Captain Atom #22 (December 1988)

Tags

Amanda Waller, Bob Smith, Carrie Spiegle, Cary Bates, Dan Raspler, Dennis O'Neill, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Martin Allard, Max Lord, Nightshade, Pat Broderick, Plastique, Shelley Eiber

“Captain Atom Goes to War”

Written by Cary Bates & Greg Weisman ° Pencils by Pat Broderick ° Inks by Bob Smith ° Letterer: Carrie Spiegle ° Colors by Shelley Eiber ° Editors: Denny O’Neil & Dan Raspler

Well, Nate has gone off the rails in some Central American country (we never learned where he actually was last issue). He has taken the law into his own hands in an attempt to stop a civil war and created an embarrassment for his own country. Meanwhile, Wade Eiling pays a visit to Amanda Waller to find out who authorized her to send Nightshade out after Captain Atom. Waller politely shows the General the door.

Down south, Nate is melting choppers left and right but sparing the operators. He’s only after the weapons. It seems a military man like him would realize there’s always more weapons. Burn them all and people will just use their hands, Nate.

En route, Nightshade (Eve) is being briefed by Waller and thinking to herself she would have jumped at this opportunity regardless. Seems Eve is still carrying a torch for Adam. Back in New York, a frustrated Maxwell Lord fields multiple calls about his rogue Justice Leaguer. Nate, meanwhile, continues to melt tanks and piss everybody off.

Back at the base camp, Nate tries to convince his fellow soldiers that maybe what Captain Atom is doing is right but they won’t hear it. How have they not out two and two together? This white haired pinko shows up in X country the same time Captain Atom shows up and starts melting helicopters and they can’t see they are the same guy? While sitting watch for the night, Cap is knocked out and dragged off by Plastique. The next morning his fellow soldiers are none too concerned as they break camp and move on.

When he wakes up, Nate finds Bette has fitted him with a special collar. If he tries to change into Captain Atom, the explosive will take his head off. She’s also unbuttoned his shirt, but that was really just for her.

In an effort to try and convince Plastique they can make a difference, Nate leads her to a pit where he has melted the government’s and the rebel’s stolen arsenals. Bette did not realize he had been disarming both sides. Back home, Eiling and Allard have realized the same thing. Wade says Nate is in for a rude awakening.

Back down south, Nate asks Bette if she’ll give him give days to sort this war out. But whatever will they do for those give days?

Sly old Nate seduced Bette in an attempt to lift the key to the collar off of her. But she’s too quick for him and ends up pinning him down. Just then darkness falls, but it isn’t a natural darkness. Nightshade has arrived. Realizing there is no way to fight her in the dark (Eve’s turf), Plastique unlocks the collar and Captain Atom brings in the light.

The women begin to scrap, but Nate interferes. He says he’s out to stop all conflict in the country, not just the war but also between Eve and Bette. But before anyone can do any real damage, the trip smells something burning and discover a nearby village in flames. Without their weapons, the soldiers have resorted to using torches. As Adam and Eve watch the locals have at each other with whatever they can get their hands on, Bette slips away.

Nate finally realizes there is no way he can stop this war. He gathers up Nightshade and they fly home.

Overall, I liked this little two-parter. This is the kind of stuff Captain Atom was getting into in his Charlton days, so it was only fitting Nightshade was along for the ride. Only, in those days, he would have solved the problem and not accepted defeat. But this ain’t your grandpa’s Captain Atom. A well-crafted story and great art. Broderick and Smith are a dream team. A.

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #6 (August 2017)

Tags

Anna Dittman, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, General Eiling, Genji Sato, Greg Weisman, Ivan Nunes, Jim Chadwick, Kristy Quinn, Post-Rebirth Captain Atom, Saida Temofonte, Ultramax, Will Conrad

“Mission Creep”

• Writers: Cary Bates, Greg Weisman
• Pencils & Inks: Will Conrad
• Colors: Ivan Nunes
• Letters: Saida Temofonte
• Editors: Jim Chadwick, Kristy Quinn
• Cover Artist: Anna Dittmann

Time to rip off the band-aid and dive into the last issue of this mini-series. At first I put off covering this one because I wanted to see where Captain Atom went next (nowhere as it turned out). Then I just kind of forgot about it. For about four years. If you want to hear my initial thoughts on the issue, listen to this episode of my podcast. For the purposes of this blog, I will not relisten to the episode and do this fresh. Is that cool with all my reader?

This story opens with Mr. Thrane approaching an abandoned car in a desolate valley in 2008. There he finds a dossier and a video message from Eiling. Thrane’s target is Flip Kovic, a terrorist-for-hire that the US government hasn’t had any luck taking down. Eiling reports Kovic is somewhere in the United States before doing a quick and awkward Liam Neeson impression.

Eiling gives Thrane the number of a third party who is brokering a deal with Kovic and informs him half his fee has been transferred to his Cayman Island account. As Thrane strolls away from the vehicle it explodes.

