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A review by uosdwisrdewoh
Agents of Atlas by Kris Justice, Jeff Parker, Leonard Kirk
4.0
Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk revamp obscure Marvel characters from the 50s, inspired by an issue of What If from the 70s. This foundation risks wandering deep into a comic history circle jerk, but they pull it off, and end result is a fun caper, deeply informed--but never subordinate to--comic history.
These characters have been dormant for nearly sixty years, and Parker is not only reintroducing them, but presenting them with a very different status quo. As such, a lot of the book is taken up with dancing between and revising old stories, which of course involves blocks of exposition of "this happened, and here's why this wasn't what you thought happened," but Parker and Kirk actually manage it rather fluidly, although it takes some steam out of the book after a fantastically fast-paced first chapter. They keep the intrigue going (what is the silent killer robot's real agenda?) and perfectly insert lighthearted moments (when Marvel Boy nonchalantly turns his digestive system inside out in a diner to eat his meal, in the middle of another scene of exposition) to help move you along. It's densely plotted in an era that shuns such things, but in a nicely updated fashion. These revisions to the characters' histories, combined with a very well executed final twist, help put the characters on a nice contemporary footing without damaging their core appeal.
Kirk's art isn't flashy, but tells the story very well, shifting between the different milieus (jungle adventure, space opera, superheroics) with ease, even delivering a rollicking montage sequence halfway through, jumping from an arcane mystic ritual to a greenhouse full of dinosaurs. Kirk especially nails a moment in the first chapter of the Gorilla Man firing four guns at once while being held aloft by a robot, an image that nicely encapsulates the tone of the book.
There are great supplementary materials filling out the second half of the book (including some uncomfortable yellow peril comics--it was the 50s, after all), but you pay for them. On their own merits, they're stiff and quite unlike the main series. If you just want the main story, $25 is a bit much to pay for it.
Aside from Marvel's steep pricing policy, though, it's a delightful book that I enjoy and admire more every time I revisit it.
These characters have been dormant for nearly sixty years, and Parker is not only reintroducing them, but presenting them with a very different status quo. As such, a lot of the book is taken up with dancing between and revising old stories, which of course involves blocks of exposition of "this happened, and here's why this wasn't what you thought happened," but Parker and Kirk actually manage it rather fluidly, although it takes some steam out of the book after a fantastically fast-paced first chapter. They keep the intrigue going (what is the silent killer robot's real agenda?) and perfectly insert lighthearted moments (when Marvel Boy nonchalantly turns his digestive system inside out in a diner to eat his meal, in the middle of another scene of exposition) to help move you along. It's densely plotted in an era that shuns such things, but in a nicely updated fashion. These revisions to the characters' histories, combined with a very well executed final twist, help put the characters on a nice contemporary footing without damaging their core appeal.
Kirk's art isn't flashy, but tells the story very well, shifting between the different milieus (jungle adventure, space opera, superheroics) with ease, even delivering a rollicking montage sequence halfway through, jumping from an arcane mystic ritual to a greenhouse full of dinosaurs. Kirk especially nails a moment in the first chapter of the Gorilla Man firing four guns at once while being held aloft by a robot, an image that nicely encapsulates the tone of the book.
There are great supplementary materials filling out the second half of the book (including some uncomfortable yellow peril comics--it was the 50s, after all), but you pay for them. On their own merits, they're stiff and quite unlike the main series. If you just want the main story, $25 is a bit much to pay for it.
Aside from Marvel's steep pricing policy, though, it's a delightful book that I enjoy and admire more every time I revisit it.