What do you think?
Rate this book
Agents of Atlas: Collected Editions #3
Agents of Atlas: Turf Wars by Jeff Parker
Disturbing visions plucked from the malignant mind of Norman Osborn lead the intrepid Agents to the darkest depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where Namora must have words with her infamous cousin - the Sub-Mariner! Then, The Agents of Atlas find themselves racing around the world to rescue their leader! Jimmy Woo and M-11 find themselves under the talons of the most terrible power in China...the deadly- and beautiful- JADE CLAW! the Atomic Age heroes meet the original gamma ray giant and learn the meaning of HULK SMASH!!! Collecting: Agents of Atlas 6-11
Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Parker
1,175 books127 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 20, 2010
This is a nice quirky little adventure series. D-list Marvel heroes take over an evil "empire" and plan to make it a force for good while keeping everyone else thinking that they are evil. Toss in sirens, cameos by Greek gods, a poke in the eye to the old yellow peril trope, and talking gorillas (can;t forget the talking gorillas) and dragon for a fun ride.
May 29, 2019
I picked this up with the preceding volume, and read them in one go. This one gets away from tying in as much with big events, and instead delves further into its own mythos, which is a nice development, though there were still a couple of crossovers, which were nice. This volume doesn't quite deliver on the confrontation it suggests, just going through some of the exchanges, and leaving the final confrontation for a later volume I didn't end up getting. Despite that, this volume is still pretty interesting, if a bit dark, revealing how evil Atlas as an organization was before Woo got involved. This was a solid book, even if it felt a bit like it could have gone faster, and gotten to the climax of the story.
April 15, 2020
An interesting book that ends just when it was getting particularly good.
November 30, 2021
Second Read: 3.25 out of 5 stars
First Read: 2.75 out of 5 stars
First Read: 2.75 out of 5 stars
September 9, 2018
Agents of Atlas is one of those series your hipster comic book friends are always talking about, that got only a few issues and was cancelled ten years ago and that barely anyone has heard of, and clearly, like, it's one of the best of all time and if not for the suits and their bullshit would have changed the industry. And, yeah, at the time it was one of the most Fun Comics we were getting, and heralded a post-Civil War turn to "maybe let's not have everything be so completely awful all the time". But how does it stack up now?
Short version: It's still good fun, tho not without its flaws.
Turf Wars is the third of the Agents of Atlas trade paperbacks. Actually, the collections in question are:
Agents of Atlas (collecting Agents of Atlas v1 #1-6)
Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign (collecting Agents of Atlas v2 #1-5)
Agents of Atlas: Turf Wars (collecting Agents of Atlas v2 #6-11)
Agents of Atlas vs. (collecting X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1-2 and Avengers vs. Atlas #1-4)
Atlas: Return of the Three Dimensonal Man (collecting Atlas #1-5)
(Sadly, there has not yet been a turn to "not rebooting the numbering of series for a quick sales bump that ultimately confuses and turns away new readers". But we live in hope.)
(Also, "Atlas" already no longer looks like a word.)
So, Turf Wars covers the place where Agents of Atlas had graduated from being a miniseries and had become a full ongoing... that would shortly get cancelled, do some gimmicky miniseries and re-relaunch again in the hope of finding a higher readership, not find that readership, and get cancelled again. For a lot of writers, sensing all this on the horizon would make them either give up or narrow their horizons. Jeff Parker, on the other hand, is determined to outrace the clock, cramming as many neat ideas in as he can while he has the chance.
This leads to a couple of story arcs that... Well, on the one hand, they feel a bit abbreviated, with implications that you know they're not going to have time to get around to exploring, and characters whose motivations could stand to be explored more. (There's a big retcon to Atlantean history for the former, along with a throwaway implication that the Uranian's technology is going to allow the Hulk to control his transformations. For the latter, the Jade Claw's characterization in particular is flat, and really needs more detail as to how she became who she is from who she was.) On the other hand, he really gets those ideas in there - when a scene where a dragon and a genie have a knock-down drag-out slugfest is just a side note to the larger narrative, you know you've got some intense stuff going on.
It's definitely the kind of story that doesn't work unless you're already familiar with the characters, though - you have to have followed from Agents of Atlas v1 #1 to this point. And there's a few other flaws - most notably, while AoA pulls away from the unnecessary violence of most mid-'00s comics, there's a whole scene with people who have been experimented on in really unpleasant ways.
That said, if you're willing to ride out those problems and dive into a story about superheroes from the 1950s exploring the tropes they're made of in the 21st century, I suggest either digging up the trade paperbacks, or just going straight to Comixology - and having some fun.
