Agents of Atlas Appreciation 2020

[Digifiend]

Yeah, sadly I can see the rest of Atlantis Attacks winding up being digital only, and that will be it for the Agents as a team. And it looks like Champions removed Amadeus from the team too (he was one of three Champs to miss Outlawed #1, the others being Patriot, whose marketing push is probably done now that they can use the previous one again, and Dust, who will have gone back to the X-Men), so unless he appears in Immortal Hulk he could be in limbo for a while. At least Silk has a solo book launching (though probably not in July as originally planned now). Shang-Chi's book will probably be postponed because his movie isn't even out this year now.

[Frontier]

Yeah, sadly I can see the rest of Atlantis Attacks winding up being digital only, and that will be it for the Agents as a team. And it looks like Champions removed Amadeus from the team too (he was one of three Champs to miss Outlawed #1, the others being Patriot, whose marketing push is probably done now that they can use the previous one again, and Dust, who will have gone back to the X-Men), so unless he appears in Immortal Hulk he could be in limbo for a while. At least Silk has a solo book launching (though probably not in July as originally planned now). Shang-Chi's book will probably be postponed because his movie isn't even out this year now.

I feel like one of the CRADLE agents, Jake Oh, being a character Pak had created for would've led to an AoA tie-in before the Coronavirus delayed all out Outlawed tie-ins.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, I was sure more Outlawed stuff was yet to be announced (for example, Young Avengers, which needed to wait for Empyre to end owing to Hulkling's status), considering it's supposed to be a long term status quo like Dark Reign and not just a short event. It's probably meant to last the entire duration of Eve Ewing's Champions run. But now, that book is in trouble before it's even launched - the Outlawed one-shot didn't do great in the direct market (it needed to sell a lot more than it did). I think Power Pack and New Warriors might also end up on the digital first list. Of course, Atlantis Attacks should've finished in May, so I didn't take the fact we had nothing but the trade in the June solicits as a death flag - there was a month off between the War of the Realms mini and the second one. But now? I do fear Covid-19 has killed the team. We'll have to see what the August and September solicitations say - and keep an eye out for digital exclusive announcements, which could come at very short notice. Any absent titles in upcoming solicitations can't be assumed to be cancelled. Not until two months have passed with neither a solicit nor a digital release.

[Tien Long]

Yeah, there might not be a whole lot of Agents of Atlas anything after the various mini's wrap up. As has been stated there are nothing more than just a handful of guest appearances in different titles. That is sad. Said it before, there are so many stories still left to tell with this team. There are still so many other characters that need to become Agents (I'm still pushing for Radiation Man, Pei, Silver Samurai, Maddy Cho, and you knew this was coming, Sunfire).

Reading Greg Pak's Twitter gives me hope. He posted some insight into how he wanted to get the skin color of the different Agents right, since colorism is a notably part of Asian culture:

We worked hard to give the diff characters in AGENTS OF ATLAS appropriate skin tones. Wave's Filipina. Raz is South Asian. Isaac's half Asian, half Black. Mike Nguyen's Vietnamese American. Huge kudos to our editors & colorists for supporting the effort to get it right.

Additionally, he noted that a Wave something is not off of the table:

Thanks for the kind words. Love Namor. He's a great anti-hero who stands out in a universe full of anti-heroes. Got a big idea for him I'd love to do someday. And yes, got big plans for Wave -- just depends on timing and market. Fingers crossed!

Timing and market though. Both of those aren't the best right now.

I'm rooting for the Agents though. Their first issue came out a year ago and this thread has been here even longer. And I think it's still going to be here.

[Sutekh]

Hoping for the best. I have a long list of other Asian heroes I want to see, like Collective Man or Dragon-Lord or Silver Samurai or Silhouette or Trinary or Wiz Kid or Komodo, and this seemed like the best chance I was gonna get, particularly with the city of Pan crossing over various nations territories, and logically involving both Chinese and Japanese authorities (and national teams of heroes) at some point.

[Cindy's Addiction]

I check up on the latest update, sadly Aero, Sword Master and Atlantis Attack were pushed back to August. More waiting which kinda sucks, but there's still other Marvel comics to look forward to in May.

[Digifiend]

Not necessarily. If they're to appear in print, yes, but if they're digital exclusive, we'll be reading them sooner.

[Tien Long]

Not necessarily. If they're to appear in print, yes, but if they're digital exclusive, we'll be reading them sooner.

