"The Coming of Atlas" is a comic book story arc, from DC Comics, by writer James Robinson and artists Renato Guedes and José Wilson Magalhães, featuring Superman. This is Robinson's first story arc on the Superman title, as ongoing writer after Kurt Busiek's departure. This, as well as Geoff Johns's "Brainiac" arc on Action Comics, lead to their planned narrative unification on Action Comics, Superman and Supergirl in "Superman: New Krypton".
Publication history
The character of Atlas first and only appearance prior to this story was in DC Comics 1st Issue Special #1 in 1975.
James Robinson was named as the new Superman writer on February 8, 2008. In many of his interviews approaching the start of his run, he stated that he always wanted to work on Superman, and also with writer Geoff Johns, comparing the two of them as Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen. In regards to his plans on the book, starting with "Atlas", he made a point that every reader will care about every major character in the Superman universe. Because he had worked on "Batman: Face the Face", he was asked if his and Johns' work on the two Superman books would be the same. He was quick to reply that it would not be, but that it would be, "better than that".
Robinson believes he has a connection to Superman, as he was "...a working class British guy who came to America and America has given me everything", similar to the immigrant story that Superman's creation was based upon. But in regards to the choice of having Atlas as the villain for his opening arc, it was due to his love for "all things Jack Kirby".
However, the other main reason had to do with Superman's rogues gallery, as he felt that: "He has guys that can beat him punch for punch; fist for fist, Doomsday is obviously the prime example. But they all lack any sense of humanity. Atlas is going to have humanity. The way I like to look at him is like in the Marvel Universe, Namor is a hero but he really skates the fine line between being a hero and a villain, but he stays on the side of the hero. Atlas, skates that line between hero and villain but he ultimately always falls on the villain side".
He continued to say that Atlas will become a major player in the Superman mythos moving forward and there will be some real twists to the character.
Plot summary
Superman, Krypto and Hal Jordan play fetch in space. When Superman reflects happily on his life, wife, and dog, Jordan wonders if this point of view is what makes Clark the Greatest Man in the Universe. In Metropolis, the Science Police are fighting a giant monster. Their leader Dubarry is unsure if he can lead the team and hates feeling like Superman's janitor. The monster is killed by what appears to be Superman. But when he catches the falling Daily Planet globe, it is revealed to be Atlas, who then takes on and defeats the Science Police. Atlas yells for Superman, who comes straight from space telling him, "You did not have to yell".
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen run to the scene as Superman and Atlas exchange blows. During a break, a second wave of science police are defeated. In the past, Atlas had similar a fight with soldiers in front of his friend and father figure Chagra, but he was sucked into a portal, from which he watched as thousands of years passed. He awakes in a dark room, finding himself held in the air and restrained by a massive machine in front of an Army General. After a time, Atlas and the General come to an agreement that Atlas will fight Superman and the General will "observe". Atlas believes the General will go after him after he has killed Superman; however, the General just wishes him luck. It is then revealed that Chagra was picked by Atlas to find a way for him to stop carrying the crystal, the source of his power. Chagra, with the aid of witches, used this to unstick Atlas in time, not wanting to kill his old friend even though he had become corrupted by power. Atlas and Superman begin to fight again.