In present day (2017), Captain Atom is at Eiling’s house warning him that Thrane now has a kill list and Eiling is on it. When they were fighting in the quantum field, Atom and Thrane merged minds and Nate saw Eiling hiring the killer in 2008. He tells the General to cut the crap and be straight. Eiling finally comes clean and says he hired Max Thrane to take out Kovic, which he did by feeding the man to alligators in the Everglades. He says he is the one who flipped on Thrane. Atom pulls a Batman and leaves the General in mid-sentence while his back is turned.

The next morning, Nate is at his wife’s grave. He tells her he has met his son Genji and understands why he hates his deadbeat disappearing dad. We then cut to a news report where the broadcaster states that if he really wants the public to accept him, Captain Atom needs to bring in Ultramax.

Ultramax has sent Captain Atom and General Eiling an ultimatum. Present themselves to him or he kills Genji, whom he has kidnapped. Turns out Max learned some secrets himself when he and Nate merged minds. He wants Nate and Eiling alone at dawn in the same valley from 2008. If anyone else shows up, Max will kill Genji.

Megala and Eiling think they might have a chance against Ultramax with the special ammo they’ve developed, lead-lined explosive uranium bullets. Apparently they were created to take down Nate in his previously unstable form.

The next morning, Cap and Eiling arrive at the meeting point. Max releases Genji as Atom releases Eiling. As they pass each other, Eiling whispers to the kid to watch for his signal. He whips out his gun and tires as Captain Atom swoops in and flies his son to safety. Of course the special ammo doesn’t work. It just pisses Max off.

Captain Atom flies in and deflects Ultramax’s attack. Max says after he killed the General he was going to come after Atom and Genji anyway. Nate unleashes quantum hell on Max while protecting Eiling from Max’s attack.

Eiking tells Nate to leave him and save his son. Nate wasn’t born yesterday though. He has figured out what Project Resurgence is and why the military was keeping close tabs on Genji and keeping Nate away from his son.

Reflecting Ultramax’s power back at him knocks the psycho out. Genji comes out of hiding and joins Eiling and Nate. Genji shakes Captain Atom’s hand before Nate gathers up Max and flies him to seek medical attention.

Very early the next morning, Megala meets with Eiling back at the base. According to their surveillance, Genji actually absorbed a bit of Max’s power, which should have killed him. It looks like Genji just might actually be a Captain Atom Junior.

• 

Back at his wife’s grave, Nate gets a final message from his whistle blower. It is, of course, Dr. Megala. He doesn’t tip Nate off about Genji’s possible powers though. The issue and mini-series ends with the Justice League in the Watchtower viewing a news report stating that the public now has trust in Captain Atom.

• 

As of this writing, it has been about four years since this book was published. The next time we saw a Captain Atom, he was back in his old silver skin with boots and gloves. His old ’80s look. He did not join the Justice League, and we never learned what became of his son. If we ever get another series written by this team, I’m sure all these questions will be answered.

I absolutely love this book. I think the writing was excellent, and it was some of the best art in a Captain Atom series I have ever seen. No offense intended to the legendary Pat Broderick. I give this book and the series a solid A.

Edit: After I wrote this, I listened to the episode of my podcast where I discussed this issue. Apparently at the time I was not impressed at all with this one. I have no idea why my opinion changed over the course of the last four years.

Captain Atom #21 (November 1988)

Tags

Amanda Waller, Carrie Spiegle, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Pat Broderick, Plastique, Shelley Eiber, Steve Mitchell

Written by Cary Bates & Greg Weisman ° Pencils by Pat Broderick ° Inks by Steve Mitchell ° Colors by Shelley Eiber ° Letterer: Carrie Spiegle ° Editors: Denny O’Neil & Dan Raspler

“The Captain’s Word is Law!”

On the opening splash page, someone is using their super powers to cut out ads seeking mercenaries from Soldier For Hire. Mostly likely our sad sack Nate Adam who only has one skill – killing for the government. And since he quit that gig, business has been bad. There is a nice shout-out to Sergeant Rock on his table, though. Who knew Captain Atom liked comics?

We cut to Nate and Sally leaving a Grateful Dead concert. Nate is schooling her on the hip new lingo the kids are using these days. Who knew Nate was a Deadhead? No surprise that his new sugar mama is, though. Sally is stressed that Nate is taking a mysterious sudden vacation, not telling him where he’s going, and leaving her to run the store herself. Nate, or “Cameron” as she knows him, won’t say a thing about the trip.

Later, Nate meets up with a shady character on a boat calling himself the “ancient mariner.” He presents his team with a slide show of a third-world country in peril. The rebels have tanks and heavy firepower. One of the satellite images reveal a young soldier in peril to be the son of the Mariner. The mission is to find the son, Billy, dead or alive.

The three men he’s hired for this job are Witman Halsy, Dwight Crane, and of course Cameron Scott. They have all been researched by the Mariner and are considered experts. No one is aware that Scott is a super-hero.

