Captain Atom #11 (January 1988)

Tags

Bob Smith, Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Duncan Andrews, Firestorm, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Harry Hadley, Jerry Bingham, Modern Age Captain Atom, Nansi Hoolahan, Pat Broderick, Silver Age Captain Atom

“A Matter of Choice”

• Writers:  Cary Bates & Greg Weisman
• Pencils:  Pat Broderick
• Inks:  Bob Smith
• Colors:  Nansi Hoolahan
• Letters:  Duncan Andrews
• Cover Artist:  Jerry Bingham

This issue came out October 6, 1987 and was a tie-in with the Millennium crossover event.  Since Cap was seen (briefly) in Justice League International #9, he appeared in Secret Origins #22, Blue Beetle #20, Millennium #3 & 4, Teen Titans Spotlight #18, and Action Comics #596.  Suicide Squad #9 leads into this issue and it is followed by Firestorm #68, both of which also feature Captain Atom.

Four of the books tied in with week four of Millennium had covers that combined (not perfectly) to form one complete picture.  They were Captain Atom #11, Spectre #10, Detective Comics #582, and Suicide Squad #9.

At this point in the Millennium story, Firestorm is working with the Manhunters, having been convinced they are his creators.  Captain Atom has been sent by General Eiling to butt heads with Firestorm in the swamps of Belle Reve, Louisiana.  He’s unhappy that Eiling has given him this assignment and he’s super unhappy that he has to deal with that “most immature hotheaded superhero on Earth” again.  But Cap is unaware of the changes Firestorm has recently undergone.

In the apex of a nuclear explosion were Ronnie Raymond, Martin Stein (the two people who make up Firestorm) and Mikhail Arkadin (a Soviet super-hero with nuclear powers of his own that went by the code-name “Pozhar”).  The result was that a new Firestorm emerged with a body created by Martin Stein but a consciousness that held both Arkadin and Raymond (neither of which had control over Firestorm at this point).  This change began in Firestorm: The Nuclear Man Annual #5 (which hit the shelves in July 1987, three months prior to Captain Atom #11).  Firestorm is still trying to figure himself out (FIRESTORM FAN calls him the “blank slate Firestorm.”  Captain Atom also refers to Firestorm’s “blank slate” in this very issue).

The first part of this book is narrated by Firestorm.  And when he first shows up on page 2, the artwork is just fantastic.  Pat Broderick actually drew Firestorm regularly from June 1982 to November 1983.  I don’t know if he had any great love for the character, but I certainly like his take on this version of the Nuclear Man.

Firestorm has thrown up a wall of flame to stop Captain Atom.  He is protecting a Manhunter stronghold.  Of course, Cap blasts right through this wall.  He flies toward Firestorm, who calmly asks Cap to “please disengage.”  Captain Atom keeps coming, and knocks Firestorm into the trees.  I think this proves who the hot-head really is.

Firestorm tells Cap that he has given his last warning.  He means to stop Cap from waging war on his creators.  Firestorm referring to the Manhunters as such leaves Cap somewhat taken off guard.  Firestorm whips up a pink “molecular storm” within a metal sphere to hold Cap.  Atom begins to suspect the nuclear man might be brain-damaged.  When he tried to blast his way out of the sphere, Cap finds his powers useless.  And Firestorm has locked himself in with Captain Atom.  He can regenerate the sphere’s shell as quickly as Cap can disintegrate it.  Checking his watch, Nate realizes he only has 55 minutes until the explosive (brought into the swamp by the Suicide Squad) detonates.  He decides to relax and have a chat with Firestorm.

Realizing that this new Firestorm has a very simplistic world view, Captain Atom attempts to explain why the Manhunters are a threat via a story.  He tells of a young boy with a love of airplanes and a gift for aeronautical design.  This boy, however, had an intense fear of flying.  Determined to rid the boy of his fear, his father took him to an airfield owned by a friend.  Explaining that he was a pilot himself, the father strapped the boy into a crop duster and took to the skies.

As they flew, the father talked to the boy, calming him and reassuring him.  Soon, the boy grew to love flying as much as he loved planes.  When he grew up, he joined the Air Force.  As a result, he one day became Captain Atom.  Firestorm says he realizes, thanks to the story, that it would be bad if the Manhunters prevented mankind from realizing their true potential.  But they have never given Firestorm a reason to distrust them (indeed, he is still convinced they created him).  Captain Atom realizes he’ll need another story.

So Cap makes a colossal mistake and shares with Firestorm a story from his “early” super-hero days when he was still “working in secret.”  He tells of a time when he was called upon by his superiors to assist in a search for two career military men who had stolen a van full of top secret government equipment and fled.  Cap was ordered to bring back the equipment and kill the two deserters.  Not liking the order, yet reluctant to disobey his C.O., Cap discovered the van and realized his intel was wrong.  It was a communications van and the two men were on death’s door with radiation sickness.  They had been exposed to radiation in atomic warfare tests in the desert.  They stole the van to take their story to the public, hoping the end result would be compensation to insure the welfare of their families when they succumbed to the sickness and died.  As they explained this to Cap, the Air Force fired an air-to-ground rocket at the men.

Captain Atom intercepted the rocket.  When the smoke cleared, he, the men, and the van were nowhere to be found.  Captain Atom had moved them to a new location and allowed them to broadcast their story.  His C.O. was furious, but Cap said he would not follow orders that he felt were unjust, choosing instead to follow the dictates of his own conscience.  The two men did receive compensation and all charges against them were dropped.

Firestorm darkens and says he understands. He understands that Captain Atom is a liar.  The Manhunters had revealed to Firestorm the true story of how he became a super-hero.  He knows Cap’s story is a lie.  He leaves the sphere, leaving Cap still trapped within.  Firestorm fills the sphere with “toxic gas” and taunts Captain Atom’s attempts to blast his way out.  Old flame-top turns out to be a bit of a bad-ass in this one.  I’ve certainly learned a lesson here – don’t EFF with the Nuclear Man!

At that moment, “a thousand miles to the northeast,” Captain Atom is missing an interview on WGTV.  G. Gordon Liddy is preparing to go on in his stead, but Harry Hadley is waiting in the wings.  He thinks he will go on instead of Liddy, and plans to expose the Captain Atom Project’s “Big Lie.”  A stage hand directs him to the alleyway outside the studio when Hadley begins to light a cigarette.  Outside, he is confronted by General Eiling.

Eiling reminds Hadley that no one from the Captain Atom Project is ever to appear in public anywhere near Captain Atom.  Hadley showing up at the studio at a time when Cap is supposed to appear is tantamount to treason.  When Hadley pulls a high-tech-looking gun, a sniper takes him down.  Eiling remarks that he had suspicions about Hadley all along.

Back in the swamp, Captain Atom is paralyzed in the sphere while Firestorm chides him.  Cap keeps thinking to himself, “Damn the lie.”  He’s beating himself up for lying to Firestorm.  He should have known that the Manhunters, with all their knowledge, would have briefed Firestorm on his true background.  He doesn’t blame Firestorm for not believing him.

Cap confesses that he lied.  He admits it was wrong.  He tries to point out that the Manhunters also lied to Firestorm.  Their plans to conquer the human race are the truth.  Firestorm angrily exclaims, “The truth?  Someone who has been living a lie still dares to talk to me of truth?”  Cap responds by telling Firestorm the whole truth about his past.

Captain Atom tells Firestorm that he was a convicted murderer.  He says that he was part of a secret government project in 1968.  Yadda yadda yadda, he recounts his origin.  We all know it.  He goes on to say that he wants to clear his name and reconnect with the children he left behind.  Firestorm says, “Enough!” and dissolves the sphere.  He tells Cap he is going with his instinct and following his conscience.  He realizes he’s been duped by the Manhunters and wants to help Cap now.

Explaining the bomb the Suicide Squad placed, Cap flies off with Firestorm.  The Squad won’t be able to evacuate from the blast radius in time.  They have less than a minute to act.  Firestorm says he knows what to do.

The bomb detonates.  Captain Atom absorbs as much of the blast as he can without bumping himself into the future again.  That which he cannot absorb is transmuted by Firestorm… into snow.  He says he saw the Suicide Squad escaping to the west; all of them are safe.  The target – the Manhunter base – was decimated.

Firestorm explains that he changed his mind about Cap when he heard him talk about his kids.  His intuition told him Captain Atom was being honest.  The two walk off together with Firestorm full of questions and Captain Atom declaring, “Super-hero school is now back in session.”

Generally I don’t like issues of comics that tie in with big crossover events, but I really dug this one.  It helped that at the time I was reading Firestorm and was invested in both he and Captain Atom.  It also helped that it was a good story.  Cap’s doubt and Firestorm’s ire were compelling.  I always like it when those two butt heads.  The art is great except for one little thing.  Pat Broderick’s style of drawing children is a little weird.  Like Steve Ditko, his kids seem really cartoony.  Other than that, great great work.  A for art and A for story.

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Captain Atom #10 (December 1987)

Tags

Anton Sarrock, Babylon, Bob Smith, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, Dr. Mortimer, Duncan Andrews, Francis Travis, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Harry Hadley, Homer Lockleed, Martin Allard, Pat Broderick, Sissy Housten

“Wish You Were Here…”

• Writers:  Cary Bates & Greg Weisman
• Pencils:  Pat Broderick
• Inks:  Bob Smith
• Colors:  Carl Gafford
• Letters:  Duncan Andrews

Okay, it is right there on the cover.  This may be an issue of Captain Atom but Captain Atom isn’t in this issue.  It is an indirect tie-in with the Millennium crossover event and Bates & Weisman used the absence of the main character to flesh out some of the subplots.

This issue came out September 29, 1987, which was the same week as Millennium #3 but the action takes place prior to (or during) Millennium #1.

It begins in a spa or gym.  Babylon is working out while Dr. Megala chills out in the hot tub.  Babylon is telling Megala an off-color joke that he attributes to Nathaniel Adam, (who really really isn’t in this book).  He says Nate has a new joke for him every time they meet up and he suggests that Captain Atom host Saturday Night Live.  Megala advises Babylon not to mention that in front of Nate, as he just might be interested in doing it.

As Megala and Babylon chat about Nate, two assistants come in and hoist Megala out of the hot tub.  Babylon, unaware of this, is left in the spa alone, talking to himself.

Back in his lab, Dr. Megala is recording some data, getting ready to run some experiments on Captain Atom.  Babylon enters, still sweaty from his workout, and tells Megala that Captain Atom won’t be available.  Megala delivers a weak pun.

What Megala is unaware of is that Captain Atom has been holed up in the New York embassy of Justice League International with the rest of the team.  Although it has been in all the papers, Megala is completely oblivious.

Elsewhere, journalist Sissy Housten is thinking of her friend and fellow journalist Mabel Ryan, who has been missing for five months.  The last person to see her alive was Tom Emory (aka Dr. Spectro) and swears she was alive and well (in truth, Emory killed Mabel).  Sissy’s “Deep Throat” contact at the Pentagon calls her up and says she has info on Mabel and it isn’t good news.  They agree to meet at a parking garage.

Later, Babylon is driving Megala to visit his friend Anton Sarrock.  He is trying to cheer Megala up, but the doctor’s mind is on Captain Atom and the Justice League.  They arrive at the Damon Clinic where Megala is greeted by Dr. Mortimer as a former patient.  Babylon has to surrender his revolver.  Mortimer tells them Sarrock is catatonic, and has been for a year… since Nate emerged from his quantum time-travel trip.

Another patient, Homer Lockleed, is mopping the hallway as Mortimer, Babylon, and Megala pass through.  I’d wondered what happened to him since he tried to kidnap Nate’s daughter Peggy.  Using the pretense of asking for some magazines, Homer approaches a security guard and clocks him in the face with the icky end of his mop.

In Sarrock’s room, Babylon and Megala discuss their friend as he stares at cartoons on his TV.  He was once one of the most brilliant astrophysicists in the country before suffering a nervous breakdown.  Dr. Megala believes that Sarrock’s relapse is a result of Megala not being around all the time.  This is a great failing of Heinrich Megala.  He seems blind to the fact that Sarrock’s mental problems are tied in with the alien metal that coats Nathaniel Adam.  It doesn’t all click into place for him until Silver Shield shows up, in Captain Atom #35.  But that’s two years away.

Homer enters the room and shoots out the TV with Babylon’s gun.  An orderly jumps at Homer and the gun goes off again.

At the Pentagon, Martin Allard and Harry Hadley show up for the unveiling of a Justice League “strategy room.”  There are images of JLI members on the wall with “risk codes.”  Blue Beetle and Black Canary are green, Batman is orange, and Rocket Red #7 and Guy Gardner are red.  Hadley mentions that he was the one who subdued Captain Atom with a gas that he synthesized (and will be used to subdue Atom’s “successor”).  The man in charge of this room, Lieutenant Eliot, reveals that Captain Atom was placed with the JLI as a spy.  Allard says the collected data will be extremely valuable to the U.S. government (“Among other organizations,” thinks Hadley.).  Hadley excuses himself for another appointment.

Back at the Damon Clinic, Homer banishes Babylon and an orderly from the ward.  Babylon is carrying another orderly; the man Homer shot.  Babylon warns Homer that if he hurts anyone else, he’ll come down on him so hard it will kill his family.  This causes Homer to rant about his “wife/daughter” Peggy.  Police and paramedics show up and Babylon loads the wounded orderly into an ambulance.  Hearing the police argue, Babylon realizes it will be up to him to save Megala.

