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.

All New Atom #19

Written by Keith Champagne/Penciled by Jerry Ordway

Ladronn's cover here features some great cave work and some very cool creatures, but The Atom looks gangly AND lumpy... and nothing like what he will appear as throughout the entire story line. He also equips himself in the story with a sweet red flare for spelunking, which adds to the gorgeous lighting.Not that flat book light he's wielding there. Hey, it would have
helped...

We've got a guest team putting this one together, so break out the Champagne! (groan somewhere else)

After a team of spelunkers led by one of Ivy Town's own professor's goes missing, someone has got to go down there after them.This is why superheroes are good to have around. Particularly ones that can shrink and stuff.

All the Atom does down there is stumble upon an Ivy Town set back a few hundred years and steeped in ghastly horrors. An abundance of cannibalism, random executions, and extreme ugliness rule the roost here. Just another day in Ivy Town...
A man's gotta eat!


Choi gets bonked on the head by a C.H.U.D., and awakens to find himself firmly secured next to his newest best friend, Panda. Shortly thereafter, a man who calls himself Phineas Cadmish waltzes up, informs the two of what a gentleman he is, then starts handing out the slaps!


With Phineas dragging Panda off for what will almost assuredly be "no good," Ryan is in a bit of a pickle. Fortunately, what he's got going for him is that ol Atom charm! A seriously "misunderstood" underground Ivy Town school girl finds herself lost in Ryan's eyes, and therefore becomes his ticket out of wood prison.

I've already said (and shown) enough.

This is a nice little guest spot. It's cool that you can get into a 5 or 6 book long storyline with this character, and then dive into a quick wrapper upper like this one.
Champagne has spun a nifty little horror story here, and his Ryan is different, but still likable. His sense of humor is not quite as quirky, yet whenever he's laying them down, they're full of an almost depressed sarcasm. The storyline of this one, and all that happened before this issue is almost certainly responsible for Ryan's behavior, but it was definitely interesting to read him like that.

Jerry Ordway brings his gorgeous style to this comic for an all too brief stint. His work here is beautiful, and seriously appreciated. The man whips together a very atmospheric under ground Ivy Town, and I adore the lighting in his all too brief cave sequences. I would like to see what he could do with the real Ivy Town.

Next issue, Simone and Norton return for their final hurrah, where after they will be replaced by Rick Remender and Pat Olliffe for #22.

All New Atom #18

Thumbs up to Ladronn's cover here It's kind of eerie, and made me instantly want to start reading the thing. Like on the drive home.
I figured I'd get into #18 (although I figured it would be sooner) as #19 is due out on the 2nd. I also figured I'd wait and throw in some "spoilers" too, because that's the kind of guy I am.

It's good time central in this issue, and it's going to be sad to see the team of Simone and Norton leave. But we'll cross that bridge when it appears... which is very soon.

It's a normal, average day in Ivy Town. That of course means that some baddie has brainwashed the entire town into thinking that The Atom must be destroyed.
Unfortunately for them, Ryan Choi don't go down so easily.
Also unfortunate, Diana Prince is in town investigating the "strange" going's ons.

The team up is really a blast to read. Simone writes them together wonderfully, and it's a rare kind of fun these days, to get such enjoyment out of a comic.
That's just some good old fashioned fun right there.
Norton's work has gotten better with each issue and is top notch here. With him and Gail at the top of their games, this comic is something that should be getting people's attention.

Notable moments are too many to list, but when Ryan's brainwashed best friend deactivates his belt and carries him out to the front lawn where the rest of the town waits for him to be burnt alive... in a Ted Grant grill (which Choi loves, apparently), it's just good stuff.

Last page

Give the pictures a click for better viewing!
And as you may or may not know, that whole search thing going on has ended, and Ray has been found. Certainly interested to see where that'll go.

All New Atom #17

Ladronn has put together better covers than this one, such as the issue coming up. In fact, I don't even really know what the hell is going on with this cover.

Anyway, Gail Simone returns in this issue, and she slaps together a tale of romance. Ryan gives his lady friend another shot, even after she turned into Giganta and wreaked havoc whilst being controlled by a cancer God on their first date.
What a guy.

Agent Diana Prince shows up to investigate the goings on with Ryan's gigantic love, and stuff gets pretty ugly.
For those of you not as familiar with the second tier characters of the DC world, Diana Prince is also known as Wonder Woman, a hero that occasionally pops up here and there.

She also gets clocked in the head by Choi, which was a growing up moment for our new hero.