Later, suited up and flying over an unnamed Communist country, they are informed that they are just above the spot where the boy was last seen. His name is now Dwayne and not Billy. The three men parachute into the jungle. By dawn, they are on patrol and Nate already doesn’t like Halsy (now spelled Halsey). They find the kid’s jeep, which looks like it was flipped by a landmine. Nate thinks it is eerily familiar…

They gather the body and go back to camp. While waiting the four days for their pickup, they get to know the rebels. They help to train them. They get word of an enemy tank in the area and decide to go on the offensive. Halsey is in command. They take the tank and one prisoner.

Halsey proceeds to torture the prisoner for information. This does not sit well with Nate. He washes off his face but he cannot wash off his guilt. He tries to console himself by thinking that both sides resort to torture to get what they want. And Halsey is successful, but the prisoner is killed in the process.

With Halsey in command, they attack the enemy base at an old abandoned gas station. They end up pinned down behind a truck. They fight back, and Nate is hit by a stray bullet. His wound is pronounced as just a graze, but he is out cold when the gas station goes up and a lone rebel walks out.

When Nate comes to, he discovers that he has been captured by Russian speaking militants who appear to be in cahoots with none other than his old “friend” Plastique.

Nate is disgusted that she is still selling her powers to the highest bidder, but recognizes that he is doing the same thing. However, he assures her that he is Cameron Scott on this mission and not Captain Atom. Bette ain’t buying it. They have a heart-to-heart. in spite of the fact that he is a hero and she is a villain, the last time they met she saved Captain Atom’s life. So there is a small amount of trust between them. Also she knows who he really is.

The two of them activate their power and begin to scrap Nate says he will do whatever he’s in his power to help these people, and Bette says she has a job to do and she wants to get paid. Nate has had it with both sides and decides it is time for him to take charge.

One thing Nate does not know is that there are witnesses to this altercation. a helicopter crew is filming the whole thing. He takes out Plastique, but when he goes after the military equipment it is witnessed by General Eiling. Megala is worried about what this will do to his super secret government project and insists that the military sends someone down to subdue Captain Atom. The General asks who he had in mind. Cut to Amanda Waller (of the Suicide Squad), demanding that Nightshade be sent after Cap.

This was a fine issue. It’s setting up quite the throwdown between Nate’s former girlfriend and his jungle hookup. I like to see where this is going. The artwork is capable, not Pat at his finest but certainly not Pat at his worst. Also I like to see Nate doing military stuff sometimes and not always super-heroing. I give the issue an A.

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #2 (April 2017)

Tags

Cary Bates, Greg Weisman, Ivan Nunes, Jim Chadwick, Kristy Quinn, Post-Rebirth Captain Atom, Saida Temofonte, Will Conrad

“Past Imperfect”

• Writer: Cary Bates
• Co-Plotter: Greg Weisman
• Pencils & Inks: Will Conrad
• Colors: Ivan Nunes
• Letters: Saida Temofonte
• Editor: Kristy Quinn
• Group Editor: Jim Chadwick

Roy “Charlemagne” Cleary and FKAjason return to review “A Future Lost” from Booster Gold (vol 1) #14 by Dan Jurgens, Mike DeCarlo, John Costanza, Gene D’Angelo, and Barbara Randall. Booster’s in the future and on the run from the cops.

Then we review “Past Imperfect” from The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom (vol 1) #2 by Cary Bates, Greg Weisman, Will Conrad, Ivan Nunes, Saida Temofonte, Kristy Quinn, and Jim Chadwick. Lost in time, Captain Atom tries to make a new life for himself with disastrous results.

Guest Stars: Rip Hunter, Dr. Soo, Broderick, Goldstar

Gold Watch: The month Booster Gold #14 was published, Booster also appeared in The New Teen Titans #29.

Remember to use the hashtag #SNGPOD when commenting on social media!

Follow us on Twitter! (@SNGPOD4779)

Music
Heart of Gold – The Roy Clark Method
Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bangles
Bad and Boujee ft Lil Uzi Vert – Migos
This Time Imperfect – AFI

Click here to play episode 25!

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #1 (March 2017)

Tags

Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Cyborg, Dr. Megala, Gabriel Hardman, General Eiling, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Greg Weisman, Ivan Nunes, Jason Badower, Jim Chadwick, Jordan Boyd, Kristy Quinn, New 52 Captain Atom, Saida Temofonte, Superman, Will Conrad

“Blowback”

• Writer: Cary Bates
• Co-Plotter: Greg Weisman
• Pencils/Inks: Will Conrad
• Colors: Ivan Nunes
• Letters: Saida Temofonte
• Cover Artist: Jason Badower
• Variant Cover Artists: Gabriel Hardman & Jordan Boyd
• Editor: Kristy Quinn
• Group Editor: Jim Chadwick

This issue opens at the Continuum, beneath Kansas City, on December 19, 2012 at 8:38 central time. The New 52 Captain Atom is seated on a chair inside a dome, demanding that Dr. Megala tell him how many people he killed today. Megala, speaking via intercom from a control room, tells Nathaniel that they don’t yet know how many casualties there were. The destructive power of Atom’s quantum flare-ups exceeded Megala’s projections. Even the intervention of the Justice League couldn’t control the damage. General Eiling, standing in the control room with Megala, says that he can spin the story so the Justice League takes part of the blame.

