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.

Atari Force Month: Issue #5 Review

The beginning of Atari Force #5 feels like it's skipped a beat. From the end of the previous issue to the start of this one, at least one highly significant conversation must have taken place off-panel. Because all of a sudden Tempest, Dart, and Martin Champion are working as a team, despite being totally at odds the last time we saw them. It's a jarring way to begin, and attention-grabbing in its confusion. I'm not sure how well Gerry Conway manages to clear up that confusion over the course of the issue, but he does at least attempt to do so. The rest of the script rolls forward via its own momentum, putting together the full Atari Force team for the first time and hurtling them toward their nemesis.

Plot-wise, this is an atypically focused issue. In the past, the narrative has had to jump between characters on different worlds doing different things, but this is more of a continuous single story. Martin and the team he rounds up steal the Scanner One, his old spaceship, and fly it out into the Multiverse in search of the horrible menace Martin discovered hiding there. It is a little unclear to me why, since he now has empirical proof of this threat's existence, he can't show that to anyone at A.T.A.R.I. I know that in recent years he has been dismissed as crazy, but that just makes,  "See, guys? I told you so!" seem like an obvious route to take. And it might mean having their support on his mission rather than being a criminal.

Whatever his reasons, Martin takes the ship by force. Or rather, he directs Tempest and Dart as they take the ship by force. Morphea shows up and is understandably concerned by what she sees, even feebly trying to stop it. But Martin convinces her, too, to join his rag-tag band, and she agrees on the condition that Babe be brought along as well. That leaves only Pakrat, who ends up on Scanner One by coincidence, using it as a place to hide from his brother. He climbs aboard only seconds before the ship departs, and isn't discovered by the rest of them until they've gone too far to turn back. So like it or not, these people are the new Atari Force, led by Martin Champion in search of an unknown, unnamed terror.

 

And several of them don't like it. Pakrat, though good-humored about it, has no interest in this kind of death-defying adventure. He faints a few times at the thought of dying, and is the least prepared, emotionally or intellectually, to deal with what's going on. Well, no, that would be Babe, really, but because he has Morphea looking after him I give him an edge over Pakrat. Tempest, as is his nature, gets all hissy about something his dad does, and expresses regret at having come along in the first place. Then, as is also his nature, he flees to a corner of the Multiverse to sulk. So everyone's not exactly on the same page aboard the Scanner One, but that doesn't seem to bother her captain whatsoever.

Martin's whole approach is very funny. He has been so single-mindedly chasing the same monster for so long, now that it is in his sights, his attitude is so extremely in the camp of "the end justify the means" that he's willing to take on Pakrat, a criminal stowaway, as well as risk his son's life and possibly strand the entire team in the infinity of the Multiverse. Part of his plan is to destroy Scanner One's navigation chip so that, in case the ship is apprehended, there will be no way to trace it back to New Earth. That's a brazen enough idea on its own, because it means relying on Tempet's powers to get home, and he's still  mastering his control over them. But what makes it border on comedy is that Martin destroys the chip so suddenly, in the middle of explaining his reasons for it, and without any warning to or input from his crew. It's not even a his way or the highway situation, because there is no highway. Everyone's already stuck on Scanner One with him, so now they've just got to live with his bullheaded leadership.

It's safe to say the team dynamics are working for me so far. And Conway is a capable team book writer, if this issue is any indication. Everyone has their own roles, specific duties to fulfill in the narrative and on the team. They each get their fair share of stage time, and they all interact with each other to some degree. There's even a handy monologue summarizing their personalities and histories for any potential new readers, but written succinctly enough not to turn off old readers, either. I would offer this as a solid jumping on point to this title, were it coming out today. It very plainly explains who everyone is, why they're part of the group, and what they're trying to accomplish. It might even make more sense if you were new, because you wouldn't be wondering how Martin talked Dart and Tempest into joining him before the issue began.

There's even a nice introduction to Rident, Pakrat's brother and arch-rival. Rident speaks before a few members of A.T.A.R.I., first as a witness to Scanner One's theft, but then arguing that he should be the one to bring the thieves in. Because of his experience with Pakrat, he says, he's the perfect man for the job, and he's convincing enough for the folks at A.T.A.R.I. They give him a loaner ship and send him on his way, at which point his character takes a slight but significant turn. Pure, boiling rage in his eyes, he declares that the only way to restore his family's honor is to murder Pakrat, which it's safe to assume isn't great news for the rest of Atari Force either. It transforms Rident from nuisance to legitimate villain.

The panel where Rident announces his murderous intent is fantastic, and an example of a particular strength of Ross Andru's in this issue. He does big images well; because his work is so detailed all the time, when he does a close-up or a splash image, there is an astounding craftsmanship to it. Everything looks alive, even the inanimate objects. They look tangible, anyway, true-to-life even in this sci-fi setting. Rident's fury is Andru zeroing in on a single smaller image and making it remarkably intricate, but he's just as impressive in the panels that take full pages. The second page of this book, where Tempest and Dart make their moves against Scanner One's only guard, is incredible. It makes me care about the guard, gets a laugh out of me from Tempest, and puts Dart back in the thick of the action where she's at her best. And it does all of that with striking beauty.

