Written by Bill Raupp
Drawn by Grace Solozano, Luis River and Edgar Tavitas
Published by Grok! Comics
Atoman is a superhero created by Ken Crossen and Jerry Robinson, who was published in a comic book series that only lasted 2 issues in 1946. Thus, the rights to the characters have fallen into the public domain, just like Mickey Mouse did this year. I’ve heard of him through my membership in some Facebook groups dedicated to public domain superheroes, where others have posted their own updates of the character over the years. With his cool power set, I can see why many want to use him, but I could never get past the name for some reason. It just sounds odd to me.
I get it. He’s a man with atomic powers, so the name is a merge of atom and man. So I guess it’s supposed to be pronounced “Atom Man,” but it looks like “Ato-Man” to me, which makes no sense.
Anyway, a group member created his version of the character and published this comic, so I thought I’d check it out.
This issue reprints the original 12-page origin story published in 1946, with a new 8-page story used as a wraparound to create this “new” 20-page story.
We’re introduced to teenager Adam Sanders, a popular football player at his high school. One night, he’s stuck at home cleaning the attic while all his friends are at a party. Looking in an old box, he finds the original Atoman costume, although he doesn’t recognize it. He puts it on, and suddenly, the ghost of the original Atoman, whom Adam recognizes as his grandfather, appears before him and tells him his secret origin.
This is where the original story is re-used. And I found the plot to be a bit more sophisticated than I expected for the time period it comes from. Barry Dale works for a scientific company called The Atomic Institute, which, in the wake of the creation and use of the atom bomb, is dedicated to harnessing atomic power for the good of mankind and keeping it out of evil hands. But then we’re introduced to a greedy businessman known as Mr. Twist (let’s hope Antonio Twist doesn’t hear about this), who has decided that he wants to harness atomic power for his own nefarious reasons. After using Barry to unwittingly steal the secret atomic formula that the Atomic Institute has been working on, Mr. Twist tries to bribe and then blackmail Barry into working for him instead. Barry refuses, and Mr. Twist has his henchmen try to kill Barry but tosses him out the window of Mr. Twist’s building.
But instead of falling to his death. Barry’s superpowers kick in as he discovers that he can fly and is super strong, among other abilities. He surmises that all of his time working closely with atomic energy has caused some of the energy to absorb itself inside of him. He compares it to Marie Currie, who discovered radium and then eventually became radioactive. But instead of killing him, like it did her, his radiation gave him superpowers. He immediately determines that he wants to use his powers to help all people “regardless of race or creed or nationality.” He doesn’t want the public to know that he has these powers, as he fears becoming a “freak” with no privacy, so he personally sews a costume and adopts the superhero moniker of Atoman.
On his first mission, he flies back to Mr. Twist’s office, where he’s attempting to bribe Zelda James, a female scientist who works with Barry. But, like Barry, she refuses. Instead of just killing her, Mr. Twist intends to do something even worse: He throws acid at Zelda’s face, so instead of being beautiful, she’ll have to live the rest of her life as an ugly hag.
Well, spoiler alert, Atoman rescues Zelda before that happens, and Mr. Twist and his henchman are blown up in the ensuing melee.
Back in the present, Barry explains to Adam what happened to his superhero career and why he had never heard of him before. He then explains why he left the suit to him and how it works, and Adam vows to carry on the legacy as the new Atoman, with the issue ending on what could be considered a bit of a cliffhanger, but it’s also a complete, satisfying story on its own.
I also enjoyed the artwork and the contrast between the modern style of art, and the golden age art of the reprint works for this story. This is a clever comic book that I recommend.
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