Comic Title: Detective Comics #438
Publisher: DC (National Periodical Publications, Inc.)
Address: 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
Cover Date: Dec/Jan 1973
On Sale Date: September 27, 1973 Newsstand Date September 27, 1973
Source: Comic Reader, #100

Copyright Date September 27, 1973
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1973

Frequency: Bi-monthly
Cover Price: $0.50
Page Count: 96
Editor: Archie Goodwin

See Also: The Guide to DC Giants

Title: "World of the Magic Atom"
Pages: 25

Feature(s):
Atom (Ray Palmer of Earth-1)

Writer: Gardner F. Fox
Penciller: Gil Kane
Inker: Sid Greene

Reprinted From:
Atom #19 (1965)

Feature Character(s)

• Atom (last appearance in Atom #18; next appearance in Justice League of America #36)

Guest Star(s)

• Zatanna (last appearance in Detective Comics #336; next appearance in Green Lantern #42)

Villain(s)

• The Druid (a foe of Zatara; no further appearances)
• Biff Barker (a bank robber; last name also given as Parker once in this story; no further appearances)
• Biff's gang (no further appearances)

Guest Appearance(s)

• Zatara (appears in flashback; last appearance in New Adventures of Superboy #49; next appearance in Green Lantern #42)

Other Character(s)

• The people of Catamoore (no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Hawkman (in flashback to the first story of Hawkman #4)
• Hawkgirl (in flashback to the first story of Hawkman #4)

Comments:
Atom moves his size and weight controls from his belt to his gloves in this story.

Synopsis:
A gang of crooks is inexplicably able to walk through the walls and rob a bank. When police contact the Atom for help on the case, an unexplained compulsion leads him straight to the crooks. After they are turned over to the police, Ray Palmer receives a telephone call from someone who knows his secret identity. The caller turns out to be Zatanna, who is still searching for her father Zatara.

Zatanna appears in Ray's lab and explains that a magical accident was responsible for the robbery. She gifted the Atom with the knowledge of the crooks' whereabouts to make up for the mistake. Zatanna then enlists the Atom's aid to search a subatomic world where she believes her father is being held.

In the subatomic world of Catamoore, Atom and Zatanna face a sorcerer called the Druid, a former foe of Zatara. The Druid claims to have stolen Zatara's magic and banished him. He plans to do the same to Zatanna, but the Atom devises a way to make the sorcerer's magic backfire. Zatanna performs a stage magician's card trick. When the Druid tries to absorb the non-magic, he is forced into a state of suspended animation. Zatanna is unable to learn where her father was sent, but plans to enlist other Justice Leaguers as she continues on her quest.