The ultimate triumph of the art in this issue, though, is the final page. Basically a pin-up of the Dark Destroyer ---he gets named on the cover, though still not in the script, yet, but I'm going to count it---it's the perfect blend of imposing and ridiculous for this kind of major cosmic villain. Chills and chuckles, all at once.

That final splash is also the tail end of a scene that tells us, not unexpectedly, that Dark Destroyer knew the Scanner One would seek him out eventually. It's well-established that he's familiar with Dart and "her family," and last issue he nabbed one of Martin's probes, so he's obviously a knowledgeable dude. His preparedness isn't shocking or scary by itself, but Andru brings home all the drama of that moment anyway with his impeccable penciling. He also gives all three of the Destroyer's nameless henchmen awesome designs that have almost nothing to do with each other. For a single panel, that's some serious care.

I like that Conway doesn't waste time in bringing Atari Force to the Dark Destroyer. The cover of the issue is a lie, because nobody actually sees the enemy's face, but they are at least adjacent to his ship in their own. They know where he is, and he knows they know and has been expecting them. And what they don't know is that Rident's on their tail. It's not sufficient for Conway to just assemble his team, he wants to throw them right into their first conflict, too. A newly-created Atari Force sandwiched between their foes is a nice, clean, high-drama situation, and farther than many comicbook teams get in the issue where they're formed. That gives me great hope that next issue, when they'll be starting in this position, some major shit can go down.

Atari Force Month: Issue #4 Review

Like the second issue, Atari Force #4 fails to get very far in terms of narrative advancement. Unlike the second issue, though, this one has a thematic reason for taking a breather, and it ends on one of the most important plot points yet. It still feels like a bit of a drag in the storytelling, but it's not a weak issue, necessarily, just a calmer and less thrilling one than they've tended to be until now.

All of the stories in the issue are connected to the concept of family, and the issue itself is titled "Families," so Gerry Conway isn't aiming at subtlety here. The main focus is on Dart returning to New Earth, reuniting with her parents and surrogate brother Tempest. It's nice to see her in a safe place, surrounded by love instead of war, but I will say that I much prefer badass, self-sufficient mercenary Dart to the woman she is at home. Not that there is anything wrong with her, per se, but in the company of her family Dart seems far more reserved and soft-hitting in her personality. She loses her edge a little because she lets her guard down. It is a logical shift in the character, to have her feel and act more at ease at the dinner table than she does in combat. And it's not the kind of change writers always include, so I give Conway credit for really thinking through the difference between Dart at home and Dart in the field. I just happen to like who she is in the field a bit more, personally.

Tempest, on the other hand, changes not at all when his "big sister" is around. Seeing Dart and spending time with her and her loving parents brings him only momentary joy before he slides back into one of his darker moods and ruminates on his estrangement from his own father. This, as usual, leads to a brief history lesson on the old Atari Force, which included Tempest's father (and his now-deceased mother) as well as Dart's parents. All worn out material already, but there's a structural logic to revisiting it with Tempest early in this issue. The next scene essentially covers the same content, this time through the eyes and mind of Martin Champion, Tempest's dad. He takes a walk down buried memory lane thanks to Morphea, the resident empath/telepath/psychiatrist. It spurs him to leave his little isolation pod for the first time in ages and go visit his old friends and colleagues. Perhaps even to make amends, or so he says. This means seeing Dart's parents, which puts Martin and Tempest in the same room. That's a fairly clear three-beat arc: 1.Tempest's view of the damaged relationship and history, 2. Martin's take on the same, 3. Their worlds colliding. And Conway plays the scene well, letting the tension build organically as the dialogue bounces from character to character, until Tempest finally (and predictably) storms off in pained anger.

One of the best details of that scene is the dynamic between Li San and Mohandas, Dart's mother and father, respectively. He tries to make polite small talk with his old friend; she very forcefully speaks the truth, that Martin has been a neglectful, absent hermit for years and owes them all an explanation. It helps propel the conversation forward, and puts Martin a bit on the defensive, which in turn causes him to say something that angers his son. To be fair, Tempest was pretty much waiting for an excuse to get pissed. The whole thing is volatile, and Conway is quick to let it blow up and then watch the dust settle.

In that settling dust, it is revealed that Martin's motives for his visit were not what he claimed, and he returns to his pod and his obsessive search for the powerful evil he believes is hiding somewhere in the Multiverse. This time, he actually has a stroke of luck, and finds what it is he's looking for: a giant ship, flying through what should be an empty universe. Then his luck takes just as quick a turn south when the ship captures his probe in a tractor beam, meaning whatever or whoever is out there now has the means to find New Earth. Which is how we arrive at the dramatic declaration that is the conclusion of this issue.

The cast is all in the same place, the enemy is clear, and Martin is determined to gather a team. It almost feels like the end of an arc, as much as any issue of Atari Force ever will. No longer will this series be about disconnected characters having small-scale, personalized dramas. Now there will be a call to arms, a call to action, and a full-fledged team book can and should emerge. The team, too, will be a sort of family, which is why I think it's fitting to take this issue and check in on their other families first. And because Dart, Tempest, and Martin already have familial bonds with one another, their arcs and backgrounds are given the most attention. It may include repetitive information, but it's largely justified in the service of this particular issue's goals.

