![]() While it’s obvious he well suited to drawing the Atom, having worked on the character for many years in the ’60’s, he’s at home with the Fantasy genre as well. His anatomy is spot on and his skills are well-suited to depicting the heroic ideal. He individualizes every face and delivers a wide range of emotions seemingly effortlessly. His action scenes are dynamic and explosive. It’s a real treat as Kane inks himself on Sword of the Atom, and it’s absolutely the best way to view Kane’s work. This led him to being the first artist on the Silver Age revivals of Green Lantern and the Atom, two characters with which he will always be associated. By fifties he was working at DC on Westerns and Science Fiction stories. Kane began his career in the Golden Age of Comics with MLJ Comics, the company that would become Archie Comics. It will be obvious after thumbing through a few pages of this book, that the art work, almost exclusively by the legendary Gil Kane is outstanding. Interestingly, both aspects of the story put Ray Palmer in new territory in both his personal and heroic life. It contrasts nicely with the Sword and Sorcery evoked in the Atom’s adventure in the Amazon Jungle. It’s a real world issue to which many can relate. By giving Ray and Jean marriage problems, the Atom’s story becomes very mature. By placing the Atom in a Sci-Fi/ Fantasy genre, Strnad and Kane re-imagined Ray Palmer’s skill set while also growing his personal story. The task fell to Jan Strnad and Gil Kane. In the mid 1980’s, DC gave the Atom a makeover. Though Ray eventually goes on to play a role in the core of the DC Universe after his return in Power of the Atom #1 (1988), Sword of the Atom leaves Ray’s fate open ended. The subsequent specials explore Ray’s decision to stay in the Amazon with the aliens and his new girlfriend Princess Laethwen. Ray’s journey is not unlike that of John Carter of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creation. What follows for the course of the chapters containing the original mini-series is more similar to a Science Fiction or Fantasy novel as the now normally powered Atom must rely on standard athletic skills than his trademark size and weigh changing mechanism. He runs afoul of drug smugglers and in the resulting plane crash, Ray is stuck at his 6 inch size. Seeking to give one another space, Ray ventures to South America in search of a White Dwarf Star fragment. Ray discovers that Jean has begun an affair with new law partner, Paul Hoben. ![]() However, he’s believed to be dead to the world at large and his wife, Jean Loring has moved on with another man. It’s a hefty tome that tells Ray Palmer’s adventures in the Amazon Rain Forest with a race of diminutive aliens stranded on Earth. This Sword of the Atom collection consists of all of the above material. It was followed up with three double sized specials published in the Summers of 1984, 19. Sword of the Atom began as a four issue mini-series published September through December 1983. Letters: John Costanza, Gaspar and Albert de Guzman Art: Gil Kane, Pat Broderick & Dennis Janke
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