Atlantis Attacks 2019 Featured Reviews 

“Atlantis Attacks” #1

By | January 24th, 2020
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Namor the Submariner is an interesting figure in the Marvel cannon, and is a character that isn’t getting the attention he really deserves. He was one of Marvel’s first big superheroes back when the were called Timely Comics, beating DC’s Aquaman by two years. He shared the limelight with the original robot Human Torch and Captain America, he was the first mutant in the Marvel pantheon, and perhaps most importantly he was the first anti hero in comics. His early comic book appearances were marked by a substantial amount of violence, a marked disdain for the surface world, and he wasn’t above killing people in order to get his point across.
Unfortunately, the rights to the character have been mired in studio politics, so he was unable to be a part of the MCU. Thankfully, that might be changing, and if “Atlantis Attacks” #1 is any indication, there might be big things in store for Marvel’s King of Atlantis

Cover by Rock-He Kim
Written by Greg Pak
Illustrated by Ario Anindito
Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino

We’re well into the post ‘War of the Realms’ Marvel Universe and the situation is still a bit fragile. While the West has their own problems to deal with, the Far East and Pacific is experiences their own social and geo political upheaval, specifically the arrival of the magical and fantastic Portal City of Pan.

Pan is a new city founded by a billionaire named Mike Nguyen with the intention of bringing people together by allowing instantaneous travel via a strange and mysterious portal network. Since then, it’s become a place for everyone from heroes, to businesses, to refugees to travel to and even settle in. However, a superhero group named Atlas, led by the new Hulk Amadeus Cho, is suspicious of Nguyen and began investigating the city and what makes it tick. Unfortunately, it turns out that Pan has been using stolen Atlantean technology and magic to power it’s portal network, and King Namor is not happy.

The writing is the highlight of “Atlantis Attacks” #1 and comes courtesy of Greg Pak, who seems to be everywhere in the comic book landscape nowadays, and that’s a good thing. Pak sets up a story in “Atlantis Attacks” #1 that encapsulates what makes every good fictional conflict great. Each of the characters are relatable, understandable, and have very clear motivations for what they are doing and why they are doing it, but what really makes it special is how self-aware all of the characters are and how reluctant they feel about actually having to fight each other. On one hand, Cho and the Agents of Atlas believe in the idea of the Portal City of Pan and want to protect it at all costs, but understand that the city is built on a shaky foundation that needs to be changed if it is going to work. In the meantime, Namor could care less about the specific device that powers the city and would be more than content to leave the surface dwellers alone. However, those same surface dwellers stole from him and his people, and that is something that his pride and position will not allow. There’s a very real sense of reluctant violence to the story, and it promises to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. It’s a well thought out, well planned, and well written issue that lays the foundation for more great issues in the future.

The artwork on “Atlantis Attacks” #1 is good and mostly does what it’s supposed to do very well. Artist Ario Anindito does a very good job drawing the humans that occupy the comic and there’s a strong sense of the feelings and emotions that are going through each of the character’s heads. Most of the pages have a high panel count and focus on the faces and torsos of the people that occupy the story, and Anindito’s ability to draw highly detailed facial expressions and body features is perfect of the book and really makes each of the characters come to life. Everything from Namor’s rage to Amadeus’ determination is on full display in the artwork, and it compliments the morally grey nature of the conflict very well and makes the comic feel very personal.

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However, while the art does a great job with the nuance and small details of the story, it does kind of fall apart a bit if you step back and take a look at the bigger picture. “Atlantis Attacks” #1 is setting up a conflict between a visionary billionaire’s dream city that runs on near mythical technology and an underwater nation state with technology and secrets that the surface world can barely comprehend. Yet, when the reader looks past the characters and at the setting of the story, there’s hardly anything there. All of the big, flashy moments in the comic are taken up by tons of nearly blank space and are made up of extra large drawings of super dynamic action. Granted, it’s still very good action, but it lacks a sense of place and perspective that would put the comic over the top and make it the epic it deserves to be.

“Atlantis Attacks” #1 is a good comic that sets up a good story and follows a lot of the rules that we’ve come to expect from modern comic stories. It sets the stage for a large scale and nasty conflict that promises to challenge its characters, everyone has a compelling and understandable motivation for what they are about to do, and the focus is on the characters and their presumed emotional journey. However, the intense focus on the characters means the reader doesn’t get the best grasp of the supp

Final Verdict: 8.5- We have a fantastic idea of who is fighting and why they are fighting, just not the best idea of what they are fighting for.


Matthew Blair

Matthew Blair hails from Portland, Oregon by way of Attleboro, Massachusetts. He loves everything comic related, and will talk about it for hours if asked. He also writes a web comic about a family of super villains which can be found here: https://tapas.io/series/The-Secret-Lives-of-Villains

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