Superman (Vol 3) #50 (May 2016)

Tags

Aquaman, Ardian Syaf, Black Adam, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel (Shazam), Elasti-Girl, Gene Luen Yang, Gorilla Grodd, Hi-Fi Design, Howard Porter, Jon Bogdanove, Killer Croc, New 52 Captain Atom, Patrick Zircher, Rob Leigh, Superman, Vandal Savage

“What Could Have Been, What Still Can Be, and What Is”

• Writer: Gene Luen Yang
• Pencils & Inks: Howard Porter, Ardian Syaf, Patrick Zircher, Jon Bogdanove
• Colors: Hi-Fi Design
• Cover Artists: Dave Johnson, Dave McCaig, Kaare Andrews, Danny Miki, Arif Prianto, and John Romita, Jr.
• Letters: Rob Leigh
• Editors: Andrew Marino & Eddie Berganza
• Executive Editor: Bobbie Chase

The New 52 Captain Atom (sporting pants) has a brief cameo in this issue of Superman. Vandal Savage and Superman are visiting a simulated possible future in which Earth is under Savage’s rule, with Superman as his general. Earth is under attack by the Dominators, but a group of heroes and villains led by Superman quickly ends the invasion.

It is fine as far as cameos go, but I have to wonder why they gave him pants. He never needed pants before. Also, I’m sad to say I don’t know who some of these characters are. Is that Killer Croc and Gorilla Grodd? And Rita Farr, the Elasti-Girl of the Doom Patrol?

It has been one year since the New 52 Captain Atom was last seen.

(All characters and images belong to DC Comics and I am not making any profit off this blog.)

Justice League International #14 (June 1988) and #15 (July 1988)

Tags

Al Gordon, Batman, Big Barda, Blue Beetle, Bob Lappan, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire, Gene D'Angelo, Green Lantern (G'Nort), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Ice, J. M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen, L-Ron, Manga Khan, Martian Manhunter, Max Lord, Mister Miracle, Modern Age Captain Atom, Oberon, Rocket Red, Ronald Reagan, Steve Leialoha

“Shop… Or Die”

• Writers:  Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis
• Pencils:  Steve Leialoha
• Inks:  Al Gordon
• Colors:  Gene D’Angelo
• Letters:  Bob Lappan

Despite being featured prominently on the cover of this issue, Captain Atom has only a cameo appearance.  He shows up in two panels and has no dialogue. A new “villain” is introduced in the form of Lord Manga Khan.  The DC wiki description of Manga Khan: “The self-ascribed lord is an intergalactic broker with connections throughout several galaxies. He is more or less considered the used car salesman of the galaxy. Manga Khan leads the bartering firm known as the Cluster and is willing to trade in any commodity of reputable value. Assisting Khan is his robotic major domo L-Ron, who is reportedly Manga Khan’s only real friend, and often serves as the sounding board to his employer’s often long-winded rants.”  When he is introduced, he has just harvested the last of the resources from an unnamed planet. L-Ron tells Khan that he has discovered a new planet with even more resources – Earth. Manga sends drone ships to the planet.

On the planet Khan has just drained, a pod crashes and G’Nort steps out.  His ring tells him this world is Yecktamecktokovia and until recently it was “pretty civilized” and not the wasteland it is now.  G’Nort encounters a native who presumably tells him of what Lord Manga Khan has done and the fact he is headed for Earth because G’Nort himself flies to Earth.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Ice Maiden and Green Flame are trying to join the Justice League but Martian Manhunter isn’t interested. In the home of Scott Free and Big Barda, Mister Miracle, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are watching a football game when the program is suddenly pre-empted by an alien broadcast about interstellar barter.  L-Ron informs the people of Earth that if they do not enter into trade negotiations with Khan’s Cluster, they will simply take what they want and leave Earth an empty husk.  He warns them to shop or die.

On the moon, G’Nort sees the Cluster preparing for invasion. He attacks.  The story is to be continued in the next issue.

“Gnort and South”

• Writers:  Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis
• Pencils:  Steve Leialoha
• Inks:  Al Gordon
• Colors:  Gene D’Angelo
• Letters:  Bob Lappan

Picking up where the last issue left off, Justice League International #15 features Captain Atom more prominently.  On sale March 15, 1988 and cover-dated July 1988, this issue opens with Manga Khan’s Cluster being attacked by Green Lantern G’Nort.  L-Ron informs his master that the Green Lantern attacking isn’t even assigned to this sector, leading Khan to believe G’Nort is a rogue Lantern (“or an idiot,” L-Ron points out).

L-Ron informs Manga Khan that any damage G’Nort could do would be negligible, which makes me wonder just how powerful the Cluster is.  I mean, the Green Lantern rings are supposed to be the most powerful weapon in the universe.  This is probably the first hint that G’Nort isn’t exactly what he seems to be (but that is a story for another time).  Despite this, G’Nort somehow takes out the Cluster’s main power unit and their cloaking shield goes down. At the JLI’s New York embassy, Oberon sees the Cluster suddenly appear on his screens along with a power surge in Australia.  The surge blows out his monitor so Oberon hits the big “alert” button to warn the Justice League.  The surge also shorts out Mr. Miracle’s “arm unit” (his interface with his mother box) on board the JLI shuttle (where he is accompanied by Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Green Flame, and Ice Maiden).  In the last issue, Martian Manhunter had not signed Green Flame and Ice Maiden on with the JLI.  Booster is lamenting the absence of Guy Gardner but Green Flame tells him that she and Ice Maiden are the two heaviest hitters on the Global Guardians team (she also mentions that they are probationary members of the JLI).  The shuttle flies on toward Australia.

In orbit around Earth, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, and Rocket Red #4 have hitched a ride on a S.T.A.R. Labs space shuttle.  Martian Manhunter and Cap are wearing space suits.  I kind of have an issue with this.  Didn’t the Millennium mini-series establish that Cap could survive the vacuum of space without a space suit?  The Bronze and Silver Age Captain Atoms could.  See, look at this panel…

From Justice League International #10

I suppose it is possible that the heroes who were in space were only surviving because of a spell Dr. Fate cast or something. Martian Manhunter tells his team that all they have to do is prevent Manga Khan’s fleet from reaching Earth. The trio exits the shuttle and approach the Cluster.  At first the ships do nothing, but then they send out fighter.  It dawns on Cap that he can’t use his powers because if he does, he ruptures his suit.  If he ruptures his suit, he dies. Approaching a giant structure in Australia, the JLI shuttle is attacked by Manga Khan’s men.  Ice Maiden quickly proves her value by blasting a soldier off the shuttle with an ice blast.  Mr. Miracle and Booster leave the shuttle to fight while Blue Beetle sets her down. In space, Cap watches as Rocket Red and Martian Manhunter tear into the Cluster’s ships.  He informs J’onn that he has a plan to hold the Cluster’s forces at bay until the “powerhouses like Superman can get in on this.”

