Captain Atom #4 (June 1987)

Tags

Anton Sarrock, Augustin Mas, Babylon, Bob Smith, Cal Gafford, Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, General Eiling, Homer Lockleed, Margaret Eiling/Peggy Adam, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick

“Father’s Day”

• Writer: Cary Bates
• Pencils: Pat Broderick
• Inks: Bob Smith
• Colors: Carl Gafford
• Letterer: Agustin Mas

This story begins seven hours after Captain Atom absorbed the excess radiation of the disabled nuclear sub and vanished.  A Navy sub and battleship are at the site but have had no luck finding Cap.  The captain of the battleship calls it: Captain Atom has died in service to his country.

Five days later, back at the base, Eiling and Megala are meeting up.  Eiling tells a story about his dog dying when he was ten and that death is a part of life.  He and Megala agree, Captain Atom must be dead.  Eiling says he will notify the president once he has finished his tour of the Middle East.  Internally, he seems very pleased with this outcome.  He considers taking Margaret to dinner.

Meanwhile, Margaret (Peggy) Eiling (Adam) is meeting with her psychiatrist.  She is describing to him a nightmare she had in which she and Randy (as children) are attacked by a monster.  An armor-clad knight in white armor (hoo, boy) appears and rescues them.  He has their father’s voice, but when he removes his helmet, the knight has no face.  It is a recurring dream she has been having.  The doctor says it is not surprising that the knight has no face, as General Eiling destroyed all photographs of Nathaniel Adam when Peggy and Randy were very young.  She has no recollection of her biological father.  In the dream, Peggy and Randy are again attacked by the monster, but their dad takes off.  Peggy feels abandoned by her father.

The doctor feels confident he and Peggy can get past her daddy issues (Peggy’s not so sure).  Someone is watching her and keeping detailed notes as she leaves his office.

Later, as Babylon is walking Dr. Megala home, the doctor is reading a magazine article about Captain Atom.  He calls it insipid, worse than the TV interview Nate gave in the last issue.  Just as he is throwing the magazine in a nearby trash can, the back of a van opens up and a manic red-headed man with a complicated-looking weapon appears.  He is revealed to be Anton Sarrock, someone from Megala’s past who was in a straightjacket and padded cell last time Megala saw him.

Dr. Megala says, ” No one informed me you were out, Dr. Sarrock.  You really won’t last very long, you know.  Reality will again be your downfall.”  But there is no malice in his words.  You can tell by Megala’s eyes that he is surprised.  And that is not a typo – Megala’s eye patch (which he had three panels back) has vanished.  That may have been intentional, though.

Sarrock opens fire on Megala with his weapon, which turns out to be a particle wave beam.  Babylon jumps in front of the Doc, but the beams are deflected upward (much to Sarrock’s chagrin).  Captain Atom is hovering above them and has absorbed the beams, which he deflects back at Sarrock’s van, obliterating it.  Megala says he and Babylon never gave up hope, that they knew Nate was still alive (this is not what he said to Eiling).

Nate is angry about the charade he’s been living.  Megala tells him The Lie was a necessary evil.  Nate says, “Apology not accepted!” before vaporizing Megala.

Of course, it was a dream.  A nightmare.  Megala carries a lot of guilt concerning Nathaniel Adam.  When Babylon checks on the doctor, Megala is muttering in his sleep that he deserves to be damned and that it is too late to beg for Nate’s forgiveness.  This is why I think the exclusion of the eye patch was not a mistake; it was a dream sequence.

The next morning in the Eiling household, the General confronts Peggy about the man she was photographed with at the airport (Nate, in the last issue).  Eiling tells her the man is a deranged madman and that he would never bother her again.  Peggy is perturbed that her stepfather has her under surveillance.  He says he’s worried about her and sends her out to do her shopping.

In the next room, a young man is closely studying a picture of Peggy and thinking to himself, “Margaret Lockleed.  Homer and Margaret Lockleed.  Mr. and Mrs, -” when Eiling calls him in.  This is the man who has been tailing Peggy under Eiling’s orders.  The General tells Homer that he won’t need to follow his stepdaughter anymore.  The man from the photograph has been dealt with.  He tells Homer to return to the base and resume his normal duties.

