That's an example of plot-mandated oddness that bothered me upon re-reading Atari Force. Old crafts in museums are not operational. Heck, most of the time they're gutted hulks. And even if, for some reason, future museums kept their prize possessions in perfect working order, it would make no sense to keep a starship fully loaded with fuel and food.



Yeah, I had to do a double-take upon starting this issue. Had I skipped one? However, upon realizing that Conway was just cutting to the chase, I was fine with it. An abrupt change of pace, to be sure, but it worked for me. I also enjoyed how there is no moment where Martin declares solemnly "we are the new Atari Force"; the team just forms by accident.



Very much so, yeah... and it'll get worse in an upcoming issue, because a major plot point depends on how the multiverse works and we readers are by then pretty confused about it.



I hadn't noticed but it's true! (Pretty funny too).





I would suppose so. Whatever affected Lydia does not appear to be foremost in the writer,s mind. Regarding Rident, I really can't say what he added to the overall plot.

The influence is undeniable; the application of it just doesn't make any sense. Javert had authority to pursue Valjean and was the most qualified to do so. Same with Gerard and The Fugitive. The Atari Council doesn't give a damn about Pakrat and how well Rident knows him. They want Martin Champion stopped.

Imma go ahead and agree that that opener is amazing.  

As noted the threads start to come together.  All the actors are moving toward their meeting.  I honestly love the pace of this and I don't recall it feeling slow when I read it as a teen.  

I'm not sure I have an issue with Martin finding the Dark Destroyer the way he did.  If you look at the first two panels of page 22 you can infer that his probes were looking for certain anomalies that indicate cross-multiverse travel.  So I don't have a hard time accepting that those probes are targeted at that sort of anomaly.  I honestly have a far harder time with the idea that the Destroyer doesn't already know where New Earth is.  That's based on the fact that DD had already interacted with Dart and Blackjak.  Now Martin probably doesn't know that.  But still..

I kinda like this issue a bit less than you do given the amount of exposition in it.  But still a strong issue. 

Another review thread restored post-Photoshop!

I seriously toyed with abandoning this series, but I think the break I've had has been sufficient. I'm just about ready to give it another go.

Atari Force (1984) #6



"Families"
writer: Gerry Conway
pencils: Jose Garcia Lopez
inks: Ricardo Villagran
letters: Bob Lappan
colors: Tom Ziuko
editor: Andy Helfer

Synopsis: Chris teleports to the Dark Destroyer's ship, runs into a sea of soldiers, and teleports back in fear. His father derides him for this but Dart takes control of the conversation (and, by extension, the mission) working out a safe way for Chris to return and take out the troops while she and Pakrat follow. The Dark Destroyer intervenes and captures Chris, Chris realizes what his father told him about this menace was true, and Dart (aided by Pakrat) decides to free Chris.

---

The series is getting better, even if its limitations are becoming more pronounced. First we were supposed to accept that Scanner One, mothballed in a museum for decades, had enough fuel, air, and resources for the team to steal it and immediately set off on an inter-dimensional mission, and now it's somehow even equipped with Cynox-13, "...a neural suppressor. Anything that breathes this, no matter what it uses for 'air,' will find itself asleep in less than sixty seconds." I'm sure this gas that just happened to be left aboard the ship when it was mothballed was also tested on literally every alien species residing in the multiverse and worked the same on every one of them.

Then there's the matter of how Martin immediately recognizes the Dark Destroyer, who last looked like a questionably sentient Lovecraftian space octopus and is now a walking, talking Darth Vader knock-off.

But I'm at least finally satisfied with Conway's understanding of multi-verse travel, which he seemed to be confusing with space travel. Now he finally explains it in a way that (sort of) makes sense:



Maybe we'd better just take Conway's word on it.


As for what's working better here, we have a plot finally set in motion, stronger characterization (for the most part), and Garcia Lopez's art reflecting and enhancing that characterization brilliantly. For example, this image here tells you just about everything you need to know about these characters:



from basic personality, to interpersonal relationships, right down to the fact that, while Martin Champion thinks he's in charge, Dart is the one who is about to take control.

And yet even Garcia Lopez's art can't make me like Conway's insulting caricature of a child in his depiction of Babe:



Kids don't actually talk like this, and it's obnoxious.


And I'm less sure Garcia Lopez knows what to do with Pakrat, who I don't begin to like until this sequence here:



Coincidence that we can't see his overly cutesy face in these panels? Sure enough, the bit of face we see in that final panel absolutely works against the characterization Conway is giving the character.


Thus, characterization in this issue is a very mixed bag, but it's more successful than not.


And my absolute favorite visual sequence in this issue was in the beginning, right after Chris makes that impressive phase-leap:



Exciting, funny, and impressively detailed, all at once.


Meanwhile, I wanted to love Chris's first encounter with The Dark Destroyer, but I'm just not attached enough to either character. Come to think of it, if the Dark Destroyer had finished Chris right then and there, we would have been rid of the series' most obnoxious character, more impressed by The Dark Destroyer as a serious antagonist, and Dart and Martin would be given tremendous incentive to develop further as characters in response.

But the whiny kid is going to live. Sigh.



Several of you let me know you were concerned that I was done with these reviews after my last one. I'm still not overly impressed as of this issue, but it has gotten better, and I will continue to stick with it unless it gets noticeably worse.


Important Details:

- Chris's first meeting with The Dark Destroyer. Realizes his father was right and that The DD is somehow responsible for killing his mother.

- Martin's first meeting with The Dark Destroyer in this form.


Grade: B

Good thing as she's the only character that's completely working at this point, though I see hope for the others still.