L-Ron informs Khan that G’Nort has broken off his attack on the Cluster and is instead going after the fighters.  Manga Khan is pleased, as this will save them a considerable amount in comparative damages.

Cap’s plan is to use the surround debris to batter the fighters and give them something to run from.  J’onn is less than thrilled with the plan but goes along with it as it is as good a plan as any.  Just when they are about to be toasted by an incoming fighter, G’Nort shows up and rescues them.  Cap believes G’Nort is just the advantage they’re looking for.

Back on Earth, the rest of the League is having troubles besting the Cluster’s ground troops.  Green Flame and Ice Maiden actually prove their worth, much to Mr. Miracle’s surprise.  He flies into the Cluster building while Booster and Beetle take refuge with Green Flame and Ice Maiden under Booster’s force field.

Back in space, G’Nort proves his worth by taking out some drones with wreckage from the debris field.  To the League’s surprise, the Cluster ships begin to withdraw.  On the flagship, L-Ron explains to Manga that they are reaching a point where the taking of Earth is no longer profitable (due to the Justice League’s intervention).

Back on Earth, the Cluster is also retreating.  However, Mr. Miracle is still inside one of the ships as it leaves the planet.  Before he can escape, he is grabbed by one of Manga’s men.

Rocket Red, Martian Manhunter, and G’Nort break the news of Scott’s abduction to his wife, Big Barda.  She suits up and insists on going after him.

The issue closes with a cute exchange between Batman and Guy Gardner in which Guy is trying to convince the dark knight into returning to the JLI.  This sets up the next issue, which does not feature Captain Atom so I won’t be reviewing it for this blog (but it was a really good issue and you should check it out).

This story was cute, but there still isn’t a lot for Cap to do in the Justice League.  His role increases when Justice League Europe hits the stands, but that’s still to come.  I’m not crazy about Steve Leialoha’s work on these issues, but I think it was a step in the right direction.  I give Justice League International #14 & 15 a B-.

The Weird (April 1988 – July 1988)

Tags

Batman, Bernie Wrightson, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Dan Green, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Jim Starlin, Michelle Wrightson, Modern Age Captain Atom, Nuklon, Obsidian, Superman, The Weird, Todd Klein

“Conception”

• Writer:  Jim Starlin
• Pencils & Inks:  Bernie Wrightson & Dan Green
• Colors:  Michelle Wrightson
• Letters:  Todd Klein

The Weird was a four-issue mini-series featuring the Justice League.  Although text within issue #1 indicated that the series took place prior to Justice League International #7, Captain Atom is on the team (he was added to the team at the end of Justice League International #7).

The mini-series opens with Superman on a Metropolis rooftop, surveying the city.  At street level, an overcoated man walks to his dreary apartment building in the rain.  The name on his door reads “Jason Morgan.”  Inside, he removes his coat and sits on the bathroom floor.  He has strange green crystalline growths all over his body.  Yellow energy rings appear before him as he says, “Soon the bridge will be completed, my friends.”  He conjures up a red crystal, out of which a white orb flies as it crumbles apart.  The orb shoot out of the apartment, creating a massive explosion in the sky.

Superman notes that no damage was done and he flies in the investigate further.  He finds the white orb, which he calls a star.  It changes shape into a ribbon and Superman touches it.  With another explosion, Superman is thrown back three miles.  When he returns to the ribbon, Captain Atom and Martian Manhunter are on the scene.

Thirty minutes later, the military arrives.  By now most of the Justice League is on the scene (Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Dr. Fate, Blue Beetle, Black Canary, and Batman).

Onboard Blue Beetle’s Bug, Batman and a Dr. Yamada are collecting data on the ribbon, which the doctor says will take months to collate.  Outside, Cap says the thing shouldn’t even exist (as it is pure energy it should have dispersed with no form to hold it together).  Dr. Fate says it does have a mystical quality, and Guy Gardner uses his ring as a “deep probe” to try and get more info.  Guy overdoes it with the green juice, which causes the ribbon to let out an explosion of energy and black out the city.  Martian Manhunter and Captain Atom quickly catch the crashing Bug.

From a nearby rooftop, the heroes watch the ribbon split into two parts and rush off into different directions.  Superman follows one and Martian Manhunter follows the other.  Superman fails at catching the thing as it flies into a genetic research lab.  It passes through “genetic fluids” before entering a computer, where it seems to be gathering data.  It launches out of the computer and flies off with Superman on it’s tail.

Meanwhile, at a funeral home across town, Martian Manhunter has followed the other energy ball into a funeral service.  The energy goes into the casket, making the dead man inside vanish.

The two energy balls return to the site of the original ribbon and combine.  The resulting explosion causes a nearby building to crumble.  When Guy goes to stop the falling debris, he is beaten to the punch by the ribbon.  In an effort to contain anymore explosions, Guy surrounds the ribbon with an energy bubble.  The heroes watch as inside a human creature is created.  It emerges onto a nearby rooftop, dressed like some sort of a ninja, and collapses.

An hour later at S.T.A.R. Labs, Dr. Yamada discovers that the creature’s body is filled with clear fluid rather than blood.  Using his x-ray vision, Superman learns that none of the creature’s organs are fully formed, but are “sculpting” themselves while it sleeps.  Also it has an unstable, alien molecular structure.  Superman thinks it is a living, possibly Earth-threatening atomic bomb.  Blue Beetle dubs the creature “the Weird,” and Guy Gardner offers to take it off the planet.  Superman rushes off to save the passengers of a crashing plane.  As soon as he is gone, the Weird wakes up.

When Martian Manhunter offers his arm and suggests the Weird get more rest, the creature shoves him back into a wall.  Batman orders Guy to contain the Weird with his ring, but the creature simply walks out of the green energy bubble.  Blue Beetle and Captain Atom throw themselves at the Weird, but he becomes intangible and they crash into each other.  Guy encases it in a denser energy cube, but it breaks free in an explosion that takes out most of the lab.

Captain Atom, Dr. Fate, Martian Manhunter, and Batman take the fight to the rooftops in an attempt to contain the Weird.  Seeing that physical attacks clearly do not affect the Weird’s molecular instability, Martian Manhunter lays on an ultimately ineffectual smackdown.  Even Dr. Fate’s mystic powers have no effect on the creature.  Their efforts are in vain, and the Weird explains that his kind are excellent manipulators of energy.  Cap decides to fire quantum blasts at the thing anyway.

The Weird knocks Captain Atom out cold and escapes by passing through the walls of the building.  He finds himself at the apartment of Jason Morgan the fellow from the opening of this issue.  The apartment is vacant, leaving the Weird time for another task, in the Metropolis suburb of Inglewood.  He returns to the home of “Walt,” the man whose body he has reanimated.  In the back yard or the house, he approaches Walt’s son Billy, who instantly recognizes the disfigured face as his father’s.

And this ends the first issue.  Lots of questions and few answers.

“Questions!”

