Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Atom, The - Archives, Volume 2 by Gardner Fox ISBN: 1-4012-0014-1 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Room to Grow
Comment: 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.
Rating: 2
Summary: Atom shrinks with age: Great Artwork, Poor Writing
Comment: I remember the Atom when he first came out, and I read a couple of these issues as a kid. I bought this volume on the strength of the art, which is excellent in my view, and relying on my enjoyment as a kid of these stories. There remains a lot of dynamism and solidity to the penciling in these stories, but not much else. Unfortunately the writing (and I am usually a fan of Gardner Fox)is lousy, and the plot twists, few as they are, lack believability. In retrospect, I wish I had not invested--it's not a volume I'll be looking at again any time soon.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good but not great Silver Age Atom stories.
Comment: Fox wrote these stories around the same period of time he was writing for JUSTICE LEAGUE and HAWKMAN. But the Atom story ideas are never as creative or bizarre as those in JUSTICE LEAGUE, and the characters aren't as likeable as Hawkman and Hawkgirl. The Gil Kane / Murphy Anderson artwork is pretty impressive, however; and it's reproduced here well via the DC Archives "remastering" process.
 |
Title: The Adam Strange Archives - Volume 1 by Gardner Fox ISBN: 1401201482 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
 |
Title: The Silver Age Teen Titans Archives, Vol. 1 by Bob Haney ISBN: 1401200710 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
 |
Title: Challengers of the Unknown Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions) by Dave Wood, Jack Kirby ISBN: 1563899973 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
 |
Title: Supergirl - The Archives, Volume 2 by Jerry Siegel ISBN: 1401200001 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
 |
Title: Sgt. Rock Archives, The - Volume 2 by Robert Kanigher ISBN: 1401201466 Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
