Waking the world!
Creative Staff:
Story: Steve Orlando
Art: Ivan Reis
Colors: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
“CRISIS IN THE MICROVERSE” part three! The search for Ray Palmer continues as atomic lightning threatens to tear apart the microverse! The JLA’s only hope of survival lies deep within the sentient planet Moz-Ga, where only an Atom can travel. Can young Ryan Choi accomplish what his mentor could not and persuade a cosmic consciousness to save reality?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Microverse story is still holding me into reading this book that I’ve been up and down with for a good chunk of its run. I like a lot of what Steve Orlando does in comics but the main thing that’s made this series work has been the shorter arcs that don’t overstay any particular plot point. The downside is that the team just doesn’t gel for me and the only thing really holding me at the moment is that the original Atom is being sought, we’re in the Microverse, and a sense that events here are part of a bigger play of events within the DC Universe. I want this book to be exciting but it’s still a struggle, even with some great artwork from Ivan Reis as we get new worlds and races to deal with.
The third installment in this arc has a page or so of material outside of the Microverse that has Mari getting closer to figuring out what these writings are about, which is basically a massive groupthink incantation being put into place around the world that’s setting up the next arc. The rest of the issue is in the Microverse itself as we see how the team is holding their own against the forces that are now aligned against them as the locals have gone nuts and are rioting and then the Null army shows up once again in order to destroy Moz-ga as it could impede the end of everything. There’s a lot of action going on here and it’s chaotic but well-handled by Reis in keeping a good flow even as the script jerks us around to a few places. Caitlin’s moment is where things feel like they really go off the rails as she’s intense in fighting back and kills someone, which strikes up her fears of going evil once again.
Ryan’s story helps to give things a bit more impact as he makes his way down to a further subatomic level at great risk to try and get through to Moz-ga. With the hope that he can perform a miracle and save things, Ryan’s method of communicating helps to reach Moz-ga for the first time in a millennium thanks to how Ryan talks to him. It’s a nicely done dialogue-heavy sequence that helps to show that not all miracles are possible but there may be a different miracle to pursue. The book does some fun stuff in a kind of wonky Fantastic Voyage kind of way with a bioship now at their disposal and coordinates for where Ray Palmer should be. That’s going to set up for more of the truth of what’s going on but it feels like we’ve got to work through a few other things first, which is hard to engage with because recent additions like Dr. Aut just aren’t registering as fleshed out characters yet.
In Summary:
I’m still not sure what to make of this book overall. There are neat moments and I’m glad that the focus isn’t split between stories here with the Microverse and regular world as the regular world only gets some minor lip service here. The Microverse storyline has its moments and it’s a great standout piece for Ryan but that’s contrasted with some problematic material for Caitlin that’s going to eat at her and make any potential relationship even more problematic. The book survives at this point with the promise of what Ray Palmer has been up to in this place and some pretty engaging and fun artwork from Ivan Reis. There’s still a lot of potential with this series but it’s reminding me of my frustration with team books in the modern era.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 15th, 2017
MSRP: $2.99
