Review: CONVERGENCE: THE ATOM #1

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CONVERGENCE: THE ATOM #1
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Steve Yeowell, Andy Owens, and Hi-Fi
Published by DC Comics
Release Date: April 8, 2015

Gotham City may be cut off from the world under a dome, and its heroes powerless as a result, one man dares to put his suit on and fight crime no matter what. That he’s just crazy is beside the point. When we last saw Ray Palmer, he had come to grips with his past and was forging his future. Now he’s running around with a giant fist talking to himself and accepting food from strangers.

Sure. Why not?

Because more than any other issue this week in the Convergence mini-event, The Atom #1 is just plain funny. Giving us some measure of a Silver Age tale of strange behavior and weird happenings, Tom Peyer has established Ray Palmer as not just a good guy, but maybe the last good guy. Yeah, he talks to himself, and I suspect he kind of smells just a little bit funky from forgetting to shower, but the Atom is a hero through and through. And taken from an era that wasn’t so innocent, quite frankly.

The metamorphosis Peyer and Yeowell have Palmer going through in lieu of his shrinking powers — something which will be presumably explained in issue #2 (or not. Maybe it’s just as fun not to know.) — is certainly a visual treat. Inspired by Ms. Marvel’s enbiggening powers? Just a reflection of those silly Silver Age tales of super-brains and ape limbs? Either way, it’s a fun diversion, and gives this character a bit more interest than just picking up where we left off.

Yeowell does those fun moments well, giving the Atom kind of a quirky look and dopey face at times that make the entire sequence a fun romp. Where it begins to fall apart, however, is in the latter half of the issue, where the genuine battle commences between Ray and the first of the Extremists of Angor to cross his path. The battle feels incomplete, with backgrounds ignored, and detail slim on what could be a genuinely grotesque-looking foe.

In terms of the final page, and the spoiler we all pretty much expected anyway, it would be easy to write off Convergence: The Atom as a story to just quickly right an egregious wrong: a continuity fix and no more. But the story is fun, and the telling light-hearted, and that sets it apart from some of the other more serious endeavors this week.

The Verdict: 8.0/10

 

 

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