"The End" Week: Power of the Atom #18!

Sometimes, a last issue will feature a character acting like he's going away forever, never to return or be seen again. Which may often be the case, but not for a superhero like the Atom. No matter how many times he does that...From 1988, Power of the Atom #18, "Life after Death!" Written by Tom Peyer, pencils by Graham Nolan, inks by K.S. Wilson.

Previously, the Atom took his revenge on a group of CIA agents responsible for the destruction of the alien village in the Amazon (from Sword of the Atom) and his beloved Laethwen. Although he didn't plan on saying goodbye, as Ray drops off a promised manuscript, his friends Professor Hyatt and writer Norm Brawler confront him on his latest plan to disappear forever...and the apparent murder of five agents.

Still, Ray tells them they just need to finish reading before jumping to any conclusions: Ray didn't kill them, merely shrunk them to a couple inches tall. Then, he confronted the head of the CIA about their actions, which were disavowed, but Ray did get a hearty thank-you for delivering the miniature spies they wanted in the first place.

Saying goodbye to his friends, Ray plans to disappear, create a new identity, get a new face if he has to. Which makes this awful similar to Ray's leaving society in Sword of the Atom, or shrinking out of the world in Identity Crisis...when the going gets tough, the Atom is out of there, then. That's not entirely true, but the trend remains. Power of the Atom wasn't a flashy series, but I thought it was well-written at least.