• Writer:  Jim Starlin
• Pencils & Inks:  Bernie Wrightson & Dan Green
• Colors:  Michelle Wrightson
• Letters:  Todd Klein

 

The second issue opens back at S.T.A.R. Labs, where TV reporter Lance Armstrong (I know, right?) is attempting to interview Superman in the Weird’s aftermath.  Superman gives a summary of the previous issue, but Lance turns his words around on him, saying Supes thinks he can succeed where the Justice League failed.  Guy Gardner insults Superman, but the man of steel turns that into an opportunity to insult Guy before flying away.

Back at Walter Langley’s house, his wife wonders what the Weird’s connection to her dead husband is – if any.  Checking on her son Billy, she sees he has wandered away from the backyard of their home.

Billy, meanwhile, is riding on the Weird’s back as they fly to the beach.  The Weird explains to Billy that, while he has all of Walter Langley’s memories, he is not actually the boy’s dead father.  He displays his powers for Billy (flight, super-strength, the ability to become intangible, and the ability to affect any source of energy he’s in direct contact with).  In an effort to explain what he truly is, the Weird taps directly into Billy’s brain.  The two find themselves in an alternative dimensional reality, which the Weird explains is his home.  He identifies a glowing red orb as a Macrolatt, the dominant life form of this reality (although he himself is not one).  They are immensely powerful and ruthless beings.

The Weird explains he is a Zarolatt, white orb beings which possess great stores of energy but not the ability to use it.  The Macrolatts are tapping the energy of the Zarolatts, killing the peaceful creatures.  The Weird himself was being used by a Macrolatt that was attempting to cross over into Billy’s reality (the DC Universe).  The Macrolatts found a man they called “the Jason” (Jason Morgan from the first issue) and convinced him to betray his people and allow the Macrolatts to cross over.

Jason’s physical form was slightly altered to that of a half-man, half-crystal entity.  He created the crystalline anchor that would stabilize the bridge between worlds.  Hungering for the “freedom” that Billy’s world would offer him, the Weird crossed the bridge before any of the Macrolatts could make it across.  He came face-to-face with the Jason and fled.  The Weird chose Walter’s body as a containment vessel because he would have killed any living creature he tried to possess.  He found he could utilize all the dormant abilities that were denied to him as a Zarolatt.  He explains he must face the Jason again and stop him from reopening the bridge.  The Macrolatts, if they manage to cross over, will destroy Billy’s world.

Back in Metropolis, Jason Morgan returns home singing “Waltzing Matilda” to himself.  He begins to talk to himself (perfectly normal behavior in a comic book), and reveals he has killed a woman named Matilda Gatsby.  He sets out to reopen the bridge.

Superman, still searching for the Weird, gives up in the city and heads north to check the suburbs.  Meanwhile, in the suburbs, the Weird is dropping Billy off at home.  The Weird explains it would be best if Billy didn’t tell his mother who/what he was with.  Flying away, the Weird admits to himself that his molecular structure is unstable, just as Batman warned him in the last issue.  He knows he is a dangerous ticking time-bomb.  He bumps into Superman, and the two land on a nearby rooftop to have a chat.

The Weird says he can’t leave Earth like Superman wants.  He doesn’t explain why.  Superman punches him, which doesn’t even stagger the Weird.  The Weird punches back, surprising Superman with his strength.  The Weird takes off and Superman gives chase.  They stop the chase briefly to beat each other, but the two are evenly matched.  The Weird takes off again and Supes chases.  In the basement of an abandoned apartment building, the Weird pushes some supporting beams aside and brings the whole building down on the man of steel.  In the confusion, the Weird slips away.

Lance Armstrong shows up at the scene (via his news van – not a bicycle) and attempts to get a comment from Superman.  Superman does not indulge Lance and flies away.  Then the Weird emerges from the ground below, explaining that he had been directly under Superman the whole time.  He tells Lance that Superman and his friends think he is so unstable he will destroy the world.  He flies away, but Batman is nearby and watches him.

Back at Jason Morgan’s apartment, just as he is conjuring up the bridge, the Weird appears in his bathroom with him.  So ends the second issue.  Captain Atom was only in this issue for one panel.

“Confrontation”

• Writer:  Jim Starlin
• Pencils & Inks:  Bernie Wrightson & Dan Green
• Colors:  Michelle Wrightson
• Letters:  Todd Klein

The third issue opens with Billy Langley summing up the previous two issues to his dog (cleverly – or weirdly – named “Ptang”).  Meanwhile, in Jason Morgan’s apartment bathroom, the Weird and the Jason are facing off.  For a Justice League story, this mini-series sure hasn’t featured the Justice League much.

Back in Jason Morgan’s place, he and the Weird are throwing down, smashing the place to hell.  The Jason flings energy blasts which the Weird easily deflects.  From a neighboring apartment rooftop, the Justice League watches the battle.  Batman followed the Weird here and summoned his team-mates.  Guy Gardner wants to go down for a closer look, but Dr. Fate stops him.  Guy, hot-head that he is, ignores Dr. Fate and Batman’s warning and dives in.

Jason conjures a cube-shaped shield around his apartment which prevents Guy from entering and also destroys to top half of the building.  Batman sends Dr. Fate, Captain Atom, and Martian Manhunter to protect the “civilians” while he catches the unconscious Guy.

While Batman ponders a way to get into the cube, the Jason and the Weird continue their confrontation within.  The Weird tells Jason he doesn’t want to use force against him because he knows Jason was duped by the Macrolatts, but he will resort to force if he has to.  He takes Jason by the neck.  Borrowing a page from Barry Allen’s book, Jason vibrates the molecules of air around the Weird, stunning him.  He encases the Weird in a “particle beam encasement” bubble.

Jason begins to reopen the portal while the Weird, helpless in the bubble, pleads with him to stop.  He tries to play to Jason’s humanity, but Jason says that will do no good.  He says he is turning on his own species because “life sucks.”

Outside, Dr. Fate, Batman, Black Canary, and Blue Beetle discuss the cube and their inability to penetrate it (Guy is down for the count with a bandage on his head).  Batman fears what is going on within, saying they really don’t have enough infor on the Weird to understand his motives.

Within the cube, Jason tells the Weird his tale of woe.  Named after the Jason of Greek mythology, he witnessed his father’s suicide by hanging at the age of four.  His mother became an abusive alcoholic and was murdered by a boyfriend with a razor.  He was sent to a Dickensian orphanage where he had to fight the other children and did poorly in school.  He was kicked out of the orphanage at the age of fifteen because of “a little trouble [he] got into with a girl.”  He drifted through a series of menial jobs that he always got fired from and ended up a dirty homeless beggar.  Trying to clean up his act to attract women, he got a job with the city of Metropolis as a sanitation worker (or “garbage man,” as we used to call them when we were kids”.  He didn’t mind the labor, but hated dealing with all the city’s trash.  Still unlucky with the ladies, he assaulted a woman and was thrown in prison.  Upon his release, he went back to work on the garbage truck and spiraled into alcoholism like his mother.  Then he began to have strange dreams.  It was the Macrolatts contacting his subconscious, preparing him for their coming.  They altered his physiology and promised him that when they took Earth, he would become the king of humanity.

