Let’s Talk About That Bear — Reviewing ‘Justice League: The Atom Project’ #2

Superpowers stolen during Amanda Waller’s worldwide attempted coup didn’t all end up back in original hands. Some of them have been scattered to other individuals, others have been seemingly lost or misplaced for the moment.

Some fell into the hands of people that might not be ready to deal with such immense power. Imagine if it was some wild animal, without higher based thought, who got those powers. That would just be wild … right?

Forget the bear necessities of life as Justice League: The Atom Project throws that very scenario into reality. Government flaws, conflicted scientists, a hero on the run, and more take center stage in the two-time frame story from Ryan Parrott, John Ridley, Mike Perkins, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott.

It’s fitting that there are two stories here, because enjoyed each differently. Not immensely, but enough.

I appreciate what Parrott and Ridley are attempting here, but the two-timeframe story is a tough balance. Especially when trying to reach a point of explanation for why things are happening in the present-day portion of the story. Slow-burn mysteries are also a tough thing to work with in the once-a-month format of comics. Give too much and it becomes too easy on the readers, but don’t give enough and they become bored or lost. In this case they were somewhere in the middle.

Enough is given to lead us to understand potentially why Captain Atom ends up where we find him in the present day, but also not enough is given to really fully understand things.

Our three Atom heroes, versus a Captain Atom-powered bear, was pretty fun and solid. Also, the interplay between Ryan Choi and Ray Palmer about his choice of science or the man was intriguing. Played well with the General questioning whether Ray cared about the man or the project more. I’m not a huge Ray Palmer fan naturally, never really read a ton with him, but what is here is giving me quite the intriguing feeling.

So far, the dueling mystery voices watching this all with interest continue to play their role. They are a mystery which is slowly burning well so far. A revelation might be better sooner rather than later, but thankfully it hasn’t come too soon.

Moral complexities are everywhere in what is going down around The Atom Project, with lots of roughness as the characters duel with their own feelings and world politics. Perkins was the right artist for this. Able to easily tap into that roughness intrinsically, paying it out on the page. Heavier figures fill the pages in panels that are well thought out and executed. There is a dense feeling that permeates all that falls onto the page.

All of that is felt with the color palette as well. Lucas is easily able to tap into the tone of a story. He matches the artist’s beat for beat. Whether it was the more colorful pure superhero stuff he’s done before or this darker affair. There are muddier colors with lots of heavy tones mixed in, with little flashes of vibrancy sprinkled throughout. Rougher feeling strokes are clear in the colors matching the rest of the artwork.

A ton of voices are here trying to guide the story, since there are numerous figures involved. Each clearly stands apart from the others, splashes of their uniqueness popping through. Abbott is just that good of letterer. Even the mystery voices in the caption boxes have their flair with the differing color styles and little additions to the font here or there. Thankfully my minor quibble of those voices both being a reddish color was not present this time around. As Abbott went with the dueling blue and red (color aspects of the three Atoms naturally).

Justice League: The Atom Project #2 is now available from DC Comics.