The Atom – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

John Byrne — No Shrinking Violet

August 31, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The All New Atom #3, November 2006

John Byrne pretty much wrapped up his 21^st century run at DC with the launch of The All New Atom in 2006. Great art and storytelling, but John only drew the first three issues in the series (with nice finishes by Trevor Scott) before departing.

This might have been bad news for DC’s Byrne fans, of course, but, selfishly, it was good news for us at IDW Publishing. Byrne’s Next Men ultimately returned, and John found time for some additional Star Trek series and a fun Jurassic Park mini, among many others.

Gail Simone created the character and wrote this Atom series, and like all of Gail’s work, it was a fun take, with Ryan Choi as the Atom’s alter ego, replacing Ray Palmer.

Also, Gail is one of the liveliest and funniest (and prolific) comics creators on Twitter.

Trust me on this.

See you back here next Tuesday. Have a safe and fun Holiday weekend!

Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson — Partners In Crime Solving

February 4, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Atom #7, July 1963

Atom and Hawkman (Silver Age versions) both celebrate 6oth anniversaries in 2021. Hawkman (and Hawkgirl) launched in Brave and Bold #34 in March 1961, while The Atom launched in Showcase #34 later that year.

34 must have been the lucky number in 1961.

This beautifully-rendered page is from the first team-up of the two characters in issue #7 of the Atom’s own title in 1963.

Murphy Anderson’s lush inks can often overpower any penciller, but here it’s relatively easy to spot Kane’s trademark style, especially in the final panel. Great storytelling and dynamic action from both characters help make this a terrific example from the issue.

Neither the solo Hawkman title, nor the solo Atom series ended up gaining much traction sales-wise, so as a final ploy later that decade, the two characters were merged together into one title. The gambit didn’t work, and both books disappeared from the stands by the end of 1969.

Fred Hembeck — Gil Kane, Meta Human

May 5, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Atom #36 Re-creation, May 1968 (original), 2010

Continuing our multi-week celebration of the 80^th anniversary of the Justice Society of America, with each new post featuring a different classic JSA character.

I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the first meta cover to break the fourth wall, and it is most definitely not the last. But it is definitely my favorite.

My young brain exploded when I first saw this amazing Gil Kane cover at the candy store in 1968. I appreciated its cleverness immediately. That’s one helluva punch.

Ultimately, as I later began to differentiate artists and art styles, I came to recognize this specific punch composition as a Kane trademark. Given Kane’s voluminous published output, there must be dozens, if not hundreds of similar examples. The issue itself features the same composition in its interior, with the Atoms reversed.

As always, Fred captures the spirit of the cover perfectly in his trademark re-do style. He tells me this was the first time he took a stab at this one.

Not sure when/if the Kane original will be offered for sale again, and in all likelihood out of my budget range regardless. So… the Hembeck recreation will do nicely.