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Showcase Presents: Atom #1
Showcase Presents: The Atom, Vol. 1
From the Silver Age of Comics comes this collection of science-fiction tales starring Ray Palmer, The Atom! Included here are some of the Atom's greatest adventures, from SHOWCASE #34-36 and THE ATOM #1-17!
526 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2007
3 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Gardner Francis Fox
1,192 books90 followersGardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he wrote more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics.
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"
Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"
Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 28, 2013
So, from the late 50s until about 1970, DC Comics wrote terrible comics. Gardner Fox (the writer on every Atom comic in this book) is a key figure in this sucky trend.
The Atom goes on adventures like any hero, but they are often pretty dumb. They're like science fictioney tales, where aliens, or at best a baddie with a weird invention, but the Atom shows up and foils the bad guy in a very preposterous way. There are almost no big name villains, and very few recurring ones (Dr. Light is probably the best bad guy that comes to mind, and only because he was in an early JLA issue). Filled with wonky dialogue, too, like "Laurie would be surprised if she knew that I actually am the Atom" or "I was so tired from running around earlier that I was susceptible to the trap...", etc. Darn thought bubbles!
But there's a certain intellectual charm to the Atom. His suit is a sciencey thing, so he turns dials to make his tiny 6 inch body get stronger, or weigh less, etc. It's an interesting idea, buried in the dreck. And, as part of the magazine's thing of having two stories per issue, there's this thing called the "Time Pool", where the Atom travels back in time to meet famous people and fight crime. Still dumb like the rest, but an ok idea.
This book is mild to moderate charm, little to no substance. I liked it, but I'm reticent to recommend.
The Atom goes on adventures like any hero, but they are often pretty dumb. They're like science fictioney tales, where aliens, or at best a baddie with a weird invention, but the Atom shows up and foils the bad guy in a very preposterous way. There are almost no big name villains, and very few recurring ones (Dr. Light is probably the best bad guy that comes to mind, and only because he was in an early JLA issue). Filled with wonky dialogue, too, like "Laurie would be surprised if she knew that I actually am the Atom" or "I was so tired from running around earlier that I was susceptible to the trap...", etc. Darn thought bubbles!
But there's a certain intellectual charm to the Atom. His suit is a sciencey thing, so he turns dials to make his tiny 6 inch body get stronger, or weigh less, etc. It's an interesting idea, buried in the dreck. And, as part of the magazine's thing of having two stories per issue, there's this thing called the "Time Pool", where the Atom travels back in time to meet famous people and fight crime. Still dumb like the rest, but an ok idea.
This book is mild to moderate charm, little to no substance. I liked it, but I'm reticent to recommend.
September 21, 2020
What can I say? simply put, all the things Silver Age lovers search in a Silver Age comic stuffed in a neat package. If you're here for enemies with strong personalities (did somebody say Angle Man?) and modern day quality writing, you're not going to enjoy this one in the slightest. If you're here to see an author letting out all the possible and incredible sci-fi ideas (some even leaning a bit on Golden Age style of horror) his mind could think of drawn by the talented Gil Kane, this is for you. Notice also how the usual 60's mysoginy seems a bit lessened, since Jean Loring is able to be a successful lawyer even without his boyfriend constantly helping her.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
May 25, 2008
This 500-page black-and-white reprint tome includes three issues of Showcase and 17 issues of The Atom's own title. All the stories are by Gardner Fox, with art by Gil Kane and inks by Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene.
Although it was a bit of a slog, there was something satisfying in really immersing myslf in DC's Silver Age. I was never actually emotionally engaged with any of the tales, but they were fun in a goofy, kidlike way. One thing that really impressed me was the pure craftsmanship of the form back then. There was definitely a different standard for artwork back in the early-to-mid-60s, and you could see that professional pride in Fox, Kane, and Anderson's work. And Fox was a true polymath: in the course of a couple years (1963–1965) of The Atom, he tackled the 1956 Hungarian revolution, the space race, 18th-century English history, miniature card painting, Norse mythology, and numismatics, just to name a few. You could enjoy these stories and actually learn something about the real world in the process. How quaint.
Another striking thing about the stories is how much of the plots were devoted to the Atom's alter-ego Ray Palmer. Palmer is such a geek — he really enjoys his job as a scientist and is always shown at his lab, working on some obscure experiment or another when trouble hits. He's a total "square," enjoying reading, art, classical music, and long drives in the countryside. Very much the "man in the gray flannel suit," very emblematic of DC during that period. (Don't forget this is the same era that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko were debuting such oddball, almost countercultural heroes as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and the X-Men for Marvel.)
Ray's then-girlfriend-later-wife Jean Loring is also a featured character, though not via the melodramatic romance angle we're familiar with from Superman and Lois Lane. Instead, many of the stories revolve around the Atom helping "lady lawyer" Jean defend falsely accused clients from criminal charges. Jean's goal during is to make her mark as a lawyer before she acquiesces to Ray's repeated (milksop) marriage proposals! Sort of a mixed message for feminists, that. (This early look at their romance and relationship gains added interest given what later happened to Ray and Jean in the 2004 Brad Meltzer-written classic Identity Crisis.)
Before reading these comics, I didn't know much about Fox other than that he was a Silver Age scribe who re-imagined moribund characters like the Flash, Hawkman, and, yes, the Atom. Researching him a little on Wikipedia, I learned that Fox was an amazingly prolific writer, churning out over 4,000 stories — as well as over 100 novels! — during his long career. That must be some kind of record.
As for Gil Kane, I was first exposed to his work when he drew Action in the mid-80s. He was famous then as a master of human anatomy, with a very distinctive look and inking style. But looking at this early 60s stuff, he was more of an all-around cartoonist, doing everything well but nothing particularly flashy. With Anderson inking him, his work here is protoypically "Silver Age."
Which brings me to Murphy Anderson's exquisite inks. I've always loved his inking over Curt Swan's pencils on Superman and Action. (That "Swanderson" period from the the early 1970s is my all-time favorite Superman era.) Anderson is truly an inker's inker. There's just something "real" about the way he renders, his brushwork giving texture, weight, and solidity to everything from spaceships and ray guns, to everyday objects like clothing, cars, the natural world, and office buildings. And he can ink hair like a mo-fo! A number of the later stories in the collection are inked by a guy named Sid Greene. Not to be too harsh, but Green's inks prove how much Anderson contributed to the look of these Atom stories — the Green pages are not nearly as attractive.
Although it was a bit of a slog, there was something satisfying in really immersing myslf in DC's Silver Age. I was never actually emotionally engaged with any of the tales, but they were fun in a goofy, kidlike way. One thing that really impressed me was the pure craftsmanship of the form back then. There was definitely a different standard for artwork back in the early-to-mid-60s, and you could see that professional pride in Fox, Kane, and Anderson's work. And Fox was a true polymath: in the course of a couple years (1963–1965) of The Atom, he tackled the 1956 Hungarian revolution, the space race, 18th-century English history, miniature card painting, Norse mythology, and numismatics, just to name a few. You could enjoy these stories and actually learn something about the real world in the process. How quaint.
Another striking thing about the stories is how much of the plots were devoted to the Atom's alter-ego Ray Palmer. Palmer is such a geek — he really enjoys his job as a scientist and is always shown at his lab, working on some obscure experiment or another when trouble hits. He's a total "square," enjoying reading, art, classical music, and long drives in the countryside. Very much the "man in the gray flannel suit," very emblematic of DC during that period. (Don't forget this is the same era that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko were debuting such oddball, almost countercultural heroes as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and the X-Men for Marvel.)
Ray's then-girlfriend-later-wife Jean Loring is also a featured character, though not via the melodramatic romance angle we're familiar with from Superman and Lois Lane. Instead, many of the stories revolve around the Atom helping "lady lawyer" Jean defend falsely accused clients from criminal charges. Jean's goal during is to make her mark as a lawyer before she acquiesces to Ray's repeated (milksop) marriage proposals! Sort of a mixed message for feminists, that. (This early look at their romance and relationship gains added interest given what later happened to Ray and Jean in the 2004 Brad Meltzer-written classic Identity Crisis.)
Before reading these comics, I didn't know much about Fox other than that he was a Silver Age scribe who re-imagined moribund characters like the Flash, Hawkman, and, yes, the Atom. Researching him a little on Wikipedia, I learned that Fox was an amazingly prolific writer, churning out over 4,000 stories — as well as over 100 novels! — during his long career. That must be some kind of record.
