Sword of the Atom Special #1

Gil Kane's vivid cover sets the tone perfectly for this 1984 DC special: a sword-wielding, blue-booted Atom crouches in a jungle setting alongside a red-haired companion, the two dwarfed by the massive, prone hand of a giant figure in the foreground — with a discarded gun nearby hinting at a world where both high-tech and blade-and-sorcery dangers collide. Written by Jan Strnad and drawn in full by Kane, Sword of the Atom Special #1 finds Ray Palmer in a far cry from his usual scientific milieu, trading the lab for lush wilderness and cold steel. It's a wonderfully inventive reimagining of the Atom that any fan of adventure-tinged superhero comics from the era will find hard to put down.