Captain Atom in Who’s Who

Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Volume IV (06/1985)

Art by Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar

It really appears they are doing their best Steve Ditko imitation for this entry.  Right down to the pose.  Not a bad piece of art, but why does Cap have evil eyebrows?  This is a case of the cover art being much better than the entry itself.  Check out this stunning drawing by George Perez and Dick Giordano.

Published by DC Comics, June 1985.  This is the actual first appearance of Captain Atom after he was bought by DC.

Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Update ’87  #1 (08/1987)

The wrap-around cover image by Joe Brozowski and Dick Giordano featured Cap on the back.  The Who’s Who covers always featured all the characters in that issue, somewhat interacting with each other.  The “main” character was always featured more prominently on the front (in this case, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and/or Batgirl).

Art by Pat Broderick, which makes sense because he and Cary Bates were working on the Captain Atom series at the time.

The thing that always struck me about this pose is that Cap appears slightly perturbed and gesturing to something off-panel.  Almost as if he is saying, “Look at what those punk kids did to my lawn.”

Published in August 1987, this was the first issue of the first Who’s Who Update series DC Comics published.  Note the blue “Revised” tag in the upper right corner.

Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Update ’87  #3 (10/1987)

The updated entry for the Justice League was drawn by Kevin Maguire and Terry Austin and featured Captain Atom (as well as another former Charlton hero, Blue Beetle).  This was from the October 1987 Who’s Who Update ’87.

Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Update ’87  #5 (12/1987)

Technically, Dr. Manhattan is not an incarnation of Captain Atom.  The character of Dr. Manhattan was inspired by Cap (all Watchmen heroes were supposedly inspired by Charlton characters).

This entry from Who’s Who Update ’87 was drawn by Dave Gibbons (who created the Watchmen with Alan Moore) and appeared in the December 1987 issue.

Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Update ’88  #2 (09/1988)

Captain Atom, featured on the cover of Who’s Who Update ’88 (art by Ty Templeton), appeared in the Justice League International entry (also drawn by Ty Templeton) in September 1988.

Also appearing in this issue is a beautiful drawing of Major Force, one of Captain Atom’s best enemies.  This entry was drawn by Brad Vancata and Jim Sanders.

Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Update ’88  #4 (11/1988)

In the final issue of Who’s Who Update ’88, several “supporting characters” got full entries.  One of them was General Eiling, Captain Atom’s boss and bane of his existence.

Pat Broderick and Bob Smith drew this one for the November 1988 issue.  I particularly like the images of Captain Atom and Major Force in the background.

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #6 (01/1991)

When DC published the loose-leaf version of Who’s Who, Captain Atom appeared again (in issue six).  He was again drawn by Pat Broderick (colored by Anthony Tollin).

JLA-Z #1 (November 2003)

Dan Jurgens and Al Vey did this beautiful artwork for JLA-Z, a three issue mini-series that had a Who’s Who-like format.  I particularly like the Silver Age Captain Atom in the background.

JLA-Z #2 (December 2003)

Yeah, this happened.  It fits with the Keith Giffen/J. M. DeMatteis/

Kevin Maguire era of Justice League.

Captain Atom (vol 2) #0 (November 2012)

Each “New 52” issue zero that came out in the month of November, 2012, had a who’s who entry in the back.  This is Captain Atom’s.

Captain Atom and all related characters are ©DC Comics, Inc.