Captain Atom #78 (December 1965)

Tags

Colonel Sandoval, David Morse, Don Bullard, General Brill, Joe Gill, Jon D'Agostino, Leah Jupe, Lt. Colonel Morse, Mike Crandall, Professor Arnold Jupe, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“The Gremlins from Planet Blue”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letterer: Jon D’Agostino

Starting with this issue, Strange Suspense Stories was retitled Captain Atom.  Prior to this issue, there had been no new adventures of Captain Atom published since October 1961, four years earlier.  This is also the first time since Space Adventures #33 that he pretty much carried an entire comic himself.  So when he came back, he came back in a big bad way.

So let’s look back at December 1965 and see what our world was like back then.  It was a turbulent time, particularly in the United States.  President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been assassinated two years prior and Lyndon Johnson was the sitting U.S. President.  Sir Winston Churchill died in January of that year.  On March 7, “Bloody Sunday,” some 200 Alabama State Troopers clashed with 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama.  On March 18, Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov became the first person to walk in space.  On August 11, the Watts riots began in Los Angeles, CA.

This issue opens with some aliens watching Captain Atom’s exploits on a video monitor.  Cap is rescuing disabled astronaut Mike Crandall while the aliens are bitching about him constantly ruining their plans.  Professor Arnold Jupe says (to no one in particular) that all the recent problems NASA has been facing have actually been sabotage.  Jupe and his “brilliant and beautiful” daughter Leah are civilians working for NASA’s Gemini program.  Captain Adam has been assigned as their liaison officer.

Leah shares her father’s conspiracy theory with Captain Adam, who thinks Jupe may be correct.  He excuses himself, then transforms into Captain Atom to monitor the latest launch.  We get a quick three-panel retelling of his origin (no changes).

Your guess is as good as mine who it is Captain Atom is battling in the third panel.  He looks like a super-villain but not one we’ve seen.  Mostly Cap has fought spies and aliens.  The closest thing to a super-villain we’ve gotten so far was the Silver Lady from Venus.

Cap discovers there is a malfunction in the rocket and uses his powers to reach inside and correct it.  He changes back to Captain Adam and rejoins Jupe just in time to be chewed out by a General Brill for leaving the Jupes alone.  Brill says to stay with the Jupes every moment, which is okay by Cap because he respects and admires the professor and has a crush on Leah.

Cap and Leah are hanging around outside the Jupe house, about to get freaky, when Professor Jupe sticks his head out and says there is an “ominous presence” in the house.  He has a feeling the saboteurs are nearby (and he’s right because one of the aliens is listening outside the window).  Adam tells the Professor he has nothing to worry about and he should hit the sheets.  As Jupe sleeps, the creepy alien outside watches him.

As the creepy alien uses some sort of mind control device on the Professor, Cap and Leah note a drop in temperature in the house.  When Cap and Leah check on him, Jupe is acting weird.  He’s getting dressed to leave.  Adam phones General Brill, who tells him to stop imagining things and get some sleep.  Meanwhile, Jupe and Leah have left.

The Jupes board a yacht and elude Captain Atom.  He gives up the search and returns to base to report to Brill.  The General says they’ll search for the missing scientists later because Adam is part of the ground control communications team at the next Gemini launch.  Don Bullard and David Morse, friends of Adam, are the two astronauts scheduled to go up.

Shortly after the launch, ground control loses contact with the rocket.  Readings indicate an open hatch.  Adam races out of the control room, angering Brill again.  As Captain Atom, he flies to the disabled capsule only to find the two astronauts missing.  The creepy aliens watch this on a monitor and say they have to get rid of “that creature.”

The Planet Blue aliens (Planet Bluians?) fire a ray at Cap which immobilizes them.  They use it as a tractor beam to draw Atom to their world.  Once there, one of the astronauts complains that the planet is too cold, so Cap increases his radiation to provide heat (new power!) which freaks out the aliens.  Captain Atom starts hurling fireballs at the aliens and leads the astronauts to the Planet Blue Space Port.

Bullard, Morse, and Captain Atom board an alien spaceship and manage to get it going by pushing random buttons.  Cap puts them on a course for Earth and then takes off.  He has to face Brill and a possible reprimand or court martial.  Adam doesn’t get in trouble, though, and is instead sent back out to find the Jupes.

