Captain Atom #13 (February 1988)

Tags

Bob Smith, Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Chester King, Duncan Andrews, Enemy Ace, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Harris Eiling, Margaret Eiling/Peggy Adam, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Nansi Hoolahan, Nightshade, Pat Broderick, Randall Eiling/Randy Adam

“We Three Kings”

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

So this is Christmas for Captain Atom.  Morose and bittersweet.  I know a lot of Captain Atom fans are not Christian and do not necessarily celebrate December 25 as the birth of Christ, but Nathaniel Adam was raised Catholic.  So I apologize to anyone if they find anything about this post offensive, but I assure you I am not another pig-headed American trying to force his own religion or politics down anyone’s throat.  I see this as just a plot device.

For those of you who are Christian, I wish you a happy Christmas.  To those of you who aren’t, but still celebrate Christmas, a happy Christmas to you as well.  Also, happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, Boxing Day, Day of Goodwill, Slovenia Independence and Unity Day, HumanLight, and whatever significance this time of the year holds for you.

This issue of Captain Atom, cover dated March 1988, hit the spinner rack on December 8, 1987.  It introduced two new supporting cast members (Chester King and Harris Eling [the first Eiling I’ve actually genuinely liked]), and reunited Captain Atom with his old Charlton partner and girlfriend Nightshade (Eve Eden).  It also featured Enemy Ace, a strange character to be found in a Captain Atom book, but it works.

This issue opens with Nate standing on a bridge in a snowy park overlooking a small body of water on Christmas Eve.  He chucks his “Cameron Scott” ID into the water.  In Captain Atom Annual #1, Nate resigned from the Air Force.  He cut all ties with General Eiling, Dr. Megala, Lieutenant Allard, Major Force, and all the other knuckleheads associated with the Captain Atom Project.  But he’s still using the fake identity they provided him with.

Nate feels he is truly free of Eiling.  The General has been keeping Adam in line by threatening to tell Peggy and Randy the truth about their father.  But now Nate feels he has a card that trumps Eiling’s – Major Force.

Noting that the snow makes visibility in the park nearly zero, Nate transforms into Captain Atom, burning away his Air Force uniform in the process, and flies away.

Meanwhile, at his father’s home, General Eiling is stoking his fireplace and thinking about Captain Atom and Major Force.  He knows Nate thinks he has dirt on him, but Eiling also knows he still has dirt on Nate.  Captain Atom is the one, after all, who told the world Major Force’s “origin story.”  Nate can’t reveal the lie without admitting his own guilt.  And that would eventually unravel Captain Atom’s own story – the “big lie.”

So lost in thought is General Eiling that he does not hear his father calling him.  Harris (Eiling’s father) wants to know why his son is so preoccupied.  But Eiling tells his father he can’t discuss “matters pertaining to national security.”  Harris asks his son to try and put his worries aside so that they – and Randy and Peggy – can have a happy holiday.

Back in his apartment (probably in Washington, DC), Nate is going through his bills.  On the coffee table in front of him is the saddest looking Charlie Brown Christmas tree. The apartment is littered with bachelor trash and empty cans (but fear not, Captain Atom fans, it appears Nate has been binge-drinking soda – not beer).  His bank account is dwindling, his friends and family are all out of town, his wife is dead, and he’s sad and alone on Christmas Eve.  But he looks at the bright side – Eiling is no longer in his life.

At this point in the story we meet Chester King.  He’s a young, handsome, happy young man.  He’s on a pay phone with his wife, telling her he has to work late on Christmas Eve for “Mr. Wiley.”  He says he just has to run an errand for his boss and he’ll come straight home.  His wife, a beautiful raven-hared woman in a skimpy outfit, says she’ll keep the egg nog warm for him (gross).  Then Chester calls Mr. Wiley, thanking him for the generous bonus his employer has given him.  Mr. Wiley tells Chester that “the incendiary device” is identical to the type used by the “Black Cougars.”  (The Black Cougars must be the DCU equivalent of the Black Panthers.)

“When the tenement goes up,” assures Chester, “[The Black Cougars] will get all the blame… and you’ll get all the insurance benefits.”

So this “Mr. Wiley” and Chester are involved in some sort of insurance fraud scam.  Chester hangs up the pay phone and is approached by a homeless man who says his name is Bubba.  He asks Chester for a quarter and Chester gives Bubba a wad of bills.

Back at the Eiling house, Randy and Peggy are frolicking in the snow while Harris watches from a window.  He tells General Eiling it reminds him of the first Christmas he spent with them after his son married Angela Adam.  Harris quickly realizes his son isn’t listening to him; he is on the phone with Allard.  General Eiling shoos his father out of the room, citing “national security” again.

Next we see Nate walking the streets of D.C. (and he identifies it as Washington, D.C., so mystery solved!) in a foul mood.  He has no one to spend the holiday with, thinking to himself that even Dr. Megala and Babylon are with friends.  He is also approached by the homeless Bubba, asking him for a dollar.  Nate gives Bubba a quarter, saying it is all he can spare.

Chester King, meanwhile, is breaking into the abandoned tenement, setting the explosives while thinking to himself how happy his wife is going to be with his bonus and a surprise trip to the Bahamas.  He refers to the condemned building as “the Dixie,” and that it is an eyesore anyway.

Bubba and his homeless brethren are enjoying a bit of liquor around their barrel fire and a Christmas tree that is even more pathetic than Nate’s.  Bubba’s friends ask if he has somewhere better to be.  To this, Bubba replies, “Better than this?  There was a time… when only the creme de la creme of the rich and famous could even get into the ballroom of the Dixie Hotel on the night before Christmas.”