In between the various scenes of the Champion family drama, Pakrat has another scene with Rident, and Morphea gets full custody of Babe (who is finally named! Yay!). The Pakrat-Rident exchange is terribly anti-climactic when held up against their initial encounter last issue. Instead of a legitimate arrest and chase, Pakrat basically uses legalese to talk Rident out of trying to nab him. It's a jurisdictional thing, which makes sense, but is dull, dull, dull.

Morphea getting Babe is also less exciting than her discovery of him last time, but that's only because here she just has to threaten the captain and before she actually mind-blasted him. Oh, quick aside: apparently the "first mate" character I've discussed was not the first mate but the literal, sexual mate of the captain, and therefore a woman. So I was wrong on both counts. Apologies.

At any rate, Morphea reminds the captain what she's capable of, and he agrees to let Babe go. First, Morphea has Babe finish the heavy lifting he was being forced to do, which I find a strange choice, but I guess she just wanted to avoid further argument or something. And it doesn't hurt him, so no harm no foul. As he walks away into freedom, Babe gets to spit his disgust at the captain, which is a satisfying moment. Meanwhile, Morphea finds herself surprised at her maternal nature, since her race does not have a classic parent-child relationship. Her bond with Babe is definitely the most interesting family unit examined in this issue, as well as the newest and, therefore, most fragile. I look forward to watching it grow, because it has the potential to teach both characters a lot about themselves through learning about one another.

Ross Andru is the guest penciler for this issue, and does just as good a job as usual for the title. It can't hurt that he's inked by regular penciler José Luis García-López, and both artists have a similarly grounded style. The artistic focus is still on the characters, and Andru is able to put a bit more nuance in his figures' emotions. This is the perfect issue for that, because so much of it is tense conversation with heavy subtext. There is no loss of background detail, though, just because the cast is slightly more expressive, and Andru generally stays very true to García-López's established look and style. They're both classic comicbook artists from a similar time, so it's no surprise that their styles blend well, but that's not necessarily typical of a fill-in artist. Andru is more than up to the task, maintaining every character's distinct look and personality throughout.

I actually like his Rident more, though strangely, his Pakrat is about the same. Somehow, Rident is even more intimidating and stone-faced when Andru draws him. Something about the shading and shape of his face makes him comes across as doubly stern. He also appears a bit more intelligent and competent somehow, which is odd considering he accomplishes less this issue than last.

Andru's best pages are the first three, and in particular page 1. He just draws the shit out of Dart, and the black backgrounds give the whole thing an intimate feel that pulls your eye in and forces you to soak up all the details. Splitting up her face and figure into a bunch of panels on the opening page has the same effect, and then when we turn the page and see her in all her gun-toting glory, it's magnificent. A really powerful opening, which is something this series has had consistently so far.

Andru also gets to draw the first appearance of Tempest's pet Hukka, who I'm not wild about, but serves his purpose as a cuddly-looking pet with basic intelligence. Far more beautiful is the night cat that Hukka chases, who only gets a single panel but is still one of the more memorable images of the issue. Tom Ziuko uses a nice, brash white with spots of milky green for it, too, which only helps.

My first impulse was to call this issue slow, but that's inaccurate. It's not slow, merely light, and that gives the impression of dragging heels. Dart coming home at the beginning is a big deal, and so is Martin's discovery at the end, but in between only the most minuscule of progress is made. Yet the purpose of Atari Force #4 is to show the reader different definitions of "family," good and bad and in between, before prepping the series to assemble a family of its own in the form of the titular team. That seems a worthwhile endeavor, even if it means having a chapter that doesn't get very far. The plot is now primed to develop with some speed, because all the players are where they need to be, and their opponent has been located. All that's left is to bring our heroes together, first with one another, and then with the big bad bad guy.

Atari Force Month: Issue #3 Review

I'm finally warming to Pakrat. Giving him an asshole, possibly fascist brother and equally oppressive family history makes his whole persona, if not any more pleasant, at least empathetic. He's pushing back against all that honor and responsibility talk, rejecting the idea of morality or duty in favor of self-centered avarice. Meeting his brother, Rident, and seeing how humorless and immovable he is, it becomes much easier to understand the impulse to run from it, to rebel as extremely as possible. Also, next to Rident, Pakrat is a barrel of laughs. His immaturity is less grating when bounced off of his brother's excessive seriousness, and I was actually cheering for him when he got away. It was a bit tiresome to have the final solution to his problems be, once again, to get cornered. At least Rident tried to prevent it. Somebody needs to.

Also, Pakrat being cornered this issue was given more space to breath, visually, which helps a lot. In the past, his rages have been somewhat glossed over, but here there is a sizable image of Pakrat charging, teeth barred and claws first. It makes him believably ferocious for the first time. And after that, there are a several other panels of the aftermath, of Pakrat tearing through Rident and his allies. It's the most action the character has seen, and the heaviest action of the issue, something that José Luis García-López has been doing extremely well all along.

Anyway, that plotline was my favorite. On top of the action it had the best humor, and it made me like a character I wasn't fond of prior. Rident is the perfect foil for Pakrat, and also now that Pakrat is on New Earth he's closer to being at all connected to anyone else in the book. So we're finally getting somewhere with that character, which is good, since he's on the cover.