Short version: It's still good fun, tho not without its flaws.
Turf Wars is the third of the Agents of Atlas trade paperbacks. Actually, the collections in question are:
Agents of Atlas (collecting Agents of Atlas v1 #1-6)
Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign (collecting Agents of Atlas v2 #1-5)
Agents of Atlas: Turf Wars (collecting Agents of Atlas v2 #6-11)
Agents of Atlas vs. (collecting X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1-2 and Avengers vs. Atlas #1-4)
Atlas: Return of the Three Dimensonal Man (collecting Atlas #1-5)
(Sadly, there has not yet been a turn to "not rebooting the numbering of series for a quick sales bump that ultimately confuses and turns away new readers". But we live in hope.)
(Also, "Atlas" already no longer looks like a word.)
So, Turf Wars covers the place where Agents of Atlas had graduated from being a miniseries and had become a full ongoing... that would shortly get cancelled, do some gimmicky miniseries and re-relaunch again in the hope of finding a higher readership, not find that readership, and get cancelled again. For a lot of writers, sensing all this on the horizon would make them either give up or narrow their horizons. Jeff Parker, on the other hand, is determined to outrace the clock, cramming as many neat ideas in as he can while he has the chance.
This leads to a couple of story arcs that... Well, on the one hand, they feel a bit abbreviated, with implications that you know they're not going to have time to get around to exploring, and characters whose motivations could stand to be explored more. (There's a big retcon to Atlantean history for the former, along with a throwaway implication that the Uranian's technology is going to allow the Hulk to control his transformations. For the latter, the Jade Claw's characterization in particular is flat, and really needs more detail as to how she became who she is from who she was.) On the other hand, he really gets those ideas in there - when a scene where a dragon and a genie have a knock-down drag-out slugfest is just a side note to the larger narrative, you know you've got some intense stuff going on.
It's definitely the kind of story that doesn't work unless you're already familiar with the characters, though - you have to have followed from Agents of Atlas v1 #1 to this point. And there's a few other flaws - most notably, while AoA pulls away from the unnecessary violence of most mid-'00s comics, there's a whole scene with people who have been experimented on in really unpleasant ways.
That said, if you're willing to ride out those problems and dive into a story about superheroes from the 1950s exploring the tropes they're made of in the 21st century, I suggest either digging up the trade paperbacks, or just going straight to Comixology - and having some fun.
October 2, 2010
This was my first time reading this series. I've read raves about this one in multiple places, but honestly I see why it was cancelled. It's not bad, but other than having an odd assortment of d-list characters for the team there's nothing really different here. It's an action/adventure/superhero thing through and through. I felt like I was reading the Defenders with a less interesting team. Perhaps the earlier volumes are better, but I doubt I'll bother.
August 24, 2011
I like the setup and characters quite a lot, but wasn't feeling the way the plot went down. I can see why it has a devoted fan base, but I can also see why it had a hard time lasting. It doesn't quite have that pulpy punch it should have, but the dialog and general cleverness make it an entertaining read.
February 6, 2010
Well, once again a series that I enjoy reading and collecting is cancelled. Is it me? Or is it because I belong to a minority of comic book readers who read stuff that don't include Wolverine and thus we get shafted every frickin' time?
February 4, 2014
About a group of buttkicking, snarky eccentrics affiliated with an organization of unusual (for American Big Two superhero comics) and originally villainous origins, Agents of Atlas is quirky and fun. Poor Bruce Banner, though.
February 12, 2010
Seems a bit short and less self-contained than most of the the Agents of Atlas stories, but I still enjoyed it and a very glad to see the story continuing.
Can't wait to see what's next.
Can't wait to see what's next.
July 17, 2011
An absolutely outstanding book. A lot of action and enough situational humor to keep it fun and away from the boring standard that is non-mainstream comics.
January 28, 2012
Aw, man, this volume's REALLY great. The Namor two-parter is simultaneously thrilling and hilarious, and the concluding arc is just GREAT. I love this series.
February 28, 2012
Parker is crafting a wonderful section of the Marvel Universe with his work on Agents of Atlas. Packed full of action and political chess games Agents of Atlas is a fast paced and wonderful read.
March 17, 2013
Wonderfully offbeat characters and plot.
June 24, 2019
Always fun, but not my favorite arc
January 27, 2015
Entertaining story that ties up well.
Only a couple of loose ends to hold against the series for ending with them unresolved.
Only a couple of loose ends to hold against the series for ending with them unresolved.
December 2, 2020
Disappointing. 2 out of 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews