(Wow Comics 002, 1941)
Once Atom Blake, Boy Wizard sets off on his interplanetary search for his father, his first stop is Mercury. Why? For no stated reason and seemingly just because it's the first planet out from the Sun, and for that matter, Blake's reason for starting his search in space rather than on Earth is simply because he can. Once he arrives on Mercury, he is almost immediately captured by an intelligent species of hive-dwelling insectoids.
These Mercurians come very close to killing Blake before using their innate gifts of telepathic communication to determine that he does not in fact work for Mighty Adwahl, the planet's tyrannical leader, who has systematically enslaved them to work in his mines. Side note: I really like the size variance in these Mercurians. Very fun species trait.
Atom Blake, determined to help anyone in need, travels to Adwahl's capitol city, where he is captured again, this time by a second species of Mercurian who are a bit more enthusiastic about serving the tyrant and who look a bit like green humanoid camels. When Blake is marched into the throne room for judgment he is shocked to discover that the Mighty Adwahl is... another human?!
Mighty Adwahl is in fact a former gang boss named Scarface Louie, and is presented as having been a pretty bit deal circa Prohibition before fleeing the planet on a spaceship he stole from an inventor. The wildest part of this is that it seems to be public knowledge, since sixteen year-old Atom knows about it. Like, just imagine that the story of Al Capone ends with him using a hijacked shrink ray to escape into a subatomic world. Wild stuff.
Mighty Adwahl demonstrates a remarkable lack of curiosity and summarily sentences Blake to a life of slavery in his gold mines rather than inquire as to how a teen boy might have made his way to Mercury. Though Atom does manage to lead a slave revolt among the miners, the subsequent storming of Adwahl's throne room is spoiled somewhat by the fact that the first group of Mercurians decided to follow Atom's lead and had already stormed the palace and killed him.
(for the curious: Atom was completely right to come to Mercury, as the same Mercurian who initially captured him not only knew his father personally but is able to guide Atom to the time portal that his father left the planet through)
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