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Splitting Atoms

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Captain Atom #84 (January 1967)

23 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by FKAjason in Captain Atom Loses His Powers, Captain Atom Versus Super-Villains, Earth-4

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Abby Ladd, Bronze Age Captain Atom, Captain Atom, David Kaler, Gunner, Herb Field, Iron Arms, Professor Koste, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“After the Fall, a New Beginning”

  • Writer:  David Kaler
  • Pencils: Steve Ditko
  • Inks:  Rocke Mastroserio
  • Letterer:  Herb Field

Picking up where Captain Atom#83 left off, Professor Koste takes Cap to his secret mountain lair.  Restraining Captain Atom, Koste breaks into worldwide television signals and unmasks the hero on air.  Koste demands a ten million dollar ransom for Cap, whom he does not recognize as Allen Adam because of Cap’s white hair.

The public is split on the issue, with some saying Cap isn’t worth the ten million dollars worth of gold that Koste has demanded.  The government decides to pay, though, saying that “project rebirth” is worth the cost.  The folks running Project Rebirth say the “formula” is ready and they are just waiting for “his return.”  Jesus?  No, most likely Captain Atom, whom Koste has locked in a cell he can’t escape without his powers.

Cap discovers that some of his power has returned.  He is super-strong again, so he throws open the cell door.  He fiddles with the lock so his captors will think he picked it and is still powerless, and takes off down a corridor.  He doesn’t get far before he is set upon by Iron Arms, a bald dude with “power-pack generated arms.”

Cap plays weak and Iron Arms returns him to his captors.  Iron Arms refers to Cap as “the famous Captain A.” This, coupled with the public’s reaction to Cap being unmasked, seems to clear up once and for all the question of Cap’s anonymity.  Clearly he is a public super-hero.

Koste locks Cap in a cage suspended over a pit before leaving with Iron Arms.  Cap escapes down the pit to the water below.  He swims through the underground waterway and surfaces at a nearby lake.  Returning to his base, an airman (Gunner?  hard to tell) informs him the ransom has been paid.

Frustrated, Captain Atom flies off to intercept the payment, but Koste has already collected.  He is planning to destroy the remotely-operated helicopter that delivered the money.  Koste learns that Cap has escaped and figures he’s dead at the bottom of the pit.  They see him approach the helicopter on a monitor and detonate the chopper when he gets close.  Koste and Iron Arms realize that Cap has his powers and knows where they are and will come for the ransom gold.  They plan to use it to buy equipment to make more power packs like the one Iron Arms sports.

Back at the base, Cap is accosted by Abby Ladd, a reporter with a Washington newspaper.  Cap tells Gunner he has no time for reporters and Abby gives the Captain a tongue-lashing.  Basically she calls him out for being a big heap of failure.

Atom and Gunner head into a lab where they’ve been working on a liquid metal formula.  Cap hopes that by using it he can lead a normal life (“I can go to the beach and not be a menace to everyone there,” he thinks).  Gunner says it will be sprayed on to Cap’s body, is invisible, and absolutely radiation-proof.  Captain Allen Adam strips to his undies and gets sprayed.  The metal (which they just said was invisible) comes in different colors, specified by Adam.  They even spray his logo on his chest.

Heaps of time pass and there is no change in his radiation output.  Adam figures it is just another failure, and with his dwindling powers and bad public image, he figures he’s done being Captain Atom.  Abby shows up and reminds him of what a failure he is.  Cap decides that, failure or not, he’s still obligated to bring Koste and Iron Arms to justice.  When he grabs his old uniform and begins to make the change into Captain Atom, he finds that his new uniform emerges on his body.  The power he expended to change is what finally charged up the new suit.
He discovers he emits no radiation, even when he switches back to his “regular” clothes.  He kisses Abby for prompting him to make the change, which angers her even more.  This lady really hates Captain Atom.  Cap then heads back to Koste’s secret base.

The idiots are still there.  Captain Atom starts socking bad guys left and right.  He knocks Iron Arms down with one punch.  Koste uses a special power-draining weapon in Cap, who destroys it but as a result suffers a great loss of power.  Iron Arms takes advantage of this and begins pummeling Cap with his iron arms.  The two fight to a near standstill before Cap, severely weakened, gets in one last good punch that puts Iron Arms down for good.

With all the baddies out cold (Koste was knocked out when Cap took out his power draining machine), Atom radios the base to send an extraction team.  He disarms Iron Arms.

Adam finds that the public has more or less forgiven his failures after he brought in Koste and Iron Arms.  Abby Ladd, seen at some swanky function, is still pissed off at the good Captain for all his failures and stealing a kiss from her.  She says that Captain Adam, at the same function, is “a much better man” than Captain Atom.

This issue also features the “Captain’s Column” letter page (mostly folks gushing over the new Blue Beetle) and a Blue Beetle backup story by Dick Giordano, Steve Ditko, and Gary Friedrich but I won’t be reviewing it for this Captain Atom blog.

Captain Atom #84 is great.  One of my favorites.  Finally Cap is feeling more like a legitimate super-hero rather than a super-powered spy.  The costume is colorful and nice, but I think I preferred the original yellow one with the cowl.  This issue was well-written (if you overlook Abby’s truly puzzling hatred for Cap [she’s like Captain Atom’s own personal J. Jonah Jameson] and the ridiculously-named “Iron Arms”) and beautifully drawn to boot.  It looks like Ditko and Mastroserio poured a lot of love into this one.  I give it 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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Injustice: Gods Among Us #32 (August 21, 2013)

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by FKAjason in Captain Atom Versus Super-Heroes, Injustice: Gods Among Us

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Batman, Black Canary, Captain Atom, Catwoman, David Lopez, Green Arrow, Injustice Captain Atom, Jheremy Raapack, Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent, Mico Suayan, Santi Casas of Ikari Studio, Superman, Tom Taylor, Wes Abbott, Wonder Woman

>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<
(You’ve been warned)

“Chapter Thirty-Two”

  • Writer: Tom Taylor
  • Artist: Jheremy Raapack
  • Colors: David Lopez & Santi Casas of Ikari Studio
  • Letters: Wes Abbott
  • Cover: Mico Suayan, David Lopez & Santi Casas of Ikari Studio

I certainly hope you weren’t too attached to the Injustice Captain Atom.  He went all Kingdom Come in this issue.  But he went down swinging.

Picking up where Injustice: Gods Among Us #31 left off, Batman’s crew is leaving the Fortress of Solitude when Superman comes home and throttles Captain Atom.  The Kents assure him they’re okay and to let Cap go.  But Cap is far too pissed himself to just let this go.

Captain Atom proceeds to lecture Superman while simultaneously kicking the Kryptonian’s ass.

The battle shakes the walls of the fortress and as a result Green Arrow ends up trapped inside with the Kents.  Black Canary can’t free them with her sonic scream because it may cause more damage.  Batman assures Arrow that they will come back for him.  Meanwhile, Captain Atom continues to school Superman.

Cap is telling the bleeding man of steel that, orders or not, he’s going to take Superman down.  Then Wonder Woman steps in and puts a magic sword to Cap’s throat that punctures Cap’s shell.  Which is not good news for anyone.

Captain Atom’s shell (not specified if it is an alien alloy in this reality) keeps all his nuclear stuff inside.  As in Kingdom Come, if the shell is ruptured, Cap goes critical and takes the surrounding area down with him.

Captain Atom realizes he’s doomed and decides to take Superman with him.  He drags Supes up into the Earth’s upper atmosphere.  Wonder Woman follows.


Superman blasts Cap with his heat vision just as Atom goes critical.


Captain Atom appears to be dead.  Wonder Woman is most likely injured but alive.  Superman is most likely alive as well.  I think we may find in future issues that Cap’s death was in vain.  As in The Dark Knight Returns, this whole mess is going to have to come down to Batman versus Superman.  Nightwing and Captain Atom are just collateral damage.

It is sad to see Captain Atom die again, but his departure from this series was much more satisfying than the New 52 Cap’s departure from the DC Universe (and time will tell on that one; he might resurface).  Again, Tom Taylor has told an engaging tale and Jheremy Raapack has backed it up with superb artwork.  I’m giving this issue an A+.  Well done, folks.

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Injustice: Gods Among Us #31 (August 14, 2013)

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by FKAjason in Captain Atom Versus Super-Heroes, Injustice: Gods Among Us

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Batman, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Captain Atom, Catwoman, David Lopez, Fran Vazquez, Green Arrow, Huntress, Injustice Captain Atom, Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent, Mico Suayan, Santi Casas of Ikari Studio, Sergi Erra, Superman, Tom Derenick, Tom Taylor, Wes Abbott

>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<
(You’ve been warned)

“Chapter Thirty-One”

  • Writer: Tom Taylor
  • Artist: Tom Derenick
  • Colors: Sergi Erra, Fran Vazquez & Santi Casas of Ikari Studio
  • Letters: Wes Abbott
  • Cover: Mico Suayan, David Lopez & Santi Casas of Ikari Studio

We’ve been without an appearance of Cap in this comic for six issues.  And when he comes back, he gets his ass handed to him.

Batman wants to break into Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, but in order to do that he needs to distract the man of steel.  This he arranges with the President of the United States.

Green Arrow and Black Canary enter Batman’s latest hide-out via a bathroom elevator.  There they find Bats calling a meeting (naturally) with Black Lightning, Huntress, Catwoman, and Captain Atom.  Black Lightning is pissed off with Batman for imprisoning Hawkgirl.  Captain Atom tells Bats he should have told them about his plans to use Martian Manhunter.  Then Batman drops the bombshell that Superman killed Martian Manhunter (in Injustice: Gods Among Us #29 – Supes used his heat vision to burn J’onn J’onzz to death).

Batman and the president have arranged to have U.S. warships head towards the Korean peninsula, knowing the Justice League will respond.  Batman’s team teleports to the Fortress of Solitude, where Catwoman will pick the lock and Captain Atom will open the door.

But Superman isn’t playing right.  Rather than heading for Korea, he shows up on the White House lawn and demands to speak to the president.  It doesn’t take Superman long to realize this was a distraction.  Meanwhile, in the Fortress, Batman’s team comes upon Ma and Pa Kent.

Batman calls off the mission at once.  He wants to get out before Superman gets the wrong idea and thinks he showed up there to hurt the Kents.  But Superman proves yet again that he is faster than Batman and stronger than Captain Atom.

Nearly every issue of this comic ends with an “oh shit” moment and this one does not disappoint.  Tom Taylor is crafting quite the story.  And Tom Derenick does a great job with the art.  I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but once again this is an A book.

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