Atari Force Month: End of the Universe Intermission

Because I've gotten through all of Gerry Conway's work on Atari Force, and the end of his final issue felt to me like a fitting end to the whole series, I think it's appropriate to briefly look back at the entirety of his run as a whole and see what works and what doesn't. Obviously, once I've read and reviewed all 20 issues, I'll do a similar post for the full series, but Conway told a single, complete, epic story over the course of his time on the title, and that merits its own analysis.

The story of Dart and Blackjak's relationship has got to be my favorite aspect of this run. In the first three issues, they were the best and most interesting characters. Their fearlessness and deep feelings for one another made them impressive, death-defying warriors. Their rapport was immediate, and even in their most dangerous situations, there was a lot of love and humor in their conversations. And Blackjak's "death" was the first time Atari Force really tugged at my heartstrings. Watching him fall and fade away was nearly as hard on me as it was on Dart. Then, of course, was Blackjak's marvelous return, which led to some of the most hard-hitting material in the book. Issue #11, when his betrayal is revealed in full and he and Dart finally trade blows, remains one of the (if not the very) best issues of all. And the motivations behind his turn made a lot of sense, yet were still unexpected. When he supposedly died, he was an open-ended enough character that there was plenty of room for him to switch sides. Yet the specifics behind why he joins the Dark Destroyer are still tied to what little was established about Blackjak in the opening issues. All of this leads to Dart finally shooting Blackjak in the heat of the final battle, an immensely tragic resolution to this doomed romance.

Martin's obsession with finding the Dark Destroyer, and the Destroyer's equally obsessive vengeance against Martin, make for the second strongest relationship during Conway's tenure. It's not amazing all the way through, but it builds gradually and naturally until the true depth of both characters' madness comes out in the finale. For a long time, the Destroyer seems like he is several steps ahead of Martin, maybe even out of his league. When push comes to shove, though, they are really on the same page as each other, and for largely the same reasons. The Destroyer doesn't just have Martin's face, he has his flaws as well. A smart and well-played (if not wholly original) hero-villain dynamic.

Conway did a great job with all of the characters, right from the start. It took a minute for Pakrat to grow on me, but he was still a fully-realized member of the cast in his first appearance even if I wasn't crazy about him. Babe's voice was developed organically, as was his bond with Hukka and Taz, and the three of them make a wonderful little group of largely non-verbal characters. Morphea was often a great POV character for the reader, and got to be a badass once or twice as well. And even the minor characters, like Venture and Hunter and Rident, all had a lot of life and unique voices to them. There was no shortage of strong characterization in these issues.

Obviously, some stuff got dropped because Conway left the series so suddenly. Rident was shoved aside and never brought back, Tempest's personal arc remains up in the air, we only get the most superficial of explanations as to how the Dark Destroyer is what he is or does what he does, and so on. There are some narrative gaps remaining when issue #13 ends, and only time will tell if they'll ever get filled in. And I wish there'd be more interaction between Morphea and Babe. Though individually they work quite well, as a unit they didn't grow enough, and often weren't even together. She seems pretty content to let Taz and Hukka watch her young ward for now, and even though Babe loves Morphea, it's not like he's always by her side or anything. I was very excited to see how her powers and his age would ineract, but there hasn't been much of that as of yet.

My biggest complaint about Conway's writing, though, is that it often got repetitive. I know he was trying to keep new readers informed on what they'd missed each issue, but that didn't have to mean full scenes of only recap. There are ways to go over old info while still adding new, and though he did that sometimes, more often he would just have a character unnaturally rehash some key plot points in their dialogue. This is but a small quibble, and it's nothing compared to the strength of the actual stories, so ultimately I think Conway did an awesome job on Atari Force. He had a ton of characters and ideas crammed in, but each of them was as rich and detailed as the last.

José Luis García-López deserves one last shout out here, too, even though he left one issue prior to Conway's departure. Because all of the amazing characters and action Conway cooked up would be many times weaker without García-López's always reliable art. The obvious and thorough care put into every panel is a big part of what makes Atari Force worth reading and examining today. The insane worlds of the Multiverse, all the bizarre aliens and technologies, could have been overwhelming or jumbled. But García-López keeps them clear, tight, and consistent, making everything and everyone feel real despite the outlandish, far-future reality in which they exist.

For just over a year's worth of comics, Atari Force #1-13 has loads of great material. Conway and García-López were excellent collaborators who created one of the most bizarre and entertaining team books I've ever read. Not wildly experimental or groundbreaking or anything, but these are rock solid comics that tell a sprawling, compelling, and often heartbreaking story. I'm still not sure I see a reason for a fourteenth issue, but I'll review it tomorrow nevertheless.

Atari Force Month: Issue #12 Review

Quick preamble: My lady and I are currently in the process of moving from Texas to Massachusetts which means, among other things, that our scanner is no longer accessible. So there will be no scanned images for these Atari Force reviews for the foreseeable future, and indeed there may be no more for the rest of Atari Force Month. Probably a bad call for me to start with scans if I knew I was moving, but obviously I didn't think that through.

Atari Force #12 is interesting more for the external facts of it than the content inside. This is true for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it marks the end of José Luis García-López's run as penciler. He is one of the series' creators and biggest assets, and it's a shame this is his last issue, because a) the section he draws is only sixteen pages long, and b) this is some of his least impressive work on the book. It's still very reliable art. This is not García-López getting sloppy, just getting noticeably looser in his linework. On the largest panels, the splashes and spreads, he is his usual self: heavy detail, smart use of every inch of page space, smart angles, fluid action, strong emotion, etc. But some of the smaller panels seem unfinished, characters with featureless faces and vague backgrounds and the like. And even some of the main fight scene feels less exciting than usual. There isn't as much energy or creativity to it, just a bunch of people fighting a smaller bunch of other people.

García-López is a talented enough storyteller to get a little lax without the issue becoming muddled or dull. This is still fine work, and there are a few truly great moments. A two-page spread of the Dark Destroyer and his amassed forces as they confidently await their foes' arrival is particularly impressive, and the opening splash of Tempest on trial works as a captive introduction. Tempest is still battered and defeated, his head down and his body barely held up with help. In the background, the A.T.A.R.I. members who serve as his judges loom tall, and the room expands high and wide around them, giving the sense that Tempest is more trapped here than he was in his cell. It is the spaces in between these massive, heavy beats that come out a bit weaker here than ever before, and that's too bad. García-López was such a key part of the comic's strength, I hate to see him go out without a bang.

