It’s that time again – that time when DC wants to give one of their newer heroes a readership boost by adding them to the Justice League, just like they added Green Arrow in 1961. In Justice League of America #14 (July 1962), the entire team (including Batman and Superman in absentia) votes unanimously for The Atom. Poor Hawkman! But there’s only one problem: No one can seem to remember who the Atom is!
Cue the “Memory Master”, a forgettable (ha!) crime boss who recruits enemies of the Justice Leaguers to “de-memorize” their foes, causing the heroes to lose track of their identity and forget their powers and become mindless or something – I kind of forget (ha!).
Anyway wouldn’t you know it: the Atom is able to recover his memories. Undeterred, the Memory Master shoves him into a “bowling ball bomb” and tosses him towards the statue-like JLA members who happen to be standing at the end of a bowling lane-like room, completely with ball-return track (!).
This seems like a very clear example of DC coming up with the cover image first and then writing a story around it. The problem in this case is that the idea and the story written after are both stupid. I mainly attribute this to the fact that shrinking super-heroes are a dull and uninspired concept, and both DC and Marvel have been struggling to write interesting stories because the super-power is basically a really lame super-disadvantage that can only rarely be useful. A bit like Aquaman in these early JLA stories too.
Anyway, the Atom steers his bowling ball bomb away, restores memories to the JLA using Green Lantern’s power ring and they defeat the Memory Master and all his rogues.
The Atom is offered JLA membership and accepts. He is given a tiny 6-inch chair, coming up to maybe ankle-height of the rest team – seems like a passive aggressive insult? But lo-and-behold, the chair is able to levitate to table-level. Why doesn’t the Atom just enlarge himself during JLA meetings?!?