The police call Homer (this is a full-blown hostage situation now).  Homer demands that he be allowed to speak to his father.  He also wants to see his “wife,” Margaret Eiling-Lockleed, and his “daughter,” Peggy.  Homer is seriously unhinged.  In the hospital, Megala thinks of Homer as “another Damon Clinic failure,” like Sarrock or himself.  He clings to the vain hope that Nathaniel will sweep in and rescue him.

I didn’t see this before, but I think it is possible that Heinrich Megala is in love with Nathaniel Adam.

Sissy meets with her shadowy “deep throat” contact.  He hands her a package, and she takes it and gets in her car.  She opens the package, which turns out to be a bomb.  Her contact turns out to be none other than Harry Hadley.

Hadley is a Manhunter.  They are the primary villains in the Millennium crossover event.  He’s been spying on Captain Atom all this time on behalf of his masters.

Back at the Damon Clinic, Babylon uses a grapple to get to the roof.  The police see what he’s up to but don’t know who he is.  Inside, another inmate tells Megala he wishes Anton were there mentally instead of just physically.  Megala recounts a time when Anton helped another inmate; himself.  Megala talks and talks, but (as another inmate points out) it makes no difference.  Anton Sarrock is totally checked out. Down on the ground, the police realize Babylon is on the roof.  The officer in charge, Francis Travis, radios his man on the roof.  But it is too late.  Babylon clocks the roof cop from behind.

Homer tells Travis (via phone) that if his demands aren’t met, he’s going to start killing people, starting with the cripple in the wheelchair (Megala).  Megala rushes Homer, who shoots him.  Homer barks into the phone, “You see?  You made me kill the cripple!”  Babylon hears this and freaks out.

Travis says that Margaret Eiling is willing to come down and talk to Homer but they couldn’t find his daughter Peggy.  Homer says if Peggy isn’t there in two minutes he will kill everyone.  He begins counting down from 120.  The other inmates right Megala’s chair (Megala is fine).  A voice calls out to Homer, telling him to stop counting.  Homer ignores this.  Then the voice says it more forcefully.  It is Anton Sarrock.

Homer stops counting.  Sarrock tells his fellow inmates that they must help Homer.  He slows Homer down, but the crazed fellow still says he’s going to kill everyone; that it is too late.  That is when Babylon crashes in through the window armed with a machine gun and disarms Homer, saying it is never too late.

Babylon and Megala welcome Sarrock back to reality.  In the background, a TV plays a news report about the JLI emerging from their embassy.  The reporter goes to interview Captain Atom just when a hospital staff member turns the TV off.

This was good.  By no means my favorite issue of the series, but I like that they let the subplots breathe.  We learn a little sliver more about Megala.  Not a lot, but more will trickle out over the next few years.  The art is good, but nothing spectacular.  Pat Broderick at his worst is still better than some.  I’d say overall this issue of Captain Atom is a B.

Captain Atom #9 (November 1987)

Tags

Bob Smith, Bolt, Captain Atom, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Corporal Hart, Duncan Andrews, General Eiling, General Lemar, Harry Hadley, Henry Yarrow, Jeffrey "Goz" Goslin, Major Gargan, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick

“Blood and Betrayal”

• Writer:  Cary Bates
• Pencils:  Pat Broderick
• Inks:  Bob Smith
• Colors:  Carl Gafford
• Letters:  Duncan Andrews

This opens on Nathaniel Adam writing a letter to his son Randy.  Although he is only two years older than his son (which he mentions in the letter), Pat Broderick has somehow make him look his real age.  It is kind of creepy.  Must be the white hair.

Nate is writing to Randy because he missed seeing his son when he was in town for Eiling’s third star ceremony (in Captain Atom #8).  He tells Randy he is spending all of his free time working his case, trying to prove that he was set up, that the murder and charge of treason were part of a bigger conspiracy.  He gives Randy details of his trial in the letter; his side of the story.

Earlier, in Westport, Connecticut, retired Major Alfred Gargan is killed by super-villain-killer-for-hire Bolt in such a way that it looks like an accident.  Later, after the explosion, Captain Cameron Scott shows up at the Gargan home.  Scott is working a 20-year-old Air Force case (the murder trial of Nathaniel Adam, of course), and Gargan figured prominently in that case.  Gargan was Nate’s prosecutor.  Nate recalls his trial.  We finally get details of the crime he was accused of.