Back in her therapist’s office, Peggy is bitching about her stepfather having her tailed.  She feels like she and Randy are just prizes he won when Angela Adam finally agreed to marry him.  She feels like he thinks of her as a possession.  She feels warmer towards her “long-dead” father than the man who raised her.  Peggy says she has an Electra complex, which she says is psychobabble for a daughter straddled with an unconscious obsession with her father.  Her doctor cuts her off because her hour is up.

Unbeknownst to Peggy, Homer is still following her.  He’s listened in on the whole conversation with a high-powered microphone like John Travolta had in Blow Out.  He thinks to himself that he now knows how to win Peggy’s heart.

Back at Megala’s house, the doctor is recording a journal entry in which he states that he now believes that Nate is dead.  He is interrupted by Babylon, who has spray-painted himself silver, donned some blue boots and red gloves, and painted a lopsided Captain Atom symbol on his chest.  He says he’s ready to take over for Nate, but he won’t allow Megala to detonate a nuke under his butt.  Megala and Babylon have a good laugh (aren’t they just the most adorable pair?).

Meanwhile, out in the ocean, the water begins to bubble and surge and out pops the real Captain Atom.

Back at the Eiling house, Peggy gets a phone call.  The caller identifies himself as her real father and he wants to meet with her.

Later that evening, Eiling is downstairs on his phone speaking to “Martin.”  He says he hasn’t seen Peggy all day and that if Martin’s “flake of a son has gone off the deep end” and done something untoward, he’ll wring the boy’s and Martin’s necks.  This would be Martin Lockleed he is talking to, but his conversation is cut short when Captain Atom arrives and tells the General to hang up or he’ll melt the phone.

Eiling asks Nate if he’s aware he’s been AWOL for six days.  Nate explains that he time-jumped again when he absorbed the radiation of the disabled sub.  Nate also says he has been a sap and a coward but on the ocean floor he realized that his children mean more to him than his own life.  He demands to know where Peggy is.  When Eiling doesn’t answer, Nate gets the angry eye flares, which seems to startle the General.  He confesses he doesn’t know where Peggy is, but suspects Homer Lockleed has taken her somewhere.

At this point, Allard enters and plays for them a recording off Peggy’s phone (Cap says, “You bugged Peggy’s phone?  Eiling, you’re one of a kind.  A real paragon of fatherhood.”  They learn that Peggy was to meet her “father” at the Lockleed Air Field at 9:00 pm, five minutes ago.  Eiling and Atom exchange a look, and Nate flies off toward the field.

Meanwhile, at the Lockleed Air Field, Peggy approaches a uniformed Air Force officer.  She realizes at once that the man (Homer Lockleed) is wearing make-up to make himself look older.  He says, “Your father’s never going to leave you again.”  He grabs Peggy, drags her onto a waiting plane, and flies off.

Captain Atom swoops in.  He grabs the plane and pushes it down onto the ground.  He punches through the roof and clocks Homer on the head.  Then he absorbs the flames off the damaged fuselage.

Peggy staggers off the plane, marveling at the fact that she is still alive and sees another Airman standing over the prone Homer Lockleed.  They then have a very touching exchange.

NATE:   Are you all right?
PEGGY: You–?!  You’re the captain I met at the airport.
NATE:   Not at the airport.  Southern General Hospital.  7:05 am.  August 9th.
1968.  The day we met you weighed six pounds, fourteen ounces.  You
had your mother’s eyes.  You still do.  I love you, Peggy.  I’m here for you…
here to stay this time.  If you’ll have me.
PEGGY: Omigod.  Its true.  It really is you.  (She rushes into her father’s arms.)
It was you all along.  The face from the armor… the face from my dreams…
the face of my father!
PEGGY and NATE embrace and weep. <SCENE>

I have to say, I love the human drama that is unfolding here.  Both Nate and Eiling care about Peggy, each showing it in their own way.  Perhaps Eiling doesn’t care quite as much, but he is a cold, cold bastard.  Megala is carrying a lot of guilt, over Nate and possibly over Anton Sarrock.  Homer is a seriously disturbed young man.