The final page, at least, is García-López on his A game, so he leaves the book with a memorable image. It is another full-page splash, and in essence, this one page is the whole point of issue #12. It features the Dark Destroyer with his enormous horned helmet off for the first time, revealing to Atari Force that, underneath, he is Martin Champion. Considering Martin is the Destroyer's oldest and most passionate foe, and standing right in front of him when this revelation is made, it's a safe assumption that there's going to be some explaining to do next time. For now, though, this works as a narrative bomb, a legitimately unexpected twist that, looking back, has been skillfully hinted at in previous issues. Is this some future Martin? An alternate reality version? An evil twin? Something even more complicated than those? The questions abound, and can be seen clearly on the expressive faces of Atari Force as they try to cope with the image of Martin Champion in the Dark Destroyer's clothes. It's an effective final page, and a fitting farewell from García-López, even if the rest of the issue wasn't fully up to snuff.

This issue is also the beginning of the end of Gerry Conway's time on the title. He plots this issue and the next, but they are scripted by others, with #12 being handled by editor Andy Helfer, who also wrote #8. As with the last time Helfer took the helm, there is no drastic change in writing style here. The cast is strong enough that their voices stay firm, and Helfer obviously has a familiarity with them. It only takes one page for him to handle the fallout of Blackjak's betrayal last issue, and he does a damn fine job of it. Dart visits Blackjak in his holding cell to search for answers, but the best he can offer is that he's always been a coward, but was able to pretend at bravery when she was around. Dart made him better, bolder, stronger-willed than he was, and the Dark Destroyer forced Blackjak to face the truth about his inner weaknesses by saving him. I can't think of a better way to break somebody than to force them to admit that their life is a lie, and that's what the Destroyer has effectively done here. So Blackjak is fully subservient, and though he says it through tears, he is no doubt sincere when he tells Dart that he'd try to kill her again if his master instructed it. Dart, for her part, tries to maintain stoicism, and recovers by going after the Destroyer with everything she's got.

It's not nearly enough, though, and Atari Force get quickly trounced by their enemy and his innumerable henchmen. They fall so quickly that Martin steps in and surrenders for them, not wanting to watch any more of his people die because of the Destroyer. And in the wake of that surrender comes the final reveal of the Destroyer as Martin, and everyone else's jaws hit the floor.

That is the bulk of the primary narrative, with the exception of Tempest's trial scene at the top of the issue. Which is the worst scene by far. It's basically all old hat, but screamed instead of just being heatedly discussed. Nothing is accomplished, since before any actual legal proceedings can be carried out, Tempest has yet another pointless tantrum and is knocked unconscious by Hunter. I'm not sure why the scene is even included, except maybe to fill some space and remind the reader what Tempest is up to. Once he gets carried back to his cell, Professor Venture tries to convince the court that the Dark Destroyer is still a threat, but as always, nobody listens. It's growing fairly tiresome by now.

And that's essentially all that goes down. Tempest gets nowhere, Blackjak admits what a bastard he is at heart, and then Atari Force gets beaten up by the Destroyer's goons until, WHAMMO!, he takes his helmet off and has Martin's face. His voice, too, in my head. That's a decent amount of material for a sixteen-page story, I suppose, but because this is the first time Atari Force has had such a truncated issue, it feels fluffy and overly brief. Most of the story is just a long build-up to the last page, anyway, and that feels like too little for a whole issue to accomplish. Like with the art, it's not that the writing is terrible or even necessarily bad, but it is certainly disappointing.

My disappointment is mitigated by the seven-page, Hukka-centric backup feature written and penciled by Keith Giffen. It's not astounding, but it's lots of fun, the story of Hukka hunting a tiny lizard-like critter for sport while unknowingly being hunted himself by a much larger beast for food. In the end, Hukka catches his terrified prey, and then notices that he is something else's prey in a hilarious full-page splash that also reveals the monster's full figure to the reader for the first time. And on the opposite page, an even larger monster swoops done from the sky and gobbles up Hukka's hunter in a single bite. Those two pages are hilarious and rich, and the crux of Giffen's entire piece. After them is one last page where Hukka lets his lizardish captive go, demonstrating the lesson of the story's title, "Do Unto Others." A simple little tale that Giffen draws with a tenderness and liveliness that adds a lot.

I do wish Tom Ziuko had colored to two huge beasts differently. They are both all pink, which makes it a tad less clear than it could be what is happening when the second one eats the first. But that lasts for only a second, and Giffen's designs for the creatures overshadow any tiny coloring missteps.

Atari Force #12 is an issue of awkward transitions. José Luis García-López finishes his stint as artist somewhat poorly, Gerry Conway plots but does not write this issue, and there's a backup story for the first time, which for some reason means fewer pages for the main narrative. As the old creative team phases out, the book finds itself stumbling a bit, and it's aggravating. I don't know the history of why the original creators left, if they walked off or were told to leave or what, but no matter the situation, I wish it had been done more smoothly. As Conway's epic story winds down, he doesn't even get to script it; the cast may still sound like themselves, but the book itself feels different here. And not in a good way.

Atari Force Month: Issue #11 Review

I have a working theory that Atari Force the book is at its best whenever Atari Force the team are at their worst. Issue #6 was the best issue until this one (and it may still be, but they're close) and what the two share is that they're both chapters in which the good guys get trampled. And though the overall quality here may be lower than in #6, the trampling is many times more brutal and effective.

Let's start with Tempest, arrested at the end of last issue, and now locked in a dimly-lit cell and kept on a disorienting, disabling drug called scopadrone to keep him from phasing himself to freedom. He appears to slide in and out of awareness, struggling to regain control of his own mind and body so he can warn the world about the Dark Destroyer. The world doesn't want to hear him, though, so he remains a prisoner for now. Only Professor Venture shows Tempest any care or concern, visiting him more as a mother than mentor. She cradles the scared and broken boy in her arms, and fights for his rights and his freedom. It gives Venture as a character a distinct sense of purpose she's been lacking up to now, and underlines the tragedy of what Tempest is going through.

Venture also has a spirited debated with Captain Hunter about following the rules vs. doing what is right, and whether or not those are the same thing. Venture argues that, with so many questions surrounding Tempest and his father's theft of Scanner One, maybe they should find some answers before arresting anybody. Hunter points out that the answers can come out in trial, and until they do, Tempest is a criminal according to the law, and must be treated the same way any criminal would. These are equally valid points that have been made about countless other cases, real and fictional, before and since. But still worth touching upon, and, again, it gives Venture something more active and important to do. It also makes Hunter seem smarter and more reasonable than he was before, which is good for any character always, although I personally prefer to have him be an oaf.

Hunter also brings up Rident in this conversation, wondering where the hell he is, and I have been thinking the same thing for several issues. The time for Rident to make his move was probably somewhere back around #8, after the initial encounter with the Dark Destroyer had wrapped. But it's been longer than that since he's appeared on panel, and Hunter's throwaway line is the only reference to Rident in just as long. He wasn't the strongest member of the cast, and as far as guys with a stick up their ass who are after Atari Force, I'll take Hunter over Rident any day of the week. But no character deserves to be shoved aside and abandoned completely, so fingers crossed that Rident will return.

