Review of "Sword of the Atom," a four-part comic miniseries

Review of

Sword of the Atom, a four-part comic miniseries

Four out of five stars

 The story opens with Ray Palmer (the superhero Atom) at home late at night during a storm, wondering where his wife Jean Loring is. She is a top-notch attorney, hired by the most demanding and well-paying clients. The power is off, so when Ray thinks he sees headlights that go off he walks down the driveway to a parked car where he sees Jean kissing another man.

 Stunned, Ray decides to go to South America on a research project, where he will be scanning the jungle looking for pieces of a white dwarf. When the plane is damaged and goes down, he turns into the Atom and survives the crash. His size control units are damaged, so he is forced to remain the size of the Atom and he encounters a race of people that are his size.

 There are many political and social problems in their society and the Atom is forced to battle many different dangers in order to survive in his new environment. From this point, the story follows a fairly predictable plotline that has been used many times before (think John Carter of Mars). A modern man suddenly thrust into a primitive society doing battle with swords, spears and bows and arrows.

 What I like about this story is the opening premise, it is hardly surprising that a superhero would suffer from marital problems. Fighting evil and risking your life is challenging enough for police officers, much less those that battle the super villains. Problems like this make them appear much more human and hence relatable.