Number 1895: Up 'n' Atom

The Atom is a second-tier costumed hero for DC who appeared for several years. The original Atom is a small guy who worked out and pumped up his body, then put on a costume to battle crime. The art in this story, from All-American Comics #71 (1945), is by Jon Chester Kozlak, and is written by Joe Greene. In addition the Grand Comics Database tells us the editors are Sheldon Mayer and Julius Schwartz.

Anyone who knows the Atom in his 1961 incarnation knows the two characters have nothing in common. The second Atom can make himself small and retain his mighty wallop. I have said that DC used the old name, but appropriated the powers of Doll Man. Doll Man had been moribund since 1953, and then the publisher, Quality Comics, was sold to DC in '56. Doll Man was a direct influence on the modern Atom, but at least they owned the rights to the character they were swiping from. As it turned out, Doll Man did show up in the DC Universe again, but that isn’t a concern here.

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