Captain Atom is being held in what Eiling refers to as a subterranean suppression dome, which Megala says should be equipped to handle whatever comes next. Nate worries what will happen to the world around him when he can no longer control the power him. Eiling tells Cap to stow the stinkin-thinkin and pull himself together. Atom doesn’t pay Eiling any mind as he goes on to say that he knows he cannot hold on to his last shreds of humanity. He says his good-byes to Megala, saying he’ll miss the doctor. But Eiling? Not so much.

Captain Atom begins to surge with energy. He tells Megala he’ll see him on the other side, and he explodes with energy.

Wow. Right out of the gate some powerful stuff. Something has obviously gone down and Nathaniel Adam has lost all hope. He has basically committed suicide in front of Megala and Eiling. And although this is clearly the New 52 Captain Atom, these aren’t the New 52 Megala and Eiling. Megala is in a wheelchair, but his body isn’t bent and he doesn’t have the Popeye look. It is unclear if this is supposed to be the Megala who went crazy and took over Firestorm’s body but he doesn’t look like him. Nor does he look like the post-Crisis Megala either. That Megala could not use his arms or legs and his chair served as a life-support system, kind of like Davros from Doctor Who.

This could possibly be the New 52 Eiling, though. He is an African-American again, but seems much younger. And slightly less douchey. The post-Crisis Eiling raised Nate’s kids as his own, but it seems as if this Cap has no kids. If he did, he probably wouldn’t have killed himself.

Twenty three minutes prior to Nate’s meltdown, Captain Atom is flying over the Pacific Ocean, heading back to the Continuum. He is speaking to Megala via an internal nano-com array that has been injected into Nate’s body. Megala tells him he’s detected a minor glitch in the last nano-diagnostic. The rate at which Cap’s atoms are splitting and reforming has elevated slightly. Megala tells him to hurry back so they can assess this new development, but Atom refuses. He’s spotted a cruise ship that’s about to be capsized by a mega wave. Megala sends for Eiling as Cap attempts to change the water around the ship into a jello-like mass. However, Captain Atom’s powers appear to be fizzling out. Cap compensates by pouring on more power.

His efforts pay off and as soon as the gelatinous mass steadies the ship Atom flies away quickly. As Eiling bitches about Nate’s inability to follow orders, there is a spike in Cap’s “quantum fever.” There is a flare-up, similar to the one he killed himself with a few pages back, and Eiling tells Nate to get back to the Continuum as quickly as possible. He wants Captain Atom contained in the suppression dome. Nate tries to make it back, but the increasing flare-ups slow him down.

Just then, three Justice Leaguers show up on the scene, drawn to Cap’s flare-ups that they detected from their Watchtower. Cap explains to Superman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and Cyborg that he urgently needs to get to Kansas, but the Leaguers won’t let him fly over populated areas. Megala taps into Cyborg’s tech and transmits a hologram of himself explaining the situation.

Captain Atom tells Superman he can get him to the Continuum quickly and Green Lantern and Cyborg say they can help contain Cap in the meantime. Just as Nate begins to flare up again, Superman grabs him and heads for Kansas. Green Lantern encloses Atom in a protective bubble while Cyborg just says encouraging things like, “Your ring’s kicking quantum ass!”

Just as they are over Kansas, Hal apologizes as he loses control of his construct. Captain Atom flares again, and the Leaguers do what they can to protect the innocent lives down below. However, as we see the scale of the destruction, it seems unlikely that many lives were saved.

Captain Atom staggers into the dome, crawls to the chair, and demands that Megala tell him how many people he killed. This is where we came in.

Nate appears to be dead. His chair was melted and there is no sign of him. Megala says that even though he isn’t a religious man, he hopes Nathaniel Adam will find peace in the afterlife. Eiling can’t get past the loss of a military asset long enough to consider the passing of the human inside. But, as we see up on the surface in the ruins of Kansas City, our hero may not be dead after all.

A naked man lies in the rubble with no blue skin. A newspaper nearby indicates the current year is 1994. To be continued…

This was awesome. Will Conrad’s art is beautiful. Of course I’m going to love Bates and Weisman, and I’m super excited about what comes next. If it goes the way I think it is going to go, I’m going to be a very happy Nathaniel Adam fan. This is the best Captain Atom I’ve seen in recent memory. A for story and A for art. I’m hoping this is the beginning of something big and long-lasting for Captain Atom.