Before Venture is done this issue, she has one more Tempest-related conversation, this time with Dr. Orion, the man who turned Tempest in. He is racked with guilt about it now, because he's come to realize, in light of some new info, that the Dark Destroyer killed Tempest's mother, not the boy himself as Orion had previously believed. Somewhere in his mind, Orion has blamed Tempest for killing Lydia all these years, which undoubtedly made the decision to hand him to Hunter much easier. Now, though, he feels he made the wrong call, because if the Destroyer really did kill Lydia, that means he's still out there, which means Tempest and his supposedly delusional father Martin are right. What Orion intends to do about it, if anything, is left up in the air, but at least there's one more character on the ride side of things, and an intelligent and resourceful one at that.

Not that it does Tempest any good here. He makes no progress, beginning and ending the issue in his cell and his drug-induced state. It is unquestionably the most broken he's been, including when the Destroyer beat him senseless. But it pales in comparison to what Dart experiences when Blackjak turns on her.

Predictably, Blackjak is working for the Dark Destroyer, but I give Conway credit for getting that out of the way in the first scene. It's not the cliffhanger, it's the opener, not played for surprise because it's not a surprise. What makes that scene buzz is José Luis García-López's art. He kicks off the excellence right on the first page, depicting many members of Atari Force sleeping in their rooms. Some are peaceful, some restless, some alone, and others in groups. It is a quiet, intimate, inviting opening page, establishing a brief calm before the immense storms of the issue's narratives.

Blackjak is the only person awake on Scanner One, and he has a secret meeting with his master where the two sabotage the ship. It's clear Blackjak would rather not participate in this, but the Destroyer has a mental hold over him. Like Blackjak's new allegiance in general, the detail of the Destroyer's mind control is no great shock. But García-López makes it count in a single panel that enters Blackjak's mind and displays in great visual detail the overwhelming pain of the Destroyer's psychic attack. It keeps Blackjak ever so slightly sympathetic even as he officially slides over to the villainous side of things.

The Destroyer and Blackjak's plan is to override Scanner One's navigational computer and force the vessel to go where the Destroyer wants. And they succeed, but doing so forces Blackjak to show his hand. Martin immediately suspects him of sabotaging the navigation, but is hopeful that it can be fixed. So Martin, with Babe by his side for the heavy lifting, gets to work trying to repair his ship. But Blackjak sabotages that as well, almost killing Martin and severely hurting Babe with a powerful electric shock. There is no more hiding for Blackjak after that, no more denying his partin all of this. So Dart confronts him, and the two have one of the best-looking yet hardest-to-read fights in the whole of Atari Force.

Conway and García-López, as well as inker Bob Smith and colorist Tom Ziuko, fire on all cylinders and then some for the length of this battle. It begins with something simple but earth-shattering, and ends in about the most tragic imaginable way (save, perhaps, for one of the two lover/combatants dying). For just a moment after realizing his betrayal, Dart stares at Blackjak, the man she thought she knew, thought she loved, and he stares at her right back. García-López draws out the tension and melancholy of that moment with a series of small close-ups of Dart and Blackjak's faces done in silhouette, with a tiny, shadowy image of them standing before each other in the middle. Then, beneath this small and quiet row, there is a half-page image of Blackjack punching Dart square in the jaw, a blow that hits harder for the weight of its surprise than the actual impact of his fist.

If that page wasn't heart-breaking enough already, García-López outdoes himself on the lower half with three perfectly composed panels. First, a tight, silent panel of Dart's face after being hit, the fear and bottomless sadness pouring from her eyes. She has never been so helpless and scared, but this is the man she loves attacking her, so the change is all too fitting. Then she makes one final attempt to connect to the man she once knew, saying he was never afraid of death and therefore must not be himself. Blackjak's response in the page's final panel is the cruelest, most painful strike he makes against her: "You didn't know me very well." Dart was the only person who knew Blackjak as well as she did, and vice versa, so to have him deny all of that so sternly and callously is more damaging than any physical attack could ever be. García-López knows this, and constructs the panel accordingly. Blackjack towers over Dart, to the point that his head extends beyond the panel border. She is contained by it completely, even though the top of her ponytail could, technically, go past the edge. He has all of the power in that moment, so he is the one who gets to bust through their physical confinement.

There are other, smaller touches, too, that make this panel my favorite single image of the series so far, if not of all time. The gun is the true foreground, amping up the danger of the scene and solidifying that Blackjak is serious about being a bad guy now. And Tom Ziuko adds a lot, with the harsh red background contrastingly so blatantly with the blues Dart is done in. She is a shadow of herself, and wants to be anywhere else, so her colors are darker and more obscured. Blackjak, meanwhile, is done in bold blacks and grays, making him stand out as an even more imposing figure on top of the blank red plane behind him. There has not been so gripping or tragic a moment as this one, and things go downhill from there.

Dart and Blackjak knock each other around for a page, during which Dart says that she doesn't believe Blackjak will shoot her. She is confident that she still knows the man he really is inside, and that that will keep her safe. She is, sadly, wrong, and in another startling half-page image, Blackjak takes his shot right at her heart, psychically and metaphorically.

Of course, Dart's always got her battle armor on, and she survives, tricking Blackjak by staying down until he gets close enough for her to grab. She knocks him out, but takes no joy in it, and indeed comes out of the whole mess with a far more joyless attitude than she's ever had before. Even when fighting insurmountable odds, even after she thought Blackjak had died, Dart was always able to maintain her humor and generally upbeat spirit. But pulling herself from the water in which her former love tried to kill her, Dart is the very picture of depression and gloom. Watching Blackjak die was unthinkably horrific for Dart, but fighting him is truly unbearable.

So yeah, this is a fantastic issue, emotionally bashing the cast and reader alike. The only thing that keeps it from being far and away the best issue yet is the very final page, when the Dark Destroyer makes an annoyingly long-winded and unimpressive speech. The real problem with it is that it isn't information that's new to the reader, only to Atari Force. The Destroyer lays out his plan to bring Atari Force to him so they can witness the destruction of their universe, but he's already told Kargg that's what he was doing. So it's not a new threat, and is thus underwhelming as a cliffhanger. Also, the speech literally includes the phrase, "And, speaking of destruction," to get from one point to the next. Weak.

It is but a moment of weakness, though, at the end of one of the book's strongest issues. Neither Tempest nor Dart have ever been in such dire circumstances, and indeed Atari Force as a team is at a new low. They've lost Tempest, lost control of their ship, and have no idea what's in store for them. These are the worst of times if you're in the comic, but the best if you're a reader.

