The Atom #21 is an issue of the series The Atom (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1965.
Synopsis for "Combat Under Glass!"
Jean Lorings father has been recently hired by the government to come up with new scientific discoveries, however whenever he succeeds in coming up with something, it always appears as though the Russians have beat him too it as news stories about the Russian's discovering the idea "first" hit the newspapers. This trend begins to trouble the CIA when Loring wants to begin coming up with a means of using gravity to power space ships. Deciding to learn if there is a spy in their midst, the CIA hires the Atom to investigate the situation. When the Atom arrives the CIA gives them some disturbing information that they have collected that points out the possibility that a Russian spy has been using telepathy to steal the answers from the Professor's mind. The Atom laughs at this first, however he can't deny the possibility when he is shown surveillance photos showing the same man wherever the Professor has gone, and that they have identified him as a foreign spy. The CIA asks the Atom to follow Professor Loring on a outing to the theater with Jean.
That night, hitching a ride on Jean Loring, the Atom spots the spy and decides to get a closer look at him. Hitching a ride on the man, the Atom waits for him to leave the play in the hopes that he takes him right to the spies hideout. However, things take an unexpected twist when the spy is jumped by a group of men stalking in the alley looking for an easy mark to rob. This forces the Atom to reveal himself and get involved in the fight, and it soon turns out it was all a ruse to capture the Atom when the man he is saving suddenly turns on him and knocks him out. Removing the belt which has the Atom's size changing controls, the spies take the Atom back to their hideout and explain their whole ruse to capture him.
Along the way, the spy explains to his cohorts that while telepathy is beyond their capabilities, they have developed a means to transmit thoughts into peoples heads, and have been feeding Professor Loring his "ideas" thus explaining how the Russians were able to beat his discoveries every time, all this just a plot to get the Atom involved and learn the secret of his size changing abilities.
Putting the Atom in a glass dome, the spies demand that he turn over the secret of his size change device. Atom refuses and is forced to fight a house cat with only a cuff-link and string as a defense. Although the Atom is at a small size, he still have his average strength and easily defeats the cat. When one of the spies is foolish enough to come close to the glass dome with his size change belt in hand, the Atom activates the hand controls -- the spies completely unaware that he had since upgraded his technology -- and causes his belt to weigh a ton and smash through the glass giving him a means of escape.
Completely off guard by this development, the spies are easily defeated by the Atom who turns them over to the authorities. Later when explaining the situation to Professor Loring and his daughter, the Professor feels down because he didn't come up with these inventions on his own. Jean cheers him up by telling him that despite the spies interventions he is still a great scientist and is sure to come up with his own inventions soon.
Appearing in "Combat Under Glass!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Jean Loring
- Professor Loring
- Central Intelligence Agency
Antagonists:
- A gang of spies
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Adventure of the Canceled Birthday!"
Professor Hyatt, in exploring his ancestry attempts to film the birthday of his ancestor Theodore Hyatt, who was celebrating his fifth birthday on September 3, 1752. To his surprise, when he lowers a camera into his time pool to record the event he finds that no special event to record. Curious he tells the story to his former colleague Ray Palmer, finding it odd since there is an old family painting of the event, but it was long ago destroyed in a fire. After checking out the coordinates and making sure that they are correct, the mystery thickens. When the Professor retires for the night, Ray decides to investigate as the Atom and once more travel into the Time Pool.
Arriving in the year 1752, he finds the young Teddy Hyatt in tears and asks the young boy why he is crying on his birthday. Exploding into another bray of tears, the saddened Teddy tells him that his birthday will not happen today because there will be no September 3rd. Atom then realizes that in the year 1752 England switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian one, and that following September 2, 1752 the following day would be considered September 14 instead.
Hearing a commotion outside, the Atom and Teddy witness Teddy's father being robbed by a band of Mohocks. Despite the Atom's best efforts to stop the robbery, one of the men gets away with the purse full of coins. He learns from Teddy's father that the money that was taken from him was to pay his debts and that if he did not pay them in full by midnight he would be arrested and placed in debtors prison.
Deciding to go see Justice Henry Fielding to see what they can do, the Justice tells the elder Hyatt that there is not much they can do unless the money was recovered as well when they made an arrest. The Atom butts in and suggests that they use detective reasoning in order to search for clues that will help them catch the crook and recover the stolen loot. Realizing that modern detective methods don't exist in the 1700's, the Atom gives them a crash course on the concept and offers his aid in tracking down the money. Rounding up the Mohocks responsible for robbing Hyatt, they accuse them for planning the robbery at the Crown and Six-Pence Inn. This proves to be incorrect, however the crooks foolishly reveal that they had plotted the theft at the Red Lion Inn and that the mastermind behind the scheme was Reddy Bollins helped organize the heist.
Going to investigate these claims, the Atom finds Reddy plotting another theft and foils it. When Reddy attempts to make an escape, the Atom follows him by hitching a ride on his horses tail. When Reddy attempts to flee town, the Atom easily knocks him out and brings him back to Justice Fielding. When brought before Fielding, Reddy refuses to reveal the location of the stolen gold. However, the Atom remarks the unique red dirt on his socks. Realizing that Reddy had buried the loot in his own home, the Atom goes there with Henry's blind brother John Fielding to investigate. Going into the cellar, the Atom finds where the loot has been buried by pouring water on the ground and seeing where it seeps into the dirt. Using this method, he finds the location of the loot and digs it up, handing it over to John to return to his brother.
With Reddy in prison and the elder Hyatt free from jail, the Atom is thanked for his detective work. Telling Justice Fielding of young Teddy's plight, Fielding agrees to have them celebrate the boys birthday on the 15th as though it was the 4th and get his colleague William Hogarth to draw a painting of the event.
Returning to his own time, the Atom plans to tell Professor Hyatt about the change in calendar so that he can record the event. On his way home, the Atom realizes that following the death of Henry Fielding in 1754, his blind brother John would take over and organize the Bow Street Runners, the worlds first detective organization and wonders if the Atom does not have some credit in the advent of the group.
Appearing in "The Adventure of the Canceled Birthday!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Alpheus Hyatt
- Teddy Hyatt (Single appearance)
Antagonists:
- Reddy Bollins (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also