The Atom #24
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Atom #24 is the second and final Silver Age appearance of Jason Woodrue (the Plant Master) in the Atom's own title, closing out the character's original run as a size-shrinking villain before he vanished from DC's pages for a decade. The issue bridges Woodrue's Silver Age origin as an interdimensional botanical extremist with the far darker trajectory he would later follow as the Floronic Man, making it a key connective chapter in one of DC's most surprisingly deep villain histories. Its ecological menace — a villain weaponizing radioactive plant seeds to devastate Earth — reads as an early example of eco-terror storytelling, a theme Woodrue would carry all the way through Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run years later. The cover, depicting the Atom mid-transformation into plant matter while Woodrue looms with garden shears, is one of the more viscerally inventive images of the series.
In "The Atom-Destruction of Earth!", the Atom answers Queen Maya’s call for help when Jason Woodrue escapes prison and flees to the dimension of Floria, intent on seizing power. With Gil Kane’s dynamic art and Gardner Fox’s gripping storytelling, the hero finds himself caught in a conflict that could unravel Earth itself—though the true cost of victory remains hidden. The cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson captures the stakes with striking intensity.
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The creative team of writer Gardner Fox, penciller Gil Kane, and inker Sid Greene had been the backbone of the Atom's solo title since its 1962 launch, with editor Julius Schwartz guiding the series throughout. This issue revisited Woodrue specifically because he had been imprisoned at the end of his debut in The Atom #1, and Fox constructed a direct sequel built on that continuity — an approach Schwartz championed across his Silver Age line to reward attentive readers. The cover was pencilled by Kane with inks by Murphy Anderson, a pairing Schwartz frequently deployed for covers to give them a cleaner, more polished finish than the interior art.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: April 1966 (on-sale February 1, 1966); part of DC's Silver Age Volume 1 Atom series.
- Story title: 'The Atom—Destruction of Earth!' — 24 pages, written by Gardner Fox, pencilled by Gil Kane, inked by Sid Greene, lettered by Gaspar Saladino, edited by Julius Schwartz.
- Cover art by Gil Kane (pencils) and Murphy Anderson (inks).
- Jason Woodrue / The Plant Master makes his second-ever comic appearance here, having debuted in The Atom #1 (June–July 1962); his next appearance would not come until The Flash #245 (1976), where he returns as the plant-human hybrid called the Floronic Man.
- The story serves as a direct sequel to The Atom #1: Woodrue escapes prison, travels to the interdimensional plant world of Floria, and attempts to bombard Earth with radioactive seeds.
- Recurring supporting characters Jean Loring and Dryad queen Maya both appear; Maya's appearance here is noted as her last in the series.
- The Plant Master concept was adapted for animation the following year in a Filmation short titled 'The Plant Master,' featured on CBS's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (1967), the second of three Atom segments in that series.
- Woodrue's broader legacy — including his role in the origin of Poison Ivy and his pivotal appearance in Alan Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing — makes his Silver Age Atom appearances, including this one, foundational to understanding a character who grew far beyond his origins.
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Jason Woodrue escapes from prison and travels to the dimension of Floria, where he plans to rule. Queen Maya enlists the Atom's help again, but they don't know that battling Woodrue may bring about the destruction of Earth.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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