Atari Force Month: Issue #10 Review

At last, Blackjak is reintegrated into the cast, and Gerry Conway does it well, explaining in a satisfyingly believable way how the character is still alive, but leaving the door wide open for there to be more to the story. Basically, by the end of the issue, it is easy to trust that Blackjak is really alive, but far more difficult to trust the actual character anymore. His story is suspect at best, and at worst an out-and-out lie. Either way, it's entertaining, and just one facet of a solid issue that really gets the Atari Force ball rolling with some momentum again.

Blackjak was rescued, it would seem, by the none other than Dark Destroyer, caught in a tractor beam moments before he would have been incinerated. Though he never met the Destroyer himself, he did get one hell of a harsh welcome from the rest of the crew, and then spent months as their prisoner, slowly recovering. The closest thing he had to a friend in that time was the strange, simple creature who brought him his food. But Blackjak would ultimately betray that friend in order to steal the keys to his shackles and escape. After that, he spotted Dart just before she returned to Scanner One, and so he followed her in a scout ship of his own, only catching up now.  This is the story he tells her, anyway, and though it's not impossible, there are some massive logical gaps that even Dart can't help but notice.

Because why would the Dark Destroyer capture someone so closely connected with one of his enemies and then ignore him for so long that his wounds heal and he escapes? Yes, the Destroyer has pulled some confusing moves before, but none of them were harder to believe than this. Martin refuses to buy it, insisting Blackjak is a foe and asking Morphea to mentally spy on him. And Dart, though she believes him for now, also admits that the story Blackjak tells her makes no sense. Yet she is too overjoyed to be with her love again to dig into the obvious implications that he is no longer on her side. For the length of this issue, which spans not even an entire day, that makes sense. She'd been fighting so hard to avoid dealing with her loss, to have it undone would be too much of a relief not to surrender herself to it. Dart is happy again, something she hasn't been in a while, but to the reader, it's evident that happiness won't last.

Meanwhile, Tempest is having a much harder time of things when it comes to his old lover. After being wounded last issue when he fled Li San and Mohandas' house, Tempest tries to get his ex-girlfriend Melissa to help protect him. As you may recall, the last time he saw her, Melissa dumped Tempest because her father hates and fears him so much, due to his powers. Her feelings toward Tempest have only worsened since then, and she almost immediately sicks Guard-Rob on him, the worst-named robot in all of fiction. It's a dick move, made worse when she contacts Captain Hunter directly after Tempest flees in order to turn him in. Melissa is a funny character. She's never acted sympathetically or even maturely, always the stereotypical over-sensitive screaming daddy's girl. But Tempest is meant to care for her deeply, so she pops up again just to add insult and further injury to his injury.

He then turns to Dr. Lucas Orion, his father Martin's former best friend and colleague. Tempest hopes to learn from him the rest of the story Mohandas began to tell in issue #9 about the old Atari Force's encounters with the Dark Destroyer. And he does, only to immediately be betrayed by Orion and turned over to Hunter. Tempest's high treason arrest is the issue's final event, a strong conclusion and a new low point for the character. Having finally learned what he struggled so hard to discover, he's going to be thrown in a cell before he gets to do anything useful with the information.

Conway's scripting is very much back on track this issue. He does excellent work with Blackjak's story, keeping it succinct enough not to crowd the issue but full enough to feel complete. And the character's voice hasn't change at all. This is recognizably Blackjak, making his reconnection with Dart sweeter for now, but the threat that he might not be trustworthy larger and more terrifying. Other than naming a robot Guard-Rob, the Tempest sections are excellent, too, putting the young man through a ringer built of his own curiosity and persistence. And the story Orion tells, which I imagine originally appeared in a longer form in volume 1, is delivered efficiently. The old Atari Force tried to meet with a group called the Custodians of Life, only to have the Dark Destroyer mentally manipulate the Custodians into attacking them. It is a final reminder of the Destroyer's reach and power.

Little else takes place this issue, because Blackjak's return and Tempest's escapades both require multiple scenes. There is a small section focusing on the Dark Destroyer himself as he mines anti-matter from another reality. According to him, it's for a bomb strong enough to kill a whole universe, but the fictional science of that isn't explained here. As with Orion's story, this scene's role is to demonstrate just how enormously evil the Destroyer can be, and it does that well in a short amount of time. It's all about economy of panels this issue, including a the introduction of a new thread that takes less than a page, about Taz falling ill. We see him get stomach ache and turn down help, and that's as far as that story goes for now. Conway keeps things brief and direct, so he can visit Blackjack and Orion's pasts both without slowing down the progression of his main narrative, either.

I wouldn't necessarily say José Luis García-López is at his best this issue, but he is definitely at his most sci-fi as an artist. The full-page splash of the Dark Destroyer's machines gathering anti-matter is epically cosmic. And then there's Guard-Rob who, while looking comically antiquated in this title, is a heavily detailed robot with impressive mobility. The many species of the Custodians of Life are all given unique designs, and there are a several panels featuring varying numbers of spacecraft that are all gorgeous. But the main course of this science fiction visual meal is Blackjak's rescue, specifically when the Dark Destroyer's ship pulls him to safety in its tractor beam. The level of details in his suit, the stars burning beneath him, the Destroyer's ship and it's tractor beam, and really everything else that can be seen in those panels is amazing. Maybe it's Tom Ziuko's heavy use of hot pinks that brings it home for me, I don't know. What I do know is that in a title that constantly travels through the stars and from universe to universe, the scene of Blackjak's near-death and salvation is the most I've felt pulled into outer space myself.

I guess this issue is just a little heavier on the sci-fi material than most across the board. I mean, this is a sci-fi series, make no mistake. But it also sort of dances between that genre and superheroes, plus really its focus is on the small-scale, personal dramas of its cast. This issue, one of those small-scale dramas involves being propelled toward a star and then saved by reality's biggest spaceship, so it's heavier on the science fiction than usual. The Dark Destroyer has only been seen attacking Atari Force up to now, so his anti-matter expedition is also atypically sci-fi. And Orion's story is all about New Earth attempting to join an intergalactic community of planets so, once again, a broader sci-fi concept than the book always contains. I am not complaining; I loved seeing García-López do a bunch more robotic stuff than before, and I've already praised the plots of the issue. This is just something I noticed.

Aside from Lio, the guy who feeds Blackjak in captivity is the best-looking character to date. I grew to genuinely care about him in the few pages on which he was featured, and was upset and a little angered when Blackjak turned on him. Seems like the solution could have been more cooperative and less cruel, but that's not Blackjak's style, which I can dig. Anyway, he's a great-looking little bestie, resembling an anteater but with oodles more personality.

This is a good issue that seeds a lot of new things and leaves many characters in dangerous, compelling circumstances. Dart may be in bed with the enemy, Tempest is caught, and something medical is up with Taz. Also, at the end of their conversation, just before Hunter interrupts, Orion seems to realize something about the Dark Destroyer based on what Tempest says about him. No clues yet as to what it is, but Orion is in an interesting position, having made a move against one of the title's heroes that he now regrets and may even try to make up for. Only time will tell, but I am anxious for it to do so.

