Probably the first of many times the Atom has that flashback...

Duhr. Even though I've read the first two specials multiple times, I always forget I've never read all of the 1983 Sword of the Atom mini-series. Worse, I probably have multiple copies of those specials and maybe the first issue, but I wasn't sure I had read this issue before: Sword of the Atom #2, "A Choice of Dooms" Written by Jan Strnad, art by Gil Kane.

This issue does recap the previous one in too much detail, though; as if it assumes you haven't read the first issue! Estranged from his wife, trapped in the South American jungle, and stuck at his six-inch size; Ray Palmer has met an alien race living there, likewise six-inches tall. The Princess Laethwen explains the city Mordlaidh was intended as a penal colony for political undesirables, but hss been left without support for some time. (Laethwen says decades, but it's vague.) Meanwhile, the Atom's friend and Laethwen's beloved, rebel leader Taren, has been blinded by the king's cruel advisor Deraesis. Taren tells them he was betrayed by one of his men, but now that he's blind, he doesn't expect to last long in the jungle, or for anyone to sacrifice to save him. Although, he still yells for them both, when he's about to be eaten by a lizard...

The issue ends with the Atom fighting Voss, not because he's the traitor, but because he doesn't believe the Atom's story! Meanwhile, back in Ivy Town, with Ray Palmer believed dead, Jean Loring calls her lover Paul Hoben. Which seems like a weird place to end the issue, rather than the life-or-death cliffhanger, but there you go.