After we ran our piece on the Last Atom Story last week:
A reader identifying himself as Zoomy wrote in to the comments to let me know that there’d actually been one additional Atom story published a week later, snuck into the back pages of an issue of SENSATION COMICS, #86. So I figured that it was worth setting the record straight and presenting it to you all as well, the actual final Atom solo story of the Golden Age of Comics.
Why editor Robert Kanigher wound up printing this story, which was in all likelihood another story commissioned by his office-mate Julie Schwartz for FLASH COMICS is a bit of a mystery. In all probability, Kanigher found himself with a last-minute hole–perhaps some artist didn’t get their work in on time–and needing something to fill the pages prevailed upon Schwartz to give him anything that might fit. (Interestingly, the notation on the splash page indicates that it was intended for OH33. But I’m not sure what title OH could have been during this period.) The OZZIE & HARRIET comic book was only just beginning and nowhere near issue #33. ) Either way, this is the one and only Atom story to see print in SENSATION COMICS, so there’s no evidence that the series was ever intended to continue there. But it does make the Atom the only feature to have appeared in all three of All-American Comics’ mainstay anthologies, ALL-AMERICAN COMICS, FLASH COMICS and SENSATION COMICS. (And the character was a mainstay of the Justice Society of America in ALL-STAR COMICS as well as being represented in the oversized BIG ALL-AMERICAN COMIC BOOK one-shot in 1944. The Atom got around.)
The name of the author of this five-pager has been lost to time, and even the art credits are something of a guess. The Grand Comic Database suggests that it was drawn by Chet Kozlak and inked by Joe Giella.
There’s literally nothing remarkable about this story. It’s just another simply five-page back-page filler strip that’s a perfectly fine bit of entertainment for five minutes.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
I’ve been intrigued by that Atom story ever since someone told me about it years ago (correcting me when I said his last appearance was Flash #104). There are lots of weird things about it – what’s it doing in Sensation Comics? Considering how many other non-published stories of the Atom and others turned up over the years, why didn’t more of them end up in other 1940s comics to fill the pages?
And why did they put five pages of filler in this issue? All the regular features of Sensation are still in #86. Lady Danger is a couple of pages shorter than usual, but it looks like they dropped the usual one-page gag cartoons to fit the Atom story.
And “OH 33”? Wonder Woman #33 came out around that time, but you wouldn’t expect an Atom story to be commissioned for it. Comic Cavalcade was approaching #33, and an Atom backup story might have gone in there, but it had changed to funny animals with #30, so planning filler that far in advance seems unlikely.
There are a couple of Flash stories in All-Flash #27 and #28 labelled “BM OH 3” and “BM OH 1”, which makes me think “On Hand” or unallocated to a specific issue, but 33 seems like a high number for that…
It’s just the kind of thing that gets my nerd-sense tingling 🙂
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This guy can lift a ship but can still be knocked out my a regular joe swinging a wrench underwater?
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Yeah the Atom’s reaction should have been the same as Wonder Woman in the Justice League movie when she was hit in the head. Hell even Spider-Man would had the same reaction to her since no normal human could ever generate the force needed to hurt either of them much less knock them out.
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I think it’s reasonable that there are different types of “super-strength”, and some don’t help with being knocked on the head. One type is where you’re intrinsically strong and also tough, e.g. Thor. This can’t (or at least, shouldn’t) be “drained” or “neutralized”, it’s fundamentally part of your body. But there’s another type which I think of as having internal energy you can use, somewhat like a Green Lantern ring. This energy-based “super-strength” is akin to an internal energy construct you can make – which is why e.g. your bones don’t break or wrench out of their sockets. It’s not really muscles, but forming and operating this energy construct. And it can be drained, disrupted, neutralized, etc – all having to do with removing the energy or the ability to use it. Also, you need to think to invoke it, it’s not “always on”. The Atom’s “atomic strength” fits as this kind. Crucially, this does not help against being hit on the head, in the same way Green Lantern using his ring to lift something heavy won’t help him if someone sneaks behind him and catches him unaware and hits him on the head (of course, he should have his ring automatically defend, but the idea is that the lifting itself doesn’t protect him).
But that’s hardly my biggest problem with this story. What is he doing with that first ship? It can’t be within five feet of the bottom, that makes no sense. Does he not need to breathe? Having him tied to the propeller seems like a silly death-trap if he’s almost drowned already (and it’ll cause a great bloody mess where otherwise they can just stash the body under a rock or similar). Plus the whole scheme makes no sense, as anything affecting ships is going to cause all sorts of havoc which will send the military right to the crooks. I know, there are pages to fill, and it’s not easy, and the money wasn’t worth more effort here.
