1990 The Atlas of the DC Universe: Ivy Town, Connecticut

Paul Kupperberg wrote this directory of DC Comics locales in the past, present, and future as a supplement to the Mayfair Games roleplaying line. I always want to call it "Ivytown," the name used in the early stories, but somewhere down the line it seems to have been broken into two words. By either name, this is Ray Palmer's home town, and its description in the atlas was drawn heavily from Roger Stern's then-recent work on Power of the Atom

• 1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Character Card Blank & Checklist

1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Captain Atom Character Card

Right off the bat, what were they thinking with that pose? Is he supposed to be doing the Batusi? Mashed potato? The swim? Shake ya tail feather!

Moving right along, Mayfair was clearly damned impressed with Captain Atom. There must have been a meeting to figure out somebody who could give Superman's insane stats some challenge in this game, and Nathaniel Adam became one of those proud few. I don't recall raw physical strength being a major concern in the contemporaneous series that revised the character, and yet he's assigned a 22, making him two tiers above Martian Manhunter/Lobo/Wonder Woman, one above Captain Atom, and one below the Man of Steel. By contrast, his Body is rather low, considering part of his origin involved getting nuked.



I don't have any major concerns with these numbers beyond that. Captain Atom has enough juice to hassle a Green Lantern or take on Firestorm, his nearest rival. The nutzo strength is impressive, but Captain Marvel's speed largely negates it, while Martian Manhunter has better Body. Atom would have a tough time hitting Wonder Woman, and Superman would still obliterate him. Captain Atom's good, but not excessively so.

• 1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Character Card Blank & Checklist

The World's Smallest Jewish Super-Hero?

There's been some confusion regarding religion and the Atom, so to set my own head straight, I figured now would be a good time to explore the matter.

I don't believe the faith (or lack thereof) of Al Pratt has ever been dwelt upon. The name Pratt is Dutch, and the Netherlands were good for Jews until the Nazi occupation, but nothing in his personality strongly indicates a specific religious background.

Ray Palmer's mother was Jewish, which makes Ray one by birth. "Half-Jewish" is kind of a wonky term, because according to Jewish law, you either are or are not one. You can lay secular claim to being half-Jewish through your father, but since it's passed through the mother, Talmud would designate Ray as fully Jewish. Obviously, stated/practiced faith and communal acceptance would come into play. However, Susan Palmer was almost certainly non-practicing, as her adult son claimed ignorance of the Hanukkah story. Ray married Jean Loring in a church (not that she wouldn't have insisted,) and has expressed atheistic sentiment (unceasingly favoring science over the supernatural.) Despite my own occasional claims and others I've heard (including my recent accidental and stomach-turning visits to two white supremacist message boards,) Ray Palmer is likely only Jewish by the broadest standard.

Albert Rothstein is pretty unambiguously Jewish. For starters, his name is Albert Rothstein. Al has popped up in a Hanukkah-centric story or two, and turned down a relationship with Beatriz (Fire) da Costa because she wasn't of the faith (also: trampy.)

I don't recall Grant Emerson ever being remotely religious.

I'm open to correction here, but I thought I remembered Ryan Choi being an atheist.

So okay, we've established that despite popular misconception, none of the Atoms are especially Jewish, but Atom-Smasher is. I'm kind of bummed about that, but there you go.

• 1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Character Card Blank & Checklist

1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Atom Character Card

Kind of an awkward pose, and I feel skullcap > open hair, but I like this card. Ray looks bright and handsome, even if he needs his pants back. If you follow his stats, you'll note that he's an exceptional (mostly) human combatant with solid dexterity and martial numbers followed by a hell of a strong punch. Those intellectual skills are pretty awesome, too.



Belated thanks to Tom Hartley, whose offering of a batch of about 30 character card scans was the taste I needed to seek more. He then sold his box set for a very reasonable price to a poor student to facilitate this crossover, because I just had to scan them all for myself.

• 1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Character Card Blank & Checklist

1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Doctor Light Character Card

I don't know what's going on with the contorted pose and the resting of all the villain's weight on that one double-jointed pinky, but I'm pretty sure it's a deviant sex thing. Arthur Light is a creep like that. You can tell by the utterly gratuitous pudding stabber on his chinny-chin-chin. That white splatter from his crotch to his chest? Not a firework.

I've been trying to figure out if Dr. Light is more of an Atom or Martian Manhunter villain. Let me take a quick look:

In that silly '90s retro crossover The Silver Age, Dr. Light swapped bodies with the Martian Manhunter and wrecked havoc in Robby Reed's town. Light also represented J'Onn J'Onzz's devoted villain there, as the Atom was represented by Chronos. This likely riffed off a 1968 cover where Martian Manhunter was hemispherically conjoined to Dr. Light (the Atom with Jason Woodrue.) The Alien Atlas also fought Light in the doctor's first appearance with the JLofA two issues before the Atom joined. Most importantly, Light helped kill the Martian Manhunter in Final Night, and was himself executed by the Spectre as punishment for his involvement.



The Atom fought Dr. Light in his eighth issue in 1963. The following year Light fought Hal Jordan in Green Lantern. I never read the '90s Circle of Fire special with Green Lantern & the Atom, but I'll award them each a point, just in case. Dr. Light also fought Hal in an issue of Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains. Say, Dr. Light fought Hal Jordan several times in the Bronze Age, and then he fought Kyle Rayner a bunch of times in the Chromium Age, including a 3D special. Heck, Light was even Green Lantern's parallel villain in the JLA epic Rock of Ages.

Come to think of it, Dr. Light fought the Titans a bunch of times, and most of his early appearances were against the JLofA. I'm sure Elongated Man would consider Light an archnemesis, with that whole wife raping thing. Heck, nobody but Green Arrow has ever fought Light for a storyline extending six straight issues.

You know what? I don't think anybody can really claim Dr. Light as "theirs." He's been a free agent pretty much since the beginning, and there are a bunch of characters who have a way stronger claim than the Atom. I guess Dr. Light's lighting a candle for this day of "Mayfairstivus" also marks his official departure from the Atom blog. It's a shame, because the Atom, and this is a truly sorry statement, needs a rogues gallery even more than Martian Manhunter or Green Arrow. That poor little bastard.

• 1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Character Card Blank & Checklist

The Super-Hanukkah Song

Repurposed lyrics by Adam Sandler:

Put on your yarmulka, here comes Hanukkah
It's so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah,

Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights,
Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights.

But when you're the only kid in town without a Christmas tree,
here's a list of people who are Jewish,
just like you and me:

Aline Kominsky-Crumb lights the menorrah,
So do the Thing, Colossal Boy, and Team Youngblood's Masada

Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli,
Brian Michael Bendis, and Mad Magazine's Al Jaffee.

Bobby and Kitty from "X-Men" say the Chanukah blessing.
So does their foe Magneto, not one to be messing.

Scarlet Witch is half Jewish,
Wesley Dodds is half too
Put them together
What a knockout Wiccan Jew

Moon Knight and Ragman throw blows with such precision.
But the one thing they couldn't fight their way out of?
Painful circumcision.

Joe Simon and Trina Robbins never mixed meat with dairy.
Nor did Maus' Art Spiegelman or pervert animator Ralph Bakshi

You don't need to Deck the Halls or Rock Around the Christmas Tree
Cause you can spin a dreidl with Jack "King" Kirby and Stan "the Man" Lee--both Jewish!

Green Lantern-- not a Jew!
But guess who is... Bill Finger, Mart Nodell, Gil Kane and Julie too!

People thinking Lex Luthor's a Hebrew really hurts,
Well, he's not, but guess who is: All three Kuberts!

Marv Wolfman, Mort Weisinger and Art Spiegelman attended shul.
Shuster & Siegel invented Superman
But first came Hebrew school.

Prime from Malibu Comics was a Jew
and we hope someday to have him back,
Rā's al Ghūl's other daughter is half-Jewish
'Cause we're pretty good in the sack.

So many Jews are in the comic biz--
Bruce Banner isn't, but I heard Doc Samson is.

Tell your friend Volcana, it's time to celebrate Hanukkah
I hope I get an Absorbasconicah, On this joyful, toyful Chanukah

So visit Bizarro World-icah, and jerk off to Howard Chaykin-a-kah,
But I Digressikah, Have a happy, happy, happy, happy
Hanukkah……. HAPPY HANUKKAH!

1991-92 Impel DC Cosmic Cards #64- Nightshade

Get a load of Paris Cullins' very, er, womanly take on Nightshade. Kink was the think, I figure. I can see where the Charlton costume was a bit dated, even in the '60s, so I dug this Post-Crisis revamp get-up. Still, those shades and the unitard look are very '80s. Given her original cover as a celebutant, it might have been cool for Nightshade to be the type of character to routinely alter her style to match the changing times. Instead, the '90s turned her into some zebra pattern banshee, and the '00s restored her swinger skirt for some sort of retro-goth ensemble. Girl needs a queer eye, instead of Lydia Deetz on 'shrooms.

More Impel DC Cosmic Cards

• Adam Strange at Comics Make Me Happy!
• Green Lantern John Stewart at DC Bloodlines
• Gorilla Grodd at The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Troia at Diana Prince: Wonder Woman