ACE HART -THE ATOM MAN!

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ACE HART -THE ATOM MAN!

As far as I can tell,Ace Hart:The Atom Man,first appeared in Super Thriller no.6 and his run in that title lasted from 1948-1950. Published by Foldes Press [Edinburgh] and drawn by C. [Colin?] Purvis until James Bleach took over the chores. Purvis also drew the back-up strips,Dick Daring and Tess Moran. However,Ace Hart,a “young scientist…able to harness atomic energy to his own body,giving him the strength of twenty men,enables him to fly faster than a jet”,lasted up until Super Thriller no.34 when it became Western Super Thriller –Westerns had become BIG! The title continued on to issue no.82 which was a very long run.

Like all heroes,though,Ace continued his adventures in 1957,1958 and 1959 in Super Thriller Annual,each 128pp of text stories with illoes by Edgar Hodges,who also painted the cover to the 1959 Christmas book. Ace was now “the Superman who has the mysterious power of flight” who worked for Space Defence. And,Ace now had a companion in the shape of blonde Val! No strips appeared in these annuals. These Christmas annuals were produced by my old pals at World Distributors,based in Manchester.

WD had taken over the monthly comic in the 1950s. Die Cast Metal Toys [DCMT] who were also producing comics,did have it’s own Ace Hart in Lone Star Magazine no.1,1953 but after a legal warning changed the character to Space Ace [see the following http://uk.geocities.com/lordymike/otherheroes_bio.htm ].

But the Atom Man had some great titled adventures such as Curse Of The Temple God,Death Dust,Devil Soldiers,Jelly Men,Evil Dr Krail,Evil Eye and many others. But sadly,US TV produced lots of Westerns that kids [and adults] thrived on and when you add to this weekly trips to the cinema and the

Westerns showing there,super heroics seemed too fanciful –after all,cap gun “six-shooters” as well as cowboy hats and outfits were ready available in shops but there were no capes or costumes! In 1986,Ben Dilworth briefly illustrated my Ace Hart strips that were meant for a one-off WD annual. Sadly,though one Dilworth illo did grace the back cover of Zine Zone International,WD cancelled the idea and the art pages…who knows what happened to those! My rough pages did form part of the self –published “Cross-Earths Caper”.

Some old fans do consider Foldes’ Ace Hart to be

the original but the World Distributors Ace to be a different character altogether. Foldes was one of those pulp mag publishers who,like others John Spencer and Gerald Swan being the most notable],tried their hands at comics –with variable success. However,we can still have fond memories of one of the big Golden Age heroes –Ace Hart.

ACE HART -THE ATOM MAN!

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