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Well DC.FANDOM.COM/WIKI/ALBERT_PRATT_(NEW_EARTH) does say the Atom focuses his radioactive energy into his fists adding destructive force to his punches. It also says he has Superhuman Durability ( So him getting knocked out in this story and possibly others by normal humans is just the writing of the times, granted it does not explain modern writers — All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes#1 ( August 2011 ) Blue Diamond ( who has diamond hard skin has a bruised and bloody face from a Nazi torturer; also he is tied to a chair with rope ( he can punch through a brick wall; in his first appearance was hit by a truck saving a kid and he hardly felt it, plus he damaged the truck – Daring Mystery Comics#7 page 7 ) ).
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The Atom lifting that excursion ship made me think of the Hulk’s first fight with the Galaxy Master when the Hulk lifted the Sagittarian starship that brought him to their home world and threw it [ Incredible Hulk vol.2#112 ( February 1969 ) page 7 ]– before the first Official Handbook greatly reduced his strength ( Don’t know how strong you have to be to drag a Russian Destroyer underwater but the Hulk did that too — Incredible Hulk#145 ( November 1971 ) page 6 ).
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Is it possible that the creative team doing the Atom stories for Flash Comics were ahead on their deadlines and had prepped stories for Flash Comics #105 and beyond, and then when the series was ended they decided against it?
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These last Flash/Hawkman/Atom posts have been great fun. So little of second-half 1940s former All-American characters content is reprinted, even though there was superb talent working on some of it (Toth, Elias, Infantino). Most of these seem to have been paint-by-numbers formulaic rather than innovative as seen in same time period with Superman and Batman, which benefited from some origin stories and expanding of the mythos and some solid villains. Still, glad you have shared these. Thank you.
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Atom also appeared in COmic Cavalcade 22, 23, 28
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These last Flash/Hawkman/Atom posts are great fun. So little of late 1940s DC is reprinted outside of the Trinity. And while these stories are paint-by-numbers formulaic at a time when superheroes were on the wane, they are still gems to spend five minutes with. Thank you.
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Was just telling my daughter today: around this time virtually EVERY DC solo superhero story, at least published by the AA branch of the company (with the possible exception of Wonder Woman), had the exact same plot:
Hero stumbles on situation.
Hero uncovers bad guy(s).
Hero takes fight to bad guy(s), comes close to winning.
Hero is knocked out (occasionally otherwise captured), sometimes by assault, often by freak accident.
With hero at their mercy, bad guy(s) rig certain deathtrap. (Rather than, say, shooting their helpless foe, or, in this case, just letting the Atom drown, since he’s knocked out underwater.)
Hero escapes deathtrap.
Hero foils/captures bad guy(s).
Sometimes bonus extra (as in this story): Hero’s secret identity is ridiculed/humiliated for not being hero.
Not long ago, I read the run of Flash Comics that featured Joe Kubert’s Hawkman. Virtually every single story in every single issue had that exact plot, & I’m not exaggerating. Years worth of issues, seven or 8 stories an issue. And it wasn’t limited to Flash Comics. Reading 40 issues in a relatively short stretch really emphasizes it, but I have to assume that even readers who bought the books irregularly must’ve started noticing. It wasn’t an especially unfamiliar formula for other companies’ comics wither. People can make all the excuses for why the superhero comics audience petered out in the late ’40s, but it wouldn’t greatly shock me if this weren’t at minimum contributory…
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As for why the story was included in Sensation 86: I would guess once the cancellations started in, orders were given to use up any remaining inventory.
I’d also consider it a fairly strong possibility that Kanigher wrote the story – while Julie had largely shifted to John Broome as his main guy by then, Kanigher writing stories for Flash Comics wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary – & he may have, because, after all, he was Bob Kanigher, considered it a waste to not see his genius in print where it belonged…
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All the job numbers in FLASH were FL except fit the Atom which was OH.
Flash 97 had OH29
98 had OH32
99 had OH31
100 had OH30
101 had no Atom story.
102 had OH35
103 had no job number I can find. I assume it was OH34 since I can find no other story with that #.
104 is OH36.
So, it looks like OH33 may have been set for 101 and was left out because of space considerations.
