Showcase Presents: The Atom, Vol. 1 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

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.

Completing this review completes Task #34 (Written by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane or George Tuska) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Sword of the Atom #1 (of 4)

This miniseries is the beginning of all of the marriage troubles between Ray Palmer and Jean Loring. What happens here will go on to affect the DC Universe in a multitude of ways- it’s what sparks the Identity Crisis and the death of one of the most beloved characters in the DCU. It will later reveal Batman’s spying on his fellow Justice League members and for the JLA to disband. The end of this relationship in many ways causes the Big Three of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman to go on a year-long sabbatical that will led the DC Universe into 52, the Search for Ray Palmer, Countdown, and the spawning of the New 52 universe.

   Yes, this single issue, published months before the Crisis has probably been the single issue to most affect the continuity and storylines of the past 15 years of DC Comics. That’s how important the act of unfaithfulness on Jean Loring’s part is to the comics your read today. In some ways, Sword of the Atom #1 is the New 52 as Flash #123 when Barry Allen crossed over into earth 2, is to the Post-Crisis DC universe.

  Here’s the weird thing about this issue. Other than a marriage falling apart, very little else happens in this issue. The sword and sorcery scene on the cover doesn’t ever take place yet as Ray Palmer doesn’t even wear his costume in the entire opening chapter. So, I was a little surprised how such an influential issue could be so dull.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this opening segment. But it was too much like a soap opera and nothing like a super hero comic. Everything that happens here is needed to (I’m hoping) get the Atom to this microscopic race of yellow-tinged jungle dwellers. But don’t expect much excitement in the way of fighting with anything more than the ammo of two spurned lovers.

The art is fantastic. Plus, I just love the color palette. It’s classic 1980s but it’s the style I grew up with and I just adore it. Issue #1 is required reading but it’s scope of drama compared to what’s on the cover is miniscule at best.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.