Friday, July 3, 2009

Comic Review: Agents of Atlas #7 (Marvel Comics) By John H



When Dragons Dream…

Have you ever seen the see the sci-fi movies of the fifties and sixties? There is always the manly adventurer, the lovely and seductive female sidekick, the funny bamboozling klutz, and the quintessential Robbie the robot lookalike. Now take that team, throw in a splash of myth and magic, add a little Ian Fleming into the mix, make them an independently backed operations team by a dragon none the less, and you got one heck of a premise.




As I was reading Agents of Atlas #7, I was either giggling, or my mouth was open in awe. I am a great big geek at heart, and to see these B-Level heroes carousing around on their mission was awesome. To have them interact with a few A-listers such as Namor and Namoreena and better still, have them whisper of the goings on of such illustrious villains as Norman Osbourne and his shadow teams.

This team is supported by a Dragon named Mr. Lao and his followers, a bunch Shaolin warrior monks and mystics who tend to the welfare of the Dragon, and his team the Agents of Atlas. One of the mystics who meditate purposely next to the Mr. Lao, does so in order to channel the dreams of the slumbering behemoth and it is here where we are treated to a bit of a history lesson into the origins of this mythical beast.

It seems centuries ago, Mr. Lao sought out the magical means to physically become a man, in order to be able to lead his “people”. Mr. Lao quest lead him to a Djinn, and he tried in vain to bind the Djinn in a mystical pact. But the terms of the pact was established between Djinni and mankind, so this binding magic would not work in favor of dragonkind, therefore the Djinn tricked the dragon, and imprisoned him in his lamp for centuries.

This book is a rare gem, beyond the few pages where we are lost in the love life of Namor, which I found were a little like filler, I thought this book was amazing. The art is rich and colorful, aiding the story in its depth, and you realize after a few pages there is much more going on here then what you might think.

So go and treat yourselves…. This is worth geeking out over.

9.0/10

John H

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