Blackest Night: The Atom and Hawkman #46

I picked up this book for couple of reasons. First off, my knowledge of the characters is probably smaller than the Atom can shrink. Secondly, it’s the only Blackest Night title I’m aware of -aside from Green Lantern- to be written by Geoff Johns the (writer of the main series). So this was my chance to give the tie-ins (which haven’t been too great) a second chance. If you’ve been reading Blackest Night, you should be aware of the fact that the Atom has been one of the leading characters since issue #1. Now, with the announcement of Brightest Day (the follow-up to B.N.) it’s become clear that Johns wants to take at least one of these characters to a whole new level.

The extent of my familiarity with The Atom and Hawkman is pretty much limited to their appearances in a couple of DC’s big events (mainly Identity Crisis). This is part of the reason I found the book to be such a rewarding read. The entry to the book sums up the life Ray palmer in a few pages; showing me that there is more to his life than simply being a man who can shrink and that he was the husband of crazed murderer. Actually, I had never thought about it before this, but I found it rather strange that his rocky relationship appears to be a mirror image of Marvel’s shrinking man Hank Pym (a.k.a. Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Wasp etc.), only Ray isn’t the antagonist.

Anyway the summary of his life is drawn by Ryan Sook. In the opening pages, he does a good job of illustrating the happier moments in Ray’s life. Once this little sequence is over, begging with the title page, Sook’s work quickly becomes much darker and fitting of the blackest Night label. This is where Hawkman and Hawkgirl -both still recently deceased- come into play. Throughout the book though, The Atom along with his own departed wife and Indigo-1 remain the main focus. Sook’s work on the book is top notch and although it doesn’t mach Ivan Reis by creating huge fight scenes involving the entire DC universe, it doesn’t have to. The book does what it intends to, by remaining focused on the title characters. The main story involves The Atom’s introduction to the Indigo tribe, followed by him protecting Indigo-1 as she sends out a message to the other corps.

All in all I really enjoyed the book and gained some good knowledge of a character slowly working his way into the spotlight. While the book is by no means a necessary read for anyone reading Blackest Night, it does add some depth to one of the series main characters. I can see how it would be really enjoyable to longtime fans of the characters or people such as myself, who are just looking to gain knowledge of the characters and have some zombie fun at the same time

I also want to note that although The Atom’s new get-up as a wild tribes-man first looked a little goofy to me. However after this issue Sook’s presentation of it makes it look pretty awesome.