The Atom

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The Atom is the hero of a series of comic books published by the US publisher DC-Comics since 1961.

The atom comics mostly tell the adventures of the scientist Dr. Raymond Palmer (called The Atom ) who, since coming into contact with a white dwarf star, has had the ability to shrink his body to subatomic size and change its mass. The series belongs to the science fiction genre and is located within it in the area of ​​superhero comics, a specifically American sub-genre of science fiction.

Release dates

The character of The Atom was developed by writer Gardner Fox and illustrator Murphy Anderson and featured for the first time in a story in issue # 34 of the Showcase series. The purpose of the publication in Showcase , an anthology series in the program of the east coast publisher DC-Comics in which this new concepts tested for their popularity, was to check whether a stand-alone Atom series would sell well enough to be financially worthwhile. After the story from Showcase # 34, as well as a few other Atom stories that appeared in Showcase , sold satisfactorily, DC Comics began publishing an eponymous series called The Atom in 1964 .

This first Atom series, later renamed The Atom and Hawkman , reached forty-five issues in total before being discontinued in 1969. The series was renamed The Atom and Hawkman with issue #? marked a conceptual change because from this issue Atom was no longer a solo series, but a team series in which Atom and his "co-star" the falcon man Hawkman experienced adventures as an equal duo. The main authors of The Atom and The Atom and Hawkman were as authors alongside Fox, among others Robert Kanigher and Dennis O'Neil . Besides Anderson, Dick Dillin worked as a draftsman .

Between September and December 1983, DC released a four-part miniseries under the title Sword of the Atom . This series moved the scenario of The Atom from an American university town to the South American rainforest, where Atom, as a Conan -like warrior, experiences fantasy adventures in the world of a people of microscopic, human-like dwarf creatures hidden deep in the jungle.

In 1984, 1985 and 1988 three special editions were published as Sword of the Atom Special # 1–3, which were illustrated by the draftsman Pat Broderick and the ink pen Dennis Janke .

From August 1988 to November 1989, DC launched a new continuous Atom series entitled Power of the Atom , which totaled eighteen editions. The main authors of this series were Roger Stern (# 1–11, 14–15) and Tom Peyer (# 15–18), while William Messner-Loebs wrote issues # 12 and # 13 as a guest. Dwayne Turner (# 1-5), John Byrne (# 6) and Graham Nolan were employed as draftsmen .

In 1993 and 1995 two special editions appeared under the title Atom Special , which were written by Peyer and illustrated by the draftsmen Steve Dillon and Luke McDonnell respectively.

From September 2006 to 2008, DC finally brought the All New Atom series onto the market, which totaled twenty-five editions. This series was first written by the American Gail Simone , followed by Rick Remender . The draftsmen included John Byrne and Eddie Burroughs. The main character this time was a young professor named Ryan Choi, who takes the place of the missing Ray Palmer.

In Germany, the Stuttgart-based Ehapa-Verlag published seven volumes under the title Atom (subtitle: Superman presents ) between 1979 and 1985 , which contained translations of some Atom stories.

Earlier, a hero named Atom appeared in All-American Comics  # 19 (Oct. 1940) - the student and later doctor Al Pratt - who became a founding member of the Justice Society of America , although he initially had no superpowers, only boxing. He only received superhuman strength, agility and his so-called atomic punch in 1948 as a late consequence of a fight with the villain Cyclotron. His career ended with All Star Comics  # 57, 1951, which also featured the final Golden Age Justice Society story. Even later, occasional stories with him appeared that primarily played on Earth 2 .

In other media

In the US television series Arrow as well as in the spin-off Legends of Tomorrow is The Atom and Ray Palmer of Brandon Routh shown.

In the cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold , Ryan Choi appears as Atom. In the American version he is dubbed by James Sie, in the German version by Viktor Neumann .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ GCD :: Series :: The All New Atom
  2. DC Comics ( Memento from May 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  3. Comic Guide: Atom
  4. German synchronous files