The Weird warns Jason that he has been misled.  The Macrolatts will kill him as soon as they cross over.  Jason doesn’t believe him and lashes out.  The Weird continues to try and convince Jason the Macrolatts are bad.  The Justice League continues to try and breach the cube.  Jason continues to build the bridge.

Believing that it is the only way, the Weird determines to force his unstable body to go critical.  It will kill him and Jason, and the entire city of Metropolis to boot.  Two Macrolatts emerge from the portal just as the Weird explodes.  Somehow, the cube contains the blast, the Weird and Jason both survive (the explosion must not have been created by the Weird reaching critical mass), and the Justice League witnesses the two Macrolatts fleeing the scene.

The Macrolatts speed off at twice the speed of light, making it impossible for the Justice League to give chase.  The Weird crushes the crystal Jason used to build the bridge.  Realizing Jason was a twisted, misunderstood pawn of creatures he didn’t understand, the Weird give him a low-grade disruptive charge through his cerebral cortex, putting Jason’s mind at ease before snapping his neck.  Upon his death, the cube vanishes and the Justice League converges on the remains of the apartment.  They find the Weird standing over Jason’s dead body.

The two Macrolatts, rejuvenated by lightning over the ocean, return to Metropolis to seek host bodies.  One of them finds Superman and merges with him.  The other flies to Los Angeles, California. Finding the headquarters of Infinity, Inc., it merges with Nuklon.  Back at Jason’s apartment, the Weird tries to explain he did not murder Jason Morgan.

The Weird realizes the Justice League won’t listen to him; they’ve made up their minds.  As he tries to leave, he is knocked out cold by Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz was invisible the whole time).  When Batman orders Guy to take the Weird off-world, the two Macrolatts appear (in the bodies of Nuklon and Superman) and say they’ll deal with him.

“Armageddon”

• Writer:  Jim Starlin
• Pencils:  Bernie Wrightson
• Inks:  Dan Green
• Colors:  Michelle Wrightson
• Letters:  Todd Klein

At last, the climactic conclusion.  Batman slaps the Weird awake and demands an explanation.  The Justice League have found themselves in combat against Superman and Nuklon’s Macrolatt-possessed bodies.

The Weird gives Batman the four-panel summation of the past three issues.  Things look grim for the world, as Superman and Nuklon have not only all their original powers, but the powers of the Macrolatts as well.  Black Canary is knocked out and Batman carries her to safety as the Weird explains to him how the Macrolatts made it to this world.  The Justice League suddenly learns they are powerless against this duo.

The Weird tells Batman that fighting the Macrolatts is pointless and he won’t take any part in it.  Batman insults him and jumps into the battle.  In an attempt to “short out” a Macrolatt, he pokes Superman with an exposed live electrical cable.  Superman seems injured, but not stopped.  He breaks Batman’s arm.  Apparently thinking Batman isn’t worth his time and effort, Superman flies to Nuklon’s aid as he struggles to take down Captain Atom, the last Justice League member still standing.  They dispatch Nate with ease.

With the Justice League utterly defeated, the Weird bows down to the Macrolatts.  They two evil beings begin to burn Metropolis, feeding off the life energy of the matter (and people) they destroy.  At the scene, Lance Armstrong reports that it appears the world is coming to an end.

The Weird begs the two to stop.  He says he can help their efforts. Batman tries to stop him, but he bitch slaps the dark knight.  The Weird tells the Macrolatts they need to utilize the intellect of their host bodies as well as the power.  Nuklon blasts at the Weird for his “insolence.”  Superman takes a piece of nearby building and throws it at the Weird.  The Zarolatt becomes intangible and the debris coasts harmlessly through him.  Nuklon is taken aback by this but Superman isn’t.  The Weird warns them that heir host bodies are susceptible to illness.  He tells them they need to reach out and merge with them, as Zarolatts are meant to serve Macrolatts.  The two buy it, and fly towards the Weird.

Reaching into Nuklon and Superman, the Weird pulls the Macrolatts out.  The two previously-possessed heroes drop to the ground as the Weird tells his captives he would never allow them to harm this world.  Holding one in each hand, he appears to squash the life out of the Macrolatts.

The next morning, back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman indicates that the Weird is still unstable and will still reach critical mass.  He will expire in less than two days.  The Justice League have been unable to d anything to reverse the process.  He says he will leave Earth before that time comes, but asks the Justice League to help him with two things first.

Superman and Guy fly over the ocean with the Weird.  As the Weird begins to build something, the heroes leave him, vowing to return the next morning with Walter’s wife and son.  The Justice League returns the next day with Billy, finding what appears to be a pirate ship constructed of Earth.  Superman explains that Walter’s wife wouldn’t come – that she felt she couldn’t handle it.  Billy finds the whole thing extremely awesome.

The Weird has a heart-to-heart discussion with Billy, explaining that he will have to leave again and he will die.  Billy is saddened by this, begging his father to stay.  The Weird says he can not stay, but will leave this odd island for Billy to visit and remember him.  Martian Manhunter takes Billy home.

Superman and Guy take the Weird to a distant part of space, a light year away from any inhabited world.  They say their good-byes and leave Walter to his fate.  Guy and Superman watch the massive explosion from a safe distance, tearing up as they do so.  The two fly back to Earth.  Thus ends The Weird mini-series.

I didn’t like The Weird when it was first published.  From the first page, I took issue with the continuity error.  Captain Atom was not a member of the Justice League when this was supposed to have taken place.  And if it took place at the time it was published, Guy Gardner’s personality was wrong.  It still gives me a headache to think about it.  I can be such a nerd about continuity.  Plus, I never liked the name of the hero, “the Weird.”  Frankly, I thought it was stupid (the name).  And the Justice League were completely superfluous to the story. This is a C story at best.  The art, on the other hand, was definitely “A” material.  I really like the way Wrightson and Green drew Captain Atom in particular, even if he didn’t grace the pages much.  I’d say The Weird is worth checking out for the art alone.  Just don’t expect the story to blow your mind.

Charlton Bullseye #7 (May 1982)

Tags

Benjamin Smith, Bill Black, Captain Atom, Charlton Bullseye Captain Atom, Claw, Dan Reed, Green Lantern (Tomar-Re), Janet Rogers, Krog, Mathew Hopkins, Nightshade, Stone, Talnor, The Ghost, Wendy Fiore

“The Games of Ragnath”

• Writers:  Dan Reed and Benjamin Smith
• Pencils: Dan Reed
• Inks: Dan Reed
• Colors: Wendy Fiore
• Letters: Mathew Hopkins

This is not the same Charlton Bullseye fanzine series that Captain Atom appeared in before.  This series was actually published by Charlton Comics and was in color.  This issue is the only appearance of this particular version of Captain Atom.

