Bug Nebula

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Sunday Trade: Agents of ATLAS

Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencils: Leonard Kirk
Inks: Kris Justice/Terry Pallot
Colors: Michelle Madsen
Letters: Dave Lanphear

Picture this. Its 1958. President Eisenhower has been kidnapped by the Yellow Claw. FBI Agent John Woo, the bureau's expert on him is tasked with assembling a team of super-humans to rescue the president. Venus. The Uranian Marvel Boy (entirely different from the former New Warrior. Or that Kree kid). M-11, the Human Robot. Gorilla-Man. But after his rescue, Eisenhower has the team disbanded. Flash foward over 40 years and Gorilla-Man (Alan Hale) is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. And unknown to each other, so has Jimmy Woo. Except Jimmy is in a coma after he goes off on an unauthorized mission against something called the Atlas Foundation...

And with that Hale gets the band back together to help his friend. With Marvel Boy restoring Woo from his coma. Unfortunately he does it using his last memories of Woo, from 1958. So Jimmy is restored to his youth but has none of his memories of the last 40+ years. And so with the aid of Wakandan S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Derek Khanata and the addition of Namor's believed dead cousin, Namora, Woo and the group go after the mysterious Atlas Foundation...

Why you want this book: It has a talking gorilla firing four machine guns at once. And sea monsters. And ninja like dudes. Not enough? How about reprints of the origin issues of Namora, Venus, Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man, the Human Robot and of course Jimmy and the Yellow Claw. Still want more? How about What if? #9, "What if the Avengers had fought evil during the 1950s"?

Whats missing: No 3-D Man. C'mon Parker, didn't a guy with the power of THREE MEN deserve a revamp?

Das Boot

A truly astounding movie. But was makes it a true film masterwork is the pacing. This was a THREE AND A HALF hour movie. And they keep it moving forward at a brisk pace. The action sequences are just perfectly placed to keep any part of this from beginning to drag...