Comics I Bought This Week: January 8, 2011
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got two new comic plus a hard cover collection:
And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.
“Agents of Atlas” by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk
Here is another book that was given to me. I almost didn’t read it because I had already read and reviewed volume two of the “Agent of Atlas” series and wasn’t too fond of it. I didn’t hate it though and eventually decided to give this one a read. I’m glad I did.
This volume reprints the first six issue “Agents of Atlas” series and a bunch of stories from the 40’s, 50’s, and one from the 70’s. The Agents of Atlas are all made up of obscure Marvel heroes from the 40’s and 50’s hence the reprints. Oddly enough I decided to read the reprints in the back of the book first. I never do that. Turned out that was a good move. I ended up really liking them and they got me into the new material in a way I probably wouldn’t have if I read them second or skipped them all together.
The Agents of Atlas were born out of a 1970’s Marvel comic book called “What If…?”. The basic premise of that comic was to look at key moments in Marvel history and tell the story of what if things worked out differently. “What If… Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four?” was the first issue’s story. All of the stories took place outside of Marvel’s continuity. That was the point of them. Except for one issue.
Issue number nine was called “What If… the Avengers had been formed in the 1950’s?”. I actually bought that comic off of the stands back in 1979 or so and have been familiar with it all these years. It tells the story of the then current Avengers learning the story of a short-lived team of superheroes who, in the 1950’s, got together and called themselves the Avengers. The team members were actual 1950’s Marvel characters.
I’ve read over the years how this was the only issue of “What If…?” that was accepted as part of actual Marvel continuity. What I didn’t realize, since I hadn’t read the issue in twenty years, was that notion was pretty well spelled out in the actual issue. It’s not written like a typical issue of “What If…?” and it’s teased that the story might be “Real”.
This Agents of Atlas volume is about the reforming of that team forty years later. Since most of the characters aren’t quite human it was a little easier than you’d think. Overall it was a nice re-thinking of the characters without stepping on what had gone before. I much prefer that to the approach of writers who don’t give a crap about continuity, don’t pay attention to continuity, or distain what has come before. I know and understand that some writers are just in it for the pay check but if you don’t care don’t expect me to.
But enough of that downer stuff. “Agents of Atlas” is the opposite of that. It’s a fun story of rebirth. It’s about a team of friends and adventurers getting together again to find their place in life. “Getting the band back together” is a recurring phrase. The art is nice, the coloring is good, and the back-up reprints are fun. It’s a bit of a pick-me-up so check it out. Maybe I’ll even like volume two better now if I go back and read it.
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