I remember being sad when the runs of DC and Marvel mini-series shrank from six to five issues. Then came The Atom Project. I opened this chapter in the Justice League Unlimited spin-off feeling, frankly, thrilled it was wrapping up.
Dang. There’s one more issue to go.
Ah well, at least this was an improvement in quality over previous issues. Sure, writers Ryan Parrott and John Ridley are sticking with the annoying, pointless THE PAST and THE PRESENT structure. Nothing has been gained by the constant back and forth, and that’s the case again here. But the story finally feels like it’s in top gear.
You may remember that the series centres on Captain Atom, who has gained the ability to absorb super powers that went missing due to a lot of nonsense in a forgettable crossover. Gauging the extent of his abilities are not one, but two Atoms, Silver and Bronze Age star Ray Palmer and Modern Age fill-in Ryan Choi. We’ve been drip fed the road to the present day situation of Nathaniel Adam being on the run from both the Justice League and the US Army. We now know the Army want him to spend all his time passing on powers to handpicked subjects, athletes and soldiers who can become quickly proficient and do whatever the military industrial complex requires.
So, to this issue, which is titled ‘Combustion’.
In the present, Captain Atom has been stopped in his tracks not by the military, or by his fellow Leaguers, but by two members of the shadowy organisation known as Inferno.
So, yet another party wants Captain Atom to be their personal power shower.
Flash back to the recent past and we see another of the League’s scientists, Dr Light. Never one to mince words, she tries to make him see sense rather than acquiesce to the demands of his old boss General Wade Eiling.
Ray Palmer has a surprising, even shocking, perspective.
Not meanwhile, in the present day, Captain Atom, having fought back with the aid of Ray, finds out who’s under the cloaks.
It’s Lex Luthor! And Sinestro, the rogue Green Lantern! And they’re not alone.
The Legion of Doom!
Which might have been a fun reveal has the secret of Inferno not already been shown in recent issues of World’s Finest and Justice League Unlimited. Heck, there’s even an editor’s note in this comic pointing towards the JLU. Last page reveals aren’t just for characters, they’re for readers too – how did the DC schedulers get this so wrong?
Regarding Ray’s musings, even if there’s a smidgeon of sense in the idea of choosing who gets powers, all he has to know is that General Eiling is involved. This is a man so hawkish, so fanatical, he had the monstrous Shaggy Man shaved and his own brain transplanted into the android so he could attack the Justice League himself. If he’s involved, you know it’s wrong – and no one should know that better than Captain Atom, who worked for him for years.
My favourite aspect of the issue is Dr Light. She’s been around throughout this mini but this is the most we’ve seen of her, and she’s great – smart and funny, with none of the bitchiness that comprised 100 per cent of her characterisation for decades.
While the plotting of the story is, again, weird, individual scenes are pretty good. The art by illustrator Mike Perkins is sharp, with good compositions and convincing emotions. Cloaked baddies are a terrible old DC cliche but Perkins makes them fiendishly moody, and that final ‘we knew already’ splash is excellent. The colours of Adriano Lucas are striking, I especially like the use of colour holds and dot screens. Perkins’s cover illo isn’t brilliant, but when you have to use those awful new Atom costumes, you’re already halfway hobbled.
Wes Abbott letters, ensuring the dialogue and narration looks good.
So, next issue has to be the conclusion. And surely it’ll all be set in the present… won’t it?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I came around about this mini one or two issues earlier than you. I’m not a fan of the art however but you need to be Liefeld level to ruin my reading pleasure. The colors are too dark and muted for my taste as well. You’re right that we get the most even keeled and maybe even likable Doctor Light than we have in decades. Is she the only legacy character whose predecessor is still active? I’ve liked that guy since Identity Crisis, which gave him back his intelligence and also gave him a motive beyond ‘I’m eeeeeevil’. (I’m one of the three people who loved Identity Crisis, BTW) I think it took Adam too long to stop kowtowing to Eiling though considering their history. I also wish the change in Ray, like the one with Mister Terrific, had some basis in story. At least Terrif got to act more humane finally in the Challs mini but Ray is still inexplicably a low rent Hank Pym in a muted costume. Ray has a history that rivals Hank Pym’s (worst love interest in DC history and I include Talia, catching his wife doing a colleague, time with a barbarian tribe that was wiped out including his girlfriend, and then he was a Teen Titan when de-aged) that if you wanted to differentiate him and Ryan you could have used that history instead of ignoring it and adding a new personality.
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‘… a low-rent Hank Pym in a muted costume’. Love it! I’d never made the connection between our two super-scientists but you’re right. I still feel bad for Jean, she was introduced as a cold fish, then sent mad, made a cheat, sent mad again, made a killer, made an Eclipso… and Ray lied to her about being a superhero for years, that can’t have helped.
JUSTICE FOR JEAN LORING!
Poor Ryan is getting less and less to do by the issue. Gosh, I loved his comic.
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“I’m one of the three people who loved Identity Crisis, BTW”
Gee, Steve, what a coincidence! So am I!
I wonder who the third person is?
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I liked it but now appreciate it more as the flawed kickoff to what I consider to be an interesting/entertaining period in the modern DCU timeline that ran through Countdown to Infinite Crisis, to Infinite Crisis, the 52 weekly series, up and through Final Crisis and Multiversity.
For me the biggest error that was made wasn’t by Meltzer but by DC. It’s been a while since I read it but I always took the inciting incident – the mindwipe of Dr. Light – to have been a one time thing, the repercussions of which then cascaded. I don’t remember Meltzer ever suggesting the League attempted it on any other villains.
But then DC editorial decided that the League for a brief period made a practice of the mindwipes during the Satellite era in order to really milk the drama/diviseness for the various Identity Crisis tie-ins (most of them written by Geoff Johns?).
Meltzer’s take I feel was far more elegant and left The League with some dignity. The League knew mindwipes were a horrible idea, tried one once under VERY unique/trying circumstances, and was so shaken up by the results that it learned from the mistake and never tried again, only to have that one time the team crossed the line come back to haunt it all these years later.
-Brian
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Well Brian, you sent me down a right rabbit hole last night I dipped into Identity Crisis for the first time since, well, the first time. It’s still compelling, I still don’t like it – it should’ve been an Elseworlds. And that would’ve kept Geoff Johns from extending the misery.
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One day I want to do a re-read of Identity Crisis, then the Countdown special where Blue Beetle gets killed off, the minis leading up to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, and 52! I experienced all of those in real time and think it would be fun to do a binge and see how they all hold up. – Brian
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That sounds like a podcast! I’ll listen 🙂
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