Atari Force Month: Issue #9 Review

For the first time in this series, José Luis García-López is inked by somebody other than Ricardo Villagrán, but it turns out the difference is minimal. With Bob Smith, the characters' faces are sometimes a bit smoother, but otherwise the linework is just as strong as ever. And García-López proves that his pencils are the core of the book's artistic strength, utilizing many of the tools in his belt. Strange layouts, sharp new character designs, and his usual fluid action are all at work here, helping to liven up an issue that is largely expository.

There are two outright info dumps in this issue, first when Tempest catches Professor Venture up on everything that's happened so far, and then again when Mohandas tell Tempest about the original Atari Force encountering the Dark Destroyer. Gerry Conway stuffs them both full of information, presumably designed to catch new readers up on the series' history, but the scenes still manage not to be boring. In Tempest's speech, Conway finds a few opportunities to clarify things that I wasn't sure of before. Like Tempest's exact reasons for joining his father's mission, or the probe being nothing but bait with which to trap Atari Force. There are some definite problems, such as the never-asked question of how Tempest learned so many of the details of Dart's past with Blackjak. She's been avoiding the topic, so there's no in-story reason I can think of for Tempest to have all that info, particularly the fact that the Dark Destroyer was behind Blackjak's death. Does Dart even know that, and if so, how? I guess the Destroyer said something to Martin about trying and failing to capture Dart before, but still...seems a bit of a stretch that Tempest would be aware of every single thing that's happened to every character in every issue. I understand that the primary goal of his speech is to fill in the audience, and second to that is, you know, portraying the character accurately, but I think that's too bad. It's not impossible to imagine Tempest learning all of this, but it's highly unlikely he would have.

Along the same lines, Tempest's story includes things like an explanation of Dart's precognitive powers, which Professor Venture must be familiar with. Considering she studies Tempest's abilities professionally, if she was ignorant of what Dart can do it would be baffling. That's a small quibble, though it comes up again when Mohandas reminds Tempest who the original Atari Force were, something Tempest has told the reader in previous issues. Obnoxious, but ultimately minor.

Mohandas' story is, I assume, pulled from the first volume of Atari Force and, therefore, also recap in its own way. If you'd read all of volumes 1 and 2 up to here, then this issue would have very few new developments to offer. It is an informational, educational script above all else. Mohandas describes for Tempest the old Atari Force's first few struggles against the Dark Destroyer, who back then was some kind of awe-inspiring space squid living between dimensions. He also establishes the idea that the Dark Destroyer has mind-control abilities, something not really shown before now. Though he kicked Morphea out of his mind and clearly has a massive intellect, the Destroyer's henchman have, to all appearances, worked for him willingly. Knowing he can also potentially command people through their own minds is a chilling and significant development. Mohandas' tale is not especially interesting beyond that, a standard sci-fi story of an away team dealing with unfriendlies on the ground. But it's only a couple of pages, and provides further insight into the scope of the Destroyer's evil.

What saves these info dumps the most is García-López's art, and specifically his panel layouts. The storytellers, Tempest and then Mohandas, are often depicted as larger than the panels themselves, ignoring the borders, physically possessing their respective narratives. The panels of the stories they're telling are small and stacked, a highlight reel of things that came before. They keep the eye constantly moving and the brain constantly working, so that the long-winded captions don't overwhelm or drag down the pacing.

García-López breaks standard layouts whenever the script grows dry this issue, yet in the moments of action and/or high drama, he opts for more rigid panel borders. Dart's intense training against a randomly-generated laser system is far more contained on the page, and made more impressive because of it. Seeing Dart move so masterfully in a confined setting is a better reflection of her skill level. While I usually praise García-López for his character design above all, in this issue, it is his thoughtful layouts that I like the most. Although, his design for A.T.A.R.I. Security Captain Hunter is great, equal parts hilarious baffoon and serious soldier. The white cape really ties it together.

This issue is fast and light. Because something like a third of it is taken up by exposition, but exposition that moves quickly thanks to its art, the rest of the story feels airier than usual. But truth be told, Conway does a deceptively good job of introducing new threads here, too. Important and entertaining ones. There is, as mentioned, the introduction of Captain Hunter, a classic hunter-soldier character with something to prove. Looking forward to more shoot-first action from him. And for me, at least, all of the material about the old Atari Force's meetings with the Dark Destroyer was new and interesting. I'm sure the mind-control stuff will come into play, and with any luck the Destroyer will revert to his enormous green monster form before the series concludes. To the best of my memory that doesn't happen, but gosh do I hope I'm wrong. Conway provides tasty treats for readers new and old alike, which is a strategy I admire. Taking an issue to explicitly invite new people in through overt recapping of all they've missed is not a bad idea, but if you're going to do it, you've got to give the established fans something, too. And if Hunter and the retro Dark Destroyer weren't enough, there is the bombshell conclusion teased last issue: Blackjak is back from the dead.

It is a welcome return, though the hows and whys of it are left for next issue, and García-López makes the final splash image of the character celebratory. Tom Ziuko adds a nice touch, doing everything on the page besides Blackjak in one shade of red or another so that the man himself stands out even more powerfully against it. Full of his old swagger and natural charisma, Blackjak's entrance makes for quite a cliffhanger. Even if not everything in this issue is brand new, then, the bits that are do a lot to excite me and reenergize this book. After a strange, poorly-paced wrap-up to the previous arc, it's good to see the series find its footing again.

And Conway actually addresses the ill-fitting ending of Atari Force #7, through Martin Champion, the team member who has the most prior experience with the Dark Destroyer. Martin is perturbed that Atari Force managed to escape so easily, and realizes that the Destroyer could have defeated them even in light of Dart's threat to destroy his ship. It makes Martin uneasy to know his enemy did something uncharacteristic, and in that feeling he and I are the same. I was very glad to have Conway at least nod to this, even for only a panel or two, and he also gives a glimpse of what the Destroyer is up to now. Suddenly, the end issue #7 feels not so much like a conclusion but a new plot thread disguised as the end of an old one. That's comforting, and handled intelligently.

Atari Force #9 is another example of how skilled these creators are on a team book. Everyone has something to do, even in this recap-heavy issue, and several of them have their personal stories advanced, too. While the past is revisited, the present trudges forward, putting Tempest on the run from Hunter and reuniting Dart with her lost love. It's no weaker than your average issue of this title, and stronger than some bit a good bit.

I also appreciated how Tempest and Mohandas' stories were related, not just in content but in their connection to the larger narrative. Tempest recounts his recent past while Mohandas remembers times more distant, but for both of them, what matters is how these things effect their lives now. The facts of their histories are explored not for mere nostalgia or even just for new readers, but also because there will be ramifications to these stories down the line. Again, that's the best approach to take to this kind of issue, and Conway strikes a lovely balance between things already known and the new details that will work to enrich the book's future.