Charlton Bullseye was a short-lived Charlton Comics showcase comic book series published from June 1981 through December 1982.  It featured several new stories using Charlton’s action heroes before they were sold to DC Comics in 1983.  Several other unpublished stories for the title were published by AC Comics.  This version of Captain Atom, who hadn’t seen publication since 1975, featured Ditko’s original Silver Age costume, a new secret identity, and a new origin story.

So, to set the stage, what was the world like in May of 1982?  On May 1, 1982, a crowd of over 100,000 attended the first day of the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, which was kicked off with an address by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.  On May 5, a Unabomber bomb exploded in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University and secretary Janet Smith was injured.  The Falklands War raged on.  And on May 30,  Cal Ripken, Jr. played the first of what eventually became his record-breaking streak of 2,632 consecutive Major League Baseball games.

This story begins with a retelling of Captain Atom’s origin.  But, it is a slightly different origin than the one presented by Steve Ditko and Joe Gill in Space Adventures #33 twenty-two years earlier.  What we have here is a brand new Captain Atom.  In the early 1960s, NASA launched a rocket bound for “the fringes of space.”  Trapped aboard was Captain John Adam.  The plutonium engines overloaded and bathed the helpless Captain in deadly neutron radiation.  The rocket exploded but this did not kill John Adam.  It only served to aid his transformation into a powerful being that would come to be known as Captain Atom. The origin is similar to the original.

Gone is the partially metal skin.  Back in his Silver Age costume and renamed “John” Adam, he is now a Colonel in the Air Force and has been fighting space baddies for twenty years at least (presuming this story takes place in 1982).

In downtown Miami, Colonel Adam and his fiance Janet Rogers are preparing for their wedding (to take place in two days) and honeymoon.  They are stopped on the street by an Airman who has a message for Adam.  He is to meet up with his C.O. as soon as possible.  Upset that he would be bothered while on leave, the Colonel vows to Janet that he’ll be as quick as possible and races away.  Once he is gone, the Airman turns to Janet and knocks her out with a special gas.

Ducking into a nearby alley, out of sight, Colonel Adam transforms into Captain Atom (So John gets promoted but Atom has to remain a Captain.  I wonder if he is paid a Captain’s salary or a Colonel’s.  Oh, who am I kidding?  It is the United States!  Of course he is paid a Captain’s salary!).

2.703 seconds later (how’s that for precision?), Captain Atom arrives at Cape Canaveral.  He approaches the General (the General is never named, but let’s call him General Eiling for the hell of it), surprised to see many other Airmen around.  As soon as he touches down, the General and his men open fire on Cap with futuristic ray guns.  Captain Atom is knocked out, and the men drag him to a lift that takes them to an underground installation.

The General delivers Captain Atom to a green-skinned alien identified as “Talnor.”  Talnor zaps Captain Atom with energy from his hand, going on about how Cap is a slave and will represent him in “the games.”  Captain Atom awakens and says he isn’t anyone’s slave and isn’t going to take part in any games.  Talnor projects an image of Jan, saying she will only remain safe if Atom doesn’t resist his commands.  Predictably, Cap tells Talnor to do with him what he will, but to release his fiance immediately.  The alien says he will not be commanded by his slave, saying he made a fair trade with the General; Captain Atom in exchange for high tech weapons.  The General says Atom is government property and therefore he can be sold.  This seriously angers Captain Atom, who tells the General he just made the biggest mistake of his life.  Talnor teleports himself and Cap away.  One of the soldiers asks the General if they did the right thing, and the General makes it clear he feels the world is better off with one less super-hero.

Talnor and Cap reappear 2,500 million light years away, having traveled at the speed of light, on a stage surrounded by aliens on the planet Ragnath.  The Gamemasters of Ragnath are hopeful that Captain Atom will provide him with entertainment.  Cap wonders if his abilities mean nothing to them.  They read his thoughts and think he is arrogant.  They decide to test him and summon forth a “beast-man” named Krog (another slave).

Cap throws Krog aside, saying if he fights anyone he’s fighting the Gamemasters.  Loyal to his masters, Krog leaps forward again but Cap kicks him in the face.  Talnor teleports or vaporizes Krog, thanking Captain Atom for the demonstration of his abilities. Captain Atom is supremely pissed off, wanting to know what gives Talnor and his people the right to make other creatures fight to amuse them.   Talnor says their power gives them the right and they enjoy the pain and suffering.  Cap calls them sick.  Talnor says it is their right as immortals.  The logic escapes me.  To prove their power, the Gamemasters teleport Jan in, whom they have dressed in an alien dress.  She looks like Dale Arden from the Flash Gordon movie, only wearing blue instead of red.  Captain Atom promises Jan that he will get her out of this, but has no idea how.

Talnor teleports them to the arena, which appears to be on a desolate moon or asteroid.  His opponents are to be Earthmen who have trained for ten years who have no desire except to see Captain Atom’s “cracked bones bleached by our sun.”  But if these men are from Earth, they’ve been surgically altered.  They are three men, two of them enormous; one very musclebound and the other quite flabby with a big metal right arm.  The third man…

Well.

The third man is a chicken.

Weird, yes.  But not without a precedent.  Twenty-one years prior to this issue, DC Comics introduced Green Lantern Tomar-Re.  He was a space-cop chicken-man.  So I guess it takes all kinds in the universal melting pot.

Space Chicken Man

Cap puts Jan behind him as the fat one, Claw, approaches.  Moving faster than Captain Atom can see, Claw grabs Cap in his metal hand.  Claw also has a life-draining power, which he uses on Cap and begins to drain his atomic power away.

Green Lantern Tomar-Re

Captain Atom, his power draining and his costume ripped in places, builds up his atomic energy and overloads Claw.  Claw instantly weakens and passes out, loosening his grip on Captain Atom.  But, while Cap was focused on Claw, Space Chicken Man grabbed Jan and began to fly away with her.  Cap gives chase, flinging atomic fireballs at Space Chicken Man.  Space Chicken Man throws Jan back towards the surface of the planetoid from a great height.

The Gamemasters, watching all this from a distance, increase their bets.

Captain Atom races after Jan, scooping her up inches from hitting the hard ground.  He momentarily thinks she does not deserve this; having her life endangered just because she is a friend to Captain Atom.  He gently sets her inert body down – she has fainted.

Space Chicken Man and Muscle Head approach Captain Atom, who vows that even if they kill him, he’ll see to it they never lay a hand on Jan again.  He dodges Muscle Head’s attack and then kicks Space Chicken Man in the beak.  Muscle Head demands that Cap face him, but Cap finds he can barely remain upright.  As Captain Atom tries to pummel Muscle Head, Space Chicken Man calls out to his comrade (calling him “Stone”), saying something is wrong.

