COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Atom 5 Universal
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
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Pedigree:
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Pacific Coast
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Certification #:
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4242420004
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Owner:
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Mississippi Mudcats
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Issue #5 features the Diamond of Deadly Dooms-just a little alliteration there. In the story, Ray’s friend, Ted Ralston, finds an ancient diamond and takes it home. While examining the diamond, it shoots a beam that changes him and his cat into beings of pure diamond. Ray arrives just in time to see this and investigate as the Atom. Shrinking down to a microscopic size, the Atom penetrates the atoms of the diamond and finds a microscopic civilization.
There, the Atom finds a larger alien fighting another and knocks him out. The alien creature he saves is named Moorn Jor, who explains that all the beings here are from the ancient civilization of Atlantis who escaped into the diamond to get away from the continent's sinking. Having created a utopia, Karl Jat, former warlord and the man responsible for turning Ralston into diamond, became embittered and wanted to attack the people of Earth, and when Ralston uncovered the diamond, it gave Jat that advantage.
With Karl Jat knocked out, Atom is alerted of criminals coming to steal the diamond statue of Ralston, his cat, and the diamond itself. When the Atom grows large enough to deal with these criminals however, an eagle makes off with him and the diamond. The eagle is stopped when Karl Jat regains control of the device that allows them to turn beings into diamonds. The Atom shrinks down again and knocks out Karl Jat out once again and removes his control helmet, rending him harmless. Afterward, Moorn Jor uses the device to restore Ralston and his cat, and Ray "arrives" and pretends like nothing happened.
Our 9.8 copy of this issue comes from the fabled Pacific Coast Collection and is currently the single highest graded example with just one 9.6 in the census. Considered the greatest Silver Age collection to ever surface, the Pacific Coast collection was brought to market by Robert Roter after he discovered portions of it for sale on eBay in 1999. The books were marketed through PCE over the next several years and contained over 7,000 comics and magazines that included Marvel, DC, and Gold Key among others, covering a time span between 1961 and 1977. Many of the highest graded Marvel and DC issues from the early '60s hail from this collection with exceptional page quality. The books do not exhibit any distinguishing markings.
We acquired the book in the August 2020 ComicLink auction.*
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