Pakrat's story is truly only the B-plot of the issue, though. The real narrative core revolves around Dart and Blackjak's attempt to leave Roc's World and return to her home on New Earth. Their efforts are thwarted before they begin when Kargg, lackey to the mysterious main villain, pays spaceship dealer Lio off to sell them a faulty ship. Lio, by the way, is the greatest character this series has yet introduced, and as far as I can recall he never comes back. But that's fine, this is the perfect dose. He's almost human in his appearance, but so exaggerated in certain features and understated in others that he ends up also looking quite alien, somehow. And his huge, creepy grin matches his disturbingly cheery personality. "Lovely, lovely." It makes me shudder as I laugh. I've praised García-López's character work a lot, but this is the cream of the crop.

Lio's an ass, though, and sells Dart and Blackjak a vessel that is guaranteed to break down before they get where they want to go. While they stop to repair the ship, they're attacked by their shadowy enemy, and get away only because of another of Dart's visions. Right away, though, they realize their retreat has trapped them in orbit around a binary star system, and with their ship damaged, there is no way for them to break free. It's a gripping, powerful moment, watching these up-to-now fearless characters be awe-struck at their own impending deaths, but it's nothing compared to what follows. Blackjak takes a shot at fixing the ship one last time, hoping to give them the boost they need to escape. And it works, but the consequence is that the ship blasts him when it starts up again, launching Blackjak into the heart of the star from which he was trying to break away. Dart is powerless to do anything but watch him shrink away from her until he goes up in a final, distant flare. It's a well-structured, tightly-drawn scene that hits hard. Though something like this was foreshadowed in the debut, there was no reason to expect it to happen so soon or suddenly. And it speaks to the strong work Gerry Conway does with both characters up to this point that Blackjak's death and the pain of Dart's loss can each be so effective.

The story of Dart and Blackjak's tragic trip, from Roc's World to his demise, takes up something like half of the issue, including the very first scene (Dart wants to leave because of another premonition she has) and the final one (Blackjak dies). Between that and Pakrat's arrest and escape, this issue already fixes a lot of the problems in Atari Force #2. Where that was spinning its wheels, stuck repeating the character sketches of the debut, this instead leaps dramatically forward for much of the cast. Pakrat's world expands greatly; Dart's gets half as big. And then there's Morphea and the Egg baby*.

*Quick digression: I have looked it up, and yes, the Egg child's name is Babe. Also the main bad guy is the Dark Destroyer. But I refuse to call them that in these reviews until the book starts to, because that seems only fair. Or right. Or something. It's what I'm doing.

The nefarious captain and his pathetic first mate land on New Earth and force their captive to unload the rest of their ship. Quite forcefully. The first mate protests, and the captain ignores him as always, but the commotion catches Morphea's attention and she arrives to investigate. Not one to suffer fools, and physically unable to believe anyone's bullshit, Morphea very quickly learns the truth of the situation through a kind of mind meld with the Egg baby. This is displayed visually in a gorgeous half-page panel, where García-López and Ricardo Villagrán do a great job of recapping events from the child's point of view. The captain's face is made into that of a nightmarish monster, and so is his ship, and the memories blend together in a sort of fluid, singular image that still tells a clear narrative. It's a visual high point of the series, different than anything that comes before but not jarring or out of place.

Promising to return and free the baby soon, Morphea departs, but not before striking at the captain with some sort of psychic blow. The scene adds a lot to her powerset, makes her a firmer and bolder character than I previously thought, and binds her to this Egg child, simultaneously advancing both of their individual arcs. In a very short space, Conway pulls off another major development for two of his main characters, which seems to be what Atari Force #3 is all about. With one glaring exception.

Tempest and Professor Venture have a three-page conversation that is 100% pointless recap. He tells her about Melissa dumping him, which he also predicts and she openly admits is news she already knows. They then go over for the third time in as many issues how bad Tempest's relationship is with his father, and at the same time remind us that Venture is very much his mother figure, despite not being his actual mom. Who, it is repeated, died in childbirth. And then the scene closes with Tempest having another temper flare up like he did in issue #2 with Melissa's father, while Venture wishes Dart would return since she and Tempest always had a special bond. Which, like everything else, has been said before. So that's a dud scene and a waste of space, but easily forgiven when everything else that happens in the issue takes large strides ahead.

After a hiccup or two in the previous issue, the artwork is back on point here. As I mentioned, there's some heart-wrenching material when Blackjak dies, and when Pakrat is allowed the necessary page count, he gets transformed into a proper action star. And of course there is the amazing design of Lio, a scene-stealer if ever there was one. Tom Ziuko's colors don't seem to be as loose as last time, either. He does especially strong work in the opening scene, playing with the nighttime lighting and the glow of the fire. The atmosphere of that moment is such a stark contrast to what the characters are feeling. While Dart is panicked, the world around her rests in a calm, gentle dark. Ziuko continues to enhance the overwhelming moods of Dart and Blackjak's story, doing a lot with a more limited palette when the couple is traveling through deep space.

García-López also provides some of his most expressive work in those places of highest, saddest feeling. The utter shock and despair on Dart and Blackjak's faces when they know they're doomed, and the helpless, teary heartbreak in Dart's eyes as she watches her lover die. Or the Egg child's immense fear and the deep maternal care it brings out in Morphea. Hell, even Pakrat's fury and Tempest's deep familial scars. It's not easy to convey the true weight of such things, but García-López does it more than once, whenever it's called for.

