Straight from the Source, we’ve got the cover for BRIGHTEST DAY: THE ATOM, a one-shot coming out in July that leads in to a regular co-up feature in ADVENTURE COMICS running after issue #516. Is it just me, or are anthologies making a quiet comeback? You’ve got all these back-up features and co-features... I’d reckon we might even do a feature about them one of these days. Anyway, the series is written by Jeff Lemire, the writer of SWEET TOOTH, and Mahmud Asrar Mahmud, the artist of DYNAMO 5.
You know, I haven’t been keeping up with my Atom stories as much as I should, so could somebody in the white-dwarf-powered Comic Vine community fill me in, here? What happened to the third Atom? The "All New" Ryan Choi dude who replaced Ray Palmer for a while? Is he dead? Did he retire? Are we going to see two Atoms running around at the same time, now, the same way we had two Green Arrows for a while?
Brian Cunningham brings up the good point that the Atom hasn’t gotten nearly his due. Frankly, the best interpretation I’ve seen of him was Alan Davis’ take on the character back in the first NAIL mini-series and, even then, that only compromised a smaller sub-plot in a larger story. Since then, I’ve really thought he was one of those characters just waiting for some team to really take the guy farther, conceptually, than he’d really ever gone before. Perhaps Lemire and Mahmud are the guys to do it?
Hell, give the Atom his own video game. If you think a micro-sized guy taking on giant-sized foes wouldn’t be exciting, then you seriously need to check out the Kratos vs. Cronus boss battle in GOD OF WAR III. Then you’ll see how badass an Atom fight could be.
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Pre-order the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover now on Amazon.com.