In 1968, Captain Nathaniel Christopher Adam was in command of Mayday Company, an “elite Air Force recon team well-trained for infantry action in the bush.”  Their mission during the period leading up to Adam’s crime was to find the remains of a downed reconnaissance aircraft a few miles from the Laos border and retrieve the classified data on board before it could fall into the hands of the North Vietnamese Army (this must be the X-Ionizer).  According to Nate’s account, once they sighted the the wreckage on a hillside, he radioed a request for a two-company perimeter that was denied by General Lemar.  Nate argues that he needs those men but Lemar will not bend.  The NVA can’t get that downed aircraft (seems it would in Lemar’s interest to send Adam the soldiers he needs).  Nate goes to Sergeant Goslin to tell him they need to take the hill now without backup.  Gargan points out this exchange happened while Nate’s RTO (radio telephone operator) was indisposed so they have only Captain Adam’s word that Lemar ordered Mayday Company to take the hill.  Mayday Company found themselves in a three-way VC ambush with AK-47s opening fire on them from all sides.  Goz is wounded but he and Nate manage to disperse the VC with frag grenades.  There are only four survivors from Mayday Company (including Nate and Goz), not – Gargan posits – because of “non-existent” orders from Lemar, but because Captain Adam recklessly exceeded his authority.

Back at Winslow Air Force Base, General Eiling is walking across the tarmac with Allard and Hadley, discussing the death of Gargan.  Hadley mentions it is suspicious that Gargan died the same day as Cameron Scott’s visit.  After Eiling calls it bad timing, Allard agrees with Hadley that it is incredibly suspicious.  Eiling says Nate has his own private agenda and that he’s surprised Adam hasn’t started this digging expedition some time ago (of course, he was busy saving Canada, a sunken nuclear submarine’s reactor bumped him further into the future, and he was lost in Cambodia with Plastique).  Allard tells the General that he updated their files on the other two surviving key personnel from the 1968 court-martial, both of which returned to civilian life some time ago.  They will know if Nate comes into contact with them.  He says that most likely Adam will head out west next, in search of Colonel Yarrow in Las Vegas or Corporal Hart in Los Angeles.  Adam is, in fact, on a boat speaking to Hart at that moment.

Hart says he can barely remember the trial and that Captain Scott’s best bet would be to just read the transcripts.  Adam leaves his number with Hart, telling him to call if anything comes to mind.  Nate’s departure is watched by two men in blue suits who notify Allard of the meeting.  Nate flashes back to the trial, when Hart was on the stand.  He was the radio operator for General Lemar at Dau Tieng.  He testifies about a conversation he had with Lemar the day of Mayday Company’s failed assault on hill 409.  Lemar was upset with Hart, because they had only one working radio (there had been a bombing raid the night before that took out the other radios).  According to Hart’s testimony, it would have been impossible for Captain Adam to make radio contact with Lemar on the day in question.  However, back in the 80s, Hart calls Cameron Scott after their meeting and says Lemar had a second radio in his quarters that no one else knew about.  Hart says Lemar was heavily involved in some sort of drug trafficking operation.  Hart’s call is cut short when a slim beam of energy cuts his phone line.  He looks up to see Bolt standing over him.  At the other end of the line, Nate suspects that Hart is about to face the same fate as Gargan.  He transforms into Captain Atom and hightails it to the marina.  But Cap gets there too late.  Hart’s boat is on fire with Hart’s charred corpse on board.  He swoops down and absorbs the flames before flying away.

Later, Bolt appears in an abandoned building outside Sparta, Illinois.  Contacting his employer via video link, he demands more pay because his job has become more difficult with Captain Atom involved.  Although he hasn’t had to deal with Cap himself, he knows they are on the same trail and it is a matter of time before their paths cross.  His employer agrees that eventually the two will end up at odds, and asks Bolt to open the package on the table before him.  It holds a large amount of cash; it is triple the amount Bolt was meant to be paid.  His employer tells Bolt he’ll receive a comparable amount as final payment when the two remaining people on his list are terminated.  Pleased, Bolt says that for this kind of cash, he’d take on the Justice League (and considering that the Justice League at this point doesn’t include Superman or even Captain Atom himself, Bolt could probably pull it off).

In his letter to Randy, Nate admits he did hate General Lemar.  Almost his entire unit was wiped out and his best friend was put in the hospital.  He held Lemar personally responsible.  But Gargan posited that Adam saw Lemar as a potential threat because he knew Mayday Company was not ordered to take the hill or retrieve anything from the downed aircraft.  He says Adam went into Lemar’s office to kill him in order to cover his own tracks.