As a final thought: Huzzah! A cameo from Lio!

Atari Force Month: Issue #8 Review

Andy Helfer steps in to script a Gerry Conway plot for Babe and Hukka's side adventure. With Helfer as the series' usual editor and Conway credited here as one of the consulting editors, the change in author is hardly noticeable. Also, Babe's voice hadn't been too firmly established before this issue, so Helfer has a bit of leeway there. He writes a good script, paced so that Babe's story can be rich but still told in its entirety over a single issue. And for the few pages on which they appear, Helfer stays true to the rest of Atari Force. There are some underlying ethical problems with the plot, but overall it is a solid story in which Babe gets to be a hero. He looks good doing it, too, because apparently José Luis García-López can make any character look cool in a fight.

I really wouldn't have expected Babe to be so imposing in an action scene, but García-López and Helfer are smart enough to give him huge things to pick up and throw or swing. Also, when angry, Babe's face has a perfect expression of that blinding childhood rage. The kind that leads to ear-splitting tantrums and shattered toys or, in this case, an army of dead aliens. Babe is still young enough to feel his emotions in their purest, most overwhelming form, so when he decides to fight somebody, he goes big with it. García-López captures that enormity on several pages, as Babe grows more confident and finds ever larger things to wield as weapons.

The basic outline of Babe's tale is this: after crash-landing on a strange planet, he and Hukka encounter a small, armed, angry little creature that Babe calls "Shorty-Man." At first they fight, but eventually make friends, feeding and protecting one another. Shorty-Man has a dead friend he carries with him, and it comes to light that said friend was killed by a race of violent red aliens, who also fire upon Babe when they see him. So Babe and Shorty-Man attack the red aliens' main camp, and eventually target their munitions stores, causing a massive explosion that kills all the enemies, while Babe and friends are protected by his tough hide.

The friendship formed between Babe and Shorty-Man is done well, each of them learning a bit more about how to communicate with each other with every new leg of their journey. And it's a smart and narratively simple decision to have the culmination of those efforts be Shorty-Man learning the word "Bad" and using it at just the right time to have Babe win the battle. Their relationship begins oppositionally because they can't speak to each other, and ends with a single word saving both of their lives and ending a war. That is a clean, clear progression, and Helfer builds to it efficiently in these 23 pages.

The "ending a war" part is what I meant when I mentioned the ethical problems of this story earlier. Helfer doesn't get into the details of the war's history; all that's said for sure is Shorty-Man was on one side, the ugly red aliens were on the other, and Shorty-Man's side lost. He is the last remaining member, which is tragic, to be sure, but...there's no way of knowing what that really means. Is he native to the planet and his enemies are invaders? Maybe it's as simple as that, and the uglies are villains through-and-through. But it could be more complicated, and even if it isn't, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the idea of a child being used for what amounts to mass murder, if not genocide. It seems unlikely the entirety of the red alien race would be holed up in the camp that Babe blows sky high, but once it happens, the narration says that Shorty-Man's "war is over," so it seems possible. Whatever the case, there are a massive number of deaths on Babe's hands now, and he doesn't even understand what he killed them for, really. Neither does the reader, and that doesn't sit too well with me.

Helfer definitely makes some attempt to depict the red aliens as bad guys. They shoot Babe unprovoked, and they have absolutely committed genocide, and seem quite content to have done so. I feel no particular sympathy for them. García-López also makes them as unattractive as anything seen in this series yet, while Shorty-Man is adorable, even in the heat of battle. It's easy to let the red guys' deaths go, to see them as simple, evil war-mongers who deserved what they got. Maybe they were. But it's not for certain, and even if that's true, should a baby really be the one to wipe them out?

Not that I don't like the story. I do. I think it was well worth giving Babe some spotlight time, and Shorty-Man (who, thank goodness, will be named Taz next issue) is a great addition to the cast. Atari Force could use another soldier, and I like the potential of a character who can't verbally communicate with them, especially when Morphea is on the team. Plus Babe could use another set of eyes looking after him, considering he's run away once already. Helfer handles Babe's dialogue well, keeping it simple and childish without it becoming too grating or cutesy. Also Bob Lappan does a very subtle thing with the tails of Babe's speech balloons that helps to soften them a little. This was a great way to show off the character's spirit, voice, and skill. Babe was the cast member most in need of that, so it came at the right time.

Aside from Babe's story, this issue's most significant narrative development is Dart's premonition of being with Blackjak again. An exciting proposition for character and reader alike. Blackjak's time on the title was too short, and Dart hasn't addressed his death in a wholly satisfactory way. It's understandable that she would avoid thinking or talking about it, and to some extent her reason for joining Martin's missions may have been to distract herself from her grief. But it's high time her loss was revisited, and if that can happen through Blackjak returning to the book, all the better. Though I am not a fan of the comicbook trope of having characters' deaths not sticking, the laws of Atari Force's reality are still so undefined that I'm open to the idea of a return to life for the old pirate. If it's explained convincingly and he is used well in his second chance, I'm all for it.

Other than that, all that happens is the inevitable retrieval of Babe, Hukka, and Shorty-Man by the rest of their team. Atari Force tracks the signal of the scout ship Babe took, and gets there moments after Shorty-Man finishes burying his friend. Pretty spot on timing, all things considered. As a final bit of business, Shorty-Man wins everyone's approval by elbowing Pakrat the eternal punching bag right in the gut. A fun and fitting moment of comedy that provides a sort of sitcom, all's-well-that-ends-well conclusion to the issue. As Atari Force #8 is, essentially, a palette cleanser, detouring from the main narrative right after some major threads resolved there, having it land on such a light and slapstick note is a good move. It clears the air for whatever is to come, and ties a bow on this tiny story in between.

Atari Force Month: Issue #7 Review

I was not a huge fan of this issue, but before I get into that, I need to criticize myself for a hot second. Yesterday, in talking about Bob Lappan's awesome lettering, I mentioned Morphea and Psyklops both being Canopeans. Having now read Atari Force #7, it's clear to me that that simply isn't true. I'm not sure what Psyklops is, species-wise, but he ain't the same as Morphea. She is a singular example, which is sort of the whole point of the story here. I think I thought I remembered, based on their similar powersets, baldness, and appearance on the cover, that they came from the same world. Like I thought for sure it was a plot point in this issue. It's not, so...my bad. Retracted. Moving on.