As for Gil Kane, I was first exposed to his work when he drew Action in the mid-80s. He was famous then as a master of human anatomy, with a very distinctive look and inking style. But looking at this early 60s stuff, he was more of an all-around cartoonist, doing everything well but nothing particularly flashy. With Anderson inking him, his work here is protoypically "Silver Age."
Which brings me to Murphy Anderson's exquisite inks. I've always loved his inking over Curt Swan's pencils on Superman and Action. (That "Swanderson" period from the the early 1970s is my all-time favorite Superman era.) Anderson is truly an inker's inker. There's just something "real" about the way he renders, his brushwork giving texture, weight, and solidity to everything from spaceships and ray guns, to everyday objects like clothing, cars, the natural world, and office buildings. And he can ink hair like a mo-fo! A number of the later stories in the collection are inked by a guy named Sid Greene. Not to be too harsh, but Green's inks prove how much Anderson contributed to the look of these Atom stories — the Green pages are not nearly as attractive.
September 9, 2017
While comic characters always require some suspension of disbelief, I have always considered the Atom to be one that requires the most. Like many of the other DC characters of the sixties, Ray Palmer, the secret identity of the Atom, has a prim and proper relationship with a professional woman. His girlfriend is Jean Loring, a successful practicing attorney. Ray proposes to her on a regular basis and in the now absurd sounding style of the sixties, her response to the first one is to say no and add, “I’m determined to prove I can be a success as a lawyer, before I give up my career and settle down!” In other words, professional women are “unsettled.”
The book begins with the origin of the Atom, where Ray Palmer manually picks up what is supposedly a piece of a white dwarf star. Given that a white dwarf is approximately 200,000 times as dense as the Earth, this is way beyond the usual, demonstrating a fundamental problem. A piece of white dwarf star would rapidly sink into the Earth and no human could possibly life even a teaspoon of such matter. The writers of the Atom stories try to rely on scientific facts, but muddle them up so bad that it would have been better if they had not tried.
The writing is also often stiff and unimaginative, with perils that never seem to really be perils and the dialog often shows very little creativity. One also grows bored with the “romance” between Ray and Jean, I struggled to generate excitement over this book.
The book begins with the origin of the Atom, where Ray Palmer manually picks up what is supposedly a piece of a white dwarf star. Given that a white dwarf is approximately 200,000 times as dense as the Earth, this is way beyond the usual, demonstrating a fundamental problem. A piece of white dwarf star would rapidly sink into the Earth and no human could possibly life even a teaspoon of such matter. The writers of the Atom stories try to rely on scientific facts, but muddle them up so bad that it would have been better if they had not tried.
The writing is also often stiff and unimaginative, with perils that never seem to really be perils and the dialog often shows very little creativity. One also grows bored with the “romance” between Ray and Jean, I struggled to generate excitement over this book.
March 14, 2013
This book follows the early adventures of Ray Palmer, a scientist who using part of a white dwarf star gains the ability to transform himself into the Atom, a superhero who can shrink down six inches tall or even to sub-atomic level and back again. This book collects the Atom's three issue tryout in Showcase #34-36 and the first 17 Issues of the Atom.
The Atom stories are just plain fun, as author Gardener Fox uncorks one imaginative plot after another. They are 1960s science fiction at its most imaginative and fun. The book includes the beginning of the time pool stories as the Atom travels back in time on a time magnet and runs into such noted figures as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne, as well as getting mistaken for the genie of Aladdin's lamp. Some good educational content is mixed to all of the wacky science fiction.
The stories are pleasurable but not perfect. The stories are short (pun intended) on super villains. Also, the Atom Character isn't well-developed, but it didn't bother me too much. With a tiny superhero who can travel through phone lines plus a crossover with Hawkman, this is just a fun book.
The Atom stories are just plain fun, as author Gardener Fox uncorks one imaginative plot after another. They are 1960s science fiction at its most imaginative and fun. The book includes the beginning of the time pool stories as the Atom travels back in time on a time magnet and runs into such noted figures as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne, as well as getting mistaken for the genie of Aladdin's lamp. Some good educational content is mixed to all of the wacky science fiction.
The stories are pleasurable but not perfect. The stories are short (pun intended) on super villains. Also, the Atom Character isn't well-developed, but it didn't bother me too much. With a tiny superhero who can travel through phone lines plus a crossover with Hawkman, this is just a fun book.