In Las Vegas, Captain Scott meets with Henry Yarrow, now a private investigator.  Henry was Nate’s defense attorney in 1968.  Yarrow isn’t fooled by “Cameron Scott” and recognizes him as Nathaniel Adam.  He also says that if Hart’s information is correct, they may have finally found the real reason Nate was framed.  The two men drive away, unaware that Allard’s men are watching them.  Adam reminds Yarrow that in 68 he had entered Lemar’s office to confront him.  He wanted Lemar to confess.  He remembers Lemar reaching for something in his desk but then Nate passed out.  When he came to, sprawled over Lemar’s desk, he saw his own knife sticking out of Lemar’s dead body.  That was when the MPs entered the office and arrested Nate.  Nate then says he thinks Yarrow didn’t give him the best defense.  If he had, the drug ring should have come up in his investigation.  Hart confessed he kept quiet because he was afraid for his life and asks if Yarrow did the same.  Yarrow, insulted, tells Nate he’s heard enough “garbage” and kicks Nate out of his car.  He tells Adam not to look him up again.  This is witnessed by Allard’s men.

As Yarrow drives away, he is zapped by Bolt, who is flying above him.  Bolt ignites the gas tank, but the resulting explosion is absorbed by Captain Atom.  Bolt punches Cap in the stomach before blasting him.  But before Cap can retaliate, Bolt vanishes, teleporting out to fulfill the rest of his contract.  Atom touches down to check on Yarrow, who is fine.  Allard’s men radio their boss to let him know what’s going on.  Yarrow confesses that someone did approach him before Adam’s trial, paying him $10,000 to keep the drug ring out of the trial.  Yarrow accepted because it looked like Adam was guilty anyway.  Captain Atom keeps his temper in check, knowing that Yarrow is confessing this to Atom because he is thankful for the rescue and feeling guilty.  Yarrow says Nate was right, that there is a hit list and Yarrow was on it.  Considering this, Captain Atom takes off.  There was one more man involved in the court martial that must be on the hit list.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the last person on the hit list was Eiling.  Allard has already warned Eiling that Bolt may be moving against him.  Even as Captain Atom streaks towards the General’s house, Bolt appears in Eiling’s front lawn.  The assassin enters the Eiling home, seeing the general sitting on the sofa in front of his wide-screen TV.  Bolt shoots a fine beam through the General’s head.  But it isn’t Eiling; it was a dummy.  Eiling steps out of the shadows and draws a weapon.  They both are about to fire at each other when Captain Atom bursts through the window between them.  Atom punches Bolt out.  Eiling tells Captain Atom he is willing to admit that maybe Nate was, indeed, set up.  He says he won’t acknowledge Nate innocence until he has solid proof, but is willing to be more open-minded on the subject.

Back in his home, Nate crumples up the letter to Randy and throws it away.  He can’t be completely honest with Randy without revealing he is Captain Atom and he can’t reveal he is Captain Atom, even to his family.  He gets a call from Henry Yarrow.  Yarrow tells him he is investigating his case again, and is doing so full time.  He says he owes Nate as much.  Nate thanks him, and says if Yarrow’s willing to talk, he is willing to listen.

This was another wordy issue, light on the action.  But it was an important issue.  We finally know exactly what Nate’s crime was.  We know the major players in the case.  We have people working to clear his name, and we have Eiling willing to admit perhaps Nate is innocent.  Cary Bates has given us another A story and Broderick & Smith have given us A art.  Although I know how this all turns out for Nate, I’m still eager to reread the series again.  It should come as no surprise to anyone, but I really love Captain Atom.

Captain Atom #1 (March 1987)

Tags

Angela Eiling, Babylon, Bob Smith, Captain Atom, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, General Eiling, Harry Hadley, Jeffrey "Goz" Goslin, John Costanza, Margaret Eiling/Peggy Adam, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick, Randall Eiling/Randy Adam, Ronald Reagan

“Point of Origin”

• Writer: Cary Bates
• Pencils: Pat Broderick
• Inks: Bob Smith
• Colors: Carl Gafford
• Letters: John Costanza

This is the first appearance of Captain Atom in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity.  Every appearance of him prior to this point never happened as all the parallel Earths in the multiverse merged into one.

Cary Bates was a bit of a prodigy.  Bates began submitting ideas for comic book covers to DC Comics at the age of 13, and a number of them were bought and published, the first as the cover to Superman #167.  Thank you, Wikipedia.  He was 39 years old when he was tapped to write the new ongoing Captain Atom series for DC.