Space Chicken Man collapses, as does Stone (but not before Cap nearly breaks his hand on Stone’s bicep).  Talnor reappears, congratulating Captain Atom on his victory.  Cap is confused, saying he did nothing.  Talnor says it doesn’t matter; that Cap is his most honored slave thanks to the unexpected victory.  He zaps himself and Cap back to the stage on Ragnath.

As he is addressing Captain Atom, the king of Ragnath also keels over, followed by Talnor and several Gamemasters in the audience.  That is when Captain Atom realizes (as his strength returns), that they are all being sickened by his own radiation.  It is leaking through the rips in is costume (like the Silver Age Captain Atom, the costume serves as a radiation shield).  Cap increases his output and announces to his captors that he is the reason they are sick.  He tells them he is a free man and that the Gamemasters will all die if they don’t follow his instructions.  The king quickly agrees.

Captain Atom demands that he and Jan be returned to Earth, and that the Gamemasters never bother Earth again.  The king agrees, but as Cap doesn’t trust Talnor, he creates a radiation belt around Ragnath that will limit their powers for a thousand years.  It takes the combined strength of all the Gamemasters to send Cap and Jan home, much to Talnor’s chagrin.

They reappear in a city park.  Captain Atom quickly leaves Janet, to do “something I should have done a long time ago.”  He dons a new Captain Atom uniform and flies to Cape Canaveral.  Bursting into the General’s office, he throws his Air Force uniform at his desk.  He says he is no longer Air Force property.  Cap tells the General he is not turning his back on his country but will not answer to the government.  The final panel has the caption “The Beginning.”  But it isn’t.  Captain Atom would not see publication again until the next year, and this version of Captain Atom was only seen this one time.

Dan Reed did a great job on the artwork of this issue.  Cap is more ripped than he’s ever been.  It isn’t my favorite look for the hero, but also isn’t bad.  It is nice to see the old Silver Age costume again (he even leaves sparkles in his wake like the Ditko Cap).  A solid A.  The story wasn’t spectacular, but by no means bad. It is clearly setting up new adventures for Cap that just never came.  We’ve seen heroes forced to fight many times, across all forms of entertainment media, but the way Captain Atom actually defeated his opponents was unique (and dumb luck).  I really liked Space Chicken Man, Rock, and Claw, but would’ve loved a little back story on them. I’d love to know where Colonel John Adam was going next. I give the story a B+.

There is also a back-up story in this issue called “You Look Like You’ve Seen a Ghost” in which Nightshade battles the Ghost.  Credited as writer and illustrator is Bill Black.  The Ghost is again referred to as Alec Nois (as he was when he first appeared), but by the end of the story he is Alec Rois again.

The Charlton “universe” was absorbed into DC Comics’ Multiverse when the Charlton characters were purchased by DC.  Because of the change of costume, rank, and name, I do not consider this the Silver or Bronze Age “Charlton” Captain Atom. Although most likely intended to be the Earth-4 Cap we know, the Charlton Bullseye Captain Atom is a separate character.

Captain Atom #88 (October 1967)

Tags

A. Machine, Bronze Age Captain Atom, David Kaler, Frank McLaughlin, Gunner, Nightshade, Steve Ditko

“Ravage of Ronthor”

• Writer:  David Kaler
• Pencils:  Steve Ditko
• Inks:  Frank McLaughlin
• Letters:  A. Machine

Eight million light years away, an alien spacecraft crashes on an alien world.  Giant insects emerge from the craft and begin attacking the alien world’s civilization.

Thousands of light years away (what happened to the millions?) on Earth, Captain Atom is reporting to a military base.  The besieged planet has sent an SOS and the American military is responding.  He is to pilot an experimental space craft that uses space warps rather than traditional rocket fuel.  Realizing that it has been thousands of years since the SOS was sent, the rocket was developed to actually “break the time continuum” so that Captain Atom can arrive just after the message was sent.  The craft will only work with Captain Atom supplying his own power.

Gunner asks Cap if someone else can pilot the ship; he is clearly worried for his friend’s safety.  Cap says it has to be him supplying the energy for the craft to work.  With luck he should be back within a week.

*

Eve Eden (Nightshade) calls Captain Atom, also worried about him.  She also asks him what she should do about Abby Ladd’s ongoing crusade to discredit Captain Atom and bed Captain Adam.  He has no good advice for her.

The rocket launches, using conventional fuel to escape Earth’s gravitational pull.  Once in space, Cap plugs into the controls and the ship vanishes into the time continuum.  It emerges above the planet in peril centuries in the past.

As soon as Cap exits his craft, it is set upon by the giant insects that have been ravaging the planet.  He rams into one but the thing’s exoskeleton is a thick armor he can’t penetrate.  Cap is at abit of a loss, as he has to conserve his energy for the return trip.  The creature begins to trap Captain Atom in a spider-web like substance but a well-aimed atomic fireball knocks the thing down.

Another creature attacks, stunning Cap with a blast of “x-rays,” then attempts to eat him.  He smashes the thing’s mouth (evidently killing it) then goes back into his spacecraft and collapses.  He awakes from an hours-long nap to see the nearby city in flames.  He quickly packs a bag and then begins to follow the radio signal that lead him to this planet in the first place.  The city appears deserted – even the sections not engulfed in flames.  A flying monster grabs him and he blasts it with the fire extinguisher he had packed.  It slows the creature down but doesn’t stop it.  Cap flings the monster away and it bursts into flames for no apparent reason.

Finally finding the source of the signal, Captain Atom is greeted by a voice on a PA system welcoming him to the planet Ronthor.  The voice says it scanned Cap and learned everything about him, including his language, and stored it in its computer systems.  The voice explains that the people of Ronthor were so technologically advanced that they had machines do everything for them and they grew bored.  They built huge rockets and left their home, leaving Ronthor as a “memorial to stifling perfection.”  The voice itself is a machine and it convinces Cap that the planet must be preserved so other species can learn from their mistakes.

*

Returning to his ship, Cap uses the chemicals in his lab to make an insecticide that will kill the attackers.  He blasts off into space with one of the creatures wrapped around his ship (the gigantic bug is killed in the take-off).  From space, Cap drops his chemical concoction onto the planet and it does the trick.  Commenting that this has been the weirdest thing he’s ever done, Captain Atom warps his ship back to Earth.  As he prepares his landing, Gunner notices another object on the radar, setting up the next adventure.

Cap was right, this was a pretty weird one.  It seemed a little pointless and Captain Atom’s sudden motivation to save this lifeless world was kind of baffling.  As a military man, he should have grabbed some Ronthor technology or something before he left.  As a story, Captain Atom versus space insects fell a little flat, especially when all he did to defeat them was spray some DDT (still better than that Fiery Icer fiasco, though).  But the artwork was beautiful.  Frank McLaughlin’s inks of Steve Ditko’s pencil work was outstanding, better than Rocke Mastroserio.  And I am a big Ditko/Mastroserio fan (the editor indicates on the letter page that Ditko “doesn’t want to ink Captain Atom”).  The A art and C story combine for an overall rating of B.  Not too bad.  There is also another Nightshade back-up story in this issue.

