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26th
September 04 |
 Atavar
By Dan
Abnett & Richard Elson
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this book from Amazon.co.uk
What to Expect:
Cloned by the Kalen, Atavar is the last human left alive in the universe.
And he may also be their only hope in defeating the UOs, a gestalt machine intelligence,
created by mankind, which is rapidly devouring the entire galaxy…
Review by Edward
Berridge
I have to admit
up front that I actually enjoyed reading Atavar the first time around. I first
started reading 2000AD again during the last couple of episodes of the first series,
and it was a good opportunity to show me exactly how the comic had changed in
my absence. Then, I found I was one of the apparently small group of people who
found themselves really enjoying the second series, in no small part due to the
artwork of Richard Elson. So picking up the collected edition seemed a bit of
a no-brainer really…
First off, the
production of the package itself is worthy of note, matching as it does the standard
of quality we’ve come to expect from the growing library of Rebellion collections.
The book is a nice European style hardback edition, with a rather fetching new
Richard Elson cover. The book also contains a cover gallery and an page of Elson’s
character sketches which are worth the price of admission alone. A look at his
intricate pencil work really gives the reader a sense of exactly how much work
this man puts into his pages. The book has obviously been put together with a
lot of time dedication and love.
The only quibbles
I really have with the presentation of the book is that the covers could have
been given a page each, rather then crammed into the top half of one page. Likewise,
it would have been nice had the sketchbook been spread across two pages rather
than one, to give the reader an even more close up view of Elson’s design
work. And I’m still not happy that the letterer always gets hidden away
on the inside contents page. But I’m just nitpicking with what is an otherwise
thoroughly lovely book design.
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Atavar
before... |
To move onto the
actual main body of the story, I have to admit up front that I’ve never
been the biggest fan of Dan Abnett. I never hated his work, but it never leapt
out of the page for me. ‘Competent’ was the word I would traditionally
use to describe him. A journeyman author, who could write well, and more importantly
reliably, but without ever really shining. But reading this book has led me to
somewhat reappraise my position. True, I’ve never been enormously excited
at the prospect of another Sinister/Dexter story, but then I don’t object
to seeing one either: it’s become part of the furniture of the comic. Still,
whatever your point of view, you have to admire the sheer amount of characters
and situations the man has created: from the reinvention of Durham Red, via the
aforementioned hitmen of dubious repute, to his revival of the VC’s the
man has been nothing short of prolific. And I have to say that, in my humble opinion,
Atavar is the best thing that he has done thus far.
The story itself
initially seems like something of an extended Future Shock: Man wakes up, finds
that he has been cloned by an alien species on an alien world from the DNA of
a long dead man, and more than that – he is the last human left alive in
the entire universe. Add to this the fact that the aliens have created him for
a very specific purpose: to help them destroy an enemy that has already wiped
out two out of the five different species that live in the galaxy, an enemy that
was built by the long dead hand of humanity. Then mix in the fact that his alien
‘creators’ may not be all that they seem, plus a killer twist ending,
and you have the makings of an enjoyable slice of sf opera/hokum.
However, reading
it all in one go immediately points to one of the series' great strengths: the
writing of Dan Abnett. His style is not as flashy as some writers, he prefers
a more subtle approach, but this really pays off dividends in this instance. It
was a surprise for me to find out that the entire first series only took up eight
original five page instalments in the original progs, and yet the fact that you
get the necessary narrative progression and character development in such a short
space, without it feeling rushed or overly expositional is testament to Abnett’s
skills as a writer. The story flows extremely well, and is an exhilarating burst
of rocket fuel, as our central character is shuttled from place to place, racing
towards the ultimate confrontation. It is satisfying that amongst all the mad
dashing about the place, Abnett still finds time to develop separate, believable
personalities for all of his main characters, particularly Ked and Gar, as these
characteristics and personalities will later come to play an important part in
the ending of the first book, thus bringing it to an even more satisfyingly believable
conclusion.
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...and
after. |
However, it’s
in Book 2 that the series really comes into its own. The scope of the series is
broadened with the introduction of the two other surviving races in the galaxy:
the Binod Union and the Wosk. Elson’s art also comes along apace, with his
designs for the Binod Union, like a slug with a couple of arachnids attached to
them. Likewise, the designs for the Wosk, Voidshaker and Worldbreaker are also
particularly original, and this really allows Elson to shine. This is also matched
by his dynamic action work, and there are a surprisingly large number of punch
ups and altercations in this series.
Elson is able to
combine this with a great feeling for the depth of outer space and the many varied
and different planets that exist within it, so that the reader really gets a feeling
of scope, with the story occurring on a galactic level. Abnett also steps up his
game here, with concepts like Atavar and Worldbreaker following the Wosk to meet
‘God’, or the concept of the galaxy catching ‘cancer’.
The characterisation is good too – Atavar has noticeably changed during
the ninety-seven year gap between the first and second series, and Atavar and
Voidshaker make an entertaining, if surprisingly, good double act. Top character
marks must go to the Wosk caretaker left to guard their planet when everyone else
goes off to see God (“YOU ARE LOUD AND SCARY AND BIG.”). However,
it is Elson who shines the brightest in this case, be it from his character and
technical designs, to his colouring and actually narrative craft, this is some
of the best work to have appeared from the artist in his career.
All in all, I found
that I really enjoyed reading the first two parts of Atavar back to back, and
I think it benefits greatly from being read in such a way. The only thing that
did surprise me was that the book only collected the first two parts of what I
assumed would be a three part story. However, it does say ‘To Be Continued’
at the end, and I believe a new Atavar series is due in the near future, so maybe
there’s more planned than I expected. Regardless, this is a very nicely
packaged collection, which is well worth buying, and I can highly recommend it
to those who like their Futures Shocking.
Read what our
reviewers thought of Atavar 2 when it was first published here.
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this book from Amazon.co.uk
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