Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Colorist: John Rauch
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
The Atom is getting in on the DC Rebirth action with the one-shot Justice League of America: The Atom Rebirth #1. The story is a little prelude to JLA: Rebirth #1 and covers the span of a few years. Ryan Choi is a student of Ray Palmer’s and he is the only one who knows that Ray is The Atom. The issue does a great job of taking us through their relationship and just how much potential Ryan has. 
Steve Orlando is the writer for all four of the JLA one-shots. We won’t know it all comes together until JLA: Rebirth next month, but this one is a nice little story. Steve gives us something we can invest in with both Ryan and Ray. He leaves us with a bit of a cliff hanger, too. We know what Ray gets into, but we don’t know the outcome just yet. Steve Orlando is a busy man lately, and he’s been writing some great stories. This one might not be on the same level of Supergirl, but it’s a good read.
Andy MacDonald runs with a simple design on the Atom suit and it works well. While keeping the suit simple is nice, he knows when to add in detail to certain panels. We see quite a bit of Palmer’s lab and a good stretch of him downsized in his suit. Both of these instances, we get the detail we need and it works out well. The colors by John Rauch also fit well with this drawing style. There aren’t too many colors that really pop on the page until we get some panels of Ray in the Atom suit. It puts a good emphasis on it and still keeps things simple.
Verdict: Check it out. Overall, this is a solid issue. It’s probably not a must read unless you plan on checking out JLA: Rebirth. Steve Orlando brings us a new character to focus on with Ryan Choi being such a crucial part to this story. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