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

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 #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.

Strange Suspense Stories (June – October 1965)

Tags

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

After his initial run in Space Adventures from March 1960 to October 1961, Captain Atom was MIA.  He resurfaced four years later in October 1965.  But it was not entirely new adventures we got.  Strange Suspense Stories (Charlton Comics) reprinted stories from Space Adventures.

Strange Suspense Stories #75 (June 1965)

“Introducing Captain Atom”

“Planet X”

“The 2nd Man in Space”

Strange Suspense Stories #76 (August 1965)

“The Wreck of X-44”

“The Little Wanderer”

“Test-Pilot’s Nightmare”

“A Victory for Venus”

Strange Suspense Stories #77 (October 1965)

“The Silver Lady from Venus”

“An Ageless Weapon”

“The Boy and the Stars”

“The Space Prowlers”

.

With the next issue of Strange Suspense Stories, the comic was retitled Captain Atom and featured all-new stories.  This “universe” was absorbed into DC Comics’ Multiverse when the Charlton characters were purchased by DC.  This universe became Earth-4.

Space Adventures #42 (October 1961)

Tags

Captain Atom, Gunner, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Silver Lady from Venus, Steve Ditko

“The Saucer Scare”

• Writer: ??? (possibly Joe Gill)
• Artist: Rocke Mastroserio

As with Captain Atom’s appearance in Peter Cannon… Thunderbolt #53, I could not find who the author of any of the stories was.  Most likely it was Joe Gill, but I couldn’t find them credited to him anywhere.  Help me out, internet.

Okay, so let’s start the nitpicking with the cover.  Cap’s cowl and boots are colored blue here but in the book itself they are orange.  Orange and yellow are Captain Atom’s colors except for his very first appearance when the costume was blue.  Ah, well. Mistakes happen.

This story opens with a flying saucer opening fire on an unmanned bomber over Pennsyvania.  “Whipboy,” who is tailing the bomber in his jet, radioes his base requesting orders.   At Cape Canaveral, Captain Adam requests permission to take the X-44 up into space to investigate.  He has a hunch the saucer opened fire without orders.

This is weird.  We all know Captain Adam is Captain Atom.  The general he’s speaking to has to know, right?  So why does Captain Atom need a spacecraft?

Defying reason, Captain Adam takes off in the X-44 and sweeps across the U.S. from coast to coast.  Adam discovers a cloud mass over Minnesota that looks weird.  There are several flying saucers hidden within, one of which breaks off from the others and chases the X-44.  Captain Adam declares, “They took the bait!” He was hoping to lure one of them out.

Adam jumps out of the plane (now on autopilot) and switches to Captain Atom just as the saucer powers up its primary weapon.  Cap takes some shots at the ship and chases it as it flees.  He blasts the saucer and quips, “Let’s see how you like juice, weirdo!”

The saucers all bombard Cap with death rays but to no avail.  Captain Atom blasts them and sends the others fleeing into space.  Back at the base, the General is marveling at how well the X-44 did against the aliens.  So I guess he doesn’t know about Adam’s secret powers.

This story was kind of dumb.  The art is pretty good, a B, but the story just isn’t that good or interesting.  I give it a D.

“The Man in Saturn’s Moon”

• Writer: ???
• Artist: Rocke Mastroserio

Statesman Andrei Rotov addresses the Dirty Commies on television, vowing to end the secret police and slavery in his country (Russia, I suppose).  In the States, Captain Adams (Make up your minds, Charlton.  Adam or Adams?) watches the address with a buddy who believes Rotov will end the Cold War.

The Dirty Commies who are actually in charge of Rotov’s country come up with a “brilliant” scheme to silence the politician.  Reminiscent of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, “his bosses didn’t like him so they shot him into space.”  Yup, rather than exiling Rotov to Siberia or just shooting him in the head (like they did with Andrei Chikatilo in Citizen X… wait a sec… ANDREI Chikatilo, the Butcher of ROSTOV… I think I just blew my mind), they spend (waste) thousands of rubles or whatever to put Rotov in orbit around Saturn.  Yeah, seems legit…

Captain Adam(s) has a hunch that the Dirty Commies have sent Rotov into orbit.  He seeks permission to investigate from the U.S. President (who now looks a little more like Kennedy but still clearly isn’t Kennedy).

Captain Atom flies to Saturn, then uses a compact transmitter to broadcast a message to Rotov.  He asks the statesman to hammer on the shell of his vehicle so Cap can find it among Saturn’s moons.  Yeah, Captain Atom can hear sounds in the silent vacuum of space (new power!).  He finds Rotov’s prison and enters it through the walls.  Cap asks if he returns Rotov to Earth, will those in power have him killed?  Rotov says, “I abhor violence!  I would not do them harm but would let the people decide.”  That really didn’t answer Cap’s question though.

Captain Atom guides Rotov’s satellite to Earth, taking out some missiles that the Dirty Commies launch at it.  Upon touching down, the Dirty Commies flee and Rotov seizes control.  Atom looks at the reader and says Rotov will form a new government with “freedom for this great people.”  Cap then flies back to the U.S., worried he’ll get in trouble for being AWOL.  But he was on a mission approved by the Commander-in-Chief.  Clearly not AWOL.

Once again, I am pleased with Rocke Mastroserio’s take on Captain Atom and give him an A for art.  Unfortunately, the story is stupid and totally unbelievable and I give it a D.  It would be an F but I kind of like the panel where Cap breaks the fourth wall and addresses the readers.  Also, the panel to the right sort of sheds some light on why Firestorm instantly hates Captain Atom.  There can only be ONE “Nuclear Man!”

“The Silver Lady from Venus”

• Writer: ???
• Artist: Steve Ditko

Once again drawn by Ditko in a story that sounds like one Joe Gill probably wrote, Captain ADAM (yes, he is Adams and Adam in the same book) begins the story by changing to Captain Atom and deflecting three nuclear missiles that had failed and launched by accident.  He destroys the missiles, but not before discovering that they failed because of faulty liquid oxygen expansion tubes designed by physicist James Matson.

Upon Cap’s landing, Gunner asks if he knows what caused the failure, then quickly excuses himself to see the “silver lady from Venus” on television.  Adam calls on Matson, who is transfixed by the silver lady on the TV as well.  She promises to some day take all her fans to Venus with her.  Adam marvels at her silver skin and metallic hair (get used to it Cap, cause that’s your future).

The silver lady discusses the failed launch, basically exonerating Matson from any blame.  Matson is overjoyed but Adam tries to get him to get in touch with reality.  Matson says he knew the tubes would fail but as he was working on them all he could see was the silver lady.  Adam realizes that Matson (as well as countless other men at Cape Canaveral) has been hypnotized.  When Adam says he’s going to call on her, Matson freaks out and shoots him.  Of course, Cap isn’t harmed and he locks Matson up “for his own good.”

