The Four Color Media Monitor

I've been finding more news that explains perfectly well why I've become such a staunch defender of Ray Palmer and Jean Loring. From some of the news items I've stumbled over of recent, I've been getting the very sinking feeling that DC is trying to do to Ray Palmer, the Silver Age Atom, almost exactly what they did to Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern, during the 1990s: reject his legacy and all but obscure him, not to mention subjecting his former wife, Jean Loring, to vicious character assassination, as the following "column" by the knee-jerk Captain Comics, seems to indicate:

The second Atom has proven the most enduring (in fact, the original is dead), and is the most familiar, having appeared in various eponymous titles, as a member of the Justice League, and in a variety of cartoons (including "Challenge of the Super Friends"). But he's never been able to support a title for long, even when he was re-imagined in the '80s as a barbarian character ("Sword of the Atom") and in the '90s as an espionage agent ("Suicide Squad").

I can't tell you much about the "All-New Atom" except to say that it won't be Ray Palmer, whose ex-wife was recently revealed as a lunatic who murdered the wife of a fellow Leaguer ("Identity Crisis"). Apparently, Ray has bigger issues than getting small these days.

The above is written so treacly, without giving any real opinion whatsoever, that it's enough to vomit. And while he may not be able to tell anyone reading his puff piece about the "All-New" Atom, I can: the replacement is an Asian professor from China taking over the role at Ivy University, but if you look at all this more closely, you can see that this is just a road that's been travelled before: the idea that if you put in more "minority" group characters, it'll be considered a masterpiece and'll bring in the masses. Well, I'm sorry to say, but, not only do I not have any idea beyond this what DC's editor Dan DiDio is up to (and he probably doesn't either), the novelty has long worn off, minority group character alone does not equal good storytelling, and doing it at the expense of classic characters who came beforehand is not the way to go either. They did something fairly similar with Kyle Rayner, until recently the Green Lantern of the 1990s, and look where it got to. Nobody was ever really impressed with him, and after a decade, they retired him from the lead role and brought back Hal Jordan again.

Capt. Comics's claim that Ray Palmer has never been able to support a series for long is also ambiguous: Ray's series record was something like this - he had his first series as a bi-monthly during the Silver Age, running from 1962-69, then, in 1973, he made appearances in backup stories published in Action Comics from 1973-82 (and since they were in the same book as Superman's they may not really count, since it wasn't really Ray's own book), then, following Sword of the Atom, which was a 4-part miniseries and 3 specials, he had the 1988-89 Power of the Atom. Following that, he never had another ongoing of his very own, just a couple of occasional specials. But does that mean that he doesn't have any potential? I don't think so.

And to make matters worse, it appears that Capt. Comics is inflating the lie and the propaganda that Jean Loring was ever a crazy lunatic. Which is why I think the time has come to provide any and all with some material that explains what really happened when Jean and Ray got divorced back in 1983. So...

This page is from Sword of the Atom #1. Jean felt that Ray was neglecting her as a wife, and she was also angry that Ray used some of her own money to buy an electronic gizmo to use for case-solving as the Atom. And from a realistic viewpoint, it does make sense. Because yeah, there are more than enough people out there who don't like being taken advantage of, which is what Ray did to Jean by neglecting her and using her own money, when here, he made enough money on his own as a scientist to buy a scintillator.

In fairness to Jean, Ray suggested that they spend some time away from each other. Though she may not have answered directly, you can see that Jean felt bad and was in tears. Ray went to Brazil on a scientific project, and ran afoul of a pair of drug dealers who, when he asked to fly the plane too close to one of their crack-planting fields, they decided to try and murder him, and he had to change into the Atom to save himself. He needn't worry about their finding out his secret ID, since, in the ensuing crash, they were killed. Ray's size-and-weight control belt, however, was damaged in the crash, and it took him time to repair it.

Ray met the Katarthans, a race of tiny aliens who were descended from a colony of convicts sent to exile on earth from a faraway galaxy, and fell in love with their princess, Laethwen. You could say that this too was one of the reasons why Jean was discouraged from reconciling with Ray. But in any case, the fact is that, contrary to the lie spun in Identity Crisis or by any of its knee-jerk defenders saying that Ray left Jean, the opposite is true: she left Ray because she felt neglected by him. Maybe her infidelity with her fellow lawyer Paul Hoben wasn't justified, but there was a reason why she ended up cheating. Because she was frustrated and didn't want to take any crap anymore.

