Agents of Atlas: The Complete Collection, Vol. 2

Agents of Atlas: The Complete Collection #2

by Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin (Artist)

Continuing the 1950s-style adventures of the Agents of Atlas! Disturbing visions lead the team to the darkest depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where waits the Sub-Mariner! Then, Jimmy Woo and M-11 find themselves caught in the talons of the most terrible power in China...the deadly Jade Claw! And the Atomic Age heroes confront today's mightiest heroes, the X-Men and the Avengers, in two timetwisting tales! But when Aphrodite targets Venus, can the Agents rescue their teammate-and handle the truth about her past? Plus, Norman Osborn sends his killer crew of Thunderbolts to bring down the Agents of Atlas-hard!

COLLECTING: AGENTS OF ATLAS (2009) 6-11, X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS (2009) 1-2, AVENGERS VS. ATLAS (2010) 1-4, THUNDERBOLTS (1997) 139-140, MATERIAL FROM ASSAULT ON NEW OLYMPUS PROLOGUE (2009) 1, INCREDIBLE HERCULES (2007) 138-141, HERCULES: FALL OF AN AVENGER (2010) 1-2

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 22, 2020

About the author

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Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agents of Atlas (2009) #6-11 - The team heads to “New Atlantis” and encounters Namor. Events transpire that are not what one would expect. Then the Hulk shows up as the Team takes out a hoard of abominations in the middle of the American desert. And to wrap up this era of Atlas, Woo discovers a hidden history within the hidden history of Atlas, and an old friend is at the heart of it. And then Dragon Clan War. Yikes (4/5)!

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1-2 - Feels like a typical super-team mash-up. It also illustrates why I’ve completely lost interest in the X-Men and their various iterations: too many, too powerful, too ineffectual (3/5).

Godmarked, back-up stories from the pages of Assault on New Olympus Prologue & Incredible Hercules #138-141 - The exciting conclusion to the mystery surrounding the identity of Venus. And Aphrodite doesn’t react at all how I’d have expected, anymore than the resolution is what I’d been expecting (4/5)!

Thunderbolts #139-140 - And another super-team mash-up. Sigh. At least the presence of Atlas saves the thing from becoming a total waste (3/5).

Avengers vs. Atlas #1-4 - And here we go again … oh wait, that’s different. Oh … and I wasn’t expecting that! Well, this is fun. Yikes! Raging Hulk! Another Iron Man? Uranian is Marvel Boy again?! So messed up. This is more fun than The Last Great Time War! (5/5).

Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1-2 (b stories) - A wonderful, bittersweet epilogue to close out this volume (4/5).

To be honest, I was a little afraid that this volume wouldn’t be as good as the first volume, since this was more of a compilation of stuff closing down, or finishing off, the Agents of Atlas narrative, where as the first volume was more building that narrative up. But this was just as good, if not even a touch better, with some really surprising and magical stories.

[Michael Emond · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this wasn't as strong overall as collection 1 it was still a heck of a lot of fun and Jeff Parker continues to impress me as a writer. I think my nearest equivalent would be Dan Slott. They both write tight clever stories that typically have endings that are earned by their heroes (I mean the heroes are active in the solution), they are great at characterization and building well developed characters, they have great senses of humour and use humour to add to the story. They are smart writers who respect the world of super-heroes and can tell a tight plotted story that doesn't have to be "the World is Ending!!!" as its stakes.
While Agents of Atlas aren't household names Jeff makes them a team I care about and could experience more stories with.
My critique of this collection is there are a few odds and ends with some story arcs being better than the others. The one with the Avengers, especially, didn't really work for me. The one that just focused on the Agents of Atlas was when the story really worked. I also felt the character development I saw in the last collection didn't progress as much as I would have liked. A few more character driven stories would have been nice.
Overall, I am happy to have these two Agents of Atlas collections on my bookshelf. They are a hidden gem in the midst of a (sometimes) confusing Marvel universe that relies too much on Big Events.

[Jimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishing the 2009 comics of Agents of Atlas and pieces from Incredible Hercules and X-Men vs. . . and Avengers vs. . . were very cool.

I don't know what happens to this team after this "complete collection" Vol. 2 in the Marvel Universe, but I hope that they didn't disappear, they are interesting as hell.

[Marco]

I've mentioned it before, but Jeff Parker's Agents of Atlas was by far the best book Marvel had at the time. Classic storytelling, good character moments, and even the tie-ins with bigger events in other titles work really well.
It's a pity the team is by now defunct with the name given to completely different characters while the Atlas story has been transferred to Shang-Chi (redeeming the evil Asian empire by turning it into a force for good... *yawn*)