Captain Atom #20 (October 1988)

Tags

Blue Beetle, Bob Smith, Booster Gold, Bronze Age Captain Atom, Captain Atom, Carrie Spiegle, Cary Bates, Dennis O'Neill, Dick Giordano, Dr. Spectro, Frank McLaughlin, Henry Yarrow, Mister Miracle, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pablo Marcos, Pat Broderick, Shelly Eiber, Starshine Stone

 

“The Silver Lie”

• Writers: Cary Bates & Greg Weisman
• Pencils: Pablo Marcos
• Inks: Frank McLaughlin
• Colors: Shelley Eiber
• Letters: Carrie Spiegle
• Cover Artists: Pat Broderick & Bob Smith
• Editor: Dennis O’Neil
• Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

When is Nate going to learn to stop relying on “the lie” to get what he wants? It blows up in his face every time! Maybe not right away, but eventually the truth comes out for sad sack Nathaniel Adam. And the lie he spins in this issue marks a turning point in his history. Things are set into motion and his future with the Justice League is at risk.

The last time we saw Captain Atom in action was in Justice League International #17. This issue opens in the JLI’s New York Embassy, and right away things look… odd. Not bad at all. Just different. That’s because (for the first time) this issue was not penciled by Pat Broderick. Pablo Marcos did a lot of pencils and inks for both DC and Marvel throughout the 1970s to the 2000s.  He did ink Blue Beetle #13 a year prior to this comic’s publication.

Mister Miracle and Booster Gold enter the monitor room just as Cap and Blue Beetle are taking off on a mission. They are puzzled by BB and Cap’s new bromance.

The mystery is solved when the pair come across a file entitled “Captain Atom Blue Beetle, The Covert Casebook.” I know, I know.  Comics.

According to the casebook, when Cap was operating in secret (which never happened), he occasionally teamed up with the previous Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. According to the fake history, Dan tried to convince Captain Atom to go public with his super-heroing years before he actually did.

Nate flashes back to the beginning of this latest piece of The Lie. It began one day when he was stocking shelves at Mellow Yellows and Henry Yarrow came in. Yarrow was Nate’s defense attorney in 1968 when he was first put on trial. He’s been trying to find evidence to clear Nate’s name. He’s also gotten a face-lift, as he is on the run from some crime organization that wants him dead. Nate closes up the shop and takes a ride with Yarrow, knowing that doing so will anger Starshine.

Yarrow reveals that Lester Bryant, chairman of Zyco Industries, has been buying up small R and D companies. In the 60s, Bryant was one of the Generals who sat in on Nate’s court martial. According to a “deathbed confession” by a “bitter employee,” there is a codebook in a safe in Bryant’s office that incriminates him as a member of a Vietnam, drug ring. Zyco security are on to Yarrow, thinking he is a corporate spy. He can’t break into the office safe, so he gives Nate all the info he has and lets Nate decide how to proceed.

Nate decides the best way to proceed is to lie to one of his Justice League team-mates and use him to gain access to Zyco Industries.  He meets Blue Beetle in a secluded area where Beetle demands to know how Nate found out he was Ted Kord (Kord Industries was one of the companies purchased by Zyco). Beetle, who claims he and Atom never saw eye-to-eye since Cap joined the league, asks Nate why he thinks he’d help him. Nate hands him the secret casebook.

Blue Beetle reads about a time when Dr. Spectro attacked the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. The Bronze Age Captain Atom came to Dan’s rescue. This story is told in flashback form throughout the book. It is enough to convince Ted, who agrees to visit Zyco.

Ted calls on Lester Bryant, who is rather portly. He visits Zyco under the pretense that he is seeking a job with the company. Bryant is all too happy to oblige, and sends Ted off with the lovely Miss Devon to take a tour of the company. As Ted flirts with Devon, mini cameras in his cufflinks are snapping pics, which Beetle and Cap pull up on the JLI computer later on.

Captain Atom spots the safe behind Bryant’s desk. He opts to listen in on Bryant’s bugged phone while Blue Beetle goes on a date with Miss Devon. Cap feels like crap for lying to Ted – not only about the “secret casebook,” but also that the airman who’s name they are trying to clear is actually Nathaniel Adam.

Back at Zyco, Bryant places a call. He tells the person on the other end that he was aware of Ted’s wrist cameras, but clearly isn’t aware of the bugged phone. The individual on the other end shares Bryant’s concern about Ted Kord and Miss Devon going on a date, and orders Bryant to have them both killed.

Out on the town, Ted pushes Devon out of the path of a speeding taxi. Before the offending cab can speed away, Captain Atom shows up and grabs the driver. Miss Devon confesses to Ted she knows a lot more than she’s let on, and tearfully offers to tell him everything.

Later, after he’s dropped Miss Devon off with the police, Blue Beetle meets up with Captain Atom at the JLI Embassy to compare notes. After dropping the would-be assassin off at a nearby police station, Cap went over the surveillance footage and discovered that Zyco’s “research submersibles” are being equipped with military-grade weapons. Miss Devon revealed to Ted that two of these prototypes were sold to major drug rings operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

In flashback land, Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett) is strung upside down in Dr. Spectro’s lair. Spectro is torturing the Beetle, hoping to learn his and Captain Atom’s secrets. But before Dan can talk, Captain Atom bursts in to the rescue.

