DC Comics' "Sword of the Atom" is an awesome mini-series that I, unfortunately, have mixed emotions about. In terms of the comics themselves they are superbly well-crafted when it comes to both story and art. Writer Jan Strnad, artist Gil Kane, and even letterer John Constanza, are all at the tops of their games here, taking a B-list, DC character in Ray Palmer/The Atom and giving him some real meaty drama and action to play with.
For the uninitiated, Dr. Ray Palmer, Ph.D. is a physicist working at Ivy University in the fictional city of Ivy Town (somewhere in New England, essentially). He crafts a lens from a white dwarf star that allows him to control the size and mass of objects. He decides to use this "effect" on himself in a time of duress, and to his surprise he finds that he can control it without exploding on the sub-atomic level. After that success, he decides to don a costume and become a superhero known as The Atom. In the early days, The Atom frequently teamed up with another B-list, DC character, Hawkman, and was a member of the Justice League of America.
In the "Sword of the Atom" comics, Palmer abandons civilization after divorcing his wife Jean, who had an affair with co-worker and, through a series of wild circumstances, becomes the heroic paragon of a tribe of six-inch-tall yellow-skinned humanoid aliens called Morlaidhans in the jungles of South America. Palmer becomes stuck at the size of six inches and becomes embroiled in a plot to overthrow the despotic king of the Morlaidhans. He also becomes consort to their princess, Laethwyn. The overall story has that typical superhero/sci-fi tropes, sure, but it also has a good measure of "Conan the Barbarian's" swashbuckling brutality and sexuality thrown into the mix for good measure...and that's what sets it apart, ultimately. They also use frogs as mounts and that is freaking awesome any way you slice it.
As an aside, I was once having a conversation on Facebook with Mike Carlin, a comics industry legend, who is now the Creative Director of DC Animation in Los Angeles. Carlin worked as an editor on the original, "Sword of the Atom" series. He derisively (although I think he was trying to be funny) kept referring to this series as "Sorta the Atom" because he didn't like the Conan-esque elements being brought into the Atom's world, whereas that's what brought me to this series and made it stand out in my mind. To each his own, I suppose.
So, getting back to my "mixed emotions" about "Sword of the Atom." While I certainly enjoyed it on an artistic/mental level, it came out at a weird time in my life on a personal/emotional level and, unfortunately, I'll always associate it with those "weird" feelings.
Let me explain. I had been collecting comics for about four years by the time "Sword of the Atom" came out. I had spent a good amount of time and resources on this collection, and was seriously considering (well, as serious as a 14-year-old freshman could be) becoming a comic book artist. I had some talent, was taking an art class in high school, and even had a few of my comic-themed pieces featured in the school's art show that year. When it came time to pick classes for next year's curriculum I, naturally, wanted to continue taking art classes. My father had other ideas. As he was looking over the courses I picked, he asked me why I wanted to take Art II. I said because I wanted to be a comic book artist one day. He looked at me, dead in the eyes and said, dripping with disdain: "Comic book artists are a dime a dozen. Take something else instead."
So I did. And I stopped colleting comics after that as well. The last books I collected were, you guessed it, the "Sword of the Atom" series.
Now, my father wasn't a "Great Santini"-like tyrant or anything like that. In fact, what I've just shared with you is one of the few bad memories I have of him. What he wanted here was for his son to pull his head out of his comic-loving ass and grow up a bit. As a father myself, I totally get that. Maybe he could have gone about telling me that a little differently but, yeah, I understand. But just because I understand it doesn't mean I don't think about it from time to time...what could have been, I mean. Would my name be mentioned in the same breath as Miller, McFarland, Lee, Byrne, Ross, and Perez if 14-year-old me had stuck to my guns and continued down the artist's path? Probably not...but you never know.
Ultimately, it worked out better for me in the long run in becoming a writer. Over the past few years or so, I've noticed that I have a hard time holding a pencil or pen for an extended period of time without it becoming painful or my hand cramping up. That obviously wouldn't cut it if it was my job to sit behind an art board for 10 hours a day. So, maybe it was meant for me to be writer and not an artist? There's no way my old man could have ever known that but, as they say, things have a way of working out for the best and all that jazz. Regardless, you parents out there should be mindful of what you say to your kids because it will stick with them and affect their lives, one way or another.
"The Sword of the Atom" invariably reminds me of that fact...even though I still think it's a fine work of comic artistry.
If you want to see "The Sword of the Atom" in an animated form, DC Nation on Cartoon Network did an exceptional adaptation of it a couple years ago. On top of that, the "Batman: Brave and Bold" animated series did a spiffy version of it as well. You can check them all out below if the mood moves you:
