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The
Atom |
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| Alias: Ray
Palmer |
Titans Member
Joined: Teen Titans (second series) #1 [1996] |
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| Atom Quick Bio: Discovering a fragment of a white dwarf star, scientist Ray Palmer developed technology to grow and shrink as the Atom. When the adult hero was temporarily de-aged to 17 years old by the time villain Extant, he reluctantly joined - and became the leader of - the newest group of Teen Titans. |
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THE TEEN
TITANS gather as a
team.
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Origin of Atom
Discovering a fragment of a white dwarf star, physics
graduate student Ray Palmer soon learned that, with a little manipulation,
he could use the fragment to alter his own size and mass. Thus, the diminutive
hero known as the Atom was born.
Shortly after he gained his powers, Palmer joined the Justice League of
America, where he served with distinction over the course of many years. He
also met and married Jean Loring, and revealed his alter ego to her.
Soon, Atom's super-heroic alter-ego took a toll on his marriage. Jean drifted
into an affair out of loneliness. At this time, Atom discovered a subatomic
world in the Amazon. He divorced his wife Jean and lived in this subatomic
world for a time. Soon enough, Ray missed his old world and returned to it.
Upon his return, Atom assisted the Suicide Squad on a number of missions.
Following his Suicide Squad stint, Atom rejoined the ranks of the Justice
League, fighting alongside the likes of Superman, the Ray, and the Martian
Manhunter.
During the Zero Hour conflict, Palmer was de-aged to a teen by the villain,
Extant. He was now a thirty-something man trapped in the body of a 17 year
old. And his old life was like a murky week old dream.
Teen Titans
Palmer returned to Ivy University (where he worked as a Physics professor)
to undo this and return to his true age. There, he met Isaiah Crockett. Just as Isaiah's heat-based powers manifested, he and the Atom were mysteriously teleported away.
Awakening on the alien ship of the dreaded H'San Natall, Atom met other super-powered teenagers in the same situation. Together, they rescued another meta-human teenaged girl who was raised in a virtual-reality simulator program. The group of teenagers escaped the aliens and returned to earth, where they found safe haven with the wealthy Loren Jupiter and his enigmatic associate, Omen.
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| The new Teen Titans gather in TEEN TITANS #3 [1996]. |
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Ray Palmer on his usual "I'm Justice League" rant
in TEEN TITANS #7 [1997]. |
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Teen Titans
During the adventure, the teens learned that they were half-alien, and their mothers were impregnated by the H'San Natall years ago. All born on June 21st, the kids were part of a sleeper agent program by the H'San Natall to defeat the super-powered beings already on Earth. The group stayed together, and with the funding of Loren Jupiter, became the newest incarnation of the Teen Titans. The heat-generating Isaiah Crockett became Joto; Toni Monetti's silver plasma powers earned her the codename, Argent; With enhanced speed and strength, Cody Driscoll took the nickname, Risk; And the alien girl who could absorb and project light adopted the name, Prysm. Atom decided to remain on the team to learn how to readjust to his life as a teenager, since he was de-aged by Extant during the Zero Hour Crisis.
The Atom operated as field leader during his time with the Teen Titans, but
often lamented the fact that the old Atom was Justice League material,
and the Titans were a ‘step down' for him. Eventually, Atom started to
rapidly age due to shifts in chronal energy. Waverider interceded and pulled
a piece of Ray Palmer's DNA from him during the Zero Hour fight to use as
a cure for his current aging problem.
As Atom is returned to his rightful age, each of the Teen Titans decided
to go their separate way and the team disbanded.
Can alter size at will, and can alter body mass to deliver sizeable blows
at a diminutive size.
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Showcase #34 [1961]: Cave-in! Within hours, physicist
Ray Palmer, his girlfriend Jean Loring, and their school-age group of explorers
will run out of air! Their only hope lies in Palmer himself - or, rather,
in the secret shrinking ray he'd crafted from a chunk of white dwarf star!
Stealing away, the physicist trains the shrinking lens on himself - and, in
seconds, he dwindles down to six-inch size, the cavern prison looming large
above him! At his new height, however, he takes advantage of footholds too
small for normal use and creates an exit through which all can escape! Later,
incorporating his secret lens into a tiny costume tailored from white dwarf
material, Palmer decides to use its microelectronic controls to become the
Atom - the World's Smallest Super-Hero! First appearance of the Atom.
Teen Titans #1-3 [1996]: Teen Titans form. First Atom
as a Teen Titan.
