The Atom Archives Volume 1(DC Archive Editions (Hardcover)) [Hardcover]

As a child, I liked my superheroes to have a scientific bent, so the stories about physics grad student Ray (The Atom) Palmer adventuring not only on earth but also in time and other dimensional worlds appealed to me. Plus, kids can identify somewhat with a hero that the adult world towered over.
Comics from the '60s were all about gimmicks, and the Atom's was that he could shrink, varying from submicroscopic size to about a foot tall. That let stories develop from notions of putting the Atom in peril not only from normal-sized adults but also from various small objects, from the pointed hands of a watch to a Venus fly-trap to a draining sink (all represented here), which would then be drawn enticingly on the comic's cover.
Author Gardner Fox and artist Gil Kane had already gained some measure of fame for their work on Green Lantern, but they had yet to find their footing on The Atom. The Atom was never one of DC's most popular heroes, but I liked him, and this collection shows the two creators moving from the hero's origin to the establishment of recurring themes which would lead to The Atom's brief peak of popularity.
The collection includes the introduction of two villains who became favorites with DC Comics readers: Chronos the Time Thief (who used clock gimmicks) and Jason Woodrue the Plant-Master (not only a master gardener but also an exile from a dimension where dryads ruled). It also includes the first "Time Pool" stories, in which the Atom would use a wormhole in time (too small for normal humans) to make discoveries in the past. (Oddly, Chronos was never used in a Time Pool story, which would seem a natural combination.)
    This book reprints Atom stories from SHOWCASE #s 34-36 and THE ATOM #s 1-5, 1961-1963.

The Atom was probably the most versatile superhero of the Silver Age of DC Comics. In this collection of stories from 1961, scientist Ray Palmer discovers the secret of controlling his size and weight and becomes the Atom. Rather than exploit his invention for prestige or commercial gain, he chooses to secretly aid lawyer Jean Loring, his fiancee, with her most difficult cases, in the hope that she will agree to marry him after achieving professional success on her own. His subsequent adventures run the gamut from science fiction to espionage to historic time-travel to light fantasy to criminal investigation. Far from invincible like Superman or Green Lantern, the six-inch Atom, embellished by the artwork of Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson at their best, promised and delivered the most fun and excitment (and, admittedly, at times, silliness) of just about all 1960s superhero comic books.

The silver age Atom (there was a slightly different "Atom" of golden age comics) was a fantastic comic. Perhaps the strongest thing about it was the art of Gil Kane.

Kane's renderings are true works of art, some times surreal some times psychedelic, that are time capsule of our fears at the height of the cold war. In a word Kane's work in "The Atom" gives a strong feeling of the apocalyptic.

It was a science based comic book which I found very appealing when I discovered it as a child. For a comic book some of themes, characters and dialogue are actually fairly sophisticated.

This volume reproduces pages of the first and probably best issues of the comic.