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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2364
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 10:57am | IP Logged | 1
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And here's one more possible unused cover All of Gil Kane's published covers for the SWORD OF THE ATOM mini series and trades are really great and this might have worked for any of them, but I'll show the one for #1.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 2:54pm | IP Logged | 2
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Took DC a while to fully de-unique the Atom. “I know! Let’s stick him at 6”and put him among a tribe of humans that are naturally that small!”sigh
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Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | 3
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I'll never not be impressed as to how Kane always looked contemporary.
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Daniel Gillotte
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 11 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2661
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | 4
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Sword of the Atom SHOULD have been a top hit for me. I was WAAAAYY into Conan and D&D and yet I found it uncompelling. As a foolish child I did NOT like Gil Kane's work (on Conan) so that probably was part of it. I've come to learn just what a talent Kane was and enjoy him immensely now. I read Sword of the Atom a few years back and found it dull aside from the great art.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | 5
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The real downside to Gil Kane’s work was passing years meant less and less likelihood of getting pure Kane. More and more he did only layouts and turned the finishing over to assistants. There was even a funny case of him giving the same layouts to two artists, resulting in an issue getting turned in with two versions of the same page!
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Rebecca Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4635
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 5:34pm | IP Logged | 6
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I bought that first Sword issue totally for that cover which I think is much better than a more generic type, and the covers were often the best part of when The Atom last had his own comic; it was the Kane art that made the '60s The Atom, the writing struggled a lot of the time (from a lot of 'time pool' stories and having a bird to ride on for awhile) there didn't seem to be anyone who really knew what to do with him.
Gil Kane inking himself I liked whenever he did it at '80s DC, got me to buy Action Comics regularly for awhile. I never did buy Sword Of The Atom #2, though I assumed it must've been popular as they did a couple Specials later. Like the '40s Doll Man though it's the situations of being in a sink, riding a hand grenade, riding a frog, or pinned into either a wrist watch or butterfly collection that 'is' The Atom. The one and only specific story I remember was something where he went subatomic much later where it had some urgency and meaning to it (would he survive).
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2364
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | 7
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I loved the SWORD OF THE ATOM idea. It seemed a fresh take on a character perpetually doomed to cancellation or back-up status. Since the Atom was originally Gil Kane's idea in the first place (he pitched a Doll Man revival), such a radical revamp had validation to it. And for a costume that seemed old-fashioned to me when I first saw it in the mid-70's, adding the sword regalia and letting Ray's hair flow brought the Atom into the present.
I liked that he found a tribe of little people to protect (and one to love). And then a later team wiped them out. That might have been the way to continue an ongoing series though--have the Atom spend a few issues with multiple different small or subatomic societies. (The MCU did that in the movies with ANT-MAN: QUANTUMANIA--a great blueprint for an ATOM movie!)
Edited by Eric Jansen on 21 December 2023 at 6:14am
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Jonathan A. Dowdell
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 July 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 426
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| Posted: 20 December 2023 at 11:33pm | IP Logged | 8
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Rebecca Jansen: "I bought that first Sword issue totally for that cover..."----------- As a guy who only bought Marvel comics and one DC book (New Teen Titans) at the time, the cover grabbed me as well! I bought the whole miniseries mostly for the covers (and art). Obviously, I enjoyed the issues enough to buy each issue. Still have them in my collection.
edited for syntax
Edited by Jonathan A. Dowdell on 20 December 2023 at 11:37pm
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
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Posts: 2364
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| Posted: 21 December 2023 at 6:49am | IP Logged | 9
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It looks like Neal Adams changed things a little bit before BATMAN #226 went to print.
(Or, together, they make the world's shortest flip book!)
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Michael Penn
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Joined: 12 April 2006
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| Posted: 21 December 2023 at 12:33pm | IP Logged | 10
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That unused Adams is amazing!
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Trevor Smith
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Joined: 21 September 2006
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 21 December 2023 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 11
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I love how covers like this show the gradual evolution of
the Adams Batman (as noted by JB on this very forum) - note
how short Batman's "ears" are, compared to Adams' later
depictions.
Edited by Trevor Smith on 21 December 2023 at 4:51pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 21 December 2023 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | 12
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Neal was following Infantino, so he stayed on model. Something later “rock stars” might have paid attention to.
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