Cary Bates, wherever you are right now, pat yourself of the back, sir.  You and Pat Broderick have knocked this one out of the park. The story and art are just beautiful.  I give this issue of Captain Atom an A+.

Captain Atom #80 (April 1966)

Tags

Captain Atom, Gunner, Joe Gill, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“Death Knell of the World!”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio

“What happens ‘when worlds collide?’  It looked like all of the people of Earth would soon know, for a mysterious planetoid from the interstellar regions beyond our solar system was bearing down on Earth… on a collision course.  Captain Adam, U.S. Air Force knew that the planetoid must be stopped… or a world would die!  He also knew that one man could possibly hope to save Earth from a horrible fate… Captain Atom, atom-powered super being.  But the task seemed impossible even for Captain Atom’s awesome powers…”

And with that, the bar is set pretty high with Captain Atom #80.
This story opens with a space capsule returning to Earth but something has gone wrong.  The fuel system is jammed and the astronaut is trapped in orbit.  Back in the control room on Earth, the crew is panicking.  One of them is, of course, Captain Adam.  He leaves the control room and transforms into Captain Atom.

Cap quickly flies up to the failing spacecraft.  The control room folks urge the astronaut to “give her one more try.”  Cap grabs the ship and steadies it.  The ground crew cheer and the astronaut is left thinking he saw something out the window.  So Cap is still working in secret?  Didn’t the last issue establish him as a well-known hero?  Why is he still keeping a low profile?

Upon landing back at Cape Kennedy, Gunner tells Adam that General “Eining” is looking for him.  This is a character we’ve not yet seen but it is probably no accident that in the 1980s Captain Atom series for DC, there is a very prominent character named General “Eiling.”

The general tells Adam that the president wants an account of how he became Captain Atom.  So what do we get? Yet another retelling of Cap’s origin.  I guess Gill thought folks forgot it in the four months since the last retelling.  Perhaps he just had space to fill.  He does state that “the existence of Captain Atom is one of the nation’s most closely kept secrets!  Only a few of the key men are aware of the fact that America has a top-secret weapon in a man called Captain Atom.”  This really bugs me.  I realize that continuity wasn’t always a big deal in comic books of the 60s but come on!  Enough with the secret-not-secret super hero thing already.

Gunner barges in on Adam as he is dictating his report and tells him the president needs Captain Atom at the observatory at Mount Palomar. The Palomar Observatory is located in north San Diego County, California. According to their website, it is “a world-class center of astronomical research that is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology.  The observatory is home to five telescopes that are nightly used for a wide variety of astronomical research programs.”

It takes Cap six minutes to fly from Florida to San Diego, where he meets up with a scientist fellow.  The scientist has Adam look through a telescope, where he sees a rogue moon out past Pluto that will crash into Earth in exactly two days.  Seconds later, Captain Atom is in outer space, flying towards the rogue moon.  His plan is to land on the surface and detonate himself like an atomic warhead.  However, he quickly learns that the moon is artificial.  Within it is a “vast alien civilization.”

The first person Cap comes upon – humanoid in appearance – is Celest.  Cap quickly says he means no harm, but Celest’s bodyguard – an elderly fellow named Valdar – runs to her aid brandishing some sort of gun.  Captain Atom becomes cocky and quite rude, calling Valdar “Santa Claus” before disintegrating his gun.  He asks to see their leader, who happens to walk into the room at that moment, and he is Celest’s father.

The leader is Drako, and is well aware that his world is going to collide with Earth, but tells Cap they don’t have the power to stop it.  Atom says he’ll use his own power, but Drako warns that “the pressure of stopping our world, or even shifting its course, would upset the entire gravitational compensation apparatus of our manufactured planet!  In short , all of my people would be crushed to death!”

Drako says he can build a gravitational motivator but he lacks the materials to build it.  Captain Atom offers to gather the materials.  Before he sets off, Valdar warns Cap that Drako is a despot, but a capable scientist.  Valdar says the motivator will most likely work, but warns Cap not to trust the leader.

Cap sets out to gather the things Drako needs.  Meanwhile, word has gotten out on Earth about their predicament.  Gunner looks to the heavens and says Captain Atom is their only hope.