Morphea is the best part of Atari Force #7, even if I misremembered her story. For the first time, she gets an origin story, providing insight into the culture of her homeworld. Psyklops forces her to remember her childhood there, a horrible time for Morphea as the only Canopean to feel the need for love. Their society has no family unit, and seems to be almost a hive system. Morphea's mother is clearly a queen bee, fat and pampered and mother to all. Everyone has a role to play, a cog to be in the machine. The pronoun "I" is forbidden, and talking at all is frowned upon. Why Morphea has her empathic abilities and was therefore the only child to resist this system isn't explained, but the isolation, confusion, and pain she felt because of it is obvious. Learning of her own intense emotional scars helps explain the motivations behind her being a psychologist now. It's a nice new layer for the character, humanizing her and making her more alien at once.

Then she breaks free of Psyklops' hold, sending his attack back against him through a psychic feedback of some kind. Though she's been heroic, Morphea's never really kicked anyone's ass before, but in the moment it is a role that suits her. To some extent, she only boards the Dark Destroyer's ship on behalf of Martin Champion. She is his therapist, and Tempest, who Psyklops is torturing, is Martin's son. Because her painful memories have to do with a lack of family, her mission to restore a family saves her. And Martin's rage at what his enemies have done to his child is also Morphea's, so when she gets her shot, she makes it count. With Psyklops down, she becomes a caretaker again, yet even as she carries a broken Tempest away with motherly love in her eyes, she looks so calm and confident doing it that the kick-ass attitude lingers.

Morphea's sequence is the artistic highlight of the issue as well as the narrative one. For starters, the Canopean mother is a perfect blend of Morphea and Jabba the Hutt. And just as he did when Morphea entered Babe's mind, José Luis García-López does an amazing job of displaying the fluid and dreamlike nature of memory. Overlapping images and unusual, fractured panel shapes not only underline the emotional turmoil of Morphea's past but the distorted, exaggerated effect it has on her when dug up in the present.

There's a solid five pages of Morphea battling Psyklops and freeing Tempest, and they are the best five in the issue. The rest is awkwardly paced recap and wrap-up, bringing the current storyline of the mission to retrieve Martin's probe to a crashing halt. Major parts of the solution occur off-panel, and it relies on the Dark Destroyer acting so uncharacteristically it makes my head spin. Besides which, if the plan of this issue was just to have Dart save the day, there is no real narrative purpose to sending Martin onto the Destroyer's vessel. He only goes so that thirty minutes later Morphea can follow and, though I like what she does over there, even that is pointless in light of Dart's actions. It serves its functions in the larger story (learning Morphea's background, letting Babe escape, etc.), but in terms of this specific situation, Dart is the only one who counts. And hers is the off-panel material.

Not that she does nothing. She's first seen with Pakrat hiding in the vents like they were at the end of Atari Force #6, spying on Psyklops as he torments Tempest. Dart then decides to make a move, but before she can, Pakrat gets pounced on by a viper-hound. So Dart shoots at it, sets off an alarm, and the two of them take off. All of that is good stuff, except for some somewhat forced exposition, and sets them up for a major confrontation.

Two pages later, there is a glimpse of that confrontation via a single panel of Morphea mentally connecting to Dart and Pakrat. In that glimpse, they are clearly losing, outnumbered and outgunned in a tight space with nowhere to run. Four pages later, they've won, and not even Pakrat can understand how or why. Dart has a bit more forced exposition, though it does not at all attempt to explain what just happened, and the next time we see her, she's saving everyone by threatening to shoot the ship's engine. Dart has surely proven herself a capable warrior by now, but that doesn't mean she can win this entire conflict without earning it in front of the audience. The best thing about her is watching her figure out what tactic to use in every new situation. I know that her threatening to shoot the engine is supposed to do that, but there was another example skipped on the way that I feel cheated out of. Her whole arc feels rushed this issue, whereas the material with Martin is slow and probably unnecessary.

After learning last time that Tempest had been captured, Martin begins this issue in a fit of insane fury. After some wide-eyed, clenched-teeth brooding, he decides he needs to take action, and volunteers to turn himself over to the Dark Destroyer. This is idiotic for a few reasons. Firstly, sending people over to the Destroyer's ship has been a bad idea every single time so far. Second, Martin has nothing to offer the Destroyer, so why he could possibly imagine he would be able to save Tempest by surrendering himself is beyond me. Now their enemy just has them both. And finally, the Destroyer has predicted pretty much everything Atari Force has done up to now, so Martin jumping to his immediate, knee-jerk reaction is just asking to be anticipated again.

Once Martin gets over there, things go as expected: he's met by an army, stripped, searched, and taken prisoner. Conway does at least attempt in that scene to explain why Martin would behave so rashly, but it is a flimsy and not-that-well-written explanation. Basically, Martin has deluded himself into believing he is fearless, which makes him act fearlessly even when he shouldn't. First of all, how is that different than being fearless? And more importantly, it's not just the absence of fear that makes what he's doing a mistake. It's the complete lack of a plan or any plays. He just wanders into his opponent's territory and lets himself get taken, and tries to reason with a superpowered villain obsessed with ruining his life.

The only thing that keeps Martin alive long enough for Dart to rescue him is that Conway slips in his writing of the Dark Destroyer, and pads out some panels with a speech on the topic of how to best kill Martin. It's the campiest, hackiest dialogue the character has spoken, and not at all as intimidating as it's meant to be. Luckily, it's cut short by Dart. Unluckily, the Destroyer then completely caves to Dart's threat without so much as...anything. He does nothing at all. She says she'll destroy his ship and kill them all, he makes no attempt to call her bluff. Atari Force get their probe, are set free, and return to Scanner One unharmed. Of course, the Destroyer promises they've only won a round, but...why did they win it so suddenly and easily?

After all, if anyone had a chance of surviving the ship blowing up, it'd probably be the Dark Destroyer. I'm not sure I totally swallow Dart's strategy as a valid one, and for the Destroyer not to have any kind of contingency plan in place is even harder to believe. It's a hollow win, an unearned resolution. Easily the biggest disappointment of the series yet.

Even at its worst, Atari Force looks great and reads pretty well. Aside from the primary villain, the character voices remained strong as ever. And the art was also of its typically high caliber, even when the story was weak. Tom Ziuko had a lot of chances to use the full range of his palette because there were so many panels packed to the gills with crew members. And he nailed them all. So still a beautiful book with a great cast, but structurally uneven.

I think this should have been two issues. If Dart's fight had been given panel time, and Martin's confrontation with the Dark Destroyer could've had space to amount to anything, it's easy to imagine a version of the same basic narrative that is many times more satisfying. This is just too unbalanced, ignoring important stuff and focusing too often on the immaterial. It races to its finish line, more concerned with the destination than the journey, which results in neither being particularly enjoyable.

