the All New Atom #1 - DC

Again, another underrated character given his own book. Again. But with Gail Simone, John Byrne on board, with Ariel Olivetti on covers, and the books being based on ideas and concepts of Grant Morrisons, this book has definite potential. We start out with a Japanese scientist, Ryan Choi, who has come to Ivy University to fill in for Ray Palmer. Where is Ray? This story doesn't give you a clue. All we know is that Ryan has been coresponding with him since he was a kid. Part of his coming to Ivy University is that he get his old position, his old office, and his old house. He's even sitting in on Ray's old poker game with his scientific budies, whom all Ryan admires. It's with his house that he finds Rays shrinking belt, with hints that were given to him by Ray over the years. Of course he trys it out and goes through a quick microscopic adventure. Once he escapes that little dilema, Ryan takes the belt back to his Poker buddies to wrap their heads around, rather that trying to go it alone. I think that this could be the best twist of the new series and the new Atom. Oh, and we have a microscopic race that is living on, and apparantly controlling, all the dogs in town and their credo is "Death or Submission". I've read some of the old Atom stories, and I think that this series is already a 100% improvement. I got nothing but props for all the creative teams that handled this book before, but this is the first time I've read anything about Ray, or the Atom, that even has the remotest chance of living up to it's potential. I don't know how much Grant has to do with that, but regardless, these new creative teams, not just on this book, really need to start thinking outside of the box. Alot of books, hero books, are beginning to fit into a certain mold. With certain storylines and certain expectations. Well all that preconceived stuff needs to be thrown away. With this being such a small part of a huge visual medium, TV and Movies, all previous ways of thinking about storyline and structure should be thrown out the window. This is literally the time to reinvent the wheel. I see glimpses of that in this book. I really hope that what I've seen so far is just the tip of the iceburg.