My parents, while they never divorced nor cheated on one another, did have a couple of angry quarrels in years past, and I was afraid a few times that they might break up. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but it was still a painful experience, and if my dad had ever neglected my mother, would it be any surprise if she ended up feeling as frustrated and angry as Jean was with Ray back in 1983?

And as for secret identities, it was Ray himself who decided to reveal his secret ID to the world in a book to be edited together by an old pal of his, Norman Brawler, making Ray possibly the first superhero at the time to go public about his ID. A decision that would lead to a most regrettable tragedy later on, when some government agents who wanted Ray to work for them as a spy firebombed the jungle where the Katarthans were living, murdering them all. Ray sought justice against them by shrinking them, I kid you not.

He later went to visit Jean and Paul at their new residence, and she too was horrified at the terrible news.


This is from Power of the Atom #9. I ask of one and all: does this look to you like a woman who's crazy and would go about slaying in a one-dimensional manner?

I don't think so.

And looking at some of the press material on the ultra-knee-jerk Newsarama, I can't say I'm feeling very encouraged by the arbitrary replacement:

The startling adventures of the new Atom begin in this series based on concepts developed by comics superstar Grant Morrison, written by Gail Simone (VILLAINS UNITED) with Art by John Byrne (ACTION COMICS) and Trevor Scott (THE AUTHORITY) and gorgeous covers by Ariel Olivetti (SPACE GHOST)!

Strange things have been happening in Ivy Town since Ray Palmer disappeared. In fact, it appears that the whole town's been experimented on for decades. Enter Ryan Choi — the young hotshot professor who's filling the empty slot on Ivy University's teaching staff... and who inadvertently ends up filling the old Atom's super-heroic shoes!

Can Choi make a difference in a town more creepy and mysterious than anyone ever realized? And can he live up to the towering legend of his predecessor?

You know, the more I read about the premise they're going by, the more I'm beginning to dislike how this new series is being done. One can guess where they could end up going with this: the white-dwarf star fragment Ray found which he used to develop his size-and-weight control belt must've come, not from outer space on its own, but rather, from off the cargo plane of a shady government operation. Which reeks of almost the same mentality as that which led to Marvel's PC monstrosity from 2002, The Truth, Red White and Black.

Though the series is written by Gail Simone, the idea for the premise was first worked on by Grant Morrison:

Newsarama: Mike, first of all, the solicitation copy for July's All New Atom #1 identifies this series as "based on concepts developed by comics superstar Grant Morrison." So this was one of Morrison’s black notebook creations?

Mike Carlin: Hadn't heard 'em called "black notebook creations"... not sure what kind of notebook Grant uses... but yes, this is one of several series that Grant supplied high concepts and springboards for - that he simply wouldn't have enough time to write himself.

NRAMA: Do you recall, did this concept come from Grant as a detailed, fully formed outline/proposal, or simply one of the brief, brilliant germs of a concept that suggested possibilities? If the latter, do you recall what the "hook" for this new series was?

MC: This proposal was a fleshed out outline of ten or so pages that included the character of the new Atom and several supporting players... as well as a passel of possible storylines. And with Grant there's always a "hook"... and this time it was the idea that the series should be a hybrid of cutting edge sci-fi adventure mixed with a Twin Peaks-kind of weirdness in Ivy Town itself. This we liked!

So let me get this straight. This is supposed to have a weirdness like that on Twin Peaks? I'm going to have to be quite honest here, but, I didn't like that brief series by David Lynch, which never found much of an audience to begin with, and the cinematic prequel he came up with also got panned, and not without good reason. (Though does anyone else find it a coincidence that the murder victim's name in Twin Peaks was the same last name as that of the Atom, that being Palmer?) Simply put, this strikes me as little more than a forced notion for making the characters and the backdrop "more interesting". Except that I learned long ago why it pays not to be too demanding, and that's one more reason why, I'm sad to say, I'm feeling even more uneasy about this.

