As a comic book fan, I've been reading comics since the 1970s, and I had never read the classicstories about the superhero named "The Atom" who, using white dwarf star material, could shrink himself down to subatomic sizes and control his weight at the same time. In the DC Showcase collection Vol. 2 of the Atom stories, you'll not only enjoy interesting stories of Atom's adventures, but you'll learn some unique history as well.
Gardner Fox, the writer of The Atom in the 1960s apparently knew his history amazingly well. There are a series of stories called "Time Pool" stories where the Atom goes back into the past using an invention from a scientist he knows. The invention drops a metal "grabbing" claw tied to a rope into a time stream. The Atom has "boarded" the rope and slipped back into time periods with him.
SO, WHAT KIND OF HISTORY DO YOU LEARN? I asked Tom verify the events in one British history story, and he learned they were true.
Here are 2 examples of what I learned:
1) CROWN JEWELS THIEF - One story involved British history where Colonel Tom Blood stole the Crown Jewels and was later appointed to guard them by King Charles II!
LINK TO THE HISTORY: https://www.history.com/news/the-man-who-stole-the-crown-jewels
2) WHEN THE CALENDARS CHANGED IN 1750 - There's another story where the Atom goes back to England. In March, 1752 in London it was voted that 11 days would "disappear" during the switch from the Julian calendar to the newly adopted Gregorian calendar. That loss of days was slated from Sept. 2nd where the next day would be Sept. 13.
IT'S TRUE! THE HISTORY: in 1752, England and its colonies went to sleep on September 2 and rose on September 13, as per the Calendar Act of 1750. Russia didn’t change calendars until February 14, 1918 and skipped a whole 13 days, meaning their October Revolution of 1917 actually happened, by today’s dating system, in November.
ABOUT THE DC SHOWCASE COLLECTION: "Ivy University professor and scientist Ray Palmer discovers a mysterious meteorite giving him the ability to shrink his body to microscopic size! Fashioning a uniform from fibers taken from the meteorite, Dr. Palmer learned to control not only his size but also his mass, emerging as a mighty champion of justice and enemy of all evil -- as the hero called the Atom! Now an experienced crime-fighter, the Tiny Titan defends Ivy Town against the villainy of such foes as Chronos the Time-Bandit, the Thinker,the Panther, the Bug-Eyed Bandit and many others"--P.
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