COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Atom 19 Universal
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Grade:
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9.6
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Pedigree:
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John G. Fantucchio
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Certification #:
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0345433014
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Owner:
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Mississippi Mudcats
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Issue #19 features the second appearance of Zatanna. In the story, “The World of the Magic Atom”, a Biff Barker and his gang are scoping out the security of the Ivy Town National Trust Bank, wondering how they are ever going to break through it's security. Much to their surprise, when Biff rests his hand on the front door, his hand somehow passes right through it. Even more surprising is that Biff somehow is able to walk right through the solid steel door. Letting his boys in, the goons then try to do the same with the safe, however nothing happens until Biff tries to kick it and his foot passes through it as well. Once more passing through a seemingly solid obstacle, Biff allows his men entrance into the bank vault where they steal some $300,000.
The following day while driving through town, Ray listens to a radio report about how the thieves managed to rob the supposedly impenetrable bank, only setting off the alarms when they left and decides to investigate as Atom. Arriving at the police station via telephone, Atom learns of the situation from the police. Suddenly, Atom gets a mental image of where the crooks are hiding out, and even though he has no idea how he knows where they are decides to go and investigate. Sure enough, his premonition proves to be correct and he easily manages to defeat the crooks. Although during the fight, Atom decides that the constant size and weight changing in battle using the control device on his belt is becoming too cumbersome and decides to do something about it. Returning to his lab, Atom reworks the control devices on his costume and builds them into his gloves, allowing for him to adjust his height and weight by closing his fists in a specific way
Our WP 9.6 comes from the John Fantucchio collection and is tied with four others for highest graded in the census. Fantucchio was a well-known artist in '60s fandom, drawing covers for RBCC and the Comic Buyers Guide (including the #1 cover), and even worked as an illustrator for the CIA from 1963 to 1988. During this time he amassed full runs of Marvel, DC, Gold Key, Charlton, ACG and Dell, among others, keeping them locked away and untouched, which resulted in uniformly high grades and near perfect cover inks. After his passing in 2016, the family auctioned the collection through Comiclink. Even though the books have no distinctive markings, many were CGC graded.
We acquired the book in the 9/1/2018 CL Auction.
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