Comic Vine Review
0 CommentsIt Girl! and the Atomics #1 - Dark Streets, Snap City Review
4by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero on
Mike Allred's characters return! We finally get to see what's been happening in Snap City since the end of MADMAN.
The Good
It's great to see the return of the Atomics and other MADMAN characters from Mike Allred's universe. My immediate concern was would this still retain the feel and quality since Allred wasn't fully involved. As the issue's release date approached, I knew it was a matter of letting go a little and giving it a chance. Because this was It Girl and we'd see other members of the Atomics, there was no way I could try to avoid reading this comic.
It's good. It's really good.
It's a similar situation as when Mike Mignola passed the reigns of HELLBOY and BPRD over to allow others to help tell some stories based on his characters. Mike Allred has created a vast number of great characters. It's been tough not getting my MADMAN fix all this time and there has been the question of what has been going on with the characters.
Jamie S. Rich has worked with Allred for a while and he clearly knows who these characters are supposed to be. We pick up a little after MADMAN #17. Frank Einstein (Madman) left Earth along with a couple other members of the Atomics to go on an intergalactic music tour with (Allred's other character) Red Rocket 7. Sounds a little kooky but that's the charm of these characters.
We start off and It Girl is a little bored with the others away. Things have been quiet as it seemed that Frank was "some kind of trouble magnet." Convinced to stop playing video games and leave her room, It Girl goes out on patrol and we get the next stage of the story.
Seeing the familar faces of other characters like Joe, Dr. Flem and even the tiny cameo by Mott is enough to put a smile on my face. Seeing them all just reminds me how much I've been missing them.
What about the art and color?
This is a crucial area when dealing with these characters. Aside from Allred's writing, there's no denying the immediate recognizable element of the characters is Allred's art and Laura Allred's colors. We do not have those here but MADMAN fans can rest assured that Mike Norton and Allen Passalaqua do a great job. There is an almost shocking style occurring at the beginning but it makes sense with the story and was a clever addition.
The Bad
It's a first issue. It has to serve many things. It needs to catch up readers on what's been going on and also sets up not one, but two storylines. While there is action contained here, it's obvious that it's going to get amped up in the next issue.
This isn't really a fault on this issue but it's hard to not know what Frank and the others are up to.
The Verdict
After three years we can finally catch up with It Girl and the Atomics. There was concern over the absence of Mike and Laura Allred but Jamie S. Rich, Mike Norton and Allen Passalaqua do a great job handling the characters and moving their stories forward. I didn't realize quite how much I missed the characters until seeing them again. I realize that under the right circumstances with the right creative team, we can still get the stories we and the characters deserve. Allred has simply created too many great characters to be forced to sit around in comic book limbo as he works on other projects. This series is off to a great start and sets everything up for later issues. We will definitely be seeing some crazy action next month.