June 22, 2020
It all started in Showcase # 34 September 1961 with ‘The Birth Of The Atom‘, scripted by Gardner Fox and drawn by Gil Kane, as are all the stories here. Scientist Ray Palmer sees a meteor falling from the sky. On discovering that it’s a piece of a white dwarf star he takes it back to his laboratory. White dwarf stars are made of compressed matter from which the electrons have been stripped. Ray makes a lens from the meteor rock and by passing ultra-violet light rays through it can shrink inanimate objects. Regrettably, they explode after a while due to the instability of the compressed atoms. ‘The Exploding Atom’ would have been a very short-lived comic book. Happily, when Ray shrinks himself to escape from a cave in which he has become trapped, water dripping from the cave ceiling onto the lens, which he had with him, changes the reaction. Now he can shrink and grow at will.
In his second adventure, ‘Battle Of The Tiny Titans’, Ray makes the aforesaid miniature costume from the material of the white dwarf meteorite. It certainly is flexible stuff that can be made into lenses and clothes! Amazingly and, rather conveniently for a super-hero, when Ray stretches up to normal size the costume becomes invisible and intangible. It’s not quite clear what happens to his street clothes but I think they are worn under the costume so he’s wearing them when he grows. Ray retains his full weight of 180 pounds when he shrinks but has found a way to reduce it at will so he can waft around on air currents when necessary. He can also send himself down telephone lines. In The Atom #15, he is hurled along by a beam of light from a brilliant bulb as ‘light possesses a gentle propulsive force’ according to an editorial note. This was a fact previously unknown to me. Moths seem unaware of it, too.
In The Atom # 14, ‘Revolt Of The Atom’s Uniform’, the remainder of the white dwarf meteorite left in the ground has evolved into an intelligent being in response to soil, sunlight and air, something that trees and other plants have not yet managed despite the same beneficial conditions for millions of years. As the Atom’s uniform is composed of its own stuff, the meteorite can take command of it and use it to beat up Ray Palmer which makes for a very unusual cover. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Palmer’s has a girlfriend named Jean Loring, to whom he proposes marriage virtually every day. She works in criminal law and is frequently a source of tip-offs to impending nefarious activities. They both live in Ivy Town which is a city of sufficient size to have banks, museums, cops, jails, exhibitions and other useful story material. To go through every story would be tedious and many of them are forgettable, so I’ve forgotten them as I read this volume slowly over several months. However, there are some of particular interest.
Fox fans will be familiar with Gardner’s inventive use of pseudo-science. This volume features several ‘Time Pool’ stories, beginning with issue # 3 ‘The Secret Of Al Atom’s Lamp’. Ray Palmer’s former teacher, retired Professor Alpheus V. Hyatt has incorporated all the colours into a pool of absolute whiteness and ‘in some mysterious manner’ that whiteness has the power to pierce the barrier between the present and the past. Hyatt drops a magnet into the ‘Time Pool’ and tries to pick up metallic objects from bygone eras. Secretly, Ray shrinks down to Atom-size and sits on the magnet. In this story, he goes back to the Arabia of 850AD and passes himself off as a genie. Other ‘Time Pool’ stories involve him with highwaymen, Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne. These yarns reflect the interests of Gardner Fox, a polymath and history buff and they are all jolly good fun.
Gil Kane once said in an interview that the art of earlier comics was much better than the stories. This is true. Not that the stories are completely execrable, it’s just that they are of a type whose day is done. Gardner Fox was a master of the puzzle story or the gimmick story or the downright outrageous story when it came to fantasy. A meteorite that evolves intelligence and powers over a few months stuck in the ground is far-fetched by any standards! In a way, it’s kind of fun as long as switch off your critical instinct and roll with it. Meanwhile, the art is a treat to the eye. Kane is inked by Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene and they both do a great job. They tone down his exuberant pencils somewhat and he didn’t like that but I think the finished job benefits thereby.
These Silver Age ‘DC Showcase’ volumes are interesting documents of social history. They do not reflect the totality of life in early sixties USA because, if you compare them to the stories Harlan Ellison was writing about life on the streets with dope, musicians and gangsters, it is a different world. The world of ‘DC Showcase’ is that of decent, middle-class suburban America: a world in which men go to work every day in a suit, court one nice lady, stay loyal to her then marry her and generally live a clean, honest, upright life. Even the villains all wear a collar and tie, which is convenient for the Atom as he usually grabs the tie when punching them. The ‘action’ sequences have people being thumped, tripped and generally clobbered but no eyes are gouged out and they never bleed, even when shot. It isn’t real but it is rather sweet and I like it.
