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Agents of Atlas
Cover art for Agents of Atlas #1. Art by Tomm Coker. LtoR: M-11, Gorilla-Man, Jimmy Woo, Marvel Boy and Venus
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Agents of Atlas #1 (Oct. 2006)
Created by	Jeff Parker (writer) Leonard Kirk (artist)
In story information
Base(s)	Marvel Boy's spaceship
Member(s)	Gorilla-Man Jimmy Woo M-11 Marvel Boy Namora Venus

Agents of Atlas is a fictional team of superheroes in comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is composed of characters originally appearing in unrelated stories published in the 1950s by Marvel's predecessor company, Atlas Comics. The characters debuted as a team in What If #9 (June 1978), and starred in the 2006 miniseries, Agents of Atlas.

[edit] Publication history

This group of heroes, which was not a team in 1950s comics, was established through retroactive continuity as having been established in the 1950s. They had appeared as a group in the non-canonical What If #9 (June 1978) and Avengers Forever (1998-2000 miniseries), and in the 2000-2001 miniseries Marvel: The Lost Generation, which took place in mainstream Marvel Comics continuity.

The miniseries Agents of Atlas #1-6 (Oct. 2006 - March 2007) was set in the present day and likewise set in mainstream continuity.

The individual characters' debuts, chronologically by first appearance are:

• Namora — Marvel Mystery Comics #82 (May 1947)
• Venus — Venus #1 (Aug. 1948)
• Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson) — Marvel Boy #1 (Dec. 1950)
• Gorilla-Man — Men's Adventures #26 (March 1954)
• M-11 — Menace #11 (May 1954)
• Jimmy Woo and the Yellow Claw — Yellow Claw #1 (Oct. 1956)

[edit] Fictional team biography

The group was formed in Spring 1958 by Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Jimmy Woo to rescue President Dwight D. Eisenhower from the villainous Yellow Claw. Woo first recruits Venus and Marvel Boy. He then tries to recruit Namora, who declines but tells Woo where to find a broken but potentially useful robot named M-11. While Marvel Boy fixes M-11, Woo asks Jann of the Jungle to take Marvel Boy to extend an invitation to Gorilla-Man, who accepts Woo's offer. The group quickly rescues President Eisenhower and remains together for six months until the federal government, deciding the public is not ready for such a group, disbands it and classifies information about it.

Years later, Woo, by now a high-ranking agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., attempts a secret raid of a group identified as the Atlas Foundation. Going AWOL and taking several other willing agents with him, Woo infiltrates an Atlas location, resulting in all of the recruits being killed. Woo himself is critically burned and loses his higher brain functions. Gorilla-Man, by now also a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, gives the organization a record of the 1950s team, of which S.H.I.E.L.D. had no knowledge, and rescues Woo with the aid of M-11 and Marvel Boy, who restores Woo to his 1958 self. Namora, whom the group believed dead, returns and joins the Agents. The team learns M-11 is a double agent for the Yellow Claw, and that Venus is one of the legendary Sirens given flesh, and not the Venus/Aphrodite of legend.

Using M-11 as a beacon, the heroes find the Yellow Claw, who reveals his true identity, Plan Chu, an almost immortal Mongol khan who claims he has orchestrated each of his battles with Woo only to establish Woo's worthiness to marry Suwan and succeed him as khan. Chu created Atlas to put Woo again in the spotlight. Woo accepts his destiny, takes over Atlas hoping to turn it into a force for good, and the Yellow Claw, having found his heir, appears to commit suicide. They resurfaced in New York City,^[1] where together with by Spider-Man the team defeated Temple of Atlas splinter cells still loyal to the villainous agents of Yellow Claw. They later worked as a resistance cell against the invasion of Earth by the shapeshifting alien race the Skrulls.^[2]

[edit] Temple of Atlas

As part of a viral marketing strategy to promote the series, fans could participate in an alternate reality game centered around the "Temple of Atlas" weblog on Marvel's website. There, readers received weekly prose excerpts of the exploits of Jimmy Woo and his team, and were given "missions" from the Temple's curator, the mysterious "Mr. Lao". The goal was to discover each week's keyword by following textual clues Lao would post on the messageboards of such comic-book webzines as Newsarama and Comic Book Resources. They, along with IGN.com and Comics Bulletin, would also feature fake news posts that players would be led toward, containing more clues for finding keywords. Anagrams were regular, and on several occasions one keyword had to be taken "into the field" by going to a local comic shop and saying the phrase to the staff in order to receive a keyword in response. On two occasions, players were required to attend a Heroes Convention and the San Diego Comic-Con International to find keywords.

[edit] Collections

• Agents of Atlas (256 pages, Marvel Comics, hardcover, May 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2712-7; trade paperback Nov 2007, ISBN 0785122311)

collection of the miniseries plus first appearances of major characters: Marvel Boy #1, Marvel Mystery Comics #82 (May 1947), Men's Adventures #26 (March 1954), Menace #11 (May 1954), Venus #1 (Aug. 1948), What If?#9 (June 1978), and Yellow Claw #1 (Oct. 1956)

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Agents of Atlas official site
• Secret Avengers Reassembled? Paniccia Talks Agents of Atlas, Richards, Davie. "The Marvel Universe Now with Extra Pulp: Parker Talks Agents Of Atlas", and "The Weight of the World on his Pencil: Kirk Talks Agents Of Atlas, Comic Book Resources, May 12-26, 2006
• Montgomery, Mitch. "Jeff Parker and the New Adventures of Old Marvel", Silver Bullet Comics, September 27, 2006

[edit] External links

• Jimmy Woo and Jann of the Jungle, by Jess Nevins form A Guide to Marvel's Pre-FF #1 Heroes
• The Human Robot, Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe