Power of the Atom #6
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freePower of the Atom #6 is the pivotal turning point in Roger Stern's post-Crisis Ray Palmer saga, serving as the direct narrative bridge between the series' early standalone adventures and DC's 1988 line-wide Invasion! crossover event — Chronos's psychological assault on the Atom concludes with both enemies forced into an uneasy alliance against alien invaders, a story beat that carries across the next two issues. The issue also functions as a deliberate act of Silver Age stewardship: its cover is a conscious homage to The Atom #28, the comic in which Chronos last memorably tangled with Ray Palmer, and the story's internal flashbacks weave together four separate Silver Age and Bronze Age issues to rebuild Chronos as a credible, upgraded threat rather than a nostalgic relic. Guest pencils by John Byrne — one of the most prominent names in late-1980s mainstream comics — gave the issue an unusually high production profile within this short-lived series.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Power of the Atom launched in June 1988 as the first ongoing Atom series since the Silver Age title's 1968 cancellation, written by Roger Stern — a veteran of both Marvel's Spider-Man and DC's Superman — with Dwayne Turner as regular penciller and Kez Wilson as inker. For issue #6, Turner was replaced by guest penciller John Byrne, whose name on a cover carried particular weight in the Copper Age market; the cover itself was inked by Wilson alone. The issue arrived at DC's editorial offices timed to serve as a setup chapter for the Invasion! crossover, which the line was preparing to launch, making its cliffhanger alliance between Atom and Chronos a carefully coordinated handoff into those crossover installments.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated December 1988 (Winter 1988 on cover), published November 1988 by DC Comics.
- Written by Roger Stern; pencilled by guest artist John Byrne (replacing series regular Dwayne Turner); inked by Kez (Keith) Wilson; cover art by Wilson alone.
- Story title: 'Time, Time, Time--See What's Become of Me' — Chronos kidnaps Ray Palmer and subjects him to a psychological 'Time Trip' inside a Transfer Tube to shatter his mind.
- The cover is an explicit homage to The Atom #28 (December 1966–January 1967), a Silver Age Chronos showcase by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.
- The interior features flashbacks to four earlier comics: The Atom #8, The Atom #28, Blue Beetle (vol. 6) #22, and Justice League of America #14 — contextualizing Chronos's history and upgraded abilities.
- The issue ends with Chronos seeing televised news of the alien Invasion! in Australia and proposing a temporary truce with his archenemy — directly setting up the Invasion! tie-in issues #7 and #8.
- Power of the Atom was Ray Palmer's first post-Crisis on Infinite Earths ongoing series, running 18 issues from 1988 to 1989.
- Chronos (David Clinton) was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane, first appearing in The Atom #3 (1962/1963); this issue represented his major comeback as a serious antagonist in the post-Crisis DC Universe.
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Reprinted in The DC Universe by John Byrne #[nn] (2018)
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