The All-New Atom, Vol. 1: My Life in Miniature

The All-New Atom

by Gail Simone, Eddy Barrows, John Byrne

Best-selling author Gail Simone helps launch the career of an all-new hero bearing the mantle of the Atom -- a hero who shrinks in size to battle evil Strange things are happening in Ivy Town. In fact, it appears that the whole town's been experimented on for decades. Enter Ryan Choi -- the young hotshot professor filling the empty slot on Ivy University's teaching staff...and who inadvertently fills the role as the all-new super-heroic Atom Can Choi make a difference in a town more creepy and mysterious than anyone ever realized? And can he live up the towering legend of his predecessor, the original Atom, Ray Palmer?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2007

About the author

Gail Simone is a comic book writer well-known for her work on Birds of Prey (DC), Wonder Woman (DC), and Deadpool (Marvel), among others, and has also written humorous and critical commentary on comics and the comics industry such as the original "Women in Refrigerators" website and a regular column called "You'll All Be Sorry".

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very nicely written and illustrated book, though the story and setting being written and illustrated didn't really wow me. Simone and Byrne are quite rightfully comics icons; there are some very amusing scenes and bits of banter here, but the concept of magic and science needing a battleground (launched from a dog bottom, of course) due to Atom's causing a flux in the time-space continuum just was too off the wall. All the neat little bits and pieces just didn't come together. On the bottom of the title page there's a note that says "Based on ideas and concepts developed by Grant Morrison"; I couldn't help but think that if they would have stuck more to Julie Schwartz and Gardner Fox they would have had a better book. There's also a little note on the cover saying that Entertainment Weekly named it the "Best new ongoing comic of 2006." Isn't that like Goodrich naming the best new pizza or Barbasol touting the best new beer? It was a fun read, but noting great.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Things happen. I finished the volume, and I am still not sure why they happen or why I should care.

For a new series, this book does a poor job of establishing its characters*, its setting, and its raison d'etre. It's got a few good jokes, but for the most part, you've just got to hang on to the plot for dear life and hope somewhere along the line (read that as: after this volume because it's a continuing series) the characters will begin to be fleshed out.

I picked this up because I like Gail Simone's writing, but she's done a lot better. This is just damned rough, and it reminds me of the John Byrne** revamp of Spider-man in its sheer awfulness. If you're a Spider-nerd, you'll get the reference.

* Dwarfstar is incredibly lame.
** What the hell is up with the art? During the Sook fill-in issue, I thought that a different Asian guy had killed the main character and taken his place as the Atom.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite my displeasure with the new character, Gail Simone makes this book worth reading.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun than I thought: I enjoyed Gail Simone's script, humor, and the energetic art of Byrne and Barrows.
Q: Is this the last bit of Byrne work for the big two publishers, with his run with Simone on Action mixed in?
Ryan Choi seems more fun than Ray Palmer, though I like 'em both. Hope his seeming death [elsewhere; wasn't it a mean run on Titans] is reversed by some story sometime.
Recommended.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since Ryan Choi is back in action as the Atom in the new DC Rebirth Universe, I thought I'd read up on his original adventures from a few years ago. Gail Simone writes an intriguing tale of an alien race who is battling a Lovecraftian god in Ivy Town, and the art by Byrne and Barrows is pretty damn great. Ryan is certainly a likable character, and Simone fills out the cast with some well-thought out supporters, too.

[Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book difficult to get through. I'm puzzled by the positive hype behind it as Entertainment Weekly awarded it the "Best Ongoing Comic of 2006." I really didn't care for the character at all and felt I didn't know him. I knew going in that this was the publisher's attempt to bring some color to superheroes who are mostly white and that was fine, but I just don't think the writer understood the personal or social conflicts and issues a Chinese scientist would grapple with in becoming a modern-age superhero on American soil. I don't think it was enough to bring in the protagonist's father to showcase some sort of conflict as to how the Atom lives his life.