Pat Broderick was 34 and already had worked for both DC and Marvel.  During his time at DC, Broderick worked on Firestorm, Captain Atom, Batman: Year Three, Swamp Thing, and Green Lantern.

So what was our world like in March 1987?  In January, New York mafiosi Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno and Carmine Peruccia were sentenced to 100 years in prison for racketeering.  Nine days later, Pennsylvania Treasurer Budd Dwyer shot and killed himself with a revolver during a televised press conference after being found guilty on charges of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering (It was tragic and sad and Bud was later found to be innocent.  The video can be found online, but I strongly advise against anyone seeking it out.).  The same month this comic came out, the Irish pop band U2 released The Joshua Tree (in my opinion, their finest album).

This issue opens in a control room with a sign over a huge TV screen that reads “Captain Atom Project, Docket #788 UR9544, -Countdown in Progress-.” On the screen we see a young man in his underpants sitting in what looks like a metal Terry’s Chocolate Orange.  He’s cracking jokes but looking nervous.  Observing this, a scientist on crutches who we learn is Dr. Heinrich Megala, says, “I take it you are not amused by our subject’s attempt at bravado, Colonel Eiling.”  To which his partner replies, “Nathaniel Adam was found guilty of treason and sentenced to die.  If he survives this experiment, the government has agreed to commute his sentence and make him a free man.  That prospect does not ‘amuse’ me, Dr. Megala.  Not in the least.”

Already there are a lot differences.  Charlton’s Allen Adam was a super genius.  DC’s Nathaniel Adam is a crook or killer or something.  Treason could be anything.  We’ll find out more about that later.

The egg closes up and lowers down underground.  Adam mentions what a dumb name “Project Captain Atom” is.  Shut up, Nate.  I like it.  He reminds Colonel Eiling to deliver a letter to “Angela and the kids” in case things go South for him.  Eiling rips the letter up, showing us just what kind of a douchebag he is.  Wait, kids, he gets even douchey-er.

There is an explosion.  A nuclear bomb has been detonated under the egg. The egg melts itself onto Captain Adam.  He stands up, still telling his awful jokes.  He’s cut off mid-sentence as he vanishes.

We cut to a tranquil park.  Angela Adam is there with her kids, Peggy and Randy.  Randy is riding the shoulder of Jeff Goslin, an airman who is apparently Nate’s friend.  This is a call-back to the old series, where Captain Atom had a friend and confidant name Jeff “Gunner” Goslin.  Jeff tells Angela that a spaceship crashed in Nevada a year before that had a hull made of an impregnable metal alloy.  Nate is going to help them find out if it can be destroyed or not.  That is the extent of his knowledge of what is going down.

So that’s what the chocolate egg is made of.  Nate is a crash-test dummy.  Seems really implausible that they’d use a human being, even a criminal.

Jeff assures Angela that Nate will be okay.  “Lissen up,” he says, “this is the same Cap’n Adam who went down with his plane 30 miles inside Cambodia and managed to walk out again a week later.  The man’s a natural-born survivor, Ange.  He’s got a knack for it.”

So Nate was in Cambodia.  He’s in the military.  That puts this in the 1960s.

Cut to an airstrip at night.  A fighter is coming in for a landing (the pilot’s name is Maverick – Top Gun reference) when a glowing ball of energy appears on the strip.  A humanoid shape emerges and blasts the plane with some sort of energy.  The plane skids to a stop and we see a sign that reads “Winslow Air Force Base. Restricted.”

Now we cut to the interior of an office.  The man at the desk is on the phone with his daughter, Margaret Eiling.  Ah, so this is Colonel Eiling.  His aide (Martin Allard) bursts in and says there’s an infiltrator on the base. “The infiltrator doesn’t appear to be human, General,” he says.

Back on the field, soldiers have opened fire on the creature.  The bullets bounce off, but a rocket knocks it down.  The creature, a glowing red molten lava creature, collapses and delivers the punchline to the joke Nathaniel Adam was telling when he vanished.  The Sergeant in charge (Goslin, naturally) is about to open up with another volley when the creature glows and layers of its mass disappear.  It passes out and is brought into a lab and strapped to a table.

The head scientist, Harry Hadley, reports to Allard that the creature appears to be taking on a more human form (heart beats at 72 bpm, temp is 98.7 degrees Fahrenheit, and breathes oxygen).  Allard loses his shit because he thinks it is an indestructible alien come to do horrible things.  The General comes in in time to see that – apart from silver metallic skin – the creature appears completely human.

