A goddess, a robot and a talking gorilla walk into a bar...

Jeff Parker took a group of heroes from the 1950's Atlas line and put them together in a team-book in a 2006 mini-series and now they're back. In the hub-bub of three Avengers books and a slew of other teams I think this series gets sorely overlooked. For my money its between this and Captain Britain for best Marvel team book out there today.

This first arc of Agents of Atlas has the team up trying to find their place in the whole Dark Reign event. They've dealt with Osborn and the Sentry and after this issue they'll be dealing with the New Avengers, or at least Captain America (this isn't much of a spoiler because Cap's on the cover). Now this is fun enough on its own, but this arc also shifts from the present day to an early adventure set in 1958. When time shifts the art shifts to a more classic art-style and panel layout and it works splendidly.

This book has refreshing characters and feels pretty different from the other Marvel team-books. This issue wasn't quite as good as #2, but I think this will be a strong first arc. So, if you're a Dark Reign fan, or if you're looking for another Marvel team book this is certainly worthy of your attention.