On January 1, after plenty of teasing throughout the DC Universe, Justice League: The Atom Project #1 finally arrives from DC Comics. Written by Ryan Parrott and John Ridley, with art by Mike Perkins, the title finds two Atoms — Ryan Choi and Ray Palmer — trying to get control of the wild powers that were let loose at the end of Absolute Power. And stuck in the middle of the Atom Project’s project is Captain Atom… Who may want nothing to do with the other two heroes who share his moniker.
“Here’s this guy,” Ridley told Comic Book Club over Zoom. “He became Captain Atom because of experimentation by the government. That’s his backstory. And here we have this story where his powers are trying to be restored because of experimentation, not by the government, but certainly a judicial body. It felt right.”
Beyond that, the general pitch, according to Parrott is “Oppenheimer in the DC Universe,” which makes sense for the whole “Atom” thing but also because the project may unleash something they can’t control. In advance of the issue, we chatted with Ridley, Parrott and Perkins for a free-wheeling conversation getting into the big ideas of the book, as well as how Perkins can turn in such great pages, on time, all the time. Plus, read on for a preview of the first issue of the series, as well.
Comic Book Club: I’m a fan of all of your work individually, but this is such an interesting trio to me. Obviously this is part of the editor’s job, but you’re not necessarily three people that I would have thrust together on a title. How did that happen? How did this come together, as this team on this book?
Mike Perkins: It was a gladiatorial battle between between Mark Waid and Ryan.
Ryan Parrott: I’m spry. What can I say? Yeah, it all started talking to Matt Levine. He was one of the editors while I worked on Power Rangers. He worked at DC, and we’ve been looking to do something new for a while together. He came in, he’s like, “how do you feel about The Atom?” And I was like, “Oh, cool.” … He’s had a few books in the past, but hasn’t really had anything in the present that thrust him forward. And we started playing with ideas.
Then as we as they came up with what was going on, as the events of Absolute Power started to transpire, it became clear there was an opportunity to sort of do, sort of… We said Oppenheimer in the DC Universe. And when we did that, it opened up the book a little bit. But suddenly it went from being a small, side book to something that actually [was] a pillar in the story. And so they were like, “You know, Ryan, it would be nice if you could have have somebody that has done this before and knows what they’re doing.” That’s what interested John. We started talking about it, and John came up and took the idea and made it better than it ever was going to be by incorporating Captain Atom in a way that I don’t think I ever imagined.
And then obviously they brought Mike in, and I was like, “oh, yeah, that’s a perfect combination,” because Mike’s stuff is a little different than this. But it was great, because when they told me that Mike was going to do it, it started shifting the way that I started seeing the book as well. Because I was like, “Oh, there’s things we can do, and other areas we can go that would be different if they brought in a different artist. That’s the best part about doing comics is, it is a little bit of that weird, every piece that comes in can shape and change the story. So that part’s a lot of fun.
To pivot off that, Mike, your style is often very dark, it’s very heavily inked, very heavily lined. Definitely leans towards darker material. So when you heard that you’re coming on The Atom Project, was there a question in your mind about that?
Perkins: There was no question. I mean, it’s nice to change the pace. Every now and again, it’s nice to to remind people that you can do different stuff, that you can do superheroes. I’m still waiting for that Western call at the moment, just to put it out there. But it’s actually nice… because you do get pigeon-holed. But it’s also nice that editorial can see that you’re able to do the different stuff as well. You feel like you’ve achieved something when editorial asks you to do these things. So for me, it was a chance to deal with more superhero stuff, which I haven’t necessarily done for a while. Probably Green Lanterns was the last overly superhero thing I did… That was probably four years back, so it’s nice to actually come in and do that thing where it’s a bit lighter, there’s people flying around… It’s a different part of your brain, and it’s nice to stretch up that part of your brain, every now and again.
Parrott: I feel bad because I keep asking Mike to do– I love the way he draws Captain Atom. So I’ve had him do like, five splash pages.
Perkins: Keep going! Keep going.
Parrott: I’m sorry, man. I just like, “oh, you can do another splash here?” I’m not being lazy, I swear.
John Ridley: I don’t mean to jump into the conversation, but I’m like, legit curious, because we’ve been kidding on the square. But how do you draw so well and so quickly at the same time? Art is the hardest — no disrespect to the writers — the hardest part, and you are getting pages off just like fire practice.
Perkins: It’s discipline. I’ve always done it. I’ve always sat down. I mean, if you figure it out that if you’re doing a 20 page comic and you want weekends, then you do a page per day.
Parrott: You make that sound so easy. If you want weekends. What are those?
Ridley: I think some people assume, well, if I want weekends, then I’ll write a page a week, and then I got weekends, and I got Thursdays, Fridays… I mean, legitimately, since we’re talking about it, the art is really, really good, but also it’s on time, and those are the two things that makes you an ace.
Perkins: Well, I remember going into the DC offices after they moved to Burbank, and Ben Abernathy was taking me around. I went into one office. I won’t mention names, but I went into one office and the the editor said, “Oh, you’re Mike Perkins.” I said, “yeah.” “Oh, you’re the unicorn.” “What do you mean the unicorn?” “You’re on time. You’re nice to work with.” …What’s the other one?
Parrott: Good at art. I love that you forgot that.
Ridley: That you’re good! Exactly… Like Ryan says, your best attribute is that you’re really, really good. I mean, maybe your best is super nice, too, you’ve forgotten that one. You’re on time, you’re a nice guy, and you’re good, a legitimately good artist, thank you. But the question in my mind is like, how does this guy do it?
Perkins: It comes down to a discipline of sitting down and doing it. It sounds easy. I mean, it’s not easy to do that, obviously, but I genuinely love what I do. It’s something I always wanted to do since I was two years old. So, you know, every day you get up and you’re just like: I’m doing it. I’m drawing things that I love to draw. So there’s no resistance in my mind, it’s just… Sit down and draw.
Not to turn the questions back at you or anything, John, but since you were responsible, at least in part, for shaping up the Captain Atom thing… We have two Atoms. We have Ryan Choi, we have Ray Palmer, and then we also have Captain Atom. Other than it being cute that you have three characters that are all named “Atom” in here, why these three at the center? What does this mix bring to the title?
Perkins: Can I just say only three… At the moment?
Ridley: Only three, and only three human ones at the moment? In all honesty, by the time I was invited to participate, the two Atoms were very central to it, and without trying to turn it into — I don’t want to say it’s a joke, but it is about Atoms, let’s get Atoms in here. But because it’s excavating these characters that a lot of people don’t know, and there was this other Atom, Captain Atom, and his power set is so unique, and yet his personal life remains a bit unknown… It felt correct. It felt like, well, here’s this guy. He became Captain Atom because of experimentation by the government. That’s his backstory. And here we have this story where his powers are trying to be restored because of experimentation, not by the government, but certainly a judicial body. It felt right.
Ryan talked about, there were a lot of really big, deep, thoughtful ideas, but what is it in service to emotionally? Having this guy in the center, having somebody who’s lost his powers, having someone who his powers defined him… He didn’t necessarily want him, but they defined him. It’s not as smart or as dumb as it seems. It was very, very appropriate. And I hope and believe it works.
You had also mentioned this is very much a cornerstone book for DC All In and the DC Universe. Since the DC All In Special, pretty much every title has been like, “oh, and The Atom Project is doing this thing over there.” “What’s going on with the atom project? I don’t know. Don’t worry about that right now.” So what did you have to set up in advance? What was the coordination like behind the scenes to make sure everybody else was prepped, and then you were prepped?
Parrott: It was a lot of back and forth. We started reading what was going on in Absolute Power early. As we were breaking the story, I would get the issues, and then it was kind of this fun point where we’d brainstorm a bunch of stuff, and then, oh, by the way, the next issue of Absolute Power comes in, and then you read it, and you pray that it didn’t knock all the pieces off the board. What was fun was there was a point where… I was reading the fourth issue when that came in, and we got to the end, and there was actually images of The Atom Project already in it, as we were writing the book. It’s kind of this fun thing where, it’s a little bit like ping pong, they’d send you stuff that was going on, and you’d send it back, and there’s an ongoing sort of conversation with three or four different writers. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say about that stuff, because I’m still new at this, but it’s just a conversation.
The nice thing was, coming out of the book, coming out Absolute Power, they knew that they wanted the powers to be out there. And some people hadn’t had them, and some people were losing them, and some people had different powers. The nice thing about The Atom Project is it’s a little bit of a triage book. It’s this idea of, there’s all these superheroes that have been damaged, and we got to figure out a way to fix it. The fun part is, that’s the way the book was written, because it was, okay, what’s going on in the other books that everybody has a problem with? Send them to us… How do we figure out a way to solve all of that? We became a catch-all for the consequences of Absolute Power.
Mike, I did want to ask you about the costumes for Ryan and Ray, which I believe are redesigned here.
Perkins: They were redesigned by… Who redesigned them? I can’t remember.
Parrott: I think Dan Mora did it.
Perkins: Yeah, all the costume designs were already there, which was fine. It’s no problem with that. They’re great costumes. It does show their different characters as well, the way they are designed. Ray’s costume is very much a classic Atom thing. Ryan’s is more of a sci-fi hero kind of thing, shoulder pads and a visor and everything. And I think that really pushes the character forwards as well. So, you know, I really like those designs.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Justice League: The Atom Project #1 hits stores on January 1, 2024. Check out multiple covers, and one more interior page from the issue, below. And click for larger versions.
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