Written by: Greg Pak
Art by: Gang Hyuk Lim
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 8, 2019

I have been going into these War of the Realms tie-ins with an open mind, but really, it comes down to two big things for me…is the story good and is it integral to the overall War of the Realms story. So, here goes my review for Greg Pak’s New Agents of Atlas book…

The issue opens with the very beginning of the War hitting the Pacific and I understand what Pak is doing here, but I’m afraid that most readers will either not understand or gloss over it. The first half of this issue is set up a lot around the age old hate between the countries and people of this area and how they have to leave that behind and come together as a team.

That continues as we meet the New Atlas team and see they are hardly a team from the start. I saw some internet nonsense throwing shade at the “pear exercise” that Jimmy Woo puts them through and while I do think that it should have been set up a little better, it was still all about showing these varied characters that they had to put aside their own nationalism to become a team. It reminded me of the scene in the movie Miracle when they finally became Team USA…just with more superheroes here.

While I had no problem at all with the scene, I was already struggling to keep track of the characters. It didn’t help that one of the few I knew going in, Ms. Marvel, left to go help in New York. That did leave Amadeus Cho to assume team leadership, but unless you are currently reading Champions, you might not realize how crazy that might be.

All this goes down because the War of the Realms is on! The team heads off to Korea to help fight and the rest of the issue is pretty much a battle. A battle with a lot of characters I am not familiar with. The problem here is that since everything involves punching, kicking and powers, there isn’t a lot of time for character introductions or development. You get quick introductions and off you go. I found myself interested in a bunch of the characters here (Crescent and Io especially), but I could have used a bit more time with them to really get a gist of who they are. Sure, we have a couple more issues for that, but first impressions and all…

The battle continues with some misunderstandings of who is one what team and a cliffhanger that tips the scales to the good guys favor…if they all can realize they are all the good guys here.

I am torn a bit with this issue. Torn yet intrigued. I can’t tell how integral this book is to the overall War of the Realms story, but it gives it flavor and scope. I liked a bunch of these characters, but didn’t learn enough about them to get any lasting impact. Overall, though, I have a positive feeling about it and want to chalk the negatives up to the little space that Greg Pak had to get things moving. I am a Pak fan and have faith things will only improve from here.

I did like Lim’s art, especially the character models. Things did get a little bit confusing during the big battle scene, but there was so much going on that I can forgive that a bit.

Final Thoughts:

Greg Pak kicks off the New Agents of Atlas with a bang and while it was action packed, I wish there was a little more time to introduce the characters in a more impactful way. I’m still not sure how necessary this story will be to the overall War of the Realms Event, but the main draw here is the cool team members…I just want need more about them. Overall, I am intrigued enough to pick up the next issue and hope that’s what I get.

7.0/10