Just before Cap heads out for the final piece for Drako’s motivator, a tearful Celest stops him and warns him not to trust her father.

Once the motivator is complete, Cap steps inside to power it up.  It does stop the rogue world, resulting in parties in the streets back on Earth.  But it turns out the motivator doubles as a holding cell.  Cap can’t leave and he can’t use his full power (as it will kill the people on the rogue world).

Celest jumps into the motivator, which kills her but frees Captain Atom.  Drako is distraught over being the creator of the thing that killed his daughter.  Valdar steps in as the new leader.  Cap heads back to Earth, saying to himself, “Only if men abandon selfish personal desires and work for the common good can there be peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.”

Not bad.  Ditko and Mastroserio’s art is beautiful and we gets lots of space scenes.  The story is pretty good, but I could’ve done without the retelling of Cap’s origin.  Still, I give Captain Atom #80 an A.

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

Captain Atom #79 (February 1966)

Tags

Captain Atom, Doctor Spectro, Gunner, Joe Gill, Jon D'Agostino, Pat Masulli, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“Captain Atom Faces Doctor Spectro: Master of Moods”

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

This issue marks the beginning of some major changes for Captain Atom.  Over the span of issues 79-84, he becomes more of a traditional superhero.  Spectro is Captain Atom’s first “real” supervillain.  The character resurfaces and is even included in the 1980s reboot by DC.  Over the next five issues of the series, Cap will start fighting supervillains, he’ll begin doing so openly instead of being a secret government agent, he’ll begin working with other superheroes, and in issue 84 he gets a major costume change.  But all these changes begin here in issue #79 with Doctor Spectro.

Now it wouldn’t be a 1960s Charlton book without at least one thing thrown in there to confuse me.  In the box on the first page that credits the creative team, the first line is “created by Pat Masulli.”  It only confused me for a second because I quickly realized it was Dr. Spectro that Pat Masulli created and not our dear Captain Atom (a Ditko/Gill joint).  Pat Masulli was the executive editor of Charlton at the time, and was an accomplished artist himself.  He was the creator of Sarge Steel (although sometimes that credit is given to the great Dick Giordano, who did work on the series with none other than Joe Gill – who himself spun quite a few plates at Charlton in the sixties), as well as Son of Vulcan.  Masulli retired from comics (or withdrew from comics depending on who is telling the story) in 1967.  He died in 1998 at the age of 67.

This story begins with some thugs knocking over an Air Force transport truck loaded with “highly classified and expensive equipment.”  Through some heavy-handed exposition, we learn they are working for a fellow called “Rodent.”  At the same time, “many miles away,” Captain Atom bursts into Rodent’s lair.  His thugs recognize Cap, so I’m guessing Gill and Ditko have decided at this point Captain Atom is no longer working in secret.  Rodent has elaborate traps set for Cap, but they prove no challenge for our hero.

Cap declares, “I’m going to smash you and your racket, Rodent.”  Oy, the dialogue… like something from the Adam West Batman TV series (which premiered the month before this issue hit the stands, by the way).  Rodent starts burning his records while his henchmen keep Captain Atom busy.  They don’t keep him busy for long, and Cap manages to grab a document while knocking out Rodent.  It is a list of gangs Rodent works with – only one name on the list is obscured.  Atom uses his belt radio (new – er – gadget?) to pass the info to Washington.

Captain Atom is informed of the truck hijacking, and that two of the names on the list are people who are in Cap’s area.  He is told to go undercover and track them down.

Days later, Captain Adam is at a local circus.  He is supposed to meet Gunner there to exchange information (so Goslin is now in the spy business with Cap).  The meet-up is to take place at Dr. Spectro’s side-show.  While Cap is waiting, the show begins.  Billing himself as “Master of Moods,” Spectro claims to have control over light and color, which can alter moods.  Cap is impressed, but another patron is not – he heckles Spectro.

Now, I have to point out that on page 5, Captain Adam is in his civilian clothes in one panel, then inexplicably in his Air Force uniform in the next one. 

