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The Atomic Knights
Originally presented at the height of the Cold War, the adventures of the Atomic Knights begin in 1986, after the U.S. has been devastated by a "hydrogen war." The survivors were protected by Sgt. Gardner Grayle and his band of Atomic Knights, who wore suits of armor that had been treated with radiation, rendering them impervious to futuristic threats.
The Knights traveled the country, helping citizens rebuild their lives while battling menaces including the would-be tyrant the Black Baron, the cavemen of New York, giant mutant plants and more.
The Knights traveled the country, helping citizens rebuild their lives while battling menaces including the would-be tyrant the Black Baron, the cavemen of New York, giant mutant plants and more.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 25, 2010
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47 people want to read
About the author
John Broome
434 books14 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 17, 2020
After the nuclear apocalypse of 1986, only one force stands between humanity and lawlessness... The Atomic Knights!
Back in the day, in that hazy time before the coronavirus, before the internet, and even before I could drive, most of the comics I got were from the Big Pevely Flea Market. One such find was an issue of DC Comics Presents featuring Superman teaming up with the Atomic Knights. Knights? Riding Dalmatians? After a nuclear war? Sign me up! And then I forgot about the Atomic Knights for a couple decades. I was busy!
Anyway, this volume collects all the Atomic Knights adventures by John Broome and Murphy Anderson in the silver age of DC comics. As such, the stories contain all sorts of fun silver age stuff, like bad science and quaint 1950s style sexism. Once you get past that, the stories are cheesy fun. There are killer telepathic plans, Atlantis, Dalmatians the size of horses, mole people, and medieval armor that has somehow become radiation proof.
John Broome was clearly having fun with the writing. He also must have been a John Wyndham fan because there are numerous Day of the Triffids homages, namely Garnder Grail leaving the fallout shelter to find the world changes and the Trefoil plants, mobile killer telepathic pea plants.
Murphy Anderson's art was better than I expected. I'd put it up against anything DC or Marvel was putting out at the time.
The stories were running out of steam near the end. I guess there are only so many things you can do with the Atomic Knights premise. I liked how Broome had the freedom to advance the timeline and let the characters progress a bit. I imagine Murphy Anderson was getting tried of desert landscapes by the end, though.
The Atomic Knights is a fun journey into the post apocalyptic world of 1986. I'm looking forward to visiting again with Hercules Unbound later this year. Three out of five giant Dalmatians.
Back in the day, in that hazy time before the coronavirus, before the internet, and even before I could drive, most of the comics I got were from the Big Pevely Flea Market. One such find was an issue of DC Comics Presents featuring Superman teaming up with the Atomic Knights. Knights? Riding Dalmatians? After a nuclear war? Sign me up! And then I forgot about the Atomic Knights for a couple decades. I was busy!
Anyway, this volume collects all the Atomic Knights adventures by John Broome and Murphy Anderson in the silver age of DC comics. As such, the stories contain all sorts of fun silver age stuff, like bad science and quaint 1950s style sexism. Once you get past that, the stories are cheesy fun. There are killer telepathic plans, Atlantis, Dalmatians the size of horses, mole people, and medieval armor that has somehow become radiation proof.
John Broome was clearly having fun with the writing. He also must have been a John Wyndham fan because there are numerous Day of the Triffids homages, namely Garnder Grail leaving the fallout shelter to find the world changes and the Trefoil plants, mobile killer telepathic pea plants.
Murphy Anderson's art was better than I expected. I'd put it up against anything DC or Marvel was putting out at the time.
The stories were running out of steam near the end. I guess there are only so many things you can do with the Atomic Knights premise. I liked how Broome had the freedom to advance the timeline and let the characters progress a bit. I imagine Murphy Anderson was getting tried of desert landscapes by the end, though.
The Atomic Knights is a fun journey into the post apocalyptic world of 1986. I'm looking forward to visiting again with Hercules Unbound later this year. Three out of five giant Dalmatians.
July 18, 2014
ok, this was good Silver Age sci fi fun. imagine the most of the world has been laid waste by a massive nuclear war in October 1986. imagine a few people here and there (all white, of course) escaped the holocaust and are rebuilding their lives piece by piece. imagine that by some strange freak of nature, old iron suits of armor can be used as shields against radiation. imagine that four men and, of course, one woman who is related to one of them men (common Silver Age trope), don these suits of armor to bring back justice, law, and order to a land in sore need of it. imagine giant dogs being used as horses. imagine, even better, tall walking plants of the pea family, first for evil, later for good. imagine a comic series that spanned around 5 years in an anthology and only had one cover the entire time! (damn that Adam Strange!)
if you can imagine any of this, welcome to the world of the Atomic Knights, brought to you by John Broome, who wrote many of the early SA Green Lantern stories, and who co-created many Flash characters like Capt Boomerang, Kid Flash, Professor Zoom, and more, and artist Murphy Anderson, of Adam Strange and Hawkman fame. Broome's stories are tight, if very dated and implausible by today's standards, and as one of the other reviewers has mentioned, Anderson's art really tells the story in a way many modern artists simply lack.
The Knights meet Atlanteans, discover the post apocalyptic worlds of Washington, DC, Detroit, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, and fight many bizarre, fantastical foes that clearly came from the mind of a sci-fi fanatic. The stories are from 8 to 15 pages, all self contained, and even though the plot devices are a bit thin, they're just damn good fun to read.
I was able to buy this slim volume at a deep discount, but it was listed at $39.99, which is not far from the cost of the Kirby and Ditko collections, even though most of them are 2-3 sizes larger. It's printed on paper that is highly reminiscent of the old newsprint, but without the smudges. It has a great feel in the hands.
After this, I'm going to tackle a new release in DC's Showcase Presents volumes, entitled The Great Disaster. This was the general title given to DC's doomed future scenarios, and the new SP collects a lot of the various series that dealt with it (minus Kamandi, who has both Archive and Omnibus editions). It also includes these fifteen Atomic Knight tales, so it will give me a leg up on finishing it. I"m curious to see how many of these concepts played off of each other.
Either way, this is a fun volume to read if you like old sci-fi comics. Read it with an open mind and you'll probably enjoy it also.
if you can imagine any of this, welcome to the world of the Atomic Knights, brought to you by John Broome, who wrote many of the early SA Green Lantern stories, and who co-created many Flash characters like Capt Boomerang, Kid Flash, Professor Zoom, and more, and artist Murphy Anderson, of Adam Strange and Hawkman fame. Broome's stories are tight, if very dated and implausible by today's standards, and as one of the other reviewers has mentioned, Anderson's art really tells the story in a way many modern artists simply lack.
The Knights meet Atlanteans, discover the post apocalyptic worlds of Washington, DC, Detroit, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, and fight many bizarre, fantastical foes that clearly came from the mind of a sci-fi fanatic. The stories are from 8 to 15 pages, all self contained, and even though the plot devices are a bit thin, they're just damn good fun to read.
I was able to buy this slim volume at a deep discount, but it was listed at $39.99, which is not far from the cost of the Kirby and Ditko collections, even though most of them are 2-3 sizes larger. It's printed on paper that is highly reminiscent of the old newsprint, but without the smudges. It has a great feel in the hands.
After this, I'm going to tackle a new release in DC's Showcase Presents volumes, entitled The Great Disaster. This was the general title given to DC's doomed future scenarios, and the new SP collects a lot of the various series that dealt with it (minus Kamandi, who has both Archive and Omnibus editions). It also includes these fifteen Atomic Knight tales, so it will give me a leg up on finishing it. I"m curious to see how many of these concepts played off of each other.
Either way, this is a fun volume to read if you like old sci-fi comics. Read it with an open mind and you'll probably enjoy it also.
March 10, 2026
Great Silver Age apoplectic SiFi stories. Recommended
February 27, 2012
This has to be one of the strangest yet brilliant set of stories I have ever read.
It started when I was reading a collection of KAMANDI the Jack Kirby post apocalyptic series and I thought it was fantastic.
Afterwards with some wikipedia searching I found it that the series was retroactively connected to OMAC and the Atomic Knights through The Great Disaster of 1986.
Deciding to pick up the Atomic Knights for cheap, the premise seemed cool enough. A bunch of guys in knight armor in a post apocalyptic setting.
Besides the super 1950's feeling the series starts off well enough becomes insane and then settles back for the more mundane before the series ended at 15 stories.
When you reach the panel with an Atomic Knight lancing an alien on a dalmatian. You know it's amazing
It started when I was reading a collection of KAMANDI the Jack Kirby post apocalyptic series and I thought it was fantastic.
Afterwards with some wikipedia searching I found it that the series was retroactively connected to OMAC and the Atomic Knights through The Great Disaster of 1986.
Deciding to pick up the Atomic Knights for cheap, the premise seemed cool enough. A bunch of guys in knight armor in a post apocalyptic setting.
Besides the super 1950's feeling the series starts off well enough becomes insane and then settles back for the more mundane before the series ended at 15 stories.
When you reach the panel with an Atomic Knight lancing an alien on a dalmatian. You know it's amazing
January 7, 2015
As the other reviews state, this is right out of comics' silver age. Written in the early 60's, it reads like it. Characters say "hurrah!" and state everything they are thinking. They call each other by first and last names. The men are heroes and the women stand on the sidelines and have families.
At first it's fun and takes you back to that time. But I think collecting all of the works in one volume can create a bit of overload. Reading several issues at a time started to wear on me and I found the language and attitudes corny. Probably as much my fault as anything else, but it diminished my enjoyment of it.
If you are interested in this, I would parcel out the issues one at a time and maybe give yourself a couple of days between them.
At first it's fun and takes you back to that time. But I think collecting all of the works in one volume can create a bit of overload. Reading several issues at a time started to wear on me and I found the language and attitudes corny. Probably as much my fault as anything else, but it diminished my enjoyment of it.
If you are interested in this, I would parcel out the issues one at a time and maybe give yourself a couple of days between them.
June 14, 2010
Great classic sci-fi stuff from DC Comics silver age. Really fine writing and the art is a school on how to tell a comic book story.
July 5, 2021
In the wake of WW III, all plant and animal life is gone (anti-radiation treatments have let some humans survive). Those who have a canned food stockpile and the weapons to keep it can live like kings, forcing others to work for food. Until the coming of ... the Atomic Knights!
Using medieval suits that have an unexpected resistance to raygun weapons, the Knights (led by Gardner Grayle, literally the average man) battle to rebuild civilization and democracy and fight off the threats to humanity: alien invaders, intelligent plants, mole people, would-be tyrants, time-tossed Atlanteans ...
By a scientific standard this stuff is nonsense. But it's so much fun! Suffers from having the one female knight stay at home all the time, otherwise no complaints.
Using medieval suits that have an unexpected resistance to raygun weapons, the Knights (led by Gardner Grayle, literally the average man) battle to rebuild civilization and democracy and fight off the threats to humanity: alien invaders, intelligent plants, mole people, would-be tyrants, time-tossed Atlanteans ...
By a scientific standard this stuff is nonsense. But it's so much fun! Suffers from having the one female knight stay at home all the time, otherwise no complaints.
August 23, 2021
Great fun from the early Sixties - after an atomic war, Gardner Grayle finds six suits of irradiated armor that will protect people against most weapons. He forms the Atomic Knights to protect the few survivors of the war. Gradually, they help to restart civilization. This is a bizarre and totally enjoyable series of comic stories, as the Knights ride into action (on giant, mutated Dalmatians!) against some crazy foes, but human and otherwise.
January 21, 2020
Interesting look at life after atomic war. The only part of have changed is making Marene such a romantic sap. It's fascinating to see how much science they Incorporated into the stories.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews