Dr. Atomic

A product of the freewheeling Bronze Age underground comix scene, Dr. Atomic made his debut in George Metzger's Compost Comics #1 in 1973 — a first appearance that planted him firmly in the countercultural soil of the era. Over a span of roughly sixteen years, this distinctive character turned up across a wonderfully eclectic range of titles, from Fire Sale to the pages of High Times Magazine, keeping company with a roster of publishers that reads like a who's-who of the indie underground. Small in raw appearance count but rich in the offbeat charm that defines the best of early-'70s alternative comics, Dr. Atomic is exactly the kind of deep-cut discovery that makes digging through Bronze Age underground books so rewarding.