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Great expectations...
I had set myself up a bit with this one. I've been having more and more discussions lately as to why Ray Palmer was never A-listed, and why he won't be included in any kind of JLA movie (I've still got that pilot!). Aside of course from maybe Plas and himself fixing a microwave in the back or something...
Anyway, it's pretty obvious: He doesn't bludgeon baddies with his fists or lift vans and motor homes. And he's not all dark and brooding and such.
It made me think of this JLA issue, with that great cover. All of the JLA's finest (and then some) strewn about, and Amazo standing there with supes's torn cape in hand, pointing at someone and demanding how they are going to stop him.
I knew who they was. And so do you. Why it's The Atom of course! Ray Palmer, back in action after he semi-retired.
The issue starts off with The Flash and the resident GL paying Dr. Palmer a visit and asking him to drop the academia and re-join the JLA. He declines, of course. Wants nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, an upgraded Amazo tears through a not-so-prepared Justice League. This guy has got all the powers of the current JLA incarnation, and he's mightily wielding them! Unable to stop him, the reserves are called in to hit this s.o.b. with everything they've got.
Problem is, Amazo is such a sweet piece of technology, he can upgrade to include the powers of each new JLAer!
With every single member beaten and down for the count, enter The Atom. Here's what I had been waiting for. Palmer is going to show up, brains at the ready... but using brawn! He'll launch himself at Amazo and the two will duke it out for the remainder until Ray pounds his brains in! Literally!
Wrong. The Atom figures out that with Amazo taking on every power the JLA can throw at him, if chairman of the board Superman disbands the whole operation, then our bad guy will be left powerless.
The Atom tells Superman this.
Supermans shouts "The JLA is officially disbanded!"
Amazo is defeated.
That's it.
I just wanted Ray to work off some steam (or maybe it was me), but I got this instead. He ends the issue as the Justice League's part-time science consultant. Ugh.
Come on Ray, dishing out advice and hot tips never got anyone on school supplies!
I'm not big on adding custom things to a collection of mine, but I'm slightly flexible when it comes to Ray. Being that Dr. Palmer wasn't really a part of neat-o things such as backpacks and rulers and the like, if someone takes the time to do a nice job of adding him to something as random as a switchplate, I'm all for it.
This was in with a bunch of other switchplates in a nice setup, all featuring those household name heroes, so I was kinda excited someone decided to include Ray.
I taunted, "ha Hal Jordan! Looks like you didn't make the cut this time!"
Of course it had already been purchased, but it was a small victory all the same.
Point is, I need therapy.
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.
Time to start working in some action figures here, as there are just so many I don't know when I'll ever have enough time in life to fit them all in.
For whatever reason, Atom figures haven't really been all that popular until recently. And by that I mean there weren't any. Perhaps it was due to the size of the hero, although I don't really recall many toy lines putting figures out there to scale.
While the DC Direct Palmer figure is so beautiful (and will be bloggered in due time), this one here is pretty cool in it's own right. If you're releasing an 'action" figure, it's got to come with an accessory. These toy companies are starting to get some smarts.
He comes with his own Atom! It's just too good. As with the DC direct Palmer, I have loose figures as well, because they like to travel in my pocket with me from time to time, and join myself and friends for coffee.
It would appear that no one likes to travel with me when Ray is traveling with me, but that's too bad.
Groan "ugh, this again," and "does he really have to have his own seat?" all you want guys, I will not back down!
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.
That's right. This one is a real treat. Looks like a Dwayne Turner Power of the Atom card to me, with a really sweet background. It's got all sorts of assorted stats on the back, for some RPG I'm assuming.
Hero Points: 90
Is that out of 100? Seems pretty good. Unless Airwave is running around with like a 238 somewhere.
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.