Teen Titans #21-24 [1998] The final TITANS storyline by writer/artist
Dan Jurgens. Atom restored to true age in issue #24.
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From JLA to Teen Titans and Back |
A History of the Tiny Titan
The second Atom, of course, took his name from the 1940s super-hero,
the Atom. Their common name, however, was virtually the only similarity between
the two characters. Both Atom series had an academic setting: Al Pratt. the
first Atom, was a college student, whereas Ray Palmer, the second Atom, quickly
moved on to become a college professor. And both Atoms were shorter than the
typical hero. But whereas the Golden Age Atom was by nature only a little
more than five feet tall, the second Atom was a six-foot-tall man who shrank
down to a fighting size of only six inches!
A character who was just as important as the original Atom in
inspiring the creation of his namesake was the 0011 Man, a size-changer whose
adventures were published from 1939 to 1961 by the Quality Comics Group and
whose origin was recounted in the late 1950s. When DC was creating new versions
of classic, super-heroes such as the Flash and Green Lantern, artist Gil Kane
suggested the revival of the Atom as a six-inch-tall hero. The Silver Age
Atom made his debut in SHOWCASE #34, cover-dated October 1961, in a story
written by Gardner F. Fox. penciled by Kane, inked by Murphy Anderson and
edited by Julius Schwartz, who supervised these various re-creations of the
Golden Age heroes. Schwartz named the second Atom after an old friend of his-SF
editor Ray Palmer. The Atom returned in the following two issues of SHOWCASE
and then began his own series, still handled by the team of Schwartz, Fox.
Kane and Anderson, with an issue cover-dated June-July 1962.
THE ATOM lasted for several years before the series became THE
ATOM AND HAWKMAN With issue #39, cover-dated October-November 1968, presumably
due to declining sales for both the Atoms and Hawkman's own books. The combined
series sometimes contained separate adventures for the two heroes and sometimes
teamed them up, but to no avail commercially; ATOM AND HAWKMAN was canceled
with issue #45, one year later.
The Atom continued to appear in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA as
one of the team's regular members and, in the 1970s, frequently starred in
back-up features in ACTION COMICS. In the 1980s the Atom became one of the
first classic DC heroes to undergo a major revampings. The result: THE SWORD
OF THE ATOM mini-series, on which Kane and writer Jan Strnad collaborated.
The first issue of this four-part mini-series was cover-dated September 1983.
It was THE SWORD OF THE ATOM that took the Atom from his normal setting of
the college community of Ivy Town and placed him instead in a community of
miniature warriors somewhere in the Amazon jungle. This series was followed
by three SWORD OF THE ATOM specials.
The second Atom began life anew once more in a brand-new series,
THE POWER OF THE ATOM (August, 1988), which was edited by Mike Carlin, written
by Roger Stern and illustrated by Dwayne Turner. The series lasted 18 issues
until THE POWER OF THE ATOM #18 (November, 1989).
In early 1990s, The Atom began to appear in SUICIDE SQUAD as
a sometime ally until the series was eventually canceled.
Following his Suicide Squad stint, Atom rejoined the ranks of
the Justice League, fighting alongside the likes of Superman, the Ray, and
the Martian Manhunter.
The Atom's next appearances would set the stage for his membership
in the TEEN TITANS. The ZERO HOUR mini series by Dan Jurgens, featured various
DC heroes dealing with a Crisis in Time. In Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #1,
The Atom is de-aged by the villain Extant from a thirty-something man to a
seventeen year old teen.
When Dan Jurgens re-launched the TEEN TITANS in 1996, he decided
to use the Atom as the team leader. "The Atom has always been fairly
conservative both socially and politically, and now he's a kid again. He appears
to be I7, even though he's really in his mid-30s, and has been married and
divorced," says Jurgens, "How is he going to handle that?"
The Atom operated as field leader during his time with the Teen
Titans, but often lamented the fact that the old Atom was 'Justice League'
material, and the Titans were a 'step down' for him. Eventually, Atom started
to rapidly age due to shifts in chronal energy. Waverider interceded and pulled
a piece of Ray Palmer's DNA from him during the Zero Hour fight to use as
a cure for his current aging problem [TEEN TITANS #23-24]. As Atom is returned
to his rightful age, each of the Teen Titans decided to go their separate
way and the team disbanded.
In 1998, the Atom appeared in the JLA/TITANS mini series. During
the Technis Imperative conflict, which involved the Justice League as well
as all Titans, past and present, the two teams eventually worked together
to save the earth and former Titans teammate, Victor Stone (Cyborg). The Atom,
however, initially sided with the JLA over the Titans.
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Teen Titans #1 to 24, October 1996 to September 1998
Less than a year after the cancellation of the New Titans with #130 [1996], DC Comics decided to re-launch the Teen Titans concept. Dan Jurgens spear-headed the new concept and characters, with George Pérez providing inks. Jurgens' Titans team was a group of teenagers united by a common origin: the sinister H'San Natall alien race produced alien/human half-breeds. The Teen Titans group included H'San Natall seedlings Argent, Risk, Joto and Prysm. The team was led by Atom, who had been de-aged to a teenager during the Zero Hour event.
Writer/Artist Dan Jurgens set out to create a diverse cast: "I tend to approach a group title differently from a solo character. What I think of first are the personalities and their family and social backgrounds. I knew I wanted an interesting blend of personalities. I start by pulling various elements together, adding characterizations, then powers and talents. First, I create an individual personality, then fit that into the concept of a team comic book for an interesting mix. There are a thousand comics out there right now that have young people with powers. You can pick them up by the dozen each week. I want us to be a little different by having more character-oriented stories; I want to create characters here that the readers are really going to become interested in."
Although an all-new concept with all-new characters, Jurgens still provided ties to past Titans teams. The Teen Titans were funded by Loren Jupiter, who had funded the original Teen Titans for a time; allies included Omen (who was revealed to be former Titan, Lilith) and Neil Richards (former Teen Titans villain, the Mad Mod); a storyline in issues #12-15 featured a reunion of the original team.
The team seemingly broke up following events of #16. Following that issue, a number of one shots provided a spotlight for individual members. These double shots (February 1998) featured: Argent/Robin, Supergirl/Prysm, Atom/Impulse and Risk/Superboy. Issue #17 featured a membership drive, and new members Fringe and Captain Marvel Jr. joined the team. Former Titan Arsenal also joined the supporting cast.
These changes failed to invigorate the title. It seemed readers didn't accept these new characters as "Titans" and the book, while not a failure, failed to reinvent the franchise. The title was canceled with issue #24.
Short List of Notable Appearances
Teen Titans #1-24
Teen Titans Annual #1
Titans Beat Promotional Flyer
Robin & Argent Double Shot
Superboy & Risk Double Shot
Supergirl & Prysm Double Shot
Impulse & Atom Double Shot
New Year's Evil: Dark Nemesis #1
Dan Jurgens Take on Teen Titans Members - from Wizard #60 [1996]
RISK: "Cody Driscoll is loose, flamboyant and bored stiff by school and other aspects of everyday life. And he's hyper, in the truest sense of the word. His abilities are increased over those of the average person by a multiple of five: five times the speed, five times the strength and five times the ability to get into trouble. I could see him emerging as the real star of the book, and he's certainly a character who is very different from the Atom, which should prove interesting."
SLAG: "lsaiah Crockett has heat-based powers. He can do incredible things with waves of heat and, when he's touching it, he can even melt steel or concrete with his bare hands In many ways, he is the most stable and normal member of the group, because the last thing I to write was yet another sullen black youth from the ghetto. lsiah is very solid middle-class, with a very healthy family relationship."
ARGENT: "Toni Monetti comes from a very wealthy family, one where material things have been more important than love and understanding. She seems bright and happy and perky, but she is really very lonely and isolated. Her power is the ability to create and fire plasma energy bolts that become instantly tangible."
PRYSM: "Audrey Spears comes from the most bizarre family situation of all, in that she did not grow up on earth, but was raised by aliens in a controlled atmosphere, something like living in a 'Brady Bunch' or other sitcom world. She can capture and reflect light, fire light beams and travel at light speed. By emptying her body of light, she can become nearly invisible. She is potentially the most powerful of all the Titans."
ATOM: And then there's the Atom, a Silver Age DC character who went from thirty-something to teenager in Zero Hour two years ago. The shrinking hero will be team leader-, and Jurgens is looking forward to him being in the Titans, "The Atom has always been fairly conservative both socially and politically, and now he's a kid again. He appears to be I7, even though he's really in his mid-30s, and has been married and divorced," says Jurgens, "How is he going to handle that?" Jurgens believes the Atom (a.k.a. Ray Palmer) is a pleasant throwback to the heroes of yesterday. "He becomes a DC Silver- Age character that's preserved in a way, and need not become a dark, brooding character like many Silver Age characters have become. Hal Jordan has gone nuts, Aquaman is a hermit that lives under the sea, Hawkman is.. well, you figure it out."
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