A Cover a Day

Ok, how about this for an idea. We take it in turns to post a favourite (British spelling) comic cover every day. This went really well on the comic fan website that I used to frequent. What we tried to do was find a theme or subject and follow that, until we all got bored with that theme. I'd like to propose a theme of letters of the alphabet. So, for the remainder of October (only 5 days) and all of November, we post comic cover pictures associated with the letter "A". Then in December, we post covers pertaining to the letter "B". The association to the letter can be as tenuous as you want it to be. For example I could post a cover from "Adventure Comics" or "Amazing Spider Man". However Spider Man covers can also be posted when we're on the letter "S". Adventure Comic covers could also be posted when we're on the letter "L" if they depict the Legion of Super Heroes. So, no real hard, fast rules - in fact the cleverer the interpretation of the letter, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

And it's not written in stone that we have to post a cover every day. There may be some days when no cover gets posted. There's nothing wrong with this, it just demonstrates that we all have lives to lead.

If everyone's in agreement I'd like to kick this off with one of my favourite Action Comic covers, from January 1967. Curt Swan really excelled himself here.

Discussion and voting on future monthly themes takes place on the "Nominations, Themes and Statistics for A Cover A Day" thread. Click here to view the thread.

Atom's treatment in the 1980s is interesting and worth of examination.

His solo book ended in late 1969, having already been merged with Hawkman's about an year prior. For almost fourteen years he was seen only as a member of the JLA with the occasional guest star role or sporadic short feature such as his in Super-Team Family.

Then comes Jan Strnad in late 1983 and shakes his status quo considerably in a very short (four issues) "Sword of the Atom" series, followed by two specials under the same name coming once per year, down to the same month as Crisis #4 and establishing him as an unlikely "Swords and Sandals" hero with no secret identity and diminished ties to other heroes and modern society. A third and final special comes in 1988 - three years after the previous one - and establishes that this new status quo survived Crisis without much change.

The change came with this retelling of his origin in Secret Origins #29 a couple of months later, as the framing sequence has Ray finding the means for returning to modern society if he ever wants to. Right on cue, "Power of the Atom" #1 is published a very short time later and gives him the reason to go back to his roots as a sci-fi superhero in modern society - albeit no longer as Jean Loring's husband and with no secret identity.

It wasn't a long lasting series, but it made honest attempts at giving Ray Palmer interesting plots and better visibility. However, it probably did not sell very well - Roger Stern's run is interrupted by a couple of Willian Messner-Loebs issues and the latests three-and-a-half are by Tom Peyer. A somewhat high level of switching for a 18 issue series.

I interpret this sequence of events as acknowledgement that Atom was in something of a sweet spot circa 1983; he had interesting powers and could be used in a variety of ways, had name recognition and been kept in the public eye, yet had been underutilized for most of his existence. It made sense to try new takes on the character.

IMO it somewhat worked. Those turns of events game Ray Palmer some characterization and depth and led to further surprising appearances in Suicide Squad, making him more of a veteran with gravitas. It is almost a shame that he reverted to more traditional interpretations since.

Replies

- Richard Willis > Philip Portelli May 17, 2026 at 1:15am
  
  I was going to post this one with the following comment:
  
  Stretching the team-up concept to include another JSA member. The only thing they had in common was their names. Why didn't they use Dollman? They had him.
Richard Willis May 17, 2026 at 1:58am

Two more pre-Codes from Atlas: Strange Tales #29 and Journey into Unknown Worlds #29
Dave Palmer May 17, 2026 at 8:21am
Philip Portelli May 17, 2026 at 9:54am

In a strange coincidence, Secret Origins #29 also features the Atom, promoting his short-lived Power of the Atom series.

Also included are the origin of obscure Golden Age hero Mister America who actually debuted in Action Comics #1 as Tex Thompson and a Red Tornado story but not her origin.
- Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas > Philip Portelli May 17, 2026 at 12:09pm
  
  Atom's treatment in the 1980s is interesting and worth of examination.
  
  His solo book ended in late 1969, having already been merged with Hawkman's about an year prior. For almost fourteen years he was seen only as a member of the JLA with the occasional guest star role or sporadic short feature such as his in Super-Team Family.
  
  Then comes Jan Strnad in late 1983 and shakes his status quo considerably in a very short (four issues) "Sword of the Atom" series, followed by two specials under the same name coming once per year, down to the same month as Crisis #4 and establishing him as an unlikely "Swords and Sandals" hero with no secret identity and diminished ties to other heroes and modern society. A third and final special comes in 1988 - three years after the previous one - and establishes that this new status quo survived Crisis without much change.
  
  The change came with this retelling of his origin in Secret Origins #29 a couple of months later, as the framing sequence has Ray finding the means for returning to modern society if he ever wants to. Right on cue, "Power of the Atom" #1 is published a very short time later and gives him the reason to go back to his roots as a sci-fi superhero in modern society - albeit no longer as Jean Loring's husband and with no secret identity.
  
  It wasn't a long lasting series, but it made honest attempts at giving Ray Palmer interesting plots and better visibility. However, it probably did not sell very well - Roger Stern's run is interrupted by a couple of Willian Messner-Loebs issues and the latests three-and-a-half are by Tom Peyer. A somewhat high level of switching for a 18 issue series.
  
  I interpret this sequence of events as acknowledgement that Atom was in something of a sweet spot circa 1983; he had interesting powers and could be used in a variety of ways, had name recognition and been kept in the public eye, yet had been underutilized for most of his existence. It made sense to try new takes on the character.
  
  IMO it somewhat worked. Those turns of events game Ray Palmer some characterization and depth and led to further surprising appearances in Suicide Squad, making him more of a veteran with gravitas. It is almost a shame that he reverted to more traditional interpretations since.
- Philip Portelli > Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas May 17, 2026 at 5:57pm
  
  Plus he began appearing in SUPER FRIENDS!
Eric L. Sofer May 17, 2026 at 12:43pm

Not Akron! The Avengers are safe in Akron!
Steve W May 17, 2026 at 3:59pm

The Defenders #1, August 1972.
Lee Houston, Junior May 17, 2026 at 4:42pm

I don't know what his current status is but Tombstone was a Spider-man villian that stayed around the Spectacular title for quite a well and reminded me of Lee Marvin. (Image courtesy of the Grand Comics Database.)
Richard Willis May 18, 2026 at 1:21am

New Adventure #29 and Blackhawk #29 both feature easily disarmed men from the Middle East.

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