Atom searches the one island off the Florida coast that the other searchers missed because it is uninhabited.  Of course, he finds Leah sitting on the beach… brushing her hair?  (Oh, right, 1965.  That’s the only thing silly girls did back then.)  It turns out she was just there to lure Captain Adam in.  He is blasted by another Bluian Blue Ray.  One blast turns him into a “stumbling hulk.”

Leah leads Adam to a huge complex built by Professor Jupe and the aliens.  Jupe is designing rockets for his alien “friends.”  Adam points out that Professor Jupe is actually a slave to the blue men, under the influence of the blue ray.  The Bluoids fire another ray at Adam, who feigns unconsciousness.  Adam and Leah are led to the complex below, and as soon as Leah has her back to him, Adam slips out and becomes Captain Atom.

Jupe launches a “killer missile.”  Atom shows up and blasts the missile.  He starts wailing on aliens while being careful not to harm the human slaves.  Captain Atom uses heat to un-brainwash Jupe (what the?).  The aliens escape, but Atom says they won’t bother Earth again.

Captain Adam reports back to General Brill, who “talked for an hour straight without repeating himself once or saying anything nice.”  What a weird bit of text.  Adam is dismissed and he thanks General Brill.

Now this is more like it.  The story is 19 pages long.  There is a backup story, but it does not feature Captain Atom.  Ditko and Gill did not let us down after the four year hiatus.  With few exceptions, Ditko’s art is beautiful.  And I like the new characters introduced.  Will Leah Jupe be Captain Atom’s Lois Lane?  Time will tell.  I’m anxious to read the next issue.  I give this one an A.

This “universe” was absorbed into DC Comics’ Multiverse when the Charlton characters were purchased by DC.  This universe became Earth-4.

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Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (March 1986)

Tags

Adam Strange, Alexander Luthor, Animal Man, Anti-Monitor, Aquaman, Atomic Knight, Batgirl, Batman, Black Bison, Black Lightning, Black Orchid, Blue Beetle, Blue Devil, Brainiac, Bug Eyed Bandit, Captain Atom, Captain Comet, Captain Marvel (Shazam), Clayface, Cyborg, Darkseid, Deadman, Demon, DeSaad, Doctor Fate, Doctor Light, Doctor Occult, Dolphin, Dove, Earth-1 Superman, Earth-1 Wonder Woman, Earth-2 Superman, Earth-2 Wonder Woman, Electrocutioner, Elongated Man, Felix Faust, Firehawk, Firestorm, George Pérez, Global Guardians, Green Arrow, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Guardians of the Universe, Harbinger, Harlequin (Molly Mayne), Hawk, Hawkman, Huntress, Jerry Ordway, John Costanza, Kamandi, Kid Flash, Kole, Lady Quark, Lois Lane, Lori Lemaris, Madame Xanadu, Martian Manhunter, marv wolfman, Metamorpho, Negative Woman, Pariah, Peacemaker, Phantom Stranger, Power Girl, Prince Ra-Man, Psycho-Pirate, Rip Hunter, Robin (Dick Grayson), Sargon, Shade the Changing Man, Silver Age Captain Atom, Starman, Steve Trevor, Sunburst, Superboy, Superman, Ten Eyed Man, The Flash, The Spectre, tom ziuko, Tommy Tomorrow, Vigilante, Vixen, Warlord, Wildcat, Wizard (William Zard), Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Zatara

“Final Crisis”

• Writer: Marv Wolfman
• Penciler: George Pérez
• Inker: Jerry Ordway
• Colors: Tom Ziuko
• Letterer: John Costanza

This is the epic conclusion to DC’s mega-crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Captain Atom is featured prominently on the cover, front and center, battling the Anti-Monitor.  He appears in eight different panels in the book, and even has some speaking parts (no small feat in this monster of a series).

