Golden Age "The Mighty Atom" (Al Pratt) appreciation (2019)

[MajorHoy]

NOTE: This thread is to serve as continuation of the previous Golden Age "The Mighty Atom" (Al Pratt) atomic appreciation thread!, which can be found at

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...ciation-thread

from the previous version (originally created January 23rd 2018):

All Pratt's first appearance was in All-American Comics #19 (October 1940), an anthology title that starred the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott (who had debuted in issue #16).




In that story, the college student called "Atom Al" because of his short size is constantly ridiculed and pushed around by other (taller) students. When he and the (taller) girl he's interested in are then robbed (and Al does nothing to try and stop the thief), she calls poor Al a "spineless little amoeba" and says she never wants to see him again!

Al then helps a man who begs for a dime (hey, it's 1940!) by instead taking him to buy a meal. He learns the man was once a successful fight trainer named Joe Morgan, so Al convinces Joe to train him so he can stand up for himself when others try to push him around. The training results in, well, Al being much stronger than anybody would have imagined!



On the last page, Al saves the girl who previously called him "spineless" by taking out a bunch of crooks who had kidnapped her! He hadn't adopted his costume yet, but the girl (Mary) never saw who saved her (she was blindfolded the entire time). Al did leave behind a card before he left that simply said

The Atom

[MajorHoy]

Al's last published Golden Age appearance appears to have been with the JSA in All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951).

About ten years later, in Showcase #34 (September-October 1961), a new hero named "The Atom" was featured: Ray Palmer!


But in the text pages of that issue was an acknowledgement of Ray's predecessor using the name:



And Al himself appeared in a new story from DC in the following year!

[MajorHoy]

from All-American Comics #22 (January 1941):

[MajorHoy]

From the 1993 Skybox DC Cosmic Teams card set:

[MajorHoy]

Atom in Doomsday Clock #10 (July 2019):

[MajorHoy]

And it looks like The Atom is among those JSA members included on the cover for this September's Justice League.

[DrNewGod]

Is there any definite issue depicting the GA Atom gaining superstrength? He explicitly stated he had no powers in All-Star Comics #3, and was always depicted as just really strong (and maybe a touch brutal). By the time All-Star Comics converted to a western title, The Atom was wearing his second costume, and performing feats like ripping the scoop off a bulldozer with his bare hands and using it for a shovel.

image.jpg

[MajorHoy]

Is there any definite issue depicting the GA Atom gaining superstrength? He explicitly stated he had no powers in All-Star Comics #3, and was always depicted as just really strong (and maybe a touch brutal). By the time All-Star Comics converted to a western title, The Atom was wearing his second costume, and performing feats like ripping the scoop off a bulldozer with his bare hands and using it for a shovel.

I know Roy Thomas retconned it so that Atom's exposure to radiation from Cyclotron (in All-Star Squadron) was involved, but I'm not sure if there was a specific Golden Age story that told about it. (They weren't so continuity-obsessed back then; some characters in the Golden Age didn't even get an "origin story" like we're used to these days. The JSA's "secret origin" wasn't really told until 1977.)

[MajorHoy]

from All-American Comics #23 (February 1941):




Almost looks like Al is wearing a thong in those jail scenes!

[MajorHoy]

from All-American Comics #24 (March 1941):