Back in the “real world,” Cap and Beetle come upon the bad guys testing out their new submersibles on an unsuspecting cruise ship. Beetle swings down to take on the baddies while Cap provides air support. Ted’s plan is to confiscate the subs for his repo business. He shatters one of the canopies but isn’t overly concerned as that is an easy fix. He seems mostly concerned with impressing his business partner Booster Gold. Cap accidentally sinks one on the subs and apologizes to Beetle as he rescues the pilot. The second sub is also destroyed by its’ pilot.

Cap thinks Ted will be angry and this actually relieves him. He feels bad for lying to Beetle. However, back on board the JLI shuttle (with the baddies stowed away), Ted tells him he isn’t sore. After all, they have a tradition to uphold. The non-existent tradition of a Blue Beetle/Captain Atom team.

Back at the JLI embassy, Ted and Nate listen in on Lester’s office. He’s on the phone with a very upset third party. They hear and eplosion and take off for Zyco to investigate (this is where we entered this story). They arrive only to find Lester has been killed.

The fake flashback story wraps up with old Cap and old Beetle leaving Spectro’s lair and promising to always have each others’ backs. The issue closes with current Cap and current Beetle (after discovering the safe they were looking for was destroyed along with its contents) making the same promise to each other. Cap flies away feeling like a total a-hole for using Ted that way. Which he is. Honestly, did he really think Ted wouldn’t help him without the lie? I mean, they’re Justice League team-mates. Those guys always look out for each other, don’t they?

So I give Pablo and Frank and A for art. This was beautiful. I love their take on the Bronze Age Captain Atom and the Golden Age Blue Beetle. And I can’t complain about not having seen Pat Broderick’s take on Beetle, because he drew the cover. Cary and Greg get an A for story, too. I’ve always really liked this issue. It was super fun seeing Captain Atom and Blue Beetle teaming up and I will never not love these two Ditko creations.

Silver and Gold Episode 14: The Man of Gold vs the Man of Steel!

Tags

Alan Gold, Augustin Mas, Bob Smith, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Dan Jurgens, Dennis O'Neill, Dirk Davis, Duncan Andrews, Gene D'Angelo, General Eiling, Martin Allard, Mike DeCarlo, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick, Plastique, Superman, The Cambodian, The Mongolian, Trixie Collins

Superman teaches Booster Gold a harsh lesson with his fists in Booster Gold (vol 1) #7 by Dan Jurgens, Mike DeCarlo, Gene D’Angelo, Augustin Mas, and Alan Gold. Captain Atom gets sucker-stabbed by the Cambodian while he’s chatting up Plastique in Captain Atom (DC, vol 1) #7 by Cary Bates, Pat Broderick, Bob Smith, Carl Gafford, Duncan Andrews, and Dennis O’Neil. And Roy and Jay are there to talk about it!

Music
Heart of Gold – The Roy Clark Method
Battle Without Honor or Humanity – Tomoyasu Hotei

Direct Link.

Also available on iTunes and Stitcher.

Check out our tumblr for images from these issues.

Silver and Gold Episode 12: At Last! The Origin of Booster Gold

Tags

Alan Gold, Augustin Mas, Bob Smith, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Dan Jurgens, Dennis O'Neill, Doctor Spectro, Duncan Andrews, Mike DeCarlo, Modern Age Captain Atom, Nansi Hoolahan, Pat Broderick, Skeets, Superman

Like Julius Caesar in 49 BC, FKAjason and Roy “Charlemagne” Cleary cross the Rubicon with Booster Gold, Skeets, Superman, and their new pal Z. Finally, the origin of Booster Gold is revealed by Dan Jurgens, Mike DeCarlo, Nansi Hoolahan, Augustin Mas, and Alan Gold. We then turn our sights on the new Doctor Spectro trying to get a piece of Captain Atom’s lie with Cary Bates, Pat Broderick, Bob Smith, Carl Gafford, Duncan Andrews, and Dennis O’Neil. All of this and more are found in today’s reviews of Booster Gold (vol 1) #6, and Captain Atom (DC, vol 1) #6. Plus, your listener feedback!

Music
Heart of Gold – The Roy Clark Method
Channel Z – The B-52’s
Kiss – Prince
With or Without You – U2

Direct Link.

Also available on iTunes and Stitcher.

Check out our Tumblr for images from this issue.