Before he takes off after the silver lady, he tells Gunner that the woman really is from Venus.  Gunner thinks Cap has lost his mind.  Captain Atom follows a light beam from Venus and finds the silver lady communicating with her “Venutian master.”

Captain Atom picks her up and flies off.  She asks if he is taking her to Venus and Cap says no.  He deposits her in Russia, where she can “work her mischief… as much as she wants!”

After the prior meeting with the women from Venus in Space Adventures #37, I expected a better story.  Like so many of these early Captain Atom comics, the premise is good but the execution is not.  It reads like a Joe Gill story in that respect.  C for story but A for Ditko’s art.  I really love Steve Ditko.

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

Space Adventures #39 (April 1961)

Tags

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

“Test-Pilot’s Nightmare”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Artist: Steve Ditko

This story opens with Captain Adam on an air base looking over a new space plane, the X-49.n  He is with a Dr. Hargus, a balding pudgey man in a bow tie (bow ties are cool).  Dr. Hargus is calling Adam a liar because he was just on the phone with the Captain three minutes before and Cap said he was in Florida, “more than two thousand miles away.”  Cap brushes the doctor off, telling him he’s concerned about the oxygen pump on the X-49.  It is as if Adam has lost a little of his humanity.  He sees no point in even coming up with a cover story.  Like to him people like Hargus are beneath him or something.  Perhaps I am stretching here, but it seems like he’s going down the “A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally, there’s no discernible difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts.”

Okay, yeah, I am really reaching on that one. Still…

Hargus says the oxygen pump will be fine, that the test pilot, Major Silberling, has already used this gear on a different plane.  Cap tells him the X-49 is much faster and the pump will fail.  Hargus tries to get Adam kicked off the project but a general informs him Cap is there under orders from the president.

The X-49 is released from the bottom of a B-52 with Silberling at the controls.  All goes well at first, but out of nowhere Captain Adam announces that the major is suffering from anoxia.  Hargus basically tells Adam to get bent and leave him alone.  Meanwhile, Silberling is singing to himself (an editorial note explains that one of the symptoms of anoxia is feeling drunk).

Adam jumps out of the B-52 and transforms into Captain Atom.  He blasts through space to the X-49, hypothesizing that the oxygen pump failed because of “the fine oil vaporizing when subject to negative pressure in space.”  He comes up on the craft realizing the Major only has seconds to live.  Cap moves some grease around and the pump starts working again.  The X-49 touches down safely.  The Major saw Captain fly by, but Silberling ends up brushing it off as his mind playing tricks on him.  Captain Adam winks at the reader and the story is over.

I thought this story was cute.  I give Joe an A for this.  Ditko’s art seems a little sloppy.  Not great attention to detail and at times Captain Atom looks kind of overweight.  C for art.

“Peace Envoy”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Artist: Rocke Mastroserio

For the first time, Captain Atom was drawn by someone other than Steve Ditko.  And he instantly looks younger.

We join the story after a great deal has happened off-panel.  It is summed up in the opening:  “The attack came without warning… on a morning in Mid-way, the intruders from outer soace came in, their lethal disinto-rays pulverizing every patrol craft we sent up!  Only their strange withdrawal after thirty minutes saved the world from total destruction!”

Captain “Adams” (sigh) is shot down by the aliens.   Strangely, instead of a flight suit, he is wearing his service dress blues.  As he plummets toward the ground, he transforms into Captain Atom, and flies up into space to blast the aliens into jelly.

He goes back to the city and props up a building that is falling over.  Having read all of Cap’s appearances to this point, I know that he has never done something so publically before.  However, as he is propping the building up, someone addresses him as “Captain Atom.”  Then after calming the panicking throngs of people, Cap flies to Washington.

Captain Atom meets with the president (again, looking nothing like Kennedy), who wants to know if they can count on Cap to stop another attack.  The aliens deliver a message to the president, calling for Earth’s surrender (Captain Atom predicted they would).  Cap flies off to meet the aliens, looking super pissed off.

He discovers their mothership, a huge “artificial planet.”  He flies around it to them them know he’s there, and they open up an entrance for him.  When the aliens reveal themselves to him, they say, “Now, see us, Earthling!  Are you not repulsed: sickened by our ugliness?  For we are ugly!” (Hoo, boy.  What heavy-handed dialogue.)

Cap says maybe he’d be considered ugly on their world (but surely not on Earth, mrrowwww! – sorry, I don’t know quite where that came from).  They ask if all humans can fly through space and survive in space.  Cap sort of dodges their questions, not letting on that he is unique.  When he wants to ask them some questions, they hit hi with, “We do not answer questions!  We are stronger, the victors and answerable to no puny Earthlings!”  Wrong answer. Cap goes apeshit and starts wrecking their “artificial moon.”  (That’s no moon.)

The aliens reveal (stupidly) that all the weapons they have took much time to manufacture and are nearly impossible to replace.  So Captain Atom blows their crap up.  The aliens bow down to him and promise to leave peacefully and never return.  For good measure, Cap kicks their little artificial-moon-planet-spaceship out into deep space.  He then says to the reader, “They may return… Keep an eye peeled for their scout ships!  You may spot them first!”

Oh, how awesome this could have been if it were an entire issue and not just seven pages!  Joe Gill spuna good yarn this time (overlooking the obvious mistakes – “Captain Adams” and the public heroics).  Taking that into consideration, I’m awarding ole Joe an A+.  I really really liked this one.  And Rocke Mastroserio’s art is an A.  He forgot Cap’s symbol twice

“An Ageless Weapon”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Artist: Steve Ditko

Captain Adam is tasked with delivering ultra-secret European defense plans to NATO headquarters.  He changes into Captain Atom and flies to Berlin in 30 minutes.  He buzzes a passenger plane on the way, and the pilot says if he reports one more UFO he’ll be thrown to the flight surgeons.  This bugs me because IN THIS VERY ISSUE, Earth was invaded by aliens.  How quickly they forget…

Cap touches down in Berlin, switches back to regular old Captain Adam, and heads for NATO headquarters.  On his way in, he is distracted by a young lady tripping.  When he helps her up, she pulls a gun on him and leads him to a waiting car.  They drive into East Berlin with Cap telling them the whole time they have the wrong guy.  He is led into a building and brought before Vladimir Koss, a man who “had a book-length dossier in every allied intelligence office in the world.”

Cap produces the documents and asks what he gets for cooperating.  Koss says nothing, so Cap shoves him in the face.  A thug hits Adam on the back with a gun, which breaks.  He zaps another dude’s gun after he fires on Captain Adam.   Cap, Vladmir, and the young lady go back to the car where Cap makes them drive back to West Berlin and NATO headquarters.  He turns over the baddies and delivers the intel before flying back to Washington.

An okay story.  It was cool seeing Captain Adam at work rather than Captain Atom.  B for story and A for art.

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