Comics Fondle

I tracked down and read Sword of the Atom because DC’s got a trade coming out in August and I didn’t want to order it and get a piece of crap. Even though the second issue goes way too far with its Marvel-style recap (you know, when there’s a one or two page recap of the previous issue, usually revealing information previously not imparted to the reader–much like a serial recap actually)–Sword of the Atom #2 takes four pages maybe, apparently using the same art. But almost immediately following, it turns itself around.Sword of the Atom’s a decent little Incredible Shrinking Man riff–the Atom versus snakes, lizards, riding around on frogs. It’s fun, like the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons where Jerry had little cars around or whatever.Oddly, it’s a rather adult story in the first issue–the Atom’s wife is cheating on him and, for the first five or six pages, it doesn’t even read like a superhero comic. It never does really, just because it’s about the Atom the Barbarian or whatnot. It’s not quite Conan either; it’s got a bit of a lame political thing going on, but the end’s visually bombastic enough, it doesn’t really matter.It’s also very self-aware, in a Alan Moore Swamp Thing kind of way (the Atom and Jean Loring’s argument covers his self-important status as a superhero–I mean, he’s the Atom–and her not wanting to live in a comic book). That self-awareness disappears after the first issue, but there’s an adult tone, particularly in the last issue, which is quite welcome.It’s a pleasant surprise–even if Gil Kane’s perspective on faces occasionally goes a little Picasso.

B

Technorati Tags: Comic Book, DC Comics, Gil Kane, Jan Strnad, Review, Sword of the Atom

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