Insofar as I can recall, I bought this for ten English pounds. As with many older ‘DC Showcase’ books, it appears on the English version of the world’s favourite book website for mad money, as if the seller is waiting for a sucker. On US websites, it is still available for a sane price. It won’t suit everyone but it’s a cheap, clean read for your children and nostalgic fun for oldies. Like many of the best Hollywood movies, it is in black and white.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
In his second adventure, ‘Battle Of The Tiny Titans’, Ray makes the aforesaid miniature costume from the material of the white dwarf meteorite. It certainly is flexible stuff that can be made into lenses and clothes! Amazingly and, rather conveniently for a super-hero, when Ray stretches up to normal size the costume becomes invisible and intangible. It’s not quite clear what happens to his street clothes but I think they are worn under the costume so he’s wearing them when he grows. Ray retains his full weight of 180 pounds when he shrinks but has found a way to reduce it at will so he can waft around on air currents when necessary. He can also send himself down telephone lines. In The Atom #15, he is hurled along by a beam of light from a brilliant bulb as ‘light possesses a gentle propulsive force’ according to an editorial note. This was a fact previously unknown to me. Moths seem unaware of it, too.
In The Atom # 14, ‘Revolt Of The Atom’s Uniform’, the remainder of the white dwarf meteorite left in the ground has evolved into an intelligent being in response to soil, sunlight and air, something that trees and other plants have not yet managed despite the same beneficial conditions for millions of years. As the Atom’s uniform is composed of its own stuff, the meteorite can take command of it and use it to beat up Ray Palmer which makes for a very unusual cover. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Palmer’s has a girlfriend named Jean Loring, to whom he proposes marriage virtually every day. She works in criminal law and is frequently a source of tip-offs to impending nefarious activities. They both live in Ivy Town which is a city of sufficient size to have banks, museums, cops, jails, exhibitions and other useful story material. To go through every story would be tedious and many of them are forgettable, so I’ve forgotten them as I read this volume slowly over several months. However, there are some of particular interest.
Fox fans will be familiar with Gardner’s inventive use of pseudo-science. This volume features several ‘Time Pool’ stories, beginning with issue # 3 ‘The Secret Of Al Atom’s Lamp’. Ray Palmer’s former teacher, retired Professor Alpheus V. Hyatt has incorporated all the colours into a pool of absolute whiteness and ‘in some mysterious manner’ that whiteness has the power to pierce the barrier between the present and the past. Hyatt drops a magnet into the ‘Time Pool’ and tries to pick up metallic objects from bygone eras. Secretly, Ray shrinks down to Atom-size and sits on the magnet. In this story, he goes back to the Arabia of 850AD and passes himself off as a genie. Other ‘Time Pool’ stories involve him with highwaymen, Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne. These yarns reflect the interests of Gardner Fox, a polymath and history buff and they are all jolly good fun.
Gil Kane once said in an interview that the art of earlier comics was much better than the stories. This is true. Not that the stories are completely execrable, it’s just that they are of a type whose day is done. Gardner Fox was a master of the puzzle story or the gimmick story or the downright outrageous story when it came to fantasy. A meteorite that evolves intelligence and powers over a few months stuck in the ground is far-fetched by any standards! In a way, it’s kind of fun as long as switch off your critical instinct and roll with it. Meanwhile, the art is a treat to the eye. Kane is inked by Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene and they both do a great job. They tone down his exuberant pencils somewhat and he didn’t like that but I think the finished job benefits thereby.
These Silver Age ‘DC Showcase’ volumes are interesting documents of social history. They do not reflect the totality of life in early sixties USA because, if you compare them to the stories Harlan Ellison was writing about life on the streets with dope, musicians and gangsters, it is a different world. The world of ‘DC Showcase’ is that of decent, middle-class suburban America: a world in which men go to work every day in a suit, court one nice lady, stay loyal to her then marry her and generally live a clean, honest, upright life. Even the villains all wear a collar and tie, which is convenient for the Atom as he usually grabs the tie when punching them. The ‘action’ sequences have people being thumped, tripped and generally clobbered but no eyes are gouged out and they never bleed, even when shot. It isn’t real but it is rather sweet and I like it.
