An Atom and A Famous Writer

 

cover art by Gil Kane

We are still going through the reprints published in 1974's Detective Comics #439. This week, we come to "The Gold Hunters of '49," written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Gil Kane. It was originally published in Atom #12 (April/May 1964)

I love the time travel stories that Fox and Kane gifted us with during the 1960s. Ray Palmer a friend, Professor Hyatt, who has invented the "Time Pool," a small portal to the past through which Hyatt occasionally "fishes" for artifacts.

The Atom usually ends up going back in time as well whenever Hyatt uses the Time Pool. In this case, Hyatt is going to set his Time Pool for Baltimore in 1849. Ray wants to go back because he's reading a book published that year and wants to be find a missing page.  One of the things I enjoy about these stories is the casual motivations for time travelling they contain. Perhaps it can be argued, in a comic book universe, where there are any number of methods for time travelling, that this is understandable. "Heck, let Flash or Superman check out major historical events. I just want to catch up on my reading." It's the sort of Silver Age silliness that I can't help but love.

So Ray shrinks himself down and climbs through the portal, finding himself in a railroad depot, where a shipment of gold is being packed up for delivery to a bank. Since the bank is near a home where Atom knows his book is located, he hitches a ride.

But a mystery arises! The gold chest is empty, despite never being out of sight of Mr. Barr--the delivery guy. Barr finds himself suspected of the theft, so he asks his friend Edgar Allen Poe for help in solving the crime. Poe, though, has just gotten back in town and needs a nap while he investigates. Atom is interested in the crime as well, but this gives him time to find the book and read the missing page before Poe gets to work.

While reading, Atom has to stop a couple of thieves after some Shakespeare folios also located in the library. What follows is obviously filler--Fox's plot isn't quite enough to fill up all 12 pages. But it's fun filler. Any time Atom uses the "science" of miniaturization to beat up full-sized men, in a fight scene drawn by Gil Kane, it's worth seeing. 

When Poe does get to work, both he and Atom have pretty much already deduced what happened. The gold had been taken at the depot by the freight men, so Barr never had anything but an empty chest in his wagon. 

With some surreptitious help from Atom, Barr and Poe subdue the freight men. Atom returns to the present and Professor Hyatt bags a railroad time table from his fishing line. Everyone (well, everyone except the bad guys) is happy.

Kane's art, of course, looks great. Atom uses his powers in clever ways several times. And, as I mentioned, I love the idea of time travel being used for such relatively casual purposes. This is a fun story. 

Next week, we return to the lonely war of Willy Schultz. In two weeks, we'll look at a Golden Age Dr. Fate tale.