Everyone is shocked when the creature speaks English.  It looks at the General and says, “Eiling! What happened to you. You look so… old!”

General Eiling clears the room.  He recognizes that the creature is Nathaniel Adam. Nate is as surprised as Eiling that he survived the Captain Atom project.  He tells Nate that in the short time (in Nate’s perspective) that he was gone, John Wayne has died, as have Martin Luther King (which Nate remembers) and Robert Kennedy.  That makes Nate lose his shit and break free of the straps holding him down.  Eiling goes on to tell him Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Jack Benny, Anwar Sadat, Indira Ghandi and John Lennon are all dead.  Nate sees himself and freaks out.  Eiling has him gassed and he passes out again.

Then Dr. Megala pays General Eiling a visit.  He is in a wheelchair and appears to be a quadriplegic.  He has robot arms attached to his chair that he must control with his mind.  Megala realizes that the creature was Captain Adam, bumped ahead in time from 1968 to 1986 by Project Captain Atom.  He has merged with the alien alloy and traveled in time 18 years.

Eiling leaves Megala, then orders Allard to have Megala killed.  Eiling has the still-unconscious Adam loaded into a rocket and blasted into space.  (See, I told you ripping up the letter was the tip of the General’s douchebaggery.)  Meanwhile, Allard’s assassin is stopped by Megala’s bodyguard Babylon.

Cap comes to on the rocket.  He realizes where he is and what is happening.  He blows up the rocket with his energy blasts, surprising himself.  As he plummets to the Earth’s surface, he is struck by lightning but is unharmed.  Still, he’s pretty sure he’s going to die when he hits the ground.  But when he relaxes and accepts his fate, he finds he can fly.  So he flies home.

But a new family is in his home.  It still hasn’t sunk in for Nate.  Megala and Babylon  show up, the doctor having anticipated Adam would go to his old home.  Megala tells Adam it is 1986.  He then brings the Captain to his estate.  Megala explains to Adam: “Ancient Chinese masters called it ch’i — the invisible, intangible form of matter which is present throughout the cosmos.  Modern physics concurs.  But we call it the quantum field.  It is the underlying essence of all matter and all energy.  You, Nathaniel Adam, have experienced what science has only been able to observe on the subatomic level.  You have passed through the ch’i — the field — from one place in space/time to another without travelling in between.  You made the damndest quantum leap in history.”  Megala speculates that the metal alloy attunes itself to Adam’s ch’i and draws power from the quantum field.

Eiling has spies watching Megala’s house and recording everything.  They report to him everything they’ve learned.  Megala and Adam discover that the metal alloy skin absorbs all kinds of energy and that Adam is now super-strong.

Eiling leads a team into Megala’s home and demands to see Captain Adam.  But Adam is in the room, having learned he can “turn off” his metal skin to blend in with the normies.  Eiling says he can lead Adam to his wife, Angela.  Cap picks him up and flies off, demanding to see her now.  Eiling leads him to a cemetery.

Angela died in 1982.  Eiling says she mourned Adam for three years before (weird plat twist) falling in love with and marrying General Eiling!  I told you he was a bad dude.  He knew damn well when he tore up that letter, he was going to woo Adam’s widow.  But why? Just to be a dick, I think.

The General presents Cap with a Presidential order calling on Adam to provide service to his government as a secret operative.  Eiling says Adam will have plenty of time to pursue clearing his name (Adam insists he is innocent of treason).  A costume of sorts is fashioned for Captain Atom with a nuclear symbol on the chest, gloves and boots.  How they etched these things on the metal is a mystery, as they have established earlier in this issue that lasers have no effect on the alloy.

The issue closes with Eiling in the White House with President Reagan, discussing Phase Two of Project Captain Atom.

So that’s it.  Pretty well-executed for an origin story.  Vastly different and more complex than Ditko’s Captain Atom.  I like Eiling as a foil for the Captain.  I like that they brought Goslin into the story.  Some of Cary Bates’ stories on the Captain Atom series were wonky at times, but I think he kind of knocked this one out of the park (I know I nit-picked a little, but it was overall a great story).  The art was pretty good.  Sometimes, Broderick’s faces seem kind of the same.  Allard looks like Hadley, Adam looks like Allard, and later in the series sometimes Gos looks like Babylon.  But honestly, that’s the extent of my criticism.  I love the way Pat Broderick draws Captain Atom.

So… Story: A, Art: A.  Captain Atom #1 is definitely “A” material.  I look forward to rereading the entire series.