Insofar as I can recall, I bought this for ten English pounds. As with many older ‘DC Showcase’ books, it appears on the English version of the world’s favourite book website for mad money, as if the seller is waiting for a sucker. On US websites, it is still available for a sane price. It won’t suit everyone but it’s a cheap, clean read for your children and nostalgic fun for oldies. Like many of the best Hollywood movies, it is in black and white.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
June 13, 2016
This volume of Showcase Presents includes material available on The Atom Archives Vols 1 & 2, plus an additional four issues (#s 14-19).
As per usual, writer Gardner Fox has a lot of sci-fiction elements in his Atom stories, although the Atom is more Earth-bound than, say, Hawkman or Green Lantern. Silver Age pseudo-science along with some actual scientific principles makes for some interesting reading. The Atom didn't have much in the way of characterization, but seeing a "lady lawyer" in Jean Loring, Atom's girlfriend, was nice and forward thinking for the day.
Art is mostly by Gil Kane and Sid Greene, and even in B/W, it's very clean and simple yet very expressive. Kane was, of course, another master working in the halls of DC in the 1960s, and his overall aesthetic was very pleasant.
Recommended for Silver Age DC fans.
As per usual, writer Gardner Fox has a lot of sci-fiction elements in his Atom stories, although the Atom is more Earth-bound than, say, Hawkman or Green Lantern. Silver Age pseudo-science along with some actual scientific principles makes for some interesting reading. The Atom didn't have much in the way of characterization, but seeing a "lady lawyer" in Jean Loring, Atom's girlfriend, was nice and forward thinking for the day.
Art is mostly by Gil Kane and Sid Greene, and even in B/W, it's very clean and simple yet very expressive. Kane was, of course, another master working in the halls of DC in the 1960s, and his overall aesthetic was very pleasant.
Recommended for Silver Age DC fans.
December 20, 2015
This collection of early stories about The Atom shows both why the character was popular enough to join the JLA, as well as why the character never really hit it as big as his contemporaries, The Flash and Green Lantern. The concept of a man who shrinks to a tiny size is intriguing, but the stories themselves aren't that great. I don't think the character really came into full being until The Sword of the Atom, almost 30 years after the character's creation.
Still a fun read. I really wish DC would publish a collection like this for the Golden Age Atom, but I won't hold my breath.
Still a fun read. I really wish DC would publish a collection like this for the Golden Age Atom, but I won't hold my breath.
August 4, 2020
Despite the stories being fairly simple they are still engaging. My main issue with The Atom would be the lack of more original looking villains, like Spider Man's Octopus or Batman's Joker, some just look like middle-aged men, dressed as scientists. Still, Gil Kane's art is SO GOOD, that for that alone makes it worthy.
July 14, 2024
When scientist Ray Palmer witnesses a meteorite crash on the outskirts of his hometown of Ivy Town, the event changes his life forever. Palmer determines that the fragment is part of an exploded white dwarf star. After several months of experiments, Ray makes a specially designed lens out of the material. When using light to focus the radiation from the meteor, it shrink objects down to about 6 inches in size. Unfortunately, after a few minutes, the shrunken item will inexplicably explode.
One afternoon, while spelunking a nearby cavern, a cave-in occurs, trapping Ray Palmer and some undergrads. Ray finds a escape. Only he's too big to make it through. Thankfully, Ray has his special lens with him and using sunlight pouring through the opening, Palmer is able to reduce his size and to create an escape for him and his students.
After the cave-in, Palmer develops a suit out of the remaining white dwarf material that allows him to shrink without becoming a human grenade. Palmer also equips the suit with a special control dial that not only shrinks him down to microscopic size, but controls his density. Now going by the name, the Atom: the World's Smallest Superhero, Ray Palmer fights crime with an ulterior motive - love.
Ray's girlfriend, Jean Loring, is an aspiring lawyer. She refuses to accept Ray's many marriage proposals until she can make her name as a top defense attorney. Thus Ray will assist Jean secretly as the Atom in hopes that she'll eventually say yes. In order to finally obtain an 'I Do' from Jean Loring, the Atom will fight an assortment of small time crooks and advanced super villains.
