Atlas: When Nature Ain’t As Nurturing

Shared goals and interests heavily shape the pedigree of a person’s environment. In other words, what you want out of life will be reflected in who you hang around or immerse yourself into. These factors can influence how you think and what you believe. Ambitious people don’t consistently mingle around the opposite. Sports enthusiasts don’t conflagrate with those that have zero interest. Grasshoppers don’t hang with ants. A question arises though. What happens when you no longer share the same interests as the people you love? What about when the diversity of interests causes literal separations in economic classes? What happens when these split ideologies go too far? These are the types of questions presented in TDJ Comic’s “Atlas: Edge of Rebellion” series.

When you ask your #dayones to borrow 10 stacks

Our protagonist, Eric Finley, aka Atlas, is a young man looking for answers following a recent family tragedy. That event and his newfound ability to manipulate moisture, lead him down an adventurous path to life changing revelations. He has always followed the rules, but now finds himself less beholden. The conflict makes for interesting character development as he tries to find his way. The search for the truth puts him at odds with his own family along with a group of anarchists with powers and motivations of their own.

Much like the current real world climate, people in the world of “Atlas” clamor for change. That desperate atmosphere leads to serious problems for the citizens and leadership of Aurobourne. The good ole’ “have vs have nots” storyline. It’s cliché, but here it works. The parallels between the world of “Atlas” and the one we inhabit are revelatory. The book has a fascinating underlying concept of ignoring things we don’t want to address. That “bliss” is often short lived and those maligned people and issues have an eerie way of coming back to haunt us. Atlas, refreshingly, is not a hero per se, or a straight vigilante. He is a young man who happens to have extraordinary abilities and uses them to look for answers. However, he meets an array of characters that seem to push him into becoming some sort of icon for hope, inadvertently or otherwise.

“Atlas” is written and illustrated by Tarik DJ Holmes. Holmes seems to write for the comic purist with nods to well established tropes that meld into the story easily. The conflicts in the book are well done with tenets that should resonate with everyone. The dialogue is fun and light with interesting characters that have distinct personalities. The aesthetic of the book is beautifully done with gorgeous design. Character’s have abilities that aren’t original, but the way Holmes showcases them is fun and engaging. Reinventing the wheel is impossible, but here we can clearly see Holmes having fun reimagining how it can be utilized.

If Cool Water cologne had a mascot

So, as Atlas works toward his own goals, his environments change, so do the people. That juxtaposition creates the narr ative. Is it a new concept? No. Is it an interesting concept? Depends on the creative team and the character. All that said, “Atlas: Edge of Rebellion” is definitely worth a read.