For the first time, the already excellent characters now have some exciting narratives cropping up around them. And they draw ever closer together, converging on New Earth for various reasons. Not yet unified, or even all acquainted, the cast still manages to hold my interest based on their individual strengths. And even though Conway stumbles here or there, particularly with Tempest and Venture, he mostly writes strong and surprising stories this time out. Rendered by an art team that very rapidly got their groove back (and only ever lost a small portion of it to begin with), Atari Force #3 is, I think, the best issue of the series to this point. The first two made sure we knew who we were dealing with, this one shows us why they're going to be worth our time and attention in the long term.

Atari Force Month: Issue #2 Review

 

Atari Force #2 opens in much the same way the first issue did, with Dart and Blackjak in the heat of battle. From there, the issue continues to rehash information and ideas that were established in the debut, making this chapter feel like a weaker second half to the first one. It's not that there isn't any advancement of plot or character whatsoever, but the forward movement that does take place is so slight that it hardly maters. More than anything, this is round two of the many character introductions that have already taken place. Not enough changes and almost nothing new is developed. It's a frustratingly stagnant issue.

To Gerry Conway's credit, what few new ideas do make into the script here are quite interesting, although it may be José Luis García-López's designs for them that deserve most of the credit. I'm thinking specifically of the Warbeast and the viper-hound, creatures which are introduced only so they can attack the main characters. But in keeping with the work he did on the first issue, García-López gives even the throwaway villains full and fascinating designs. The Warbeast makes me think of a monstrous palm tree, towering over everyone, all muscles and teeth and giant hands. And the viper-hound, as its name suggests, lies somewhere between a snake and a dog. That's a frightening combination of speed, wiles, and fangs, and the monster's physicality is key to its effectiveness. If Pakrat was fleeing from some goofy little space beastie, that scene would become the comic relief of the issue. But because the viper-hound is truly unsettling in its appearance, it is easier to feel some genuine fear for Pakrat as he tries to get away.

Considering it dominates the cover image, it's no surprise that the Warbeast is the real focus of this issue. It is the last surviving member of a race of creatures built specifically for war, forced to eat its fellow warbeasts after they'd killed everyone else on their planet. That's not the most original backstory I've ever heard, but it's a straightforward idea that lays out the seriousness of the new threat right away. The still-nameless archvillain from issue #1 sends the Warbeast after Dart, and her fight with it is the biggest and weightiest scene, closing out the issue on yet another note of Dart and Blackjak have won for now but it won't last. The actual combat is done well; García-López manages to make the Warbeast very lifelike and mobile despite its enormous size, and Dart and Blackjak continue to be legitimately impressive action heroes. Plus the ultimate solution Dart devises to defeat the monster is as brutal as it is brilliant, and further demonstrates both her intelligence and bravery. So it's not, on its own merits, at all a bad final fight scene. The problem is that we already know what capable warriors Dart and Blackjak are, as well as the fact that the mysterious villain is after them. So while the Warbeast battle may look great and have a (literally) explosive ending, it does not teach the reader anything new about anyone, or truly serve to move the narrative forward in any noticeable way. Dart and Blackjak are on Roc's World, in danger, and don't know who's targeting them or why. That's exactly where they were at the end of issue #1.

The other plot developments, such as they are, are similarly insignificant. Arguably the biggest change is that Melissa dumps Tempest because her father, a Senator on New Earth, thinks Tempest a freak. Apparently Melissa's dad is passionately anti-A.T.A.R.I., and Tempest, as the superpowered son of old-school A.T.A.R.I. members, represents to him the worst possible choice for Melissa to date. So he comes between them, and Melissa, who barely even has a character at this point, sides with her father for unexplained reasons. Tempest does not handle the break-up at all well, shoving Meliss'a father into a pool of water before storming off and escaping into another layer of the Multiverse. There, we get a fuller explanation of how his abilities work, which, at the very least, is something.

Aside from furthering the reader's understanding of Tempest's powers, though, the break-up with Melissa doesn't seem like too big a deal. She was such a non-entity in the debut, and in this issue her only role is to turn Tempest away as a means of setting up her father's entrance. I don't feel any of the pain Tempest apparently does, because I am not at all invested in his romantic relationship at this point. I'm barely invested in him yet. I'm curious about his talents, sure, but my emotional attachment to any of these characters is still relatively thin only two issues deep. And while I appreciate the chance to see behind the curtain of him moving through the Multiverse, ultimately even this is more of a retread than it is new material. Our understanding of what he can do may be widened, but it's not exactly brand new information. And a girl I don't know dumping him and for reasons I don't fully grasp does not make for an especially sturdy plot hook.

It is, however, more advancement than Conway gives to either Pakrat or the baby from Egg (who, if memory serves, will be named Babe eventually, but for now is still a nameless child). Each of these characters gets a single scene, and both of those scenes' primary purpose seems to be to merely remind the audience that these characters exist. Particularly in the case of the Egg baby. His few pages are just the first mate who kidnapped him feeling guilty about it an deciding to jettison the child into space to put them both out of their misery. Of course, his captain stops him just in time, so nothing changes. Nothing even happens. The baby crying makes the first mate cry, but then the captain tells him to stop, and the three of them continue as they were before. Probably a scene that could've been skipped.

