Atlas: Return of the Three-Dimensional Man

Agents of Atlas: Collected Editions #5

by Jeff Parker, Terry Dodson (Cover Art), Gabriel Hardman (Artist)

Collects Atlas (2010) #1-5, material from Incredible Hercules #138-141, Assault on New Olympus, Enter the Heroic Age #1.

Someone has come to ATLAS looking for answers to some very strange questions, and on his trail is a danger of a new level. Marvel's Rat Pack is back o solve the mystery behind THE 3-D MAN. The star team of Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman returns to take Jimmy Woo's agents to the weirdest and most fantastic heights yet! Plus: Why is Everyone's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man fi ghting against Hercules? Has he joined the side of the dark gods? It's webs and wisecracks versus Olympian power.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

187 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 29, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Phillip Goodman]

great book with a shoddy, clunky and awfully truncated ending, that could have done with at least 1 more issue if not more, the final revelation which could have been brilliant, was totally ruined by very obviously giving the game away a number of pages previous, and in the worst possible way, a 2 page prose section, about 60% longer than it had to be and handled in an utterly artless fashion, which is terribly ironic as without such an abomination the visual art of the book would have been near flawless, and that's how most of the book is, near flawless, and more than that, extremely brave and un-pedestrian in its construction and execution, i have read larger, more masterful and more experimental works but i do not think i have read anything with as many visual styles and tones within it, atlas/agents of atlas has always (atleast in the parts of it i've read) switched between different styles to portray the present and the past but in this volume this is taken to a new level, i can count almost perhaps !twenty! distinct shifts, though that does include the covers/art pages, taken from books where the rest of the larger 'heroic age' story was being told, and from the various covers and alternates of the atlas book itself, but i include them in the count because they do contribute somewhat to the overall tone and themes of the book, but in any-case i recommend this for the art alone, try not to let the ending ruin it for you.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ran into this Jeff Parker/Gabriel Hardman Agents of Atlas graphic novel in a used bookstore and it felt like digging a garden in the backyard and finding treasure.

A few years ago I discovered the gonzo team-up of Agents of Atlas which includes a non-powered Jimmy Woo, a telepathic guy from Uranus, the goddess Venus, Namora who is the cousin of the Sub-Mariner, a killer robot, and a Gorilla Man.

It's a nutty combination of obscure misfit characters that shouldn't work, especially since writer Jeff Parker digs deep into the weirdest most implausible Marvel lore and makes them central to the story. Add in some Gabriel Hardman art and it somehow becomes one of the coolest comic runs to ever exist.

Anyhow, I thought I'd collected the entire run, but somehow I hadn't realized Return of the Three-Dimensional Man existed. Yet, there it was in front of me for only seven bucks.

I'm not sure what Parker and Hardman are up to now, but I sure would enjoy having them return to do a run on Agents of Atlas or the Thunderbolts.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy the characters of Atlas, and I'm disappointed that the group never caught on. I think they brought something different to the Marvel Universe and were worth their own title.

[Madeline Rossell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The atlas arc was super confusing but the Olympus tie-in was alright

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to follow, with a lot of different art styles.

[Alex Sarll]

I was never a major Agents of Atlas fan, but it was always a fun read when I found some in the library. Alas, this late entry seems a bit lacking in the usual pizzazz and personality, too busy tying up mild continuity tangles which likely bothered nobody but the creative team even then. Still, it picks up towards the end, with a lovely formal trick (when a comics character's consciousness finds itself bodiless in a void, what better way to depict that than simple prose on colourless pages?) and a very neat solution to the threat.

Read after Al Ewing's recent repurposed AIM incarnation of New Avengers, part of me wonders if the Atlas set-up - a maverick hero takes over an evil secret society, aiming to use its resources to do good - was an inspiration for the later book, or if it's just convergent evolution.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, unlike the title on the site here, this is called The Return of the 3-D Man. Jeff Parker re-introduces the newer version of the character to Atlas. This makes sense as the original version of the 3-D Man took place in the 1950s, and a one shot story that posited what if the Avengers had been formed int he 1950s? Yes, Atlas in many ways are the hipster version of the Avengers. This was a last gasp effort to keep the series going as sales were never great despite critical success. Parker does an excellent job on characterization, especially Jimmy Woo, Bob, and Lao. His new version of Venus didn't quite work for me. The big action story-invasion from another dimension fell a bit flat for me.

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun stuff. The ending's a little rushed (this story clearly was supposed to go on at least one more issue), but, overall, it works. Parker does a great job, as usual, juggling the various characters and the plot and everything else he throws in, giving it all enough screen time, and Hardman's art is gorgeous. Great stuff.

[Mti Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hadn't heard of any of these Marvel characters until I picked this up. I was underwhelmed as you can probably tell by the fact that my favorite character was the featureless, practically silent reformed killer robot, M-11.