Captain Atom #2 (December 2011)

Tags

Captain Atom, Dr. Megala, Freddie E. Williams II, J. T. Krul, José Villarrubia, Mikey Parker, New 52 Captain Atom, Ranita Carter, Rob Leigh, Scott Alexander, Stanley Lau

“Rebuilding Blocks”

• Writer:  J.T. Krul
• Pencils & Inks:  Freddie E. Williams II
• Colors:  José Villarrubia
• Letters:  Rob Leigh
• Cover Artist:  Stanley Lau

This issue came out on October 19, 2011.  When we last saw the New 52 Captain Atom (excluding his cameo in Justice League International #1), he had been torn apart while trying to extinguish a volcano.  As he was melting down, he thought to himself, “If this is the end, at least I died doing some good for once.”  A news reporter covering the story says that Cap vanished right after he put out the mysterious Manhattan Volcano.  She suggests he has disappeared because he is hiding something.  Meanwhile, Cap begins to reconstitute his body in a nearby river (the East River maybe?).

This is not a new power for Cap.  The first time he used it was in his original origin story way back in 1960 (by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko).  The Modern Age Captainm Atom never used this power (and most likely didn’t have it) but Dr. Manhattan did.  Like the Silver Age Captain Atom, it was the first trick he learned (and he said as much to Ozymandius in Watchmen #12).  While it is an interesting power, it is a bit problematic.  It means that the New 52 Cap is really indestructible.  Godlike.  Or, as my stepson is fond of saying, “OP” (over-powered).  And Cap doesn’t have a Kryptonite weakness like Superman.  What would it take to defeat him?

This is the fundamental problem with Captain Atom.  He’s just too powerful.  Impossible to defeat with no end of powers.  Who could possibly challenge him?  After the Bronze Age, when the DC Universe was first rebooted in 1985, from which the Modern Age Cap was born, he was less powerful than his earlier incarnation.  He worked better as a character.  He didn’t lose touch with his humanity as Dr. Manhattan did.  Captain Atom works best when he is not indestructable.  At least, that’s my opinion.  Anyway, Cap resurrects himself.

Cap is briefly pleased that he saved Manhattan from the Volcano, but is soon bombarded by a “strange new energy pattern” pounding his brain.  His mind is beset by images and text gleaned from the internet, some of them about himself and not very flattering.  He hurries to the Continuum, where he begs Ranita Carter to “make it stop.”  Megala quickly submerges Cap in “superfluid” (your guess is as good as mine) which appears to calm him.

When Ranita remarks that Cap is lucky to have Megala, the doctor reveals that he feels responsible for Cap’s “current state.”  He’s surprised Cap confides in him at all.  He quickly tells Ranita of how Captain Atom came to be.

Unlike the previous, Nathaniel Adam (The Modern Age Cap), this fellow was a volunteer and not a convicted murderer (although that Nate was innocent – but that’s another story).  Though the project did not kill Nathaniel, it did change him forever.  Touched by Cap’s struggle, Ranita reaches out to him.  Her boyfriend Scott Alexander then bursts into the lab, angry with Ranita.  Cap tells Scott to relax and Scott tells Cap to stay away from Ranita.  Scott says Cap should be under quarantine and mentions that the Justice League “didn’t want him.”

Cap leaves the Continuum and flies about “reading” the internet images he can see in the air around him.  He is his own wifi hot-spot.  He comes across a message (email?) from a kid dying from cancer who is begging Cap to help him.  Making himself invisible (just like the original Captain Atom!), Cap enters the boy’s room at the hospital.  He learns the boy (Mikey) has a brain tumor that is more or less inoperable.  Shrinking himself to a microscopic level, Captain Atom enters Mikey’s body to attack the tumor.

A drug the doctors inject into Mikey mistake Captain Atom for a foreign object (which he is, to be fair) and attack him.  Cap dispatches the attacking drug and focuses his efforts on the tumor he has found.  We are treated with a really stunning splash page.

This is Freddie E. Williams II and José Villarrubia at their absolute best.  And I’m not a huge fan of Williams’ work on this title.  This is a truly beautiful work of art.

Mikey awakens as Captain Atom leaves his body.  The tumor was destroyed.  Mikey is certain that it wasn’t a miracle drug that saved him.  He asked Captain Atom for help and Captain Atom saved him.  He’ll live a long, healthy, normal life (cue ominous foreshadowing music here).  Cap, happy that he has done something non-destructive for once, flies away from the hospital room.

Meanwhile, in a dirty city alleyway, a man goes to chase fighting dogs away from his door.  He is shocked to discover that one of the dogs has a human face on his back. It is the face of the rat guy from the last issue (cue even more ominous foreshadowing music here).

I like this issue a whole lot.  It has a lot of nods to the Silver Age Captain Atom (rebuilding his body atom by atom, healing a sick child, becoming invisible and shrinking) and the Bronze Age Captain Atom (public mistrust of the hero).  This is a good amalgamation of the Silver/Bronze Age Cap and the Modern Age Cap with a bit of Dr. Manhattan thrown in.  Though very short (what’s that about anyway?), the story was well-told and compelling.  And the art in this one was stunning.  Upon rereading this series, I’m slowly warming up to Freddie Williams.  This issue deserves an A.

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

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Captain Atom #1 (November 2011)

Tags

Captain Atom, Dr. Megala, Freddie E. Williams II, J. T. Krul, José Villarrubia, New 52 Captain Atom, Ranita Carter, Rob Leigh, Stanley Lau

“Evolution of the Species”

• Writer:  J. T. Krul
• Pencils & Inks:  Freddie E. Williams II
• Colors:  José Villarrubia
• Letters:  Rob Leigh
• Cover Artist:  Stanley Lau

And then there was the New 52.  In September, 2011, DC Comics consolidated and relaunched their comic lines, discontinuing some series, and introducing yet other series, resulting in 52 titles, each with a new #1. That consolidation included the incorporation of both WildStorm Productions and the reincorporation of certain Vertigo properties into the mainstream DC Universe.  One of the characters given another shot at a series was Captain Atom (the New 52 also saw the return of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man – one of Cap’s old buddies).  Captain Atom (volume 3) #1 was available for sale on September 21, 2011.  It did not feature an origin story (that was to come a year later in Captain Atom #0), but did again establish that Nathaniel Adam was an Air Force pilot who somehow gained super powers.

The story opens (after a brief interlude in San Francisco with a rat rummaging around a sleeping homeless guy) in Chicago with Captain Atom blasting a robot dude on the streets.  He chides his enemy, telling him that “firing energy cannons at the guy who absorbs energy – not the smartest strategy.”  Preparing to punch the guy and “crack his eggshell,” Cap pauses as he notices something on a microscopic level.  He evaporates the man’s robot armor – turning it to dust – then gazes at his hand (which appears to begin dissipating), thinking he is losing his control over his body at the molecular level.

Cap returns to his home base, the Continuum (located “somewhere in Kansas”).  He briefly flirts with Dr. Ranita Carter before she is dismissed by Dr. Megala.  The New 52 Megala is even more crippled than the Modern Age Megala.  Megala asks Cap what went wrong with robot guy.  Cap sums up the exchange.

Dr. Megala explains that Captain Atom’s powers are nuclear in nature; that he taps into the SNF (Strong Nuclear Force – the energy that binds protons and neutrons in the nucleus).  His body seems to split atoms repeatedly, giving him incredible energy.  His hand became unstable because it did not reform the atoms as quickly as it split them.  Megala explains to Nathaniel that he was lucky it was his hand and not his brain.  He would cease to exist.  In simple terms, using his powers could kill Captain Atom.

Ranita interrupts the two with information that there is significant seismic activity detected in New York City.  As a result, the nuclear reactors at Indian Point are critical and a breach is iminent.  It is not the result of an earthquake, but a volcano in Manhattan.  Captain Atom doesn’t hesitate, flying for New York.

Cap makes it to Indian point from Kansas in about an hour (the original Captain Atom could also fly at super speeds).  Cap absorbs the leaked radiation while Megala’s words haunt him (“Using your powers could kill you.”).  That part of the crisis averted, he moves his attention to the volcano.  Realizing there are too many people in harm’s way to effectively move them all to safety, he transmutes to lava into snow (“the opposite of lava,” he thinks).

Meanwhile, on the streets of San Francisco, a homeless man is chasing a rat.  His homeless pals thinks he plans to eat it, but the rat (with ominous glowing red eyes) has been stealing his food and he wants to break it’s neck.  But before he can get his hands on it, the rat transforms into a multi-limbed, multi-mouthed monster.  Interesting interlude that I’m sure will pay off later.  Back in New York, Captain Atom is determined to stop the volcanic threat at the source.  The heat is producing too much energy for him to absorb (it isn’t yet established whether or not the New 52 Cap will “time bump” when absorbing too much energy [as he predecessor, the Modern Age Cap, did], but clearly there are limits to how much he can take in before harming himself).  He jumps into the volcano, trying to neutralize it at the source.  Although he does manage to “put out” the volcano, the heat begins to tear him apart and he can feel himself losing control.

As he melts down, he thinks to himself, “If this is the end, at least I died doing some good for once.”  Meaning what exactly?  Is this Nate also a war criminal?  Has he hurt people?  When the New 52 was introduced, the readers were tossed into the new books with their stories already in progress (for the most part).  After a year, DC launched a “zero month” with special issues that featured the character’s origin stories (although this wasn’t the case for Firestorm and some others, it was for Captain Atom).  This means we are fed little bits and pieces of Captain Atom’s history and abilities as the series progressed.  Of course, he didn’t die in this issue because there was a #2.  As well as 3-12 and #0.

I have to be honest.  This is not my favorite version of Captain Atom.  I don’t hate it.  Just not entirely in love with it.  I think he’s too much like Dr. Manhattan.  The original Cap was a brilliant scientist as well as an Air Force Captain.  He was almost omnipotent.  So was Dr. Manhattan.  The Modern Age Cap was just a soldier who gained powers.  And he had some serious limitations.  It is hard to get excited about a guy who can do practically anything.  That’s why I lost interest in Superman.  No real challenges for the heroes.  Also, at first, I was not super crazy about Freddie Williams artwork.  I thought it looked kind of sloppy.  It has since grown on me and I now think it is quite good.  It has a certain dark and ominous tone.  And J. T. Krull certainly had me hooked with the story.  I wanted to know more about Nate, more about Ranita, and was extremely curious to find out whether General Eiling or Major Force would return.  Or perhaps someone from Cap’s Silver or Bronze Age days.  Nightshade?  The Ghost?  Dare we hope, the Fiery Icer or Iron Arms?  One can dream.  I give this issue an A-.