Pakrat, at least, is shown to have moved off the planet he was stealing from before, now stowed away on a spaceship, stealing its food for himself. So he's in a new geographical location, if nothing else. Other than that, though, his story in this second issue more or less mirrors what happened to him in the the first. There, he was caught stealing, chased, cornered, and then he fought his way out. Here, he is caught hiding, chased, cornered, and then fights his way out. We gain no insight into his character, he gets essentially nowhere, and he remains a childish and self-interested character that I'm not entirely sold on, yet. Perhaps not as skippable as the scene with the Egg baby, but not considerably more important or informative, either.

That covers most of what goes on in this issue. There are a few pages devoted to Morphea meeting with Martin Champion, and though that conversation does provide some new info, it's exceedingly dry (the conversation, not the info). Where Conway was able to more fluidly incorporate exposition into his dialogue in issue #1, the chat between Morphea and Champion is more forced and stilted. It sets up Champion's intense paranoia about as clearly as you could ever want, but it would've been nice to see that done in a subtler way than to have him explain his entire belief system to a stranger. And Morphea, as an empath, is able to read his internal feelings and figure out the source of his irrational fears and rage, but, again, she does it too overtly. A bit more nuance, or just giving the reader enough credit to figure out what makes Champion tick on our own, could've improved that scene tremendously.

I don't mean to give the impression that this is a terrible issue. Taken as its own entity, outside of the shadow of the debut, it's not a bad comicbook by any measure. Gerry Conway's writing is heavier-handed than before, with a lot more purpleish prose added to the narration, sometimes to the point of distracting. But on the whole he's still a skilled writer, and his cast is just as strong and fleshed out in this issue as it was in the first. That's still a vast number of interesting characters, and even if they aren't made more interesting here, they're certainly not any less so, either. Plus Conway throws in the Warbeast and viper-hound for good measure, and I suppose I appreciate the effort of checking in on all of his cast members, even if I think a few of their scenes didn't need to be shown to the reader. So this is not a dreadful comic. It is, actually, a rather good comic. It's just not as good as the one which preceded it. They accomplish similar things, but because this issue comes second, it feels largely redundant.

The art takes a small dip, too. Not so much José Luis García-López's pencils or their accompanying inks by Ricardo Villagrán, which continue to astound in their level of detail and expression. And as I said, the designs for the few new characters are great. Beyond the aforementioned bad guys, there is a band of rebel soldiers who fight alongside Dart and Blackjak, and each of them has a unique look as well. The constant creation of new beings is still this series' most enjoyable, impressive feature.

Where the art slips is in Tom Ziuko's coloring, though even then only in minor ways. The most noticeable mistakes are in the coloring of Dart's tattoos. They're meant to be purple, but are done in straight black several times, and once or twice Ziuko fails to color them at all, leaving them the same as Dart's skin. It's a tiny mistake and a minor quibble, but however slight, it's another way in which the quality of this issue is below that of the first. And Dart's tattoos are one of my favorite parts of her whole look, so seeing them neglected is no fun. Ziuko is still a strong colorist overall, though, and has some especially nice touches in the scene with Pakrat. I loved the pinks of the background behind the ship on which he's hiding. And the soothing wash of blue used to display the darkness and shadow of Pakrat's hiding place was a smart if simple call to make. It's still a colorful book, it's just that Ziuko lets some details slide here when they didn't before.

I mostly like the tiny developments that do arise here. I was glad to learn more about Tempest's powers, dug the viper-hound, and loved watching Dart kick the ass of the Warbeast. But these new bits are too few and unimportant, leaving the issue feeling a tad lean for my taste. The cover spoils the bulk of the plot: Dart vs. the Warbeast. That story is something like half of the issue, and it gets us exactly nowhere.

And then, in the backmatter, we have some "Fact Files," essentially just character profiles that, once again, contain zero new information. Well, that's not true, but it's either stuff we already know of stuff we'll never, ever need to know in a million years. Just a final misstep, one more reason that my reaction to this issue is, "Enough fucking character set-up, already!" They've been introduced and then introduced again. Time to move on. Time to really do something.

Atari Force Month: Issue #1 Review

The first issue of Atari Force is definitely a strong debut, even though really, it offers no concrete narrative reason for anyone to pick up the second. There are some threats introduced, but the forces behind them aren't entirely clear. What's missing is a single central conflict or, for that matter, core concept to the series. At the end of this issue, the impression left is that Atari Force is an ensemble character study. It sets up numerous characters, all of whom have their own problems and powers and personalities, and banks on that cast to be compelling enough to bring anyone back for more. Luckily, they are interesting people, for the most part, anyway, and even without an obvious story hook, this is an inviting beginning to the book.

Opening on the fictional planet Roc's World, the first scene of Atari Force #1 is a big, loud, crowded sci-fi bar brawl. At the center of the action are Dart and Blackjak, lovers and guns-for-hire who, we learn, have been stiffed by their most recent employer, Ki, so now they're getting him back by taking down his entire army themselves. They win the fight easily, clearly more skilled in the art of violence than anyone else in the room by a lot, but are forced to flee when the cops show up, placing them firmly in the role of lawbreaking anti-heroes. It's a very fun and exciting way the kick off the series, starting with a point of high action and with characters who are impressive, look interesting, and bring a nice sense of humor to the page. Also, Dart is as strong a female character as I've seen in ages, in comicbooks or otherwise. She and Blackjak are clearly equals in their professional and personal partnerships both. And Dart is actually a bit more self-assured and capable than Blackjak because, along with all the other talents she brings to the table, she is apparently able to have brief premonitions that help keep her out of trouble. This is how they avoid the cops, who would certainly have taken Blackjak in (and indeed almost do, anyway) if he didn't have Dart to back him up.