I'll admit that there's not much going on in this issue, and that it feels like it's setting us up for something bigger and more involved (please!). So there you go: it's a nice lead into All New Atom #18, which goes on sale tomorrow/today, December 5th. And as you can see by the cover, it's going to be hot! Whooo!

On the plus side, visuals from Norton and Scott in this one are great, and I they're seriously something to look forward to with each issue.

The All New Atom #16

Upon seeing this cover for the first time in preview, I blurted out "ah what the hell?"
Upon taking it off the rack for purchase I blurted out "eh, what the hell."

Now I can't stop looking at it. I firmly believe that I've been hypnotized by Ladronn's cover here. Hopefully I wasn't the only one.

On to the friggin issue! Roger Stern guest writing, with Mike Norton continuing to make people move on pages.
As you may have guessed from the cover, regardless of who is writing, the oddities continue. Now I've heard some complaint from people about this one, mostly "I just didn't like it." I guess it's not deep and brooding enough.
For me, #16 takes me back to the time of goofy villains and issues of comics where complete and utter disaster threatens, begins to occur, and is thwarted all within that comic.

Having been defeated long ago by the Justice League, Xotar looks to exact his revenge! He starts out in Ivy Town with the ol "transform entire town into hippies with the use of music and psychedelic methods." Of course he doesn't plan on the quantum fields and such (sure) of Ryan Choi's belt (whom Xotar believes to be Ray Palmer). It is said fields and such (yup) that keep the new Atom from transforming into hippie-dom, allowing him to figure out what's happening, and attempt to stop this gargantuan headed baddie.

Meanwhile, the character of Dean Mayland gets all the more mysterious, and head yells a bit.

Stern puts together a fun one here, and as I said, it brought me back. For that I appreciate it once in a while.
Simone returns with the next issue bringing Wonder Woman along with her. That's right, big names are showing up in The All New Atom!

You're excited.

The All New Atom #15

Simple yet thoroughly effective cover here by Ladronn showing us Choi in the palm of a giant hand.
But who's hand is it?
Why it's the evil Dean Mayland's! Kyle Lantern shows up to whisk Ryan, Donna Troy and co. away to continue the Ray Palmer search when a giant hand reaches down from the sky and plucks The Atom from all that original Atom business, so he can get back to defending Ivy Town.

And Ivy Town needs help. This is some serious geek fest going on here. The town finds itself being trampled under the feet of two giant, reptile-like monsters straight out of a Toho classic. Not too worry though. Not only does Ivy Town have a serviceable replacement hero in Ryan Choi, but he's also an avid fan of... giant reptile-like monster movies!

Meanwhile, Dwarfstar is back and has returned to his normal size since being shrunk to nearly nothing by The Atom. Oh, and he's somewhat peeved.

The team of Simone and Norton are really starting to put together a serious winner here. Choi has a very goofy charm about him, and while his greatest gift is intelligence, he uses that (and the whole shrinking, mass thing) to translate into some serious brawling. Ivy Town itself is becoming it's own character. A severely strange and unnerving character, but one I can't get enough of.

All New Atom #14

Perhaps you've heard tell of one of the finer moments from this issue.

"Stupid jetpack Hitler."

That's right. Ryan, Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and the monitor head down to the microscopic city living on the edge of the ass of Choi's dog. From here they work themselves into "Have in," where they meet up with Ted Kord and others, only to find that someone cracked open the gates of hell. Enter jetpack Hitler and a swarm of other severely random baddies. To say any more would be to ruin things, and I'm not doing this to review the issues. I'm putting them up here just in case you didn't know you should be reading them.

Seriously, you should be checking them out if for nothing else than to see what the floating head will do next.

Sword of the All New Atom #13

I'm fast forwarding here. Not because 6-12 weren't worth it, but because I'm frankly just taking too long and want to get into this stuff. The title here has been changed to Sword of the All New Atom, and he cover from Ladronn obviously have a very Gil Kane feel to it. Oh, and it's pretty damn cool.

And as you can see, it also informs you that within this issue begins "The Hunt for Ray Palmer." Anybody who's anybody is doing it.

The previous issue ended with Ryan finding out that the guy that's been giving him helpful secret messages is none other than Chronos! A seriously conceited Chronos might I add.
Here Chronos takes Ryan to South America where Ray spent his days in... well, Sword of the Atom.
This issue, complete with frog riding and arena based rattlesnake fighting, really grabs a hold of the tone that this whole title has been built on so far... which is weirdness. It's really just a weird comic. But it's a good weird (what?).

