What happens when a Golden Age superhero reaches the end of his life? That’s the question asked in Atoman: What Remains, which plucks a Golden Age superhero out of obscurity, showing us both his beginning and end.

The entirety of Atoman’s 1946 origin is reprinted here, before we fly ahead to the present day. Decades of using radioactive powers have broken down poor Atoman’s body to the point where he only has a short time to live, and even then, only if he stops using his abilities.

But a deadly threat is about to endanger the lives of a huge number of people. Can Atoman turn away in order to finally live for himself?

The opening, featuring the full Golden Age origin, is a bit of a slog for modern readers. It’s fun, surprising even, to see it reproduced in full, but it’s very much a product of its time. Supremely silly and campy it may be, I did lose interest in this reprint somewhat before the end.

However, the original, contemporary comic which follows is superb. It’s a beautiful meditation on love, life, loss and sacrifice. Much more serious and grounded in tone than you might expect, especially after reading the character’s origin immediately beforehand.

The main event of Atoman: What Remains is beautifully written (by Daniel Kessler) and very well illustrated (by RyuuG) too; it’s also surprisingly, incredibly poignant. I really enjoyed it.

Atoman: What Remains is available from Amazon. Many thanks to Kristian Kessler for providing me with a digital copy for review purposes.

Hi! I’m Jason, and I write for midlifegamergeek.com, every single day. If you’re interested in supporting original, regularly published, human created content (which has never been plagiarised or otherwise copied from the hard work of other writers), you can donate and help me to keep this site running.

Not only do I earn no income from my writing here (though I may earn small fees from affiliate links posted on my pages; as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from these links), but it seems that my work has, at times, been stolen and re-used by lazy, morally bankrupt idiots.

There’s no pressure of course, but I’d be truly grateful for any support that you could offer – and it’s easy to do so at either of these links: Ko-Fi.com/geekmid or PayPal.

Any donations are truly appreciated – and I also appreciate you taking the time to read my articles. Remember: this whole article was by Jason Brown, and appeared on midlifegamergeek.com. Take that, Skynet!