  Deeply virtual Compton scattering is a fascinating process which can provide
a tomographic view of nuclei and bound nucleons. The first experimental results
for $^4$He targets, recently released at Jefferson Lab, have been analyzed here
in a rigorous Impulse Approximation scenario. For both the coherent and
incoherent channels of the process, the main experimental observables have been
written in terms of state-of-the-art models of the nuclear spectral function
and of the parton structure of the bound proton. A good overall agreement with
the data is obtained. The calculation shows that a comparison of our
conventional results with future precise data can expose novel quark and gluon
effects in nuclei.