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For whatever it’s worth, the OH numbers were used multiple times and the numbering was restarted seemingly with no real organization. For instance, SCRIBBLY 1, in 1948, has stories coded OH 1-4, while other books in the same month ran stories coded OH-9, 17, 28 and more.
The OH codes around this one include:
OH 25 – Binky – BINKY 5
OH 25 – the Atom – FLASH 93
OH 26 – the Atom – FLASH 94
OH 27 – Binky – BINKY 6
OH 27 – Willy Nilly – SENSATION 79
OH 27 – the Atom – FLASH 95
OH 28 – Cotton-Top Katie – ALL-AMERICAN 97
OH 28 – the Atom – COMIC CAVALCADE 28
OH 28 – Binky – BINKY 4
OH 30 – the Atom – FLASH 100
OH 30 – Binky – BINKY 7
OH 31 – the Atom – FLASH 99
OH 31 – Willy Nilly – SENSATION 82
OH 32 – the Atom – FLASH 98
OH 32 – Willy Nilly – SENSATION 85
OH 33 – Binky – BINKY 9
OH 34 – Willy Nilly – SENSATION 80
OH 34 – Willy Nilly – SENSATION 83
OH 34 – Binky – BINKY 11
OH 35 – Willy Nilly – SENSATION 81
OH 35 – the Atom -FLASH 102
OH 35 – Binky – BINKY 8
OH 36 – the Atom – FLASH 104
OH 37 – Willy Nilly – DATE WITH JUDY 9
OH 37 – Binky – BINKY 7
OH 38 – Willy Nilly – DATE WITH JUDY 7
OH 38 – Binky – BINKY 8
It might be supposed that each editor or feature was using their own OH codes, but that wouldn’t explain why two Willy Nilly stories have the same code. I expect that, whatever the system, it was sloppy and made for trouble. But also I’d guess these codes do mean that the stories were unscheduled when assigned, and slotted in where needed.
Anyway, it’s a good-looking Atom story. Clear and fairly dramatic layout, nice finishes (if this is Giella, he got much tighter and to my eye worse, over time). Even the lettering’s strong.
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The art stood out for me as well, despite the formulaic plot.
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“But also I’d guess these codes do mean that the stories were unscheduled when assigned, and slotted in where needed.”
That makes sense. Perhaps “OH” stood for something like “On Hand”, i.e. extra inventory kept on hand for emergencies. Similar to how Marvel used to have a fake title on their schedule called “Marvel Fill-In Comics”, solely for the purpose of accumulating extra stories to slot in whenever the Dreaded Deadline Doom hit.
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“There’s literally nothing remarkable about this story. It’s just another simply five-page back-page filler strip that’s a perfectly fine bit of entertainment for five minutes.”
I don’t know, Tom, there’s a lotta remarking going on here about an unremarkable story… I love the art. Several panels with spotted blacks, like old school newspaper comic strips. Figure drawing is strong. Faces are expressive, old Hollywood movie glamour. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but this looks expertly drawn.
This late-stage Golden Age Atom was more appealing to me than the original. I mean, the original full covering head mask was cool. But undermined by the bare legs. (Come on.) I also like the addition of super strength to the character. Reinforces the inherent power of his hero name, for me. And his other tag, the “mighty mite”.
I liked how Roy Thomas hinted at this development (retroactively, I’m guessing), with Al Pratt being exposed to Cyclotron’s radiation in “All-Star Squadron”, decades later, but set years before the power change occurred in the published storied. “Retconning”. I also loved Richard Howell’s art in that issue, which featured one of the best Spectre vs. Dr. Fights fights I’ve ever seen.
I think today’s Ryan Choi Atom would greatly benefit from having super strength at his “normal height”, in addition to his power to shrink to sub-atomic size. It’d make him more versatile, more functional. And keep the tradition of formidable heroes of “short stature”. In that regard, I think Wolverine owes a small debt to Al Pratt. All without losing the story potentials that his shrinking offers. A combination of the powers of Al and Ray Palmer.
And Ryan’s “atomic upgrade” could increase his density ay his normal size, his atomic structure, making it pretty unlikely he’d be hurt by blunt objects, as Al was here. Ryan’s increased level of invulnerability might only be a few degrees less than (or even equal to?) Superman’s.
I’ve known several smart, athletic Asian guys who were considered “short”, well under 6′, a few just over 5′. Some turned to weight lifting and got pretty buff, much like Al Pratt initially did. I’d like to see Ryan become more prominent. Adding Al’s atomic strength could increase his appeal to readers. He’d be pretty useful on a retooled JSA line-up.
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