It's worth checking out for the methods of a primitive miniature society alone, and of course for Choi slaying rattlesnakes. If that's not enough, it leaves you off with Ryan running into Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and a monitor, with them insisting that he join them to help find our Ray.

Good times.

All New Atom #5

The good times continue to roll. You've got more mayhem thanks to the micro-sized alien group the "waiting," some serious fun from Dwarfstar, and some sweet gadgets. Oh, and Ricky Robot! boo-ya.
Simone continues to write the Ryan and co. with a great sense of humor that fits in perfectly with the action. Dwarfstar, while at this point a pretty straightforward villain personality wise, has some serious added coolness due to the fact that he's basically... an evil Atom. Eddy Barrows does some nice work here, but you don't have to take my word for it.

Catch up so that you don't miss out on what everyone is talking about at the water cooler.

The All New Atom #4

Eddy Barrows taking over here for Byrne in the art department.

This stuff just keeps getting better and better. #4 starts off with The Atom in an impenetrable sphere, towards the back of the throat of Giganta, the giant woman who tossed him into her mouth. Choi has to find a way to get out of the sphere, or get the sphere out of her, as she fights the smooth talking bug aliens. And it’s all so well written and enjoyable.

Meanwhile, Dwarfstar pays a visit to Ryan’s new best friend.

Did I mention Dwarfstar is badass?

The All New Atom #3

With a villain more badass than Chronos's pants, I give you...

This is a cover I can get behind, compliments of Ariel Olivetti. The Atom about to touchdown on a wide eye is a nice image.

Now, this is a fun issue. You’ve got Dwarfstar suiting up for the first time, and confirming the fact that if done properly… one can recite poetry and be completely badass. It’s not easy kids, but with hard work, it can be done.

Then you’ve got still seriously wet behind the ears Ryan Choi in his first serious action as The Atom. First in the sewers fighting buggy droids, then on a date with a forceful broad who turns out to have a bubbly, puss patch on her back and problems with turning into a 30 foot tall Giganta!

Give The All New Atom a look see people. While we’re all waiting on the edge of our seats (right?) for Ray to resurface, Ryan is having quite a run in his own series.

The All New Atom #2

I like the tone of the cover here, it’s all spooky and stuff, but Choi looks like a square jawed roids freak, and he’s certainly not that in the comic itself.

In this, the second issue, you get Ryan’s first crack at The Atom, although he’s sort of forced into the situation. As a result, he bumbles around a bit and struggles mightily with the whole size changing deal. It begins to delve into some Atom action, and you can start to get an idea of what Choi will be like as said super hero, and it promises to be a good time.

Towards the end you get a small glimpse into a guy who will become Dwarfstar, a worthy villain adversary, which the Atom series (any Atom series) severely needs.

The All New Atom #1

I'm giving out double doses here at the Atom bloggage. Since I'm mega-behind on enlightening people on the All New Atom series, and people need to start getting copies or it's going to go away, I'll run through the issues and tell you why you should already own it. I also don't want people to have that empty pit in their stomach from lack of Atom stuff, so I'll keep throwing those up. Who knows what might happen. It's just unpredictable and scary here.

I'll just get it out of the way and say I'm not crazy about Ariel Olivetti's cover here.

Gail Simone and John Byrne together again. I am a Simone fan.

As for the comic itself, we're introduced to Ryan Choi, longtime correspondent of Dr. Ray Palmer, and his replacement at the university in Ivy Town. Now you may have to be in full comic book mode to accept Choi as a professor of anything, as he looks young, and acts... a bit immature. But he's very excitable! #1 is a fine "getting to know ya" issue that people like me fully embrace and people just picking the comic up with no real prior knowledge might be turned off to. It's not really action packed (although the Atom has never exactly been one to just slap bad guys around, eh), but it's a swell first issue.

There's mention and homage to Palmer on almost every page, and you half expect to see him pop up in a frame sooner or later. He's there in spirit!

You get yourself a good feel for Choi right off the bat, and he's a fine replacement (although there's no replacement necessary!) for Ray Ray. Ryan, while being of the mold superheroes are built on, comes off a genuinely nerdy and gung ho about all things science. He dives into it all head first and sorts it out later. This first issue sets a feeling for Ivy Town that just gets better as the series goes on. Very off kilter.

If for nothing else, it's worth turning to page two and seeing Supes, Hal, WW, Bats, and Hawgirl tied up.

Start checking it out!