Right away, I like the people I'm meeting. Dart and Blackjak both pull out some nice fight moves and other action scene tricks, have a few laugh lines, and generally play very believably off one another as a competent couple of professionals. And Gerry Conway does a pretty good job of providing expository information through their dialogue without it slowing down the story or spoiling their voices. They explain to Ki that he can either pay them what he owes or they'll kill him, which is a pretty classic offer, made directly. Once that's been established (which takes all of two pages, both of which also have the best and most bombastic action) Dart and Blackjak are free to crack jokes, shout warnings to one another, and demonstrate the strength of their relationship in other ways while they work together to avoid arrest. So Conway gets the exposition out of the way as quickly and naturally as possible in order to give his cast more room to stretch their legs.

Once the story leaves Roc's World, it leaps to the planet Egg, where a couple of nameless merchants are making a stop with their massive spaceship. The captain is a drunk, brash, somewhat arrogant fellow, while his first mate is more level-headed but less informed. The mate is the point-of-view character for the reader while the captain explains why they are there: to kidnap a baby. The native species of Egg are born as giants and grow into literal mountains, sitting perfectly still in their adulthood as part of the landscape of their homeworld. For my money, this is the single best idea in the whole of Atari Force. There's something strangely romantic about it, and though it's a simple concept on the face of it, there are still a lot of questions raised. It's not the greatest scene in the series, or even of the first issue, although the captain and mate do have a funny dynamic. And when they capture one of the babies there is a single panel of it crying that breaks my heart. But there are only three pages of Egg material before the setting shifts again to New Earth and we meet another handful of characters.

All at once are introductions to Morphea, Professor Venture, and Christopher Champion a.k.a. Tempest, all of whom work for the Advanced Technology And Research Institute (A.T.A.R.I., get it?), orbiting above the planet. Venture shows Morphea a live video of Tempest in training, which allows Conway to explain Tempest's abilities to the audience explicitly in Venture's voice. Even still, the explanation is a bit vague: Christopher can transfer some or all of himself to a different part of the Multiverse and back again. Ok, but what is the Multiverse, and how does he do that? For now, that's left unsaid, but what it amounts to is hyper-controlled teleportation, including sticking himself inside of objects and causing them to explode. Which is cool and creative enough for me to want to see more, perhaps next time outside of a danger room situation, where the stakes would be real. The same is true of Morphea, who in the last panel of the scene mentions in passing, and only to herself, that she is an empath. Suddenly she becomes all the more interesting, as I want to know the details of how that empathy works in practice. I suppose this teasing of their powers may be Conway's tactic. Rather than leave the reader with narrative cliffhangers to entice them, he shows us glimpses of seemingly very cool, original, and powerful new characters, hoping we return in order to learn more about their lives.

The last character established here is Pakrat, whose scene is as brief as the one on Egg, just enough time for him to steal something, be identified as a notorious thief, and fight his way out of apprehension. At first he runs, but once cornered, goes into a sort of berserker rage that allows him to tear through multiple armed enemies with claws and teeth alone. Sadly, Pakrat is the dullest member of the cast, in personality, story, and special abilities. Being an artifact thief is an exciting enough lifestyle, but not something entirely new, and "unable to stay cornered" just isn't all that impressive an attribute. And Pakrat's voice is a bit juvenile, entirely selfish, and not especially likable yet. It's not the smartest scene in terms of where it's placed, because it almost ends the issue on the flattest possible note. Luckily, Dart and Blackjak have one more scene to close things out and act as a reminder of all the good stuff that came before.

It's not really the specifics of the couple's exchange that make the ending strong, it's the juxtaposition of their happiness and the gruesome final panel. Earlier in the issue, right after Dart and Blackjak finish their fight with Ki's forces, Ki himself runs off to meet with the man he's working for. This boss villain is clearly set up to be the main villain of the series, but remains for now unnamed and shadowy. What is shown is his efficient ruthlessness as he throws Ki into one of Roc's World's acidic rivers, strong enough to eat away all his flesh and innards in sixteen seconds. Ki was hired to deliver Dart to this nameless menace, and apparently you only get one chance. In the moment of Ki's death, Conway writes the first and only example in this debut of third-person narration. Other than a few captions to identify location, all of the other words are dialogue, but here the script gets more poetic, even though it's still informative. At first it feels an odd choice, but it adds to the impact of Ki's demise and helps keep the scene memorable.

Then, at the very end of the issue, the image of Ki's skeleton in the river is revisited, under a dialogue caption of Blackjak saying that he and Dart are bound for some good luck. The obvious implication is that he couldn't be more wrong. That, in fact, their recent troubles are just the beginning of darker times to come. I suppose, technically, this counts as a the story hook, although "a bad guy threatens our heroes for some reason" doesn't really get full credit in my book. But it's definitely a strong final panel, calling back the evocative language of Ki's death scene and reminding the reader how wicked the bad guy in the background is. It also means Dart, Blackjak, or both are likely to die before the series concludes, and since they are still the best characters so far, that's a truly terrifying and gripping notion.