Aboard Brainiac’s ship, Dolphin, Captain Comet, Rip Hunter, Animal Man, the Atomic Knight, and Adam Strange convince Brainiac that his memory was tampered with to make him forget the Crisis. Realizing that his power is inadequate to battle the Anti-Monitor, Brainiac sets course for the world of a more powerful being. On Earth, the Anti-Monitor’s image is seen in the skies all over the globe. He repeats that the Earth is now in the anti-matter universe. His past victories over positive universes are meaningless, he says, because of the super-heroes’ efforts to stop him. When he lists Supergirl and the Flash as casualties, Kid Flash freaks out and demands to know what has happened.

The Supermen scan the globe and watch the populace panicking. Harbinger appears, and teleports them to another destination, then gathers Dr. Light from Japan, leaving Sunburst to defend the country. When Dr. Light states that she caused Supergirl’s death, Harbinger replies that the battle had already killed Supergirl, and that the Anti-Monitor’s final attack merely gave her a swift death. In the skies, the darkness splits into a million shadow demons, which begin an all-out attack on humanity, and the super-heroes mass to resist them. The Global Guardians team with other heroes to free their native lands from the threat, but the demons’ numbers never seem to dwindle. The Phantom Stranger summons Dr. Mist to help revive the comatose Spectre. Below, Harbinger has gathered a large group of heroes, along with Pariah and Alexander Luthor, to lead a final assault on their nemesis. Alex creates a bridge between universes, and they depart near Apokolips.

Brainiac’s ship goes into stationary orbit around Apokolips, and he and his guests teleport to the planet, where Darkseid appears before them.

Back on Earth, the majority of the heroes are still battling the demons. The Dove is slain by a shadow-being as his brother witnesses.

In Dr. Fate’s Salem tower, the magically powered heroes have gathered to pool their shamanistic might. The Earth-2 Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and Dr. Occult form the nexus of their energy.

On Qward, in the anti-matter universe, Harbinger and the heroes arrive in the Anti-Monitor’s old headquarters. Kid Flash insists on joining them because of his mentor’s death. Suddenly, an image of the Flash appears to him—the last one Barry cast before his death. Wally follows the afterimage to where an insane Psycho-Pirate clutches at an empty uniform. Kid Flash knocks him out, and realizes that Barry Allen is truly dead when Lady Quark finds his ring. Pariah informs them that a great concentration of evil lies before them. They follow to find a towering Anti-Monitor, ready for the final slaughter.

In Atlantis, Aquaman leads his underwater legions against the shadows. Lori Lemaris saves a trapped Mera with a force beam. A demon closes in on her and kills her. In Chicago, Green Arrow of Earth-2 is killed by a shadow. In Philadelphia, Cyborg, the Son of Vulcan, the Vigilante, and the New Wildcat continue rescue operations.

In New Orleans, Shade the Changing Man witnesses the death of Prince Ra-Man. In Skartaris, Travis Morgan leads his forces against the black menaces. In Gotham City, both Clayface II and the Bug-Eyed Bandit perish at the hands of the demons. In Salem, the tide finally turns. The supernatural crusaders send their combined force in a net of energy to gather the demons from the Earth’s surface, and bind them helpless in space. Over the Earth, lives have been lost, including those of Kole, Huntress, and Robin, but other lives have been saved. For a moment, the survivors can take stock.

On Qward, the Supermen of Earth 1 and 2, Captain Atom, Lady Quark, Firehawk, Wonder Woman, and other tarot’s strike at the Anti-Monitor, but he ignores their blows, feeding on the energy of a nearby star, As Dr Light absorbs the energy of one of the binary suns they are between, the Anti-Monitor feels his power draining away. Alex begins to drain the anti-matter energy away from their enemy. Negative Woman uses her negative-self to bind the Anti-Monitor and inhibit him: then Harbinger leads all the energy-producing heroes against him, Dr. Light blasts him with the energy of a sun, and he falls into the ruins of his fortress. Alex creates a dimensional hole, large enough to enclose the Earth and return it to its proper universe. The heroes follow. The ball of bound demons hover and then fall on the fallen enemy. Thus, the Anti-Monitor absorbs his slaves energies and rises again, while the heroes start to give battle. Wonder Woman is caught in a withering flash of power, and is borne away to an unknown destination. Superman of Earth-1 and Lady Quark vow deadly revenge, but Kal-L knocks them out, and tells Superboy to take them back. Since he has no world and no wife to return to, the elder Superman has the least to lose. Then he confronts the monstrous Anti-Monitor, and batters him. Superboy sends Superman and Lady Quark back through Alex’s shrinking body, and turns to aid him. Superman continues his one-man war against the Anti-Monitor, striking telling blows, while the villain, his power waning, absorbs more energy from the anti-cosmos, and blasts him and Superboy. Darkseid, watching the conflict on a viewscreen, proclaims his planet to be endangered if the Anti-Monitor survives, sends a power burst at him through Alex’s eyes. The enemy, devastated, is hurled into the core of one of the binary suns. Superman, Superboy, and Alex are stunned to see the spectre of their enemy rising from the sun. Superman smashes into his foe’s fiery body, scattering him: the remains fall back into the sun and the star begins to implode.