I got this book used so I'm glad to say I didn't make a mistake on a full-price impulse buy. I've got three more books after this one with which I hope to be won over. To me, it seemed the writer really phoned in on this. I have read other works by Gail Simone and I recall really liking her Birds of Prey when an artist like Ed Benes was at her service and not liking the work as much when someone else did the art chores. But maybe that's the trick because anytime I find I don't like the artist paired with the writer the story seems to suffer. Some annoying things about this Atom series was how the aliens spoke in bad grammar, which slowed my reading down to a crawl. Next, were the footnote captions of a famous quote she'd write stemming from a dialogue balloon. The quotes NEVER had anything to do with anything so I eventually skipped over them, which it too bad because it could have been used for great effect like an inside joke or double meaning or something. I also had problems with the logic of her plots. Not at all intentional or careful, plus she'd fill in every panel with so much exposition that I had to show my wife how unnecessary it was especially in the sequence when Ryan Choi AKA the new Atom was moving down into the sewers. The panels are so cluttered that it reads like an old school comic and if I wanted that I'd read Jack Kirby or the like.

[John Wiswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable for new readers. All you really have to know in advance is a) the previous Atom was Ray Palmer, a brilliant scientist, and b) that magic exists and thrives in this world alongside a version of science that puts our achievements to shame. Most of this comic is tongue in cheek, from the fight scene at a drive-in movie theatre (with Attack of the She-Devil playing in the background) to the cult of pilgrims, to the plot of a microscopic army whose base is hidden in a dog’s fur. Unfortunately, unlike Simone’s Deadpool and Agent X, Atom takes itself one step too seriously in its drama and reverence for science, which makes its sense of humor cloyingly cartoonish in some stretches, instead of the usual charm Simone wrings from this style of storytelling. If you can read this lightheartedly, though, it’s quirky approach to a bizarre world of magic and science can be quite entertaining.

[Lissibith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a not terribly original but thoroughly enjoyable superhero romp - and that coming from someone who's never really been a fan of any of the plethora of growing and shrinking superheroes in Marvel and DC.

Ryan Choi and his supporting cast of family, coworkers and baddies are the real draw I think. The story here - Ryan discovering Roy Palmer's old size change belt and then getting drawn into a war between magic and science that the belt engendered - holds together, but barely. But the dialogue and interactions were a lot of fun, and the book didn't require prior knowledge of DC cannon, which was nice.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo tengo y leí en números sueltos, pero ahora que lo pienso no estoy seguro de tener todos los capítulos. Ni qué tan bueno estaba, la verdad. Pero bueh, así quedará hasta nuevo aviso.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains lots of interesting characters, and a fun setup, but this particularly storyline never seems to spark. Instead it seems muddled and overly long

[Kyle Still · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this overall! I read about this on Grant Morrison's Substack newsletter - as noted at the beginning of the book, the original premise for the series was based on an idea they had. As Grant notes in their newsletter (IIRC, it's been awhile since I read the post), the idea obviously morphed from the original idea Grant had (which, as I recall, was based more on the university/science hijinks aspect of the character). I really enjoy the character of Ryan Choi, and the premise of him having a connection to the original Atom and following in his footsteps is a great one. I also love Gail Simone's exploration of the science experiment / university drama aspect of the story (which appears to be the part that is premised on Morrison's original idea). The part that does not connect for me well is the antagonists of the story - the alien species are very annoying, particularly in their Bizarro like use of language. When that aspect of the plot happened, I found myself longing for the science hijinks aspect of the story to come back. All in all, however, this was enjoyable - great introduction of a fun character with lots of potential.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was fine, if a bit rushed. There wasn't enough time for the villains/battle to be explained well. Since there wasn't enough explanation and three antagonists were introduced and defeated in this volume, it got confusing. Then there was the art. Half of it was good! However, there was the other half where the characters were, shall we say "caricatured"? The Asian features were not even proportioned to the rest of the head.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The new Atom has a ton of upside but is missing something. What is that something? I'm not sure. Gail Simone's dialogue was great. Ryan Choi is interesting and fun although he takes to being the Atom too quickly. Ray Palmer was his idle but some more trepidation makes sense. The antagonists were too bizarre to be scary except for (No Spoilers). John Byrne's art is classic but didn't dynamically display these miniature situations. Overall, a decent start but lacking.

[Andy Dainty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the footnotes which were quotes mostly fromFantastic scientists either real or from the DC universe; however there is also a quote from Groucho Marx. I loved the Fantastic Voyage elements, but wasn't a big fan of the overarching plot or villains in this first book. I still look forward to reading the next volume which will hopefully continue the writing and characters I enjoyed with a more interesting villain to fight.

[Nate]

Kudos to Gail Simone for trying to expand the Atom’s fandom beyond his 10 fans. In All-New Atom, Simone introduces Ryan Choi, a character I’ve seen around and honestly had no idea was created by her (from a design by Grant Morrison). It’s a decently fun origin, with trademark Simone dialogue, cancer gods, sexy science professors, talking dogs, and Giganta. Plus none other than John Byrne on the first three issues. I laughed out loud once or twice and ended up liking Ryan quite a bit. But the story is very convoluted, and I think Ryan becomes comfortable with his powers too quickly.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

All I knew going into this graphic novel was that it featured the Atom and was written by Gail Simone. That was enough for me but what I got was a reboot of sorts with Dr. Ryan Choi taking over as the Atom from Ray Palmer. Along the way there is enough body horror and academic humor and high jinks to keep things interesting.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10 when I was 9 and first started collecting comics I got strangely obsessed with collecting the entire run of this series. I have no clue why. I read the issues a ton of times for some reasons. It’s alright. The story was really fucking weird but Gail Simone makes it work.

[Robby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter failure to establish a legacy hero. The art is hideously dated and the writing is nonsensical, including the choice to employ constant science quotes. A low point for Simone and Byrne; I question how much they were actually involved.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The long time it took me to read this book had to do with it being put into storage in an emergency.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is a little jumpy and confusing at times. Not a bad book, just feel like it could have been much better.

[Reza Aleeya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tries too hard to be Grant Morrison.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ryan Choi is a likeable and worthy successor to the original Atom, Ray Palmer. Neither the villains nor the plot were very engaging, unfortunately.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what that was, but I grew to hate it pretty quickly.

[Vincent Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it

[Jeremiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this because I love Gail Simone's other work. There were some touches I found fantastic: creative uses of the protagonist's powers; the quotes from scientists both real and fictional; the contrast between the two antagonistic sides, science versus magic. But I found the overall arch of the book uneven, a feeling bolstered by the change in artists throughout. It is still an overall satisfying comic book superhero adventure, but one that does not measure up to my expectations.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Brave New World #1 and The All-New Atom #1-6 (August 2006-February 2007). Ryan Choi is living his dream. He is getting to explore science and he has a new tool. When he finds his mentor Ray Palmer has left him the belt that gave him powers, Ryan is out to explore the potential of the belt and its power. Unfortunately, Ryan discovers that his new job in Ivy Town is a little more difficult than he thought…Ivy Town is a hotbed for strange happening. When Ryan receives warning that a war between science and magic is about to break out, Ryan must become the new Atom to stop it!

Written by Gail Simone, The All-New Atom Volume 1: My Life in Miniature features the relaunch of the Atom title after Infinite Crisis and the “One Year Later” storyline. The series spawns out of the one shot comic Brave New World #1 (which is featured in the collection). The series features art by .

The Atom is one of those characters that could be fun, but has always seemed limited in the stories that were presented. With a new Atom and a push for new ways to use his powers, The All-New Atom has potential to be as the title promises…all-new. The series does fulfill this, but it also has room for improvement.

I felt like I was missing points in this story. The tone of the storytelling wasn’t quite matching up. Simone seems to be going for a surreal tale (borrowing heavily from Whedon’s Buffy-verse with Ivy Town almost a ringer for Sunnydale), but the story doesn’t come off as surreal. It just comes off as a bit of sloppy writing. The story is also littered with quotes from famous scientists and fictitious scientists…instead of adding to the story it feels a little pretentious.

The art for the story is decent. John Byrne brings his distinctive style to the Atom. Byrne is a good choice for this type of story because the story is very character driven and Byrne always does a decent job giving characters life (I’m a bit bias there because Byrne’s Fantastic Four run and Alpha Flight capped off my comic reading).

Gail Simone is quite hit or miss for me and The All-New Atom kind of falls in line with this. The character she created in Ryan Choi is interesting enough that makes me want to read more of the series, but some of the storytelling isn’t very good. The collections for the series are out-of-print, but I liked The All-New Atom 1: My Life in Miniature to consider trying to find them and check out the rest of the series. The All-New Atom 1: My Life in Miniature is followed by The All-New Atom 2: Future/Past.

[Ann DVine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patron saint of women in comics Gail Simone brings back The Atom in a bizarre run that nontheless has a certain "something" that has made it a cult hit.

The new Atom is Ryan Choi, a correspondent of old Atom, Ray Palmer. Arriving in America, the affable and enthusiastic Choi takes up residence in Palmer's old place, is hired for Palmer's old position at the Ivy Town University, and inherits Palmer's shrinking belt, outfit, and mantle as The Atom.

The biggest problem with All-New Atom, which is only a problem if you let it be, is that it has absolutely no build-up. The first issue eases you in well enough, but very soon there are backwards-talking aliens that live in sewers and a Lovecraftian monstrosity brainwashing women and a giant woman who kidnaps Choi by eating him and a war between science and magic that is just... it's daft. It's creative, it's ingenious, but it's daft.

If this is what you look for in comics, you'll find it. I personally love it. I love the human conversations and personalities Simone pulls off with aplomb, mixed with a brilliant stupidity that can only be described as "surprising". You won't be able to predict how the book ends, I tell you that much. It's almost a sort of a take on Twin Peaks or The Twilight Zone, but without the tact or pseudo-sense. It's just big and brash, very much unlike our protagonist.

I thoroughly enjoy The All-New Atom, with Ryan Choi one of my favourite legacy heroes in DC history. But this is an off-putting first volume, and a big, brave, bold start that sadly perhaps aims to do too much in too little time.

[Mike Jozic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was never all that interested in The All-New Atom when it debuted despite having an interest in the character. The artwork by John Byrne piqued my curiosity, and the fact that it was based on concepts developed by Grant Morrison got it onto my radar, but the writing of Gail Simone has absolutely never drawn me in. Regardless of what she is writing, I just can't get sucked in like so many people I know can. I feel like she's missing something narratively. Every time I pick up something she's written, I feel like the connective tissue was left out, for some reason I can't quite put together.

So, I can't say as I was surprised by my reaction to these issues. So much of it seemed derivative, tired, and trying too damn hard to be clever. The basic concepts are there, and under the guidance of another writer it's possible they would have played out more effectively, but the whole magic vs. science war fell pretty flat for me. Oddly enough, I did like the artwork by Byrne quite a bit. I think this is probably the best work that he's done in years. The last time I enjoyed his work quite this much was when he was writing and drawing Jack Kirby's New Gods. The only Byrne-related disappointment was the fact that he only drew three issues and the Secret Files story. What's up with that? Was his assignment on this book stunt casting or did he get tired and want to move on? I'd be curious to find out.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

D.C. rebooted the Atom, who proves that shrinking can help you fight crime, but didn't update him that much. The Atom's still a science professor, still lives in Ivy Town, and still uses a shrinking belt to get small and do gross stuff like get swallowed by giant ladies. Wait, there's on difference: this time... he's Asian.
So while the character hasn't changed this much, the story is a fairly interesting one. The last Atom, Ray Palmer, disappeared mysteriously (which would be pretty hard for a microscopic person to do), so Adam Choi, who worshipped Palmer, takes over his post at the university and in the superhero echelon. Grant Morrison helped Gail Simone out with the character, which explains Choi's villains in this volume: a combination of a magic vs. science fight, with microscopic aliens that talk funny thrown in. It doesn't make much sense, but like a lot of Morrison's ideas, it somehow works.
The new Atom is a nice-enough character in a nice-enough book, but he isn't really that different from Ray Palmer. Fortunately, I hear people are searching for him...