Friday, September 16, 2011

The Return of Madame Atomos

Amidst the recent high-profile releases of The Green Hornet Casefiles and The Avenger: The Justice, Inc. Files, I'd be remiss if I overlooked mentioning the release of the third volume in Black Coat Press' translations of the French series Madame Atomos by Andre Caroff.

From BCP publisher Jean-Marc Lofficier's page of Madame Atomos:

The deadly Madame Atomos (real name: Kanoto Yoshimuta) is a brilliant but twisted middle-aged female Japanese scientist who is out to revenge herself against the United States for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- where she was born. 
 
A sample plot had the title character unleash a deadly new threat, such as radioactive zombies, deadly giant mushrooms, a madness-inducing ray, flaming tornadoes, etc.

The heroes opposing Madame Atomos are: Smith Beffort of the FBI, Dr. Alan Soblen, and Yosho Akamatsu of the Japanese Secret Police.  Dr. Soblen was killed by Madame Atomos in No. 11. With the help of former master criminal Owen Bernitz, Beffort also created the "Green Dragon" squad to fight Madame Atomos.
 
An interesting development was the creation by Madame Atomos of a younger version of herself, Mie Azusa, dubbed Miss Atomos, groomed to continue the fight should Madame Atomos came to die.  Mie eventually fell in love with Beffort, married him and joined forces with him to fight her evil progenitrix. They had a son, Bob, who was killed by Madame Atomos.

Madame Atomos herself regenerated into a younger self in No. 13, but remained as revenge-bent as ever. The series was left somewhat unfinished by the cancellation of the "Angoisse" imprint.
BCP's third volume is The Return of Madame Atomos by André Caroff; adapted by Michael Shreve:
Contents:
- Introduction by J.-M. Lofficier
- Miss Atomos vs. The KKK [Miss Atomos contre KKK] (1966)
- The Return of Madame Atomos [Le Retour de Mme Atomos] (1966)
- The Atomos Affair (short story by Win Scott Eckert)

Miss Atomos' fight to the death against the KKK, and her eventual betrayal after falling in love with Smith Beffort, herald the return of the sinister Madame Atomos -- deadlier than ever!

US$22.95 / GBP £14.99

5x8 trade paperback, 288 pages
My short story contribution to this volume, "The Atomos Affair," takes place during the New York Blackout on November, 9, 1965, which a later Atomos book said the villainess caused. 

The story involves two secret agents and their avuncular boss. I hope you'll check it out. :-)

2 comments:

Stuart said...

Good stuff, Win! I enjoyed that story of yours.

Stu

Win Scott Eckert said...

Thanks Stu!