 

Silver and Gold Episode 10: Face Off

Tags

Augustin Mas, Bob Le Rose, Bob Smith, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Dan Jurgens, Dennis O'Neill, Doctor Spectro, Dr. Spectro, Firestorm, Janice Race, Mike DeCarlo, Mister Twister, Modern Age Captain Atom, Nansi Hoolahan, Pat Broderick, The Irredeemable Shag

In this episode of Silver and Gold Podcast, Captain Atom faces off with Firestorm, the Nuclear Man! Dr. Spectro faces off with a journalist! Booster Gold faces off with a killer zamboni and the Metropolis hockey team! So many face offs we had to call in the Irredeemable Shag to help us out. We review the Booster Gold (vol 1) #5 story “Face Off” (by the creative team of Dan Jurgens, Mike DeCarlo, Nansi Hoolahan, Augustin Mas, and Janice Race) and the Captain Atom (DC, vol 1) #5 story “The Return of Dr. Spectro” (by the creative team of Cary Bates, Pat Broderick, Bob Smith, Bob Le Rose, Augustin Mas, and Dennis O’Neill).

Music
Heart of Gold – The Roy Clark Method
Purple Rain – Prince
Kiss – Prince
Batdance – Prince
Face Off – Bow Wow & Omarion

Direct Link.

Also available on iTunes and Stitcher.

Check out our Tumblr blog for images from this issue.

Secret Origins #34 (December 1988)

Tags

Alan Weiss, Babylon, Buddy Larson, Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, General Datko, General Eiling, Green Lantern (G'Nort), Greg Theakston, Greg Weisman, Harry Denison, Helen Vesik, Jerry Ordway, Joe Rubinstein, Matilda Denison, Modern Age Captain Atom, Rocket Red #4, Silver Age Captain Atom, Stove Datko, Theresa Delgado, Ty Templeton, Uri Voskof

“Yesterdays Once More”

Writers: Cary Bates & Greg Weisman
Pencils: Alan Weiss
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
Cover Artists: Jerry Ordway & Ty Templeton
Colors: Greg Theakston
Letters: Helen Vesik
Editor: Mark Waid
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

Secret Origins was an ongoing comic book series published by DC Comics from 1986 to 1990. It spanned a total of fifty individual issues as well as three annuals and one special. Unlike Secret Origins (Volume 1), this series did not rely on reprinted material, but provided new and sometimes updated origin stories based on the framework provided by their original authors. The initial format of the series focused on the history of a single character, alternating issues between Golden Age characters and Modern Age characters. Beginning with issue #6, the title changed to a double-sized format and featured at least two character stories per issue, one Golden Age tale, and one modern tale. Occasionally, the series would alter its format to accommodate multi-title tie-in stories including the Legends crossover event and the Millennium crossover event. With the exception of issues #32-35, each issue of Secret Origins was a self-contained comic with no lead-ins to previous or later issues. Secret Origins #32-35 was a multi-issue event chronicling the entire career of the Justice League of America and its various members. This issue featured the Modern Age Captain Atom, Rocket Red #4, and Green Lantern Gnort.

The cover art of this issue was fine. I found it nothing special. Jerry Ordway and Ty Templeton did a good job and I have nothing to complain about. It isn’t spectacular but it is by no means bad. I like the red eyes and the yellow energy aura surrounding Cap. I thought they were a nice touch. As far as action shots go, it isn’t astounding. Just three super-heroes flying out of a building.

The big payoff is inside!

The opening splash page of the Silver Age Captain Atom is beautiful. Alan Weiss really seems to have captured Steve Ditko’s essence. Cap even has the little stars following him! Unfortunately, there are places later in the story where the art was less than stellar.

I have one complaint about this page. Why is Pat Masulli given creator credit for Captain Atom? I’ve never seen him credited before. He was Executive Editor of Charlton Comics when Captain Atom first appeared in Space Adventures #33, so I suppose a case could be made. I’ve just never seen him credited as a creator. Oh, well. On with the story.

A group of people have gathered in a Las Vegas hotel conference room to discuss Captain Atom. They are calling themselves “Friends of the Captain,” and appear to be a support group for people who have interacted with Captain Atom in some way. They’re a fan club of super-hero groupies. They’re discussing their thoughts on Captain Atom’s “classic” costume when the youngest among them, Theresa Delgado, calls the “meeting” to order. Theresa, regular Captain Atom readers will know, is part of the Air Force’s “Captain Atom Project” PR team.

Theresa asks General Datko, an aging soldier, to share his story. His name being “Datko” was not lost on me, and I had to wonder if his first name was “Stove.” Datko holds up a screwdriver and says his Captain Atom story is probably the oldest one, as it is the origin story. He tells the story (sort of ripped from the pages of Space Adventures #33) of the young Air Force man trapped in an Atlas rocket after dropping a screwdriver inside minutes before the launch.

The fact that the airman got stuck in the rocket seconds before launch always seemed a bit hokey to me, but in this telling of the origin, it seems a bit more believable. The screwdriver bounces further into the rocket and he scrambles in deeper to recover it, becoming horribly stuck. He thought the ground crew knew he was still inside and wouldn’t launch. But, as in the original Gill/Ditko story, the ground crew realizes he’s still inside when it is too late and the rocket launches. Of course, the rocket detonates in the upper atmosphere and the airman is vaporized.

“Even though my head is smaller than my hand, I still love Captain Atom!”

