Atari Force (1984) #4



"Families"
writer: Gerry Conway
pencils: Ross Andru
inks: Jose Garcia Lopez
letters: Bob Lappan
colors: Tom Ziuko

Synopsis: Dart returns home after having lost Blackjak. As she reunites with her family (never mentioning this loss), Chris takes the opportunity to once again feel sorry for himself. Meanwhile, Martin finally finds tentative evidence that there is someone out there causing all the conflict across the universe (but it doesn't make much sense). He returns to New Earth to visit the O-Rourke-Singhs, and tensions between him and Chris abound while Chris mistakes Dart's efforts to cheer him up as being something romantic. Morphea rescues Babe from his slaver and begins to feel like a mother to him, Pakrat talks his way out of being apprehended by his brother aboard the Atari research station, and Martin further confirms his theory with visual proof, accidentally revealing New Earth's location to the mysterious nemesis in the process. Thus, he decides it's time to assemble a new Atari Force.

---

So we're finally here, and much of what String discussed in terms of strong characterizations and relationships is beginning to take hold as well. I wonder how much of this is triggered by the return of Ross Andru, who comes back in time to draw his Atari Force, reintroduced into this new series:



Kind of leaves you wondering what happened to Dr. Orion, though...

Anyway, Andru does far more than provide a nostalgia factor, here. His grand sci-fi visuals are back:



and, seeming to take this project more seriously than the mini-comic, he pours on style throughout the rest of the issue as well



(even if this proved to be a totally misleading tease of an intro).

Helfer explained here that the mini-comic was produced in the Marvel method, with Andru given the freedom to do his own layouts based upon the plot. I wonder if that remains true here, as we suddenly see equal emphasis among the team members (primary attention no longer given to Dart), and a lot more sympathy for these characters surfacing in the visuals as well.

Essentially, much as Garcia Lopez' art has been flooring me, he has a clear bias towards Dart, and I wonder if that was getting in the way of my getting to like these other characters.

A few examples:

Andru gives more panel space to the relationship between Martin and Dr. Morphea, and it really begins to WORK for the first time. I feel an uneasy bond here:



It's not coming from Conway's script. It's Andru's pencils and Garcia Lopez's inks bringing it to life.

Or even a panel like this one:



There's nothing in the dialogue that makes Pakrat any more likable than before, and Garcia Lopez isn't doing anything particularly noteworthy with the inks, but Andru gives him a face (and appropriate panel space) to make this guy endearing for the first time.

In contrast, Andru fails to work much magic with this scene:



And so, left to Conway's dialogue alone, we're told how Morphea feels towards Babe, but we don't feel it ourselves.


Then, finally, you've got exchanges like this one:



and here's where a true marriage of art and writing take off. There is SO MUCH happening in these five panels, from the obvious affection Dart feels for Chris, the tension between Chris and Martin, and Chris's confusion about Dart, to the more complex layers revealed earlier and later in this story when you stop to absorb them -- Dart has just lost the man she loves and is burying this beneath an effort to cheer up others. It makes Chris' misunderstanding about her intentions all the more tragic: if only he knew what she was actually going through. And then there's the complexity of Martin, who proves to be every bit as manipulative and deceitful as Chris believes him to be -- the man still singularly obsessed with his mission and coming here under false pretenses in order to further that mission. Conway is beginning to truly layer some of these relationships, and Andru is doing a heck of a job bringing those layers to visual life.


And wow, was that one heck of an ending to the issue, both in terms of art and writing:



We're FINALLY getting somewhere, both in terms of plot and characterization.



Important Details:

- 1st appearances of O'Rourke and Singh in volume 2 continuity

- Martin confirms his theory about a mysterious villain causing all the chaos in the multiverse and decides to assemble a new Atari Force as a result.



Minor Details:

- Martin has managed to confirm, after sending out a series of probes across the multiverse (seriously -- what were the chances he was EVER going to find something across an expanse that limitless) that a ship is out there where one shouldn't be and somehow deduces that his theory of an evil agent causing all the wars in the multiverse are confirmed by this. Is this clumsy logic on Conway's part, or are we supposed to see the theory as the work of a wild and desperate imagination?

- Roquefort Raider pointed out earlier on that Conway's grasp of a "multiverse" is shaky at best. I didn't struggle with the idea of moving through the multiverse, as I think that's just efficient shorthand for "moving between universes within the multiverse", but the idea that this enigmatic nemesis is causing fighting across Earth Two's universe reveals a real lack of consideration of scale. Could a villain in a single ship really affect change on that scale? Seems like Conway and Martin are really describing events in one or two sectors of one universe within the multiverse.


Still not a perfect series by any means, but characterization is becoming a lot more complex and far more endearing, and we're finally getting around to a plot as well.


Grade: A-

Dr. Orion will show up eventually, shaxper!

If Garcia Lopez can't pencil an issue, Andru is a really good second choice. His sense of design is flawless and he draws characters the way they're supposed to look, particularly the ones who don't wear costumes. (By that I mean that when Andru draws, say, Mary Jane Watson, she looks like Mary Jane Watson. When Todd McFarlane does, she looks like a generic red-headed bombshell).

Christopher will actually grow into a more likeable character over time. Morphea is another one who will grow into her own, particularly as her difference from other members of her species is highlighted.

The one aspect I definitely enjoyed upon re-reading the series was how New Earth is not the eden we might have been expecting. Humans are prone to do the same mistakes over and over, it seems.

The problem of scale you rightfully highlight, something pretty common to many SF comics and films, will show up again. I often think that many writers just have no idea how big things actually are, an opinion comforted by the character profiles found in the early issues! In an upcoming issue, there's a certain bomb that... but that would be telling.

No, I liked him too. He wasn't my favourite character in the book -- that would be a joint position held by Dart and Pakrat -- but I thought he was a pretty good character.

I get more done on the weekend. Reviews will definitely slow to a crawl now.

And Pakrat? Really?? He must get a lot better in later issues.

The reason for that is because Garcia-Lopez is and was incredibly slow and couldn't keep up with the deadlines of a regular book.  So he tended to concentrate on single stories, covers, and stuff with long lead times.  He was also so good at the licensing and character reference artwork and those things paid far better than actual comics that it made sense for him to do them.

Did you get a chance to read the Twilight miniseries? Garcia-Lopez positively shines in that one. (And the script by Howard Chaykin has a strong Heinlein vibe, which doesn't hurt at all!)

He was exclusive to DC for most of his career.  I don't recall if it was staff or contract.  But the licensing and art guide work kept him pretty busy.