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 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!

Michael Netzer Atom and The Martian Manhunter sketch

This beautiful, gorgeous beast was born out of Martian madness, which is currently delved into a post below in my own nonsensical ramblings.

To date I've never had a Ryan Choi sketch done. Generally when I'm talking to someone, "Ray Palmer" will involuntarily blurt out. It's particularly ineffective when speaking to someone with no knowledge of comics, and not named Ray Palmer.

And that's where Mike Netzer, with myself just showing a little support, gave birth to this!

I seriously considered just putting the thing up and leaving it at that. Doesn't really even need to be talked about. It's just awesome.
HE'S SITTING ON HIS GIANT ALIEN BROW!

As Frank Lee Delano and I have talked about, The Atom and J'Onn J'Onzz haven't really hung out together. They haven't even really talked to each other, despite being in the same friggin league.
There's one point in POTA where J'Onn tries to talk Ray into re-joining the league, but it's possible that's not even Ray. And J'Onn may have been on something.

So to see something like this, is really nice. Perhaps it's a glimpse into a very near future where Ryan Choi and the Manhunter team-up to bust somebody up!
Of course, where does that put Ray? I don't even want to think about it. I'm no better than Jean...

ANYWAY! I could see this as a great pillow case. Perhaps one wall, just this. Or maybe just a nice frame, as it hears the call of the Atom shrine...

Gorgeous, fantastic drawing Michael. Thanks so much!

First Appearance - DC Direct: Ryan Choi

No Adam Cray?

This is the toy world we live in now. It took Ray Palmer decades upon decades to get his own action figure. Think of all those kids in all those countries from all those years gone by who have longed for an Atom to call their very own. To rest upon the shoulder of some name brand hero, only to find Golden Pharaoh and Cyclotron (I'll never stop complaining).
And here we are today. Ryan Choi gets a cup of coffee as The Atom and no time is wasted in creating his very own action figure!
Series 4 was released in April (maybe) of 2007, and it featured the Atom, fancy hair and shoulder pad Aquaman, sharp and pointy monster Blue Beetle, Warlord (sure), and extremely miffed J'onn J'onzz.
Mine has yet to leave his box, but here he is ready for action: Pretty nice figure from DC Direct (would I ever complain about ANY Atom figure?), although there's little sign of the goofball Choi actually is. It'd be nice to get one with his now famous (famous?) "bangstick" that he flies around with. Soon, soon.

The more the merrier. How about Al Pratt?