Chester bursts into his favorite watering hole, Smitty’s Bar, buying a round for everyone there.  In a dark corner sits the morose Nathaniel Adam, feeling out of place.  Even here, in a bar, we don’t see Nate drinking alcohol or beer.  I guess it wasn’t super-hero-like to be depressed and drinking.  But didn’t Tony Stark (Iron Man) have a well-documented drinking problem?  Not to mention Green Arrow’s pal Speedy being a heroin junkie.  I guess Bates and Weisman wanted to keep Captain Atom light by not showing him drinking.  However, he is clearly holding a beer on the cover.  I’m overthinking this.

Back at the Eiling house, Harris is regaling Peggy and Randy with a tale from his own RAF days.  Stuck in the skies over Germany in World War I with a fuel leak in his Nieuport 10, Harris encountered Hans von Hammer – a.k.a Enemy Ace.  Faulty plane or not, Harris couldn’t pass up a chance to shoot down the German who had racked up “close to 70 kills since the war began.”  Von Hammer, in a brilliant aerial maneuver, looped over Harris and became the pursuer rather than the pursued.  But Enemy Ace never fired on Harris Eiling.  He saw that the Nieuport was disabled and let the RAF pilot go.  He even gave Eiling a salute.  It was against his “battle code” to take down a disabled opponent.  But Harris didn’t live by the same code, and fired on Enemy Ace with his sidearm in vain.  Later in life, he regretted taking those shots.  He felt it was dishonorable.

General Eiling gets really pissed off by his father’s revelation.  He calls it the biggest load of crap he’s ever heard.  He says his father has gone soft and is senile.  He storms out into the snow without putting on a coat.

At Smitty’s Bar, a man crashes in, saying the old Dixie Hotel is on fire.  The patrons go out to watch the fire.  Someone comments on “those poor squatters.”  This alarms Chester.  Mr. Wiley never mentioned squatters.  The onlookers try to organize a rescue but don’t know what they can do.  Except one of those onlookers knows exactly what to do – Nathaniel Adam.

As Nate ducks into an alley to do his super-hero switcheroo, Chester sees a man on fire run from the building.  He throws the man into the snow, smothering the flames with his coat.  With horror, Chester realizes the man is Bubba, and watches him die.  That is when the full scope of what he’s done hits him.  His friends pull him away from Bubba just as Captain Atom bursts on the scene.

Nate thinks to himself that, even though he’s been super-heroing for over a year, this feels like his first time out.  He protects some of the squatters from falling debris before absorbing the smoke and flames.

At the Eiling house, the General is holding his hand over the flame in the fireplace.  He tells his father he will not tolerate any more “weak-willed molly-coddling” in front of his children – especially Randy.  Neither the General nor his father realize that Randy is listening to their conversation, looking a little distressed.

In D.C., firefighters are finishing up at the Dixie.  One of the men returns Chester’s coat, calling Bubba a “bum,”which angers Chester.  He walks home, despondent over what he has done.  Passing a bell-ringer collecting money for charity, Chester drops $5,000 into the man’s bucket.

At Smitty’s, the patrons are lifting Captain Atom up and cheering him.  Nate thinks he’s never felt so close to being a real super-hero.  A blonde woman in the bar flirts with Cap.  She says she’s Eve Eden, and that she and Cap have a mutual “uncle” who asked her to keep an eye on him.  Nate asks her out and they walk out of the bar, hand-in-hand.  Eve Eden is, of course, Nightshade.

Like I said, morose and bittersweet.  Bates and Weisman really captured how lonely it is to be Captain Atom.  He’s missed 18 years and life went on without him.  His children don’t even think of him or seem to miss him on this holiday.  It is really kind of touching.  I really loved this issue.  We have Nate sad and lonely, yet happy he’s free, the return of Nightshade into his life, the introduction of one of my favorite and little-used supporting characters (Harris Eiling), and Enemy Ace.  And I have absolutely nothing negative to say about Pat Brodericks artwork.  I think this may be one of my favorite issues of Captain Atom. A+

The cover alone warrants an A+.

Advertisement

Captain Atom Annual #1 (1988)

Tags

Bob Smith, Captain Atom, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, Duncan Andrews, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Major Force, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick, Randall Eiling/Randy Adam

“The Dark Side of the Force”

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

Although this annual is cover-dated “1988,” it probably should have been the 1987 annual.  It picks up where Captain Atom #12 left off, and was on sale November 24, 1987.  But because comic books are dated 2-3 months after they are published (as are magazines, and I never knew why), this was the 1988 annual.  When annual #2 was published nine months later, it also bore the date “1988.”  So Captain Atom looks like it had two annuals in 1988 when really it was one in 1987 and one in 1988.

Confused?  Me too.

The annual opens to a radio broadcast in a small unnamed community.  Several listeners have reported a UFO in the skies that seems to have gone down in a nearby abandoned limestone quarry.  The DJ suggests that it all just some sort of government plot.  How right he is.

Meanwhile, in his apartment (I think maybe he lives in Washington, DC, but it hasn’t really been established with any certainty yet), Nathaniel Adam is awakened by a phone call.  General Eiling is ordering Captain Atom to investigate the crashed UFO.  Nate seems none too interested until Eiling tells him that Randy will be there.

Indeed, Majestic Squadron is on its way to the quarry via helicopter.  Randy is cracking jokes just like his dad used to do before a dangerous op.  Doctor Megala and General Eiling are watching Randy and Captain Atom’s individual progresses as they head for the crashed ship.

