THE ATOM ARCHIVES, VOLUME 1

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Date: Monday, July 16, 2001


Sometimes, in order to cleanse myself of the countless awful modern age comics I must read, I turn to some of the superb DC ARCHIVES or MARVEL MASTERWORKS hardcover collections and allow myself to drift back to a simpler time. It was a time when heroes and villains knew their place when Good and Evil was easy to identify by sight, conflicts were resolved with finality and a heaping helping of morality, and artwork was clean and dynamic. In this case, the time is 1961, the place is Ivy Town, USA, and the hero is a brilliant scientist named Ray Palmer.

Ray makes an astonishing discovery one day when he focuses an ultra-violet beam through a highly polished lens of white dwarf star material. He can shrink matter to a fraction of its original size! Unfortunately the effect is not stable, but when necessity forces him to test the beam on himself, he discovers that with a little work, he can preserve his life and control the shrinking effect. Naturally his first inclination is to create a superhero suit that will remain intangible at full-size but fully visible when small, and thus the mighty Atom is born!

There's nothing quite like Silver Age DC superhero stories. They're all direct and to the point, incredibly simplistic and yet suprisingly obsessed with explaining the circumstances of a given tale with seemingly detailed scientific jargon. Most of it is laughably inane, but the seriousness with which the most ridiculous flights of fantasy are presented by the likes of Gardner Fox and Julie Schwartz is so infectious that it's impossible not to allow yourself to smile and let them take you for a ride.


As with all good superheroes of this era, Ray has to struggle to hide his secret identity, but it doesn't stop him from pursuing the charms of lawyer Jean Loring, an atypically progressive young woman with a desire to prove herself professionally before 'succumbing' to marriage. The incessant proposals from Palmer are some of the most amusing elements of this collection. Apparently, we're meant to accept that for Jean or any other woman, a professional life is only possible if she remains single. It's either a career as Jean Loring or a life as Mrs. Ray Palmer for our intrepid legal eagle, and so she must turn him down repeatedly until she's "made her mark." Only in the funnies.

The Atom's adventures are not exactly the most extraordinary escapades DC produced, but they are entertaining. The Atom seems to combat common street hoods and alien thieves with equal facility, and his powers though limited offer an intriguing series of permutations that the writers delighted in exploring.

All of the DC ARCHIVES carry a pretty hefty price tag, but if you can get past that, you won't be disappointed by the consistent quality of the content. The Atom may not be Superman or Batman, but he is a worthy addition to the pantheon of classic heroes and he did merit inclusion in the JLA as well. If you're looking for a wonderful break from all that Modern Age angst, look no further than the Atom. But look closely he's easy to miss.

THE ATOM ARCHIVES

Grade: A-

Issue:Vol. 1

Author(s): Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, Julie Schwartz, Mike Sekowsky

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $49.95