The first issue of Atari Force was an incoherent mess, stuffed with too many characters, as well as a lack of exposition and no consistent or compelling world building at all.

Does the second issue improve on things?

Well, the story itself absolutely does not, no; it still feels like a random mess of different characters who may as well be in completely different stories, or even different universes altogether.

In fact, given that there’s talk of the multiverse and different realities in one scene, that could have been a definite possibility.

There’s the sense that the creators are trying too hard to set up a Star Wars-esque saga of rogues and plucky rebels, but there’s not enough known about the different sides or, really, much in the way of convincing motivation or background on any of the characters to make it all fit together.

There’s a really important detail in one of the character files that follows the story, which would have been really useful to know within the strip itself, tying two of the characters together.

Perhaps it’s a sign that things are eventually going to bring all of these weird and wonderful characters together and that things will make sense at some point, but as of the second issue, Atari Force just feels like a completely random selection of characters who haven’t yet been thrown together by circumstance, in a universe which we’re told is at war, but can’t really tell who’s on what side, who’s actually fighting, or why.

Let’s hope that things improve for the next issue, eh?