Justice League: Generation Lost #6

August 1, 2010

Title: Splitting the Atom

Writer: Judd Winick
Breakdowns: Keith Giffen
Penciler: Fernando Dagnino
Inker: Raul Fernandez
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Cover: Cliff Chiang
Editors: Ogle, Siglain & Cunningham
Publisher: DC Comics

Captain Atom got caught in an explosion last issue, which has a tendency to cause him to bounce around through time. This issue, we see what happened to him during that time he was lost, beginning with waking up on a rural farm in an era without any modern conveniences and where nobody recognizes the man with the metal skin as a superhero. What he discovers in this other time, though, turns out to be of crucial importance to what’s going on in the present day.

Judd Winick is doing a really good job with this title. The spotlight on Captain Atom is pretty solid, but the way he pulls off the reveals in this issue are just fantastic. This issue sets up the rest of the series very well. We’ve never had any doubt that Maxwell Lord was a bad guy, but this issue really drives home just how vital it is that this makeshift Justice League stop him from doing… well… whatever it is he’s doing. Winick also does a nice job of picking apart Captain Atom’s consciousness, delving into who he is and what’s going on beneath that shiny shell of his.

I’m not sure when Keith Giffen migrated from being co-writer of this book to doing the breakdowns, but the transition was smooth and the artwork remains solid. Giffen is really one of the all-time great layout artists, and the team of Fernando Dagnino and Raul Fernandez do very nice work, laying their own art over his blueprints. The book is sharp-looking and handles the different characters and eras very well.

This book has been quite a surprise – it’s not just good, it’s very good, and it’s been consistently good. Let’s just hope that it can keep this up for the next 20 issues.

Rating: 8/10