There are definite bumps in the road, but Atari Force #1 has more to like than dislike in the end. Some very strong character work and sprinklings of fascinating alien worlds and concepts leave a lot of tasty breadcrumbs behind. Though Conway's script can at times be obvious or unsubtle, it tends to feel pretty natural, and he finds logical reasons to have one character deliver exposition to another without it seeming wedged in. Ultimately, though, I don't think Conway's writing is as impressive in total as the art by penciler José Luis García-López, inker Ricardo Villagrán, and colorist Tom Ziuko.

The number of characters that García-López was responsible for in this issue is pretty amazing, especially because they all pretty much look different than each other. Tempest and Dart's outfits have some shared elements because they are both children of A.T.A.R.I., but even Dart and Blackjak don't have a cohesive uniform. If he didn't have his weird eye thing, they might not seem to fit in the same story at all. She's all future fashion, he could blend in with Robin Hood's crew.

It's the minor characters, too, like the nameless aliens in the bar fight, Pakrat's pursuers, or Kargg, the stoic right-hand man of the primary baddy. They all have a lot of tiny details, and because many of them are alien races, unique physical features as well. Tiny touches like the captain's hat on Egg and Professor Venture's sunglasses add a bit of humor and a lighter air to those sections. Actually Professor Venture has a generally relaxed, cheery aura about her that puts me at ease whenever she's on the page. And even she, in the long run, is not too consequential a member of the ensemble. Neither is the captain, who, in addition to his hat, has the best and funniest face in the issue, too. García-López doesn't seem to believe in minor characters, and that level of detail and consideration in his world-building is a foundational aspect of this issue's success.

Both Villagrán and Ziuko help to highlight all the careful work García-López does, punctuating the best and most important of the myriad visual bells and whistles. Villagrán lets the lines stay fairly soft so the characters feel more lifelike, but still keeps even the most crowded, chaotic scenes clear. And Ziuko is as impressive in his costume coloring as García-López in his initial designs. Everyone has their own distinct combinations of hues so that nobody is too much like anyone else. Again, characters with specific connections, like Dart and Tempest or the captain and his mate, have some similar elements, but the rest of their outfits are very much their own. And the backgrounds are varied, too, changing with every new setting and shift in mood. Ziuko utilizes a broad palette and makes all of his decisions deliberately, adding an important final sheen to García-López and Villagrán's already layered work.

It's also worth noting that, as in their characterizations, the women of this series aren't sexualized in their attire. Dart is actually dressed appropriately for battle, which you hardly ever see, and Professor Venture seems to be wearing something like far-future business casual. Even Melissa, Tempest's girlfriend, who is wearing an outfit that's arguably cut a bit too short, doesn't have an insane body shape or ever get posed in an unrealistically sexual manner. Not something I think this book is making an overt point of doing, but still always nice to see.

The cover boasts, "Introducing: The Strangest S-F Heroes of All!" (S-F=science-fiction). I'm not sure if I buy them as the strangest of all, but there are definitely some weird and refreshing folks in here, likable enough to make me excited to follow them on whatever adventures await. It would've been nice to get more of a glimpse of what those adventures might possibly be, or even to see these characters meet one another, but that's not necessary for the initial installment. This is enough of a foundation that a ton of really great stories could be constructed, and that's really all a first issue has to accomplish, whatever route it takes to get there.

Atari Force Month Begins

Happy June! Happy Summer! Happy Atari Force Month!

All month long here on Comics Matter, I'm going to be focused entirely on the bizarre and fun-tastic 1984 sci-fi adventure series from DC known as Atari Force. Technically it'll be the second volume of the title, because the first was a five-issue series of mini-comics that were given away with old Atari games and had stories based on the same. The original Atari Force was, therefore, little more than a marketing ploy, a fun little freebie comic designed to sell more video games. These initial five issues are not easy to find, even online, and have such a thin connection to what followed that it matters very little for my purposes. The second volume moved away from the video game tie-in strategy in favor of telling original stories that work on their own, and did so with an almost entirely different cast of characters than volume one. It's not an amazing series, nor is it especially horrible, but it is a book that's a bit unlike anything else, with some great new characters and thought-provoking science fiction concepts.

I plan to publish one post every day in June about Atari Force, beginning with daily reviews of each issue. Once I get through all twenty issues, there is a three-story special from 1986 that I will probably split into three days worth of material, and after that...I don't know. There'll be five or six days at the end of the month left over to look at the series as a whole, and I'm not sure yet what those'll look like. I'll have to cross that bridge once I get there.

Why am I doing this? I'd love to give you a concrete reason, but there ain't one. I like Atari Force but haven't looked at it in a while, so I wanted an excuse to reread it. Also I was looking for something different to do on the blog for a bit, just to shake up my writing schedule. Therefore, Atari Force Month it is!

Before I delve into the meat of the series myself, though, let me direct your attention to someone else's attempt to do the same. Though it no longer seems to be active or updated, the Atari Force Headquarters website is still online and has a lot of good information in its archives. Summaries of every issue, articles and interviews on the series from back when it was first being published, a timeline of everything that happens in the book, creator bios, etc. It's not the best-looking or most well-organized thing in the world, but if you take the time to click its many, many links, you can learn a lot about the details of this series.

Tomorrow, I kick things off more officially with a closer look at Atari Force, volume two, issue #1.