Review: The All-New Atom - The Hunt for Ray Palmer

With questions growing regarding the verity of Ray Palmer selecting Ryan Choi to be his successor as the Atom, Ryan begins a quest to find his missing mentor. This journey takes him to the jungles of South America and into a temporarily alliance with Donna Troy, Jason Todd and a Monitor. Then, Ryan must work to solve a mystery when Ivy Town and its citizens are transformed into hippies from the 1960s.

The All-New Atom: The Hunt for Ray Palmer collects issues 12-16 of The All-New Atom, written by Gail Simone and Roger Stern with art by Mike Norton.

The bulk of the issues collected in this edition act as a tie-in to the then-current event known as Countdown. As such, the narrative flow of this series is interrupted and creates a disjointed feel that works against it. The premise of the four-part “The Hunt for Ray Palmer” arc is for Ryan to find his one-time pen pal and get answers to the many burning questions he has for him. Unfortunately, the arc leaves just about everything unresolved. Ray Palmer remains as elusive as ever and Ryan is left uncertain as to why he was given the size-changing belt. The problem here is that this series is being roped into an ongoing storyline elsewhere, specifically the “Search for Ray Palmer” arc from Countdown. That means that there can be no resolution since the main story happens in an entirely different book.

Of course, Gail Simone and Mike Norton do deliver some great content. Visually, Norton continues to excel as the penciller for the series and provides some stunning panel work. His characters are memorable and distinctive. He’s also given the chance to draw Donna Troy, which is nice since there have been so few women in The All-New Atom. Simone, despite seeming like she’s writing after being backed into a corner, does incredible character work as always. The interactions she’s able to write between the individuals featured in this arc is really entertaining, particularly the dynamic she creates between Atom and Donna Troy (the former has a bit of a crush on the latter). It’s also interesting to see the way in which Simone explores some of Ray’s past as the Atom, particularly as she devotes an entire issue to the Morlaidhans.

For issue 16 in this collection, legendary comic writer Roger Stern takes over the writing duties. What he creates is obviously filler. Though Stern understands Ryan’s character and the tone of the book, he appears to phone in his work here. The premise is clichéd and the events predictable. Ivy Town goes through a time flux and is transformed into something straight out of the 1960s, leaving Ryan as the only one unaffected by the change. The story does fall under the “weird stuff happens here” status quo Simone established, but doesn’t do anything inventive or engaging.

The Hunt for Ray Palmer is an unfortunate letdown after the impressive second collection of stories from The All-New Atom. While Simone continues to show her incredible grasp on Ryan’s character and her dialogue remains quite humorous, this collection’s tie-in status really drags it down. Though Simone would later prove herself capable of writing tie-in material that is often superior to that of the main event (i.e. Batgirl: Death of the Family), such is not the case here. Despite its shortcomings, The Hunt for Ray Palmer is still entertaining. Simone’s usage of Chronos is fantastic and her homage to kaiju films is absolutely hilarious. Norton’s artwork also helps to elevate the title and establish a consistency that is needed for the book.

RATING: C+