They bravely await the end and Superman wishes that Lois could have lived to see their triumph. At that, Alex produces Lois from a void-pocket in his body where she had been sent to wait. She tells her husband that she had been to a tranquil world. Alex cannot return them to Earth but he can take them all to this beautiful world. Superman, Lois, and Superboy opt for that choice. The foursome vanish seconds before the exploding sun would have reached them.

Back on Earth, Lyla is explaining facets of the Crisis to Pariah and Lady Quark. Wonder Woman was returned to the clay which Aphrodite and Athena had given life, then spread across Paradise Island.

Time then continued to reverse itself, as the Amazons were returned to their original homeland before they fled Man’s World. Zeus brought the homeless Wonder Woman of Earth-2 and her husband Steve Trevor to Olympus, where they could live peacefully. The bodies of Robin of Earth-2, the Huntress, and Kole were never found. All those who died were mourned. In Keystone City, Jay Garrick determined that Kid Flash’s illness was in remission, his body chemistry being changed by a blast from the Anti-Monitor. He could again move at super-speed, though only to a maximum of Mach-1. Wally donned Barry Allen’s uniform, and announced, “From this day forth — the Flash lives again!”

The Great Disaster will not exist in the Earth’s future, but a lost child will he found in Command D. adopted by General Horatio Tomorrow of the Planeteers, and named Thomas. Jonah Hex will be torn from his era to fight in the future, while the Guardians of the Universe must face the first division in their ranks. Thus, Lyla concludes her tale, and Lady Quark and Pariah ask her to help them explore their new homeworld. They leave with her, honoring the memory of their benefactor, the Monitor. And, in Arkham Asylum, the staff discuss a new patient who seems beyond help, straitjacketed in a rubber-lined room. Roger Hayden, formerly Psycho-Pirate, gibbers about Earths beyond numbers, the Anti-Monitor, and the memories, which only he had been allowed to keep.

Beautifully drawn.  George Pérez and Jerry Ordway really had a way of making something with so many characters not look too crowded (in my opinion).  This issue set the stage for what would be my DC Universe (1985-2005).

(Thanks to the DC wiki for the synopsis.)

Captain Atom #3 (May 1987)

Tags

Captain Atom, Dr. Megala, General Eiling, Jeffrey "Goz" Goslin, Margaret Eiling/Peggy Adam, Modern Age Captain Atom

“Blast from the Past”

• Writer: Cary Bates
• Pencils: Pat Broderick
• Inks: Bob Smith
• Colors: Carl Gafford
• Letters: John Costanza

This issue – this storyline – is one of the biggest reasons I loved the 1980s-90s Captain Atom.  I was intrigued by the cover (two different versions of Cap within the familiar version of this series).  Three Captain Atoms?  Didn’t I already get the whole origin story in Captain Atom #1?  I didn’t recall other versions of Cap.  Of course, my love of this concept only grew when I learned that Cap was an established character already with a backlog of adventures.  Remember, in 1987 I was still new to comics.  I only knew DC and Marvel and had no idea that other companies ever existed.

The story opens with Captain Atom appearing on Nightzone with Tod Donner (an obvious nod to Nightline with Ted Koppel – Tod Donner even looks like Ted Koppel). Cap says he’s come on the show to let the American public know what he’s all about and to ease any fears they may have (this issue hit the stands the same month as the final installment in DC’s crossover event Legends in which the public had grown to mistrust and fear superheroes).  Tod dives right in and asks Cap how he came to possess his amazing powers, so Captain Atom reveals his secret origin.