I lean a bit more towards a normal printed release. Though I've switched to digital, I know that many of the posters here read printed editions.

Furthermore, I'd be a little bummed hearing that Atlantis Attacks was just digital. That's an indicator that a series was not doing well prior to the pandemic, no?

In any case, as long as there's an Agents something, I'm good.

[Digifiend]

Look at the sales chart for March. It wasn't doing well.

161

Atlantis Attacks

3

$3.99

03/18/20

Marvel

10,077

https://comichron.com/monthlycomicss...0/2020-03.html

[irhyme]

lol Kinda feels like segregation, putting all the new Asian characters into one team. and having them go on separate adventure.

[Tien Long]

lol Kinda feels like segregation, putting all the new Asian characters into one team. and having them go on separate adventure.

I respectfully disagree. Agents of Atlas was (and I believe still is) a way for a group of characters of various ethnicities to take the lead. Indeed, in a lot of Western media, and in comics especially, Asian characters have played parts. They've been notable, but either these are bit parts and side roles. Agents of Atlas allows these characters to finally be featured in a main role. Their struggles, culture, and diversity can finally be highlighted. In the future, I definitely hope that there are other non - Asian members who join the group. Furthermore, before this whole pandemic, characters like Aero and White Fox were poised to be featured outside of the Agents of Atlas title. Thus, I disagree that there is segregation. But for now, just to see Asians in a leading position, that's a wonderful thing.

[Tien Long]

A couple of thoughts:

- I still feel that there's so much to be done with the Agents. Covid 19 really hit the Asian community hard. For those in America, we heard about the acts of racism against Asians. There were instances of discrimination in other countries, right? At the same time, there were instances of Chinese in China being discriminatory against Africans during Covid 19. Indeed, I've heard very interesting things about what has happened in China. One of my mainland friends has told me that the Chinese government has been fair when dealing with the virus. That means that whoever has returned to the country, Chinese or otherwise, must be subjected to a mandatory 14 day quarantine and check of approval from the Chinese government.

Non-Chinese foreigners report something very different. They've experienced blatant discrimination from Chinese shops and restaurants. Even with a check of approval, foreigners are not allowed to enter.

Covid 19 has hit the world, and Asia in particular, very harshly. We're still in the middle of the Agents dealing with the interdimensional city of Pan. A pandemic storyline would fit perfectly for this. But it's a matter of appropriateness. A lot of lives were lost. A lot of people suffered. Maybe a comic isn't the best way to deal with that.

- I've seen a lot of my friends who are Asian post strong support for the BLM movement after the death of George Floyd. Simu Liu, the actor who is playing Shang-Chi, has been VERY vocal on this topic. Within the Asian-American community, there's a big shift in activism. It isn't about fighting for the rights of "just us," but also getting "justice" for all, especially blacks.

That's hits SOOO many points within the Asian and Asian-American communities. How many older Asian parents tell their kids to just keep the head down, don't cause a scene, and just survive? How many older Asians will talk about the friction they've experienced in another country, like America, and especially with the "other" minority, like the blacks? (I'm reminded of the L.A. riots from 1992). How many have just said "don't get involved"?

There's so much to unpack there. It could be something the Agents explore. Of course the younger or American generation, like Amadeus, Silk, Giant-Man, and definitely Isaac, would support activism. But what about the others? Would older folks like Jimmy and Shang support going out into the streets and protesting? Or something more subtle? Would mainland Chinese like Sword Master or Aero go against order? How about the Koreans like White Fox, Crescent, or Luna Snow? Would Wave, who had to have experienced colorism in her life, support this as well?

Low sales be damned, the Agents still have so many stories to tell!

[Digifiend]

Luna could use her fame as a way of getting people behind the cause... assuming that her management don't disapprove.

Crescent is the opposite. She's just a kid, so she'll likely encounter a case of kids should be seen and not heard, and thus be ignored.

[Hypestyle]

what are the current storylines involving? Is Jimmy Woo still in a leadership role?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

what are the current storylines involving? Is Jimmy Woo still in a leadership role?

The current storyline was Atlantis Attacks and Jimmy is still in charge. My take is he's grooming Amadeus into being a future leader so he's the man behind the man.

Jimmy's Professor X and Amadeus is Cyclops.

I'm curious in Jimmy's perspective on 2020 current events as he was a FBI agent in the 50s.