The heckler sends Spectro into a flashback, where he recalls “the authorities” scoffing at his belief that he could cure the sick with color.  He was fired from wherever he worked, but didn’t give up on his work.  Every time he presented his idea to others, he was openly mocked.  So he became a circus performer so he could continue his experiments and test his theories on people.  And Spectro was right.  When he blasted the crowd with a red ray, everyone (including Adam) become depressed.

Spectro uses a blue ray on the heckler, who is overcome with fear and runs off.  Captain Adam is alarmed and decides he needs to talk to Spectro after the show.  What he doesn’t realize is that the gang leader whose name was burned off the list is also in the audience.  He wants to use Dr. Spectro to cause a distraction in town while he knocks over a local bank.

Adam meets up with Gunner, who has no new info.  Meanwhile, the gang leader is trying to get Spectro to go along with his “joke.”  Spectro says he’s fed up with jokes so the gang leader socks him in the jaw.  Dr. Spectro falls backward into his light and color machine and he absorbs all the refracted energy.  The resulting power he now has twists his mind and he vows to teach everyone who ever mocked him a lesson.  He blasts the gang leader and his henchmen with a green ray that makes them feel sick.  They run off.

Gunner catches a smoke while Adam goes to speak with Spectro.  The crooks pass him, blabbing about their upcoming bank robbery.  They realize Gunner has overheard them, so they pull a gun on him.  Meanwhile, Adam is trying to convince Spectro to use his discoveries to benefit mankind.  Spectro says he’s already tried that and was laughed at.  He blasts Adam with the green ray and Adam rabbits out of his tent.

Gunner, who had been knocked out by the crooks, comes to in a storage room behind an iron door.  He uses a secret radio hidden in his dogtags to contact Adam.  As Captain Atom, he homes in on the signal and rips open the iron door.  Cap quickly realizes these are the jokers who hijacked the Air Force truck.  Gunner clues Cap in on the bank job.

Cap catches up with the crooks at the banks, where they are hard at work on the vault.  He uses his heat blast to make one of the hood’s guns sizzling hot.  But the boss criminal (and they really call him the “boss criminal”) refuses to give up.  He flings sand from an ashtray at Cap, which momentarily blinds him.  It doesn’t slow Captain Atom down, who takes out the goons and gives the boss criminal an atomic punch.

Just as the cops arrive to mop things up, Doctor Spectro makes his move.  Out in the street, he’s shooting colors left and right.  People run away in terror, and even Captain Atom and the cops succumb to the fear ray’s power.  Captain Atom generates tremendous body heat which deflects the fear ray’s power.

Doctor Spectro converts all his light and color into pure power rays, knocking Captain Atom back.  He then uses blue light to cause the bystanders to hate Cap.  Realizing the crowd in being manipulated, Cap leaps beyond their reach and creates an atomic fireball in his hand.  He flings the ball at Spectro, who absorbs the power, and stores it so he can use it for himself.

Spectro blasts Atom with Cap’s own power, knocking Captain Atom to the ground.  But Spectro’s second blast misses Captain Atom, and Cap gest a punch in. Spectro punches back (Captain Atom remarks, “He’s got a wallop too!”).  Dr. Spectro’s color ray blasts Captain Atom off his feet, but he suffers no real ill effects.  It basically comes down to Atom and Spectro trading blows.

Spectro blasts a nearby car’s gas tank.  The car explodes, and Spectro absorbs the power of the explosion.  He hits Captain Atom with a a ray “more brilliant that the sun, with more power than an atomic blast.”  With a “last desperate lunge,” Atom smashes Spectro into nearby power lines.  Spectro begins to absorb the energy of the power lines.  Cap tries to cut off the power before Spectro can take in more than he can control.

Supercharged with “more energy than any man had ever held before,” Dr. Spectro hurtles after Captain Atom.  Spectro continues to blast Atom, eventually burning out like a light bulb that has received too much voltage.  Doctor Spectro simply fades away.  When the police ask what became of the evil doctor, Cap says he feels Spectro is still up there somewhere.

Overall, I really liked this issue.  It is obvious they are taking Captain Atom in a new direction.  This is Joe Gill and Steve Ditko at their best (so far).  Captain Atom #79 is definitely an A.  Venturing close to A+ (the ham-handed exposition in the first few panels bring it down).

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