One problem – as readers know – the secret origin he gives is a complete fabrication.  Atom says he was an Air Force aerospace engineer who was trapped inside a Titan missile when it launched.  The missile’s atomic payload was set to detonate at an altitude of 300 miles.  But rather than killing the engineer (as it should have – and would have if this weren’t a comic book), it gave him super powers.  He was able to re-integrate himself back on the ground.  He fashioned a costume for himself (the one Ditko designed in 1960) and began to fight crime in secret.  Atom explains he chose to work in secret because of his insecurities.

He claims he worked behind the scenes for years, choosing to help only when he could remain anonymous.  He found that a delayed effect of the accident that created him manifested itself gradually as his skin began to become metallic.  Undeterred, Captain Atom fashioned a new costume and went about his secret day-saving ways.  Of course, this new costume is the redesigned Captain Atom from 1966 (also designed by Steve Ditko).  It is in this new form that he rescues – and falls in love with – a sky-diver named Eve (which is another nod to the Charlton Captain Atom and his girlfriend/sidekick Nightshade – aka Eve Eden, another Ditko creation – Adam & Eve, get it?).  However, Eve is dying, and does so shortly.  Standing at her grave, Captain Atom vows to do his super-heroics in public and no longer hide.  He thanks America for their time and signs off of Nightzone.

Although the cover sets this origin story up, it is really just the subplot of this issue.  The real story is about Nathaniel Adam butting heads with his superiors and attempting to reconnect with his children.  The military want Captain Atom to rescue a disabled nuclear sub but Adam flatly refuses because Eiling has not lived up to his end of their bargain.  He agreed to be a military weapon if Eling would allow him contact with his children.

The military bigwigs tell Cap if he refuses orders they’ll court-martial him.  Again.  Cap tells them to go ahead and do it and he’ll go public with “the lie.”  Adam tells them he’ll do what they want if they’ll do what he wants and walks out.  Ballsy.  The Admiral who was giving the disabled sub presentation tells Eiling to get Captain Atom under control or he will go to the Joint Chiefs.

Outside, Adam runs into Jeff Goslin outside.  He has some intel for the Captain, saying that Peggy will be at Dulles that evening.  He offers to drive Cap, but Adam says he has to do it alone.  We see him flying off as Captain Atom while Gos thinks to himself, “Same old Nate.  He always did it his way.”

At the airport, Nate waits for his daughter in the terminal, holding a sign that reads “Miss Eiling.”  When she approaches, he is dumbfounded by her resemblance to his dead wife.  He asks her if there is a quiet place they can go talk, calling her “Peggy.”  As she has not seen him since she was a very little girl, she doesn’t recognize her father.  She quickly realizes Eiling didn’t send this guy to pick her up, that a Captain would never pull this kind of duty.

“Look – I admit,” she says, “you’re kind of cute, Captain.  Maybe you’re a real sweet guy.  Maybe you’re even a dream date.  Or just maybe you’re a girl’s worst nightmare.  Thing is, you see, I’m never going to find out.  Me being an Air Force brat and all, I have this rule – no offense, mind you – but I never – I mean never – get involved with men in uniform. ”

She climbs into a cab as Adam stands there dumbstruck.  She delivers her parting blow, “And by the way, my name is Margaret.  Nobody calls me ‘Peggy.’  G’night Captain… uh, what was your name again?”  But she doesn’t wait for a response.

This is very weird for Nate.  He totally failed to connect with his daughter, who thought he was hitting on her, and thought he was cute.  Totally despondent, Adam changes to Captain Atom and flies off to rescue the disabled sub after all.  He floats above it and absorbs the leaking nuclear crap.  The crew witnesses as he appears to go critical and vanishes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I thought the first meeting with Peggy was funny and sad and even kind of creepy.  I like that Cap’s fake origin story is basically Ditko’s Captain Atom origin.  I like when Cap gets mad at the military bigwigs, his eyes do that angry flare thing.  I like that Dr. Megala had Adam’s back in the meeting (he played part of the Nightzone broadcast at Adam’s request).  The art is beautiful, the story is compelling.  This is definitely an A.