Later, while glumly sitting in the dark, Stove Datko is contacted by the airman, who was able to survive the blast and return to Earth. “Maybe it was something in the mix of the atomic radiation and the cosmic rays… or maybe it was some unknown ‘X-factor’ that will never be found for sure. I didn’t know or care about the explanation,” finishes Datko. “All I knew was my friend was alive and back on the base that very night.”

Miss Delgado then introduces Buddy Larson, a folksy country boy. He says he owes his life to Captain Atom, and begins to share his story.

As a boy, Buddy was very sick. Doctors didn’t know exactly what he had, but knew he’d be dead within a week. Buddy mentions that his father was a n Air Force mechanic, and that is presumably how Captain Atom found out about his sickness. Cap shows up in Buddy’s hospital room, takes the boy by the hand, and abducts him.

The two fly off into space. Luckily, Buddy has a child-sized astronaut suit to wear as he rides Captain Atom’s back into outer space. They land on an asteroid and begin to play tag. What the kid didn’t know, but Captain Atom did, was that the asteroid’s radiation had healing properties that completely cured the boy.

This story was lifted from Space Adventures #40, and was titled “The Boy and the Stars.”

Theresa Delgado next gives the floor to Matilda and Harry Denison. Matilda tells a tale of she and her then-new husband Harry being lost at sea on the other side of the world in a life raft after their boat capsized. They drifted into a Naval atomic testing area and were in danger of being vaporized by a hydrogen bomb when Captain Atom appeared out of nowhere. They watched him come in as the bomb detonated. He scooped up their raft and flew them to the safety of a nearby resort island. He swore the Denisons to secrecy, promising that they would be able to tell their story one day.

The last speaker introduced is a Russian cosmonaut named Uri Voskoff. Twenty-five years earlier, the guidance system on his orbiting spacecraft failed and he began to spiral towards the planet’s surface. Out of his window, he sees Captain Atom grab hold of the craft and guide it safely to the spot where it was intended to splash down.

Uri says that Captain Atom revealed himself to the Soviets only because he knew they’d never admit their cosmonaut was rescued by an American super-hero. This part of the story is a paraphrased version of “The Second Man in Space,” which appeared in Space Adventures #34.

Miss Delgado excuses herself and goes into an adjoining room, where General Eiling and Dr. Megala were watching the meeting through a two-way mirror. The two are not happy with the performance they just witnessed. Of course, the story of Captain Atom gaining his powers in a NASA mishap and being a super-hero in secret for years was a lie. All of the speakers at the Friends of Captain Atom meeting are paid actors. And the General and Megala found inconsistencies in their stories.

Eiling suggests changing Buddy’s story from being flown to the asteroid belt to being flown to the Arctic, where he was exposed to healing radiation. He suggests changing the Denison’s story and having Cap approach from a different direction, as they would have been blinded if they watched him come from the direction of the blast. Eiling also suggests they change Uri’s story so that Captain Atom releases the capsule’s parachute and can remain unseen by everyone except Uri. Lastly, he orders “Datko” to lose the screwdriver prop.

“But, General! It distracts people from my disproportionately small head!”

Dr. Megala finds the whole charade distasteful, prompting General Eiling to very breifly sum up Captain Atom’s “real” origin story (from Captain Atom #1).

Nathaniel Adam, an Air Force Captain, was a condemned traitor who volunteered to be the test subject in a government experiment. Megala and Eiling detonated an atom bomb under him to see if an alien metal would protect him. The metal not only protected Nate, but bonded with him and transported him 18 years into the future and endowed him with amazing powers.

Megala leaves in a huff. Miss Delgado hands the actors their new scripts and they run through their parts again.

Now, knowing what I know about Wade Eiling, after all these actors get their parts right and have them recorded for posterity, they are all going to be killed. With the possible exception of Theresa Delgado, these peoples’ days are numbered. Eiling does not like loose ends.

I give this story an A. Bates and Weismann were writing the regular Captain Atom series at the time, so this fits right in within the continuity. And I definitely liked all the nods to Steve Ditko’s original stories. And it was great to see Cap back in his yellow suit.  The art, however, was not the best. After a really promising start, things went a bit “Liefeld.” Alan Weiss did some work for DC Comics and Marvel in the 70s-80s, but not a long run on any one book. Joe Rubinstein, who inked this issue, said of Alan Weiss, he was “the most difficult guy in the business to ink, without exception.” He went on to say he really liked inking Weiss’ pencils. I guess you had to be there. It isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen and perhaps Weiss was under some pressure to meet a deadline. I give the art a D, making this adventure of Captain Atom a C.

Captain Atom next appears in Justice League International #20.

I discussed this issue of Secret Origins on Ryan Daly’s Secret Origins Podcast on 4/18/2016. Although I was a bit hard on Alan Weiss, Ryan did open my eyes to how good Weiss could be with inanimate objects. Check out this image below as an example:

The tubes and wires and whatnot of the rocket really do look great and adds to the whole claustrophobic nature of the scene.

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