Agents of Atlas #2 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artists (Present Day): Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Jana Schirmier
Artists (1958): Gabriel Hardman, Elizabeth Dismang Breitwiser

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

The Agents of Atlas begin this issue trying to sell a new weapon to one of Norman Osborn’s ATF teams. The ATF team is led by a former Spider-Man villain, the Grizzly.

Mr. Lao (a dragon who lives in the Hidden City) lets Jimmy Woo know that his new second in command has arrived. It is Temugin, the son of the Mandarin.

Gorilla Man demostrates the weapon on one of Norman’s helicopters. Namora saves it before it crashes. Grizzly agrees to take the weapon (which shuts down any mechanical device). He points it at M-11. Namora goes insane and attacks him. No one will threaten the robotman M-11 while she is around.

Back on Marvel Boy’s flying saucer, the Agents celebrate their sale. Temugin appears in their midst. After a short fight, Jimmy Woo orders him to stand down. Temugin tells Jimmy that he realizes Jimmy is using the Atlas Foundation to bring peace and end corruption in the world. Temugin says that the Atlas Foundation has been run by the descendants of Khan to conquer the world. Jimmy’s goals could be met very quickly by letting Atlas take over the world.

In a parallel storyline, the Agents are on a mission in 1958. A mystery Russian jet has been appearing, causing a sonic boom, and disappearing. Marvel Boy catches up to the plane and discovers that it is being flown by a skeleton.

The Agents return to their base with a pilot named Kit. They take him to a night club. Jimmy leaves to meet an old flame of his, Suwan (she is the niece of the Yellow Claw). The Agents are attacked by armed troopers who are looking for “the woman”.

This was a good followup to the first issue. Parker continues to build on the characterization of the various agents. He continues to bring in lesser known characters such as Temugin and Grizzly.

I liked the way that Temugin thinks he is better than everyone else. This is a logical character trait for him. Anyone who is the son of the Mandarin was probably raised to think that his father is the only person better than him. Marvel Boy found the perfect weakness to exploit in Temugin’s psyche. A fear of Iron Man. Iron Man defeated Temugin in the past. Iron Man also defeated the Mandarin many times. Temugin would have a deep rooted fear of Iron Man.

Gorilla Man continues to be one of my favorites. Parker build his personality by using comments like how he likes salads ever since he became hairy.

What other comic gives you quotes like …

“In your face, scales!”

“All we’ve got of your predecessor is a torn jacket with teeth marks.”

“I think a gorilla and a grizzly are trying to out-posture each other.”

“Who’s the number one sales-ape in the bay area?”

“Hungry goddess needs delicious offerings.”

“Say the word Jimmy, and I’ll take him to the bottom of the Pacific.”

Any book that has a gorilla and a grizzly bear negotiating weapon sales has my attention.

The various artists turned in another great issue. The flash backs were drawn in golden age style and fit the story perfectly. The modern day pages were as good as the first issue. Pagulayan’s art is similar to Alan Davis’ work but is different enough to not be a copy. He has a bright future ahead of him.

Agents of Atlast #2 is highly recommended. This is another excellent team book from Marvel. With the mix of lesser known heroes, it reminds me of the original outstanding Defenders issues (when Len Wein and Steve Gerber were writing it).