Atari Force Month: Issue #6 Review

Bob Lappan has been the letterer for every issue of Atari Force up to and including this one, and I haven't mentioned him yet, which is silly. He does excellent work, and I think good lettering is harder to notice than bad, so it's worth pointing out where it exists. And it sort of should be hard to notice. You don't want the letters to draw attention to themselves; they should be integrated seamlessly into the images. Which Lappan does expertly, but not without the occasional flourish where appropriate. Like, for instance, the intricate symbol languages spoken by the various aliens aboard the Dark Destroyer's ship. Or his most noteworthy contributions, the stylized dialogue bubble borders for specific characters. Morphea speaks in wavy lines, expressing her soft-spoken tenderness. Psyklops, her villainous counterpart, has a similar look to his speech balloons, but the lines are thicker and more jagged to display his inner darkness. Both characters are Canopeans, so there is a logical, species-based reason to have their dialogue look a little different. But Lappan takes it one step further, and points out the differences in their personalities through his lettering.

He also does a lot of really good sound effects work. There are way more of them in this issue than I realized while reading. It wasn't until I went back through, focusing on the letters specifically, that I noticed how often they pop up. Again, that's how well-done letters should be, the sounds enhancing the action of the story without being obvious or distracting. Lappan has a clear talent for that, and for the placement of his letters in general. He's definitely an important part of what has, by this issue, become the well-oiled creative machine behind Atari Force.

Gerry Conway took his time lining up the narrative dominoes that begin to fall here. The cast is comfortable by now, and just familiar enough with each other to function as a team. There's finally a direct confrontation with the villain (who also names himself at last), and everyone on Atari Force plays a role in it, with the arguable exception of Babe. He's the least important team member this issue, but when he is on panel, he's used well. He adds a slight touch of comic relief to a couple of the tensest moments: splashing Pakrat right before Dart has a terrible premonition, and then later peeking in at Dart and Pakrat as they prepare for battle. The latter of those two is an especially strong detail from José Luis García-López, showing how thoughtful he is as an artist with every inch of space.

The fullness of García-López's panels is best displayed during the fight scenes in the crew quarters of the Dark Destroyer's spaceship. I continue to harp on his detailed character design, and it's as impressive as ever with the myriad alien warriors that make up the crew. But what's even more impressive is that each of them has their own distinct reactions and attitudes about every frame of every fight they're in. And García-López is extremely careful with the positioning of the characters, so that the same nameless baddies appear in subsequent panels if the point of view calls for it. It creates a continuity and feeling of motion to the action, and gives me the sense that García-López had a vivid mental picture of the entirety of these battles from every perspective. This is an action-heavy issue, and having all of it be so fluid and consistent adds tremendously.

None of the violence is more effective than the face-off between the Dark Destroyer and Tempest. The dichotomy between Tempest's Multiverse-hopping, incessant-motion tactics and Dark Destroyer's nearly motionless pummeling makes for some fantastic visuals. Watching as Tempest is steadily worn down, unable to land a worthwhile blow and getting regularly punched right in the face...it's moving. The Dark Destroyer's unforgiving brutality is overshadowed only by the relish he seems to take in it. Meanwhile, Tempest proves himself just as heroic as he wants to be, but as useless as he'd always feared. It is no fun to watch that happen so rapidly to someone so young and good-hearted, but it is highly entertaining and powerful comicbooks. García-López holds nothing back, doing several close-up shots of the heaviest hits Tempest has to suffer. His face swells and his vision blurs, while the Destroyer looms mockingly, toying with his prey. As rough as that is to see, though (and it is rough), I think at the end of the day, Gerry Conway's words have the hardest impact in that sequence.

There's a lot of tightly written narration at the tail end of Tempest's bout with his father's old foe, emphasizing the totality his defeat on every level. As García-López shows us the bruises, cuts, and blood, Conway peeks inside Tempest's broken psyche and finds even deeper wounds. It begins with Dart trying to contact Tempest, and Conway says that, though he can hear her call, it has no meaning for him. "Reality has become sensation," says a poetic narrative caption, meaning for Tempest, all he's conscious of anymore is his pain and his anger. Then, in the final moments before he falls, Conway tells us that Tempest has the crushing realization that this monster who's beating him senseless is likely also responsible for his mother's death. According to his father's theory, anyway, the Destroyer was behind it, and the absence of a mother in his life is an established sore spot for Tempest. That his final waking thoughts would be of her demise at his enemy's hand is the strongest punch landed in the whole fight, and one Conway has Tempest deliver to himself. It's a emotional low point for this series, but some of the finest storytelling yet.

And it's not even the best part of the script. No, that would have to be the Dart-Pakrat team-up. And really just everything Dart does and says all issue. She cuts Martin off from yet another long-winded speech about the importance of their mission, she's the only one who properly encourages Tempest, and she's also the only one capable of keeping her wits about her long enough to formulate a plan of attack. Granted, her plan fails because they're walking into a trap, but at least she has one. And when she finds herself caught in the trap, she still never loses her cool, and with a little quick thinking and clever manipulation of Pakrat, she's able to survive a fight against a room full of armed enemies who were expecting her.

The relationship forming between Dart and Pakrat is wonderful. Firstly, he is much funnier and more agreeable as a character when she's half-forcing him to do things he doesn't want. I like Pakrat so much more when things aren't going his way. Nothing beats the moment that Dart tells Pakrat to run, knowing full well it will lead to him getting cornered and, in fact, counting on that. She's an experienced mercenary, so she knows his species can't handle being trapped, and intentionally steers the situation to send him into a helpful rage. All of a sudden, rather than a whiny liability, he's a capable partner in the fray, and he manages to get them out alive. It makes every other time he was cornered retroactively less annoying to see Dart weaponize it now.

She's just a fabulous protagonist for this story. Not exactly untouchable in the way some superheroes are, but so skilled and level-headed that she comes out of everything unscathed anyway. She has a great sense of humor, even about the most dismal stuff, and a depth of love to give in spite of her profession. Dart has her flaws and her broken bits, and is even pretty honest about them with herself. But she's one of the most self-assured members of Atari Force as well as the most intelligent and, without question, my favorite. If it wasn't before, that fact is surely solidified here.

Both Ricardo Villagrán and Tom Ziuko fire on all cylinders this issue as well. Much like Lappan's letters, what makes for great inks and colors is the balance between making the art stand out and not pulling focus from the pencils or the story too dramatically. Villagrán and García-López are a great team, and all the awesome action I mentioned before should probably be credited to them equally. If García-López gives all of the characters a unique appearance, it is Villagrán who helps distinguish each of them, maintaining clarity in the busiest panels. Ziuko's colors serve a similar role in those scenes, adding to everyone's individual looks and shining a spotlight on the most important or interesting characters. This is a book with many strong lines and bright colors, but neither ever overwhelm the other creative elements.

Atari Force #6 feels like the series has decided to kick things up a notch. Now that all the many players are sharing the same stage, the story can rocket forward and the action can explode. Last issue's conclusion held the promise of big thrills, and this issue not only makes good on that promise and more, but ends with circumstances that have the potential for even greater things to come.