The Atom's early Rogue's Gallery will include the Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue, master of luminescence, Doctor Light and the time manipulating criminal known as Chronos. Sadly, Ray's relationship with Jean Loring and his battles with Doctor Light only happen to dredge up painful memories to devoted readers of the Atom, as later in pages of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, the two characters in the Atom's life will be responsible for the tragic death of fan-favorite character, Sue Disney.
The Atom was created by Gardner Fox, who frequently claimed that his ideas came to him in his dreams. A legacy character, the Atom was a Silver Age re-imagination of a diminutive powerhouse member of the Justice Society of America with the same name. The Silver Age character was designed by Gil Kane with Ray Palmer's features based on Hollywood actor Robert Taylor in his younger days. The Atom debuted in the September/October, 1961 issue of Showcase. The Atom would star in issues #34-36, before being awarded his own title in the summer of 1962.
The first of two volumes of Showcase Presents featuring the Atom; this collection was published in 2007. It collects those trio of appearances in Showcase along with the first 17 issues of The Atom. Readers will delight in the hero's first of many iconic team ups with Hawkman. The Atom also has meetings with several important historical figures in a series of time traveling adventures. Referred to as ' Time Pool Stories ', the Atom frequently traveled through a time vortex, unbeknownst to a colleague of Ray Palmer's. In the past, the Atom would assist Henry Hudson, Edgar Allen Poe and others as the pint-sized hero solved some of history's greatest mysteries.
Gardner Fox wrote all of the scripts with Gil Kane as sole artist. Duties on inker were primarily achieved by Murphy Anderson, with Sid Greene as a substitute.
One afternoon, while spelunking a nearby cavern, a cave-in occurs, trapping Ray Palmer and some undergrads. Ray finds a escape. Only he's too big to make it through. Thankfully, Ray has his special lens with him and using sunlight pouring through the opening, Palmer is able to reduce his size and to create an escape for him and his students.
After the cave-in, Palmer develops a suit out of the remaining white dwarf material that allows him to shrink without becoming a human grenade. Palmer also equips the suit with a special control dial that not only shrinks him down to microscopic size, but controls his density. Now going by the name, the Atom: the World's Smallest Superhero, Ray Palmer fights crime with an ulterior motive - love.
Ray's girlfriend, Jean Loring, is an aspiring lawyer. She refuses to accept Ray's many marriage proposals until she can make her name as a top defense attorney. Thus Ray will assist Jean secretly as the Atom in hopes that she'll eventually say yes. In order to finally obtain an 'I Do' from Jean Loring, the Atom will fight an assortment of small time crooks and advanced super villains.
The Atom's early Rogue's Gallery will include the Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue, master of luminescence, Doctor Light and the time manipulating criminal known as Chronos. Sadly, Ray's relationship with Jean Loring and his battles with Doctor Light only happen to dredge up painful memories to devoted readers of the Atom, as later in pages of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, the two characters in the Atom's life will be responsible for the tragic death of fan-favorite character, Sue Disney.
The Atom was created by Gardner Fox, who frequently claimed that his ideas came to him in his dreams. A legacy character, the Atom was a Silver Age re-imagination of a diminutive powerhouse member of the Justice Society of America with the same name. The Silver Age character was designed by Gil Kane with Ray Palmer's features based on Hollywood actor Robert Taylor in his younger days. The Atom debuted in the September/October, 1961 issue of Showcase. The Atom would star in issues #34-36, before being awarded his own title in the summer of 1962.
The first of two volumes of Showcase Presents featuring the Atom; this collection was published in 2007. It collects those trio of appearances in Showcase along with the first 17 issues of The Atom. Readers will delight in the hero's first of many iconic team ups with Hawkman. The Atom also has meetings with several important historical figures in a series of time traveling adventures. Referred to as ' Time Pool Stories ', the Atom frequently traveled through a time vortex, unbeknownst to a colleague of Ray Palmer's. In the past, the Atom would assist Henry Hudson, Edgar Allen Poe and others as the pint-sized hero solved some of history's greatest mysteries.
Gardner Fox wrote all of the scripts with Gil Kane as sole artist. Duties on inker were primarily achieved by Murphy Anderson, with Sid Greene as a substitute.
Want to read
April 12, 2013Bought: April 12, 2013
Location: PowerBooks (Greenbelt 4)
Price: P200
Location: PowerBooks (Greenbelt 4)
Price: P200
November 7, 2013
My kid liked it. I wish the science had been better, but a kid reading about any science, even speculative science, is better than any TV show or movie out there.
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