And while I do find a modicum of what to disagree on with Randy Lander of the Fourth Rail, I will say that he gets some things right in the following, though I also may find some things that I disagree with at the same time:

The Atom probably suffered worse than anyone else in Identity Crisis from character damage (except for Elongated Man) [note: this is the part where I agree], but DC is side-stepping the issue of his crazy murderous ex-wife by creating a new Atom [note: this is the part where I disagree]. And I remember the last time there was a new Atom, it was the terrific (albeit short-lived) Atom in Suicide Squad. This one looks closer to the superhero/scientist roots of the original, with a slight visual revamp of his costume which I find to be an unfortunate change to a perfectly usable classic, akin to what was done to Firestorm. You might be getting that I have a lukewarm, maybe even slightly hostile, take on this new character, but there is one thing that makes me sit up ... That thing is Gail Simone writing. Birds of Prey remains one of the few DC Universe titles I read and enjoy on a monthly basis, Villains United was the only lead-up to Infinite Crisis I enjoyed, and Secret Six is really the only post-Crisis follow-up project I'm looking forward to.

While he's absolutely correct that the Mighty Mite suffered the worst next to Ralph and Sue, I find myself in serious disagreement with the second part I highlighted for this reason:

Is it not so that the damage done to Ray Palmer and Jean Loring, ditto Ralph and Sue Dibny, may still prevail at DC? And think of this: a lot people were rightfully angry at the company for the damage they did to Hal Jordan and the GL Corps back in 1994-95, when they took the damage they did to Hal earlier in Action Comics Weekly and Emerald Dawn (claiming he wasn't as fearless as originally thought, and writing him as getting carelessly drunk) from bad to worse by turning him into a villain and slaying tons of Corps members like Kilowag and Arisia? If it hadn't been for that, maybe some people would've accepted Kyle Rayner much more than they did earlier. The Atom may be a "minor" character by comparison, but that doesn't mean that nobody cares, and Identity Crisis could be exactly what'll make some people who may have overlooked Ray before come out in his favor and defense. It certainly has made me more of a Ray Palmer fan than ever before, how about that. Ditto the Elongated Man, and both of their wonderous wives.

DC went and decreed in 1994 that Kyle Rayner, as the Green Lantern, should be the only one present in the DCU, apparently one of the reasons why Alan Scott had to call himself Sentinel, and Guy Gardner...just that (Alan's daughter, Jenny-Lynn Hayden, had her own codename already - Jade). As a result, much of what the Green Lantern mythos was built on was ruined for many years. It may be too soon to tell if that's what'll be done with the Silver Age Atom, but either way, the Identity Crisis damage is already bad enough.

So please do not misinterpret this - I am as much, maybe even more - a fan of Simone as Lander is, but, the incredibly contrived and stilted way this was all set up is exactly why, as I've decided, I can't support this title. I'm sure that, had she the real influence, she'd do something with Ray and Jean, and certainly something that respects them, but for now, all signs point to negative on that. In fact, chances are that Simone's actually being exploited by TPTB as a sales gimmick! The imposing of John Byrne on the title is certainly another clue. DC's claimed several times in the past and even now that, "nobody cares about the Atom," yet I can't say there's that many people who care about John Byrne now, given some of the very degrading things he's been mouthing off with and even the bias against women he's displayed in some of his writing over the years, which could be just why they put him, of all people, on the book.

And don't misinterpret this either - I am not against introducing a new character in the place of an old one, and have no "grudge" against the new Ryan Choi as a character, nor am I against casting minority group characters in starring roles like these, and it wouldn't surprise me if Simone avoided any of the problems that Kyle Rayner was swamped with for the decade that he was Green Lantern, BUT, because of the incredibly offensive stemmings on which this series is being put together, at the expense of old characters, that's why I cannot support it. I wouldn't be surprised if some comics readers years ago didn't support Green Lantern for the same reasons as I'm giving here. In other words, it's not because they dislike Kyle, but rather, because DC went the arbitrary route at Hal Jordan's expense.

Concur or dissent, that's how I feel.

Topic linked with: Diane's Stuff, Customer Servant, The Mudville Gazette, Point Five, Stop the ACLU, Third World County, TMH's Bacon Bits.

Labels: Atom, dc comics, misogyny and racism, women of dc