman in your bedroom, I want to know the purpose behind this team-up.
Are we testing the waters here, seeing how the "new Atom" and Hawkman feel as a team? Or are we planning to "off" Ryan in the near future, but feel he should at least meet up with Hawkman? So we'll throw him a bone in an article length B&B.

This is how Choi and Hawkman meet up?
And that's Carter's reaction to someone who shows up mirroring his best friend?
"Palmer? Wait, who are you? M'kay, let's do it!"
"You're my new BFF!'

There's no mention of Ray again. No questioning who this guy is. Carter's been around long enough to know that people try to infiltrate!

I understand someone thought this was a cute idea. Cuz, yasee... The Atom and Hawkman were slapped together into one series way back when.
So gee willikers, let's get the "new Atom" and our "old, new, old, both Hawkman" into one action packed 7 page epic!
No. NO. Didn't work. And what have you done?
Whatever lies ahead for Choi, if it was necessary for he and Carter to cross paths, it could have been quite a book. There are numerous paths from every angle that could have been taken.
If we could erase this from history and do a slight rewind, I'd help you guys come up with a humdinger. It can even be a choose your adventure book, because that's how many options there were to go with it.

But no. The half-assed treament is applied, Hawkman looks like a friggin moron, and once again someone had to get cute in what amounts to the length of an origin story, with no looking back.

Letting it get to me too much?
Tell that to the one, single tear that is currently making it's way from my duct to my cheekbone.

Well, that's obviously not true or I'd be utter madness. But I'm pissed!

JLA Classified #50

Written by Roger Stern/Penciled by John Byrne/Inked by Mark Farmer

Barren yet intriguing cover by Joshua Middleton.
This is the first story in a 5 part "epic."

I wanted to get into this small series because it features a lot of old faces (the first 2 parts anyway) from the JLA, getting absolutely thumped, and that was just appealing to me!

Also, in tune with our "Save the Martian" blog-a-thon we've got going and lack of Atom/J'Onzz BFFness, this is perfect.
It's got the Martian Manhunter.
It's got the Atom.
It's even got the Atom and the Martian Manhunter in the same room!

Aw, too bad by the time Ray gets there... JJ has been knocked out.

Potential spoilers ahead, maybe, but I'll try to sidestep them and wrap it up. For those looking for JLA vs. giant, unstoppable beast... it shouldn't matter anyway.

The story opens with J'Onn looking out at Earth, admiring how beautiful it is and commenting on how it's the only home he has now.
Head on over to the JLA basketball court (!) within the watchtower, where Wally and GL Johnny are shooting some hoops. (they both end up cheating).
It's just pleasant times and pleasant heroes, living the dream. Oh... that is until some gargantuan beast, hearing the faint whispers of the Martian Manhunter, bursts through some lunar surface, makes a bee-line for the JLA base and right through the wall just as our three heroes are doing a "what's up with that proximity alarm?"
Supes, WW, Batman, and the Atom are all preoccupied with their own individual catastrophies, and are forced to temporarily ignore the signal. Although Ray appears to be the only one who thinks it's slightly odd that a signal designed to go off only when the hull has been breached and there's no one around to countermand it, continues to "Meep."
Immediately after bashing the Flash to the ground, MM informs the beast that he has made a "grievous error!"
Monster then informs him, that he and the JLA... have tangled before!

There's a slight scuffle, but big 'n' orange easily drops the three.
Upon Stewart's dive into unconsciousness, his ring sends out the message to the other four that he and the other two have been drubbed, and that the end is nigh. Maybe that's not exactly what he said.
Well, our other heroes must get back! Whoops, Batman informs them that the transport tubes are down to 5% power.
Damn, if only there were someone small enough to...
Right, right.

The Atom heads on through to check out the damage, and it's pretty bad. He and a mangled GL transport J'Onzz over to sickbay, while Bats, Supes, and WW snail it in her see-through jet.

Ray decides to confront the thing and see what he's all about.
Although he actually just winds up standing on the thing, shrinking and unshrinking, dishing out the taunts, which surprisingly only serves to infuriate it. He ends up being the only one to come into any kind of contact with it and remain conscious. That punch by Supes is the last one any of them will get in.

The issue ends on 2 great shots: One of the giant orange rock beast, arms in the air celebrating the pounding of the world's greatest superheroes, while Batman and the Atom hide out in a corner. Or rather, a creek. No paddles.
The other is the Manhunter desperately trying to communicate his thoughts that he knows what this thing is and that the situation is... not so good. But alas, no one can hear him.

I do enjoy a good JLA getting drubbed story. Particularly when it ends with the Batman and Atom hiding from a big, scary monster.
Stern and Byrne have both worked on the Atom in one shape or form in the past, and I appreciate what they've done here with Ray. I enjoy that he's a part of this team, a pivotal part of the story, and someone that can be counted on.
I also don't mind him talking the talk to a big, giant rock monster every now and then.
With all of the action taking place in the watchtower, Byrne's work is for the most part uninvolved as far as backgrounds go, yet perfectly serviceable for what it needs to be. He and Stern help create what turns into a claustrophobic little piece, with no where to run for our heroes.

So who/what is this thing? Eh, can't say as of yet....