That Al Pratt, what a nut
The Atom was not one of the oddest heroes of the Golden Age (I mean, compared to Madame Fatal or the Heap or Plastic Man) but he was odd enough. He had no super-powers. Al Pratt was a college sophomore who stood 5'1" and, after a youth spent being teased and ridiculed, had built himself up through obsessive bodybuilding to the point where he could whip the snot out of four husky bruisers at the same time. He did this regularly, with obvious relish. I can't help but think of the obvuious over-compensation going on here. You can imagine every time the Atom punched a Nazi spy or threw a bank robber through a window, he was really getting back at the boys and girls who had made his life miserable in school.He was a founding member of the Justice Society and only missed two or three cases (only the Hawkman had a perfect attendance record). I just love this guy's cockiness. He's what, 19 years old and just over five feet tall but he feels perfectly at home sitting at a table with the Spectre or Green Lantern as a peer. (Just let them make a crack about his height, that's all...he'd show 'em.) The Atom had his own back-up strip in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS, but his own stories were mediocre in both writing and art. Once in a while in ALL-STAR, he would enjoy some decent art (this sample is by Mort Meskin).
Then there's his bizarre outfit.
When you first get a look at the Atom, you may wonder what the heck is he wearing. The brown trunks-and-girdle thing looks like some sort of back support to avoid injury while training. I see guys wearing modern versions of this at the gym. The rigid wristbands with the studs also seem to be a training aid; I'd almost expect him to also have knee protectors for doing lunges. The Atom has bare legs, short sleeves and a deep V-neck on his shirt. Yes, he's showing off. Those hundreds of hours in the gym, skipping parties and movies and classes, all to build up those triceps and delts and lats a little bit more... a baggy jumpsuit is the last thing he'd wear.On the other hand, he then puts on a full face blue cowl that leaves only his eyes exposed, without even a mouth slit. This is revealing. I don't know how successful keeping his identity secret would ever be. In his stories, Al Pratt doesn't take any nonsense either and smacks big guys around when he gets a reason. When he then turns up shortly thereafter in this blue and yellow mystery man outfit, even the dimmest thug should have had a little light bulb go *ding!* overhead.
In 1948, Al abruptly got a new costume. In that same issue of ALL-STAR COMICS, Hawkman traded out his weird-looking hawk's-head helmet for a plain cloth mask, and around this time characters like Green Lantern saw their full-length cloaks shrink to bath towel size. They were becoming modernized, less awesome and more mundane in the postwar world). The Atom started showing occasional bursts of "atomic strength" but this wasn't explained or played up all that much. Al Pratt was never a major star, and after the Silver Age introduced the modern Ray Palmer version of the Atom, he remained an occasional guest in super-hero rallies and periodic Justice Society revivals. I understand Al Pratt himself is dead now (although in comics, that's sort of like losing your job, you can always start over) and he has a legacy character or two to carry on the fight.