Justice League: The Atom Project #1 has arrived, and the first issue of the new DC Comics series is a doozy. Spoilers past this point, but after seeing how Atoms Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi are trying to contain wild powers and using Captain Atom as patient zero, the issue ends with the reveal that Captain Atom does indeed have his powers back.
“What does that mean for the rest of the DC Universe?” writer Ryan Parrott teased to Comic Book Club. “Is he the same? Is he the same Captain Atom now that he was before? That’s the best way I can describe it without spoiling too much.”
To get into even more spoilers for the issue, as well as a tease at what’s coming in the months ahead, read on for our interview with Parrott, co-writer John Ridley (briefly), and artist Mike Perkins.
Comic Book Club: The issue ends with what seems to be Captain Atom getting his powers back. So good job to the other Atoms? They did it? Is the series over after this, because job well done if so.
Ryan Parrott: Yes, it’s a one-shot we lied.
John Ridley: Surprisingly short.
Parrott: The reveal in the first issue that Captain Atom has his powers back… That’s the beginning of the story. The rest of the series, you’ll discover how he got those powers back, what that means, and what did they have to do to to to get him there. Since it follows two different timelines, the second one also shows you, now that he has his powers back, what does that mean for the rest of the DC Universe? Is he the same? Is he the same Captain Atom now that he was before? That’s the best way I can describe it without spoiling too much.
Who is narrating this issue?
Parrott: No comment. That will be revealed as the story goes along.
Okay, so where did that narrative device come from? Because I thought that was so interesting, to not reveal the narrator, the idea that somebody outside the story is narrating what’s going on.
Parrott: Ender’s Game is my favorite book, and if you’ve ever read Ender’s Game, every chapter opens — I shouldn’t specifically what I’m stealing from — But yes, every chapter of that book opens with two people talking back and forth, and you don’t know who they are until you get along in the story. And I always love that, because it’s something that you can do in books and you can’t do in a movie or anything. I always love it. I love the idea that… You can throw those captions in, and you don’t know who’s talking.
It was a way of giving exposition, allowing for us to talk about things and give exposition, as opposed to having character goals. We could do it in this way of having these sort of bantering characters, but also it creates a mystery that ultimately will be revealed… I like the idea that you have two people commenting on the situation. You have no idea how they’re watching this, and you have no idea what their intentions are, and that makes it kind of fun. So, yeah, it’s just a fun little thing that we got to do.
There is a really wonderful, sad, textured moment dealing with this kid who has one of these wild powers in here, where Ray lies to him, tells him everything is going to be okay. I’d love to hear you talk about that moment and whether this thematic resonance of the kids and what’s going on with them is something that’ll turn up further in the series
Parrott: That seemed to us, what’s the worst case scenario with these powers floating about? And the idea that a kid could get infected by a power source that they have absolutely no idea how to control, and that ripping out of them, and that Ray and Ryan having to face that… That seemed like the scariest option of these floating power cells. It’s not Plastic Man not being able to have his powers back, or flipping it with somebody, and all of a sudden they can morph or fade. Those are bad things, but they’re solvable problems.
I love the way that they approach it. Ray walks up and shoots them from behind and is like, “Hey, man, I just tried this thing. I don’t want to get too close.” And then Ryan gets in there and it’s just like, “Hey, your mom told me your name. I know you’re scared. Let’s see if we can work this through.” That was a way that we could show how they’re both trying to solve the same problem, but they have very different ways of dealing with it. Having the kid at the center of this thing really [shows] that this kid is, in essence, the stakes of the story. It’s like, if we don’t solve this, this kid’s never gonna get to go back home. This kid’s never gonna know what it’s like to be normal again…
That was the intent of the scene, which is to really show how bad things can get if they don’t figure out a way to solve it. And I love what Mike did with it. He really found a way to make it feel menacing and cool; but I felt like the kid was a real kid in the center of this whole thing. And I enjoyed that a lot.
Mike Perkins: Yeah, I enjoy the fact that you’re basically… Ray is not lying to him, you know? I mean, he believes he can solve the problem, but there’s no actual proof that you can solve the problem… I listen to a lot of books when I’m drawing, or listen to a lot of audiobooks. And currently I’m re-listening to Pet Semetary. There’s a moment in Pet Semetary where… the husband is saying, “Well, you know, cats die, you know.” And then the wife’s going, “well, how can you say that? How can you say that, she’s a little girl?” … That kind of character moment does show the diverse characters of both Ryan and Ray, that they do come at it from two different angles. I love that. It’s great.
A line that really struck me in the issue, and it felt to me like a key line, is when Ray and Ryan are sitting alone at the bar, and Ray says, “We’ve got to do whatever it takes to make things right.” And then he repeats, “Whatever it takes.” Is that, is that Ray’s M.O. in the book, what he’s going for is, whatever it takes?
Parrott: I think that it’s an interesting point, because when we talked about this being Oppenheimer, there’s some interesting conversations about Oppenheimer as a character, in the sense of what he did and how far he was willing to go to solve that problem, and if solving that problem didn’t create other problems… That’s the way that we sort of approached Ray, is this idea of, he is driven to solve this, and he will do anything he thinks he needs to, to do that.
That’s the fun part about having someone like Ryan who’s sitting there going, “how far are we willing to go? What are we willing to do to solve this problem?” That’s one of the key elements of the book. So that repetition, that line, whether that was specifically the intention of that moment, it’s a key thing, because you will see as the series progress, just how far Ray is willing to go.
Last, very generic question: what can you tease about what’s coming forward?
Parrott: You’re gonna see, without spoiling too much, Captain Atom getting his powers back, what that means, and why he’s on the run, is a big is a big turning point in the series… You’re going to see how the Atom Project’s progress affects the rest of the DC Universe… Maybe this very small story has very big repercussions.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.