“Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad” has reached its halfway point, which means that the “Justice League of America” one-shots that will lead to the start of that new series at the conclusion of “Justice League Vs Suicide Squad” have begun. First up is Ryan Choi, aka the Atom, from Steve Orlando and Andy MacDonald. I want to say this is a spoiler-free review, but I must qualify that by saying that it is only spoiler-free if you read the “DC Universe Rebirth” one-shot from May.
Written by Steve Orlando
Illustrated by Andy MacDonaldSPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD! Meet Ryan Choi, prodigious theoretical physics student with severe allergies and crippling social anxiety. But little does young Ryan know, his first day at Ivy University marks the start of an epic journey into the very heart of the DC Universe!
One of the problems with the ‘Rebirth’ initiative was that so many of the initial titles – the ones emblazoned with ‘Rebirth’ – were that they were very much recapping things we either already knew, or told stories that were free of consequence, as they were purely setting up the upcoming series. This book absolutely suffers from a bit of that same problem, essentially telling the story of Ryan Choi leading directly up to our ‘Rebirth’ introduction to the character. We get the tale of Ryan moving to the United States to attend Ivy University, his introduction to Ray Palmer, and his emergence as a major scientific mind.
All of that is handled with grace, with style, and with nuance, but ultimately, the issue doesn’t really give us anything about Choi that we didn’t have from “DC Universe Rebirth.” Sure, Johns had to cut some corners in his 5-page story – having the Dean threaten to deport Choi was not the most subtle way to let us know he’s an immigrant – but overall, everything you need to know about Choi, you learned there.
So, the expectations for this book instantly shift; this isn’t a story about the Atom. It is about the steps that lead Ryan Choi to become the Atom. We get a brief glimpse at the Ray Palmer Atom, but overall, this issue is about what makes Ryan Choi an unlikely hero. And, on that front, the issue is a total success.
A large part of that is due to Andy MacDonald’s art. MacDonald delivers some great work here, instantly establishing Ivy as a real place, and giving Ryan and his supporting cast instant credibility. Adam Cray, his roommate, is sort of the perfect douchebag roommate, all established in three panels: he’s not wearing a shirt, he’s the son of a senator, would rather be playing rugby. When he pops up later in the issue for two more panels, he tries to teach Ryan to catch a football and calls him ‘brah’ while playing video games. The combination of MacDonald’s perfect capturing of what a college bro is, along with Orlando’s dialogue, takes a one-note character and gives him a sort of weirdly deep arc. I, for one, am sad we will never see him again. Fare thee well, Adam: enjoy that beer bong.
But MacDonald really shines when the book introduces some more superheroic elements to the book. While the Ivy U stuff is well handled, MacDonald does a lot with just a little action in the book. The subatomic stuff is super fun, and I’ll never grow tired to seeing Palmer or Choi ride microorganisms or free people trapped in bottles. Plus, we got a Clock King reference, and why not?
MacDonald does a really nice job distinguishing between the collegiate action and the heroic action, giving each world a totally separate tone and look. His clean lines and really impressive character work makes me wish that he would be doing more with the character. This is no knock on Ivan Reis, who will be handling the character as part of “Justice Leauge of America,” but MacDonald’s work has a subtlety to it that really works well with Choi, whereas Reis is far more bombastic and over the top in his comics.
Continued belowSteve Orlando does a very admirable job making Ryan someone that we care about, without trying too hard to make him sympathetic. His relationship with his parents, his allergies, his scientific mind, his gentleness – all of that plays into what has made Choi a really enjoyable character pre-“Flashpoint,” and Oralndo manages to pack all of that into this issue without it feeling overstuffed.
And, perhaps, that is why the issue feels a little slight, story-wise. Maybe Orlando made the conscious decision to spend more time making new readers like Ryan than give him an entirely exciting first issue. While I would rather have had more swashbuckling Atom adventures, I understand the impulse here. To make the Atom an integral part of “Justice League of America,” you need to give readers a chance to get to know the character. Again, I think that could have been done in a way that wasn’t just, in many ways, retreading the five pages that Johns wrote in “DC Universe Rebirth,” but I understand why it was done.
What I don’t understand is why the most interesting piece of dialogue from Johns was cut.
Now, was that due to the Atom jumping directly into “Justice League of America,” and therefore needing to streamline his story a bit, instead of giving him a solo series in the second wave? Or was this one of the ideas that Johns (or someone else) will pick up in the future, but won’t play directly into “Justice League of America,” and therefore was eliminated? Or, did they just realize it was a bad idea? Any of these are possible, but all of them are sort of a bummer. It would’ve been nice to see there be another layer to Ryan’s rescue mission, and the lack of a clear message would have led to some interesting stories.
Speaking of that mission, I wonder when -or if – we’re going to see that. This book is billed as ‘spinning out of “Justice League Vs Suicide Squad”,’ but is it really? Will this be picked up in a few weeks in that pages of that crossover, or is this just ‘spinning out’ because the JLA book will spring from the events of that event? If this rescue mission is taking place off screen, than this was really a wasted opportunity. What better way to root for Ryan than to see him on his first solo mission? If we’re going to see it elsewhere, let’s hope we get to it soon.
Because that’s really the rub here: while we all want Ryan Choi to be compelling, in this context, it is far more important for the Atom to be compelling. This isn’t a comic about a shy college student; I’d read that comic, but that’s not what we have here. This is supposed to be about the superhero who can shrink down and do amazing things, and this issue has precious little of that.
And so, because of all of that uncertainty, it is a bit hard to judge this issue. I know that’s always the case with serialized installments, but this feels especially up in the air. If this was the prelude to an Atom ongoing, a lot of the problems I have with it wouldn’t exist. Of course we would see Choi and Palmer together in the microverse; of course we will see why Choi’s costume is straight out of Legends of Tomorrow. But because of the singular nature of this one-shot, the book can’t help but feel a little slight and, while a fun character study, doesn’t pack quite the punch you’d hope for in a ‘Rebirth’ debut.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – A great introduction to Choi; a flawed introduction to the Atom.
