Atomic Victory Squad #2: Money For Nothing…

We have completed our mission of issue 1 and for that, we are rewarded with another phenomenal issue of Atomic Victory Squad. In this issue, we get to see the squad in action which felt remarkable in every sense and felt as if you were holding a mini IMAX screen in your hand. Lowell Dean and Javier Martin Caba continue to astonish with every panel. It is so refreshing to see a team work in such cohesiveness it makes you wonder if they can read each other’s mind.

The zaniness of character’s names continues to track its path of hilarity as we see villains like Cereal Man and Shark Face grace the panels. Don’t let the names sway your decision about this book, the art is fabulous and Shark Face comes across as terrifying as any villain on the shelves, however, Invincibull is here to save the day, and he does just that. The panels in issue 2 are filled with the same artistic brilliance Javier Martin Caba entranced us in the previous issue. From Shark Face’s fearsome appearance to Gary’s fire-flaming flying horse, to Zoozana’s gruesome mauling of her enemy, I am ready to see more of Caba’s art in any book!

Much like the Grateful Dead’s ability to start a song, transition into another, then transition back to the beginning song is what Lowell Dean’s writing reminds me of. Dean’s setlist of Comedy> seriousness>character empathy>comedy plays out just as great as Sugar Magnolia>Touch of Grey>Terrapin Station>Sugar Magnolia. Now, I’m not too sure who will get the Dead setlist reference so I will simply say that I enjoy how Dean transitions his stories so seamlessly that it produces a flow that, in my honest opinion sets him apart from a lot of the writers on mainstream books.

The story gets a bit deeper as the book continues we see Invincibull try and make his case for not signing the contract the G.A.P. has given the team and refuses cash his check while the others go off for a night of debauchery. Enter the mysterious Gary and his sad and confused look while holding his check, later revealing he has donated his earning to a what looks to be a church in Trinidad, leading into a very heartfelt panel leaving a pile of questions about Gary’s past. There’s a pretty big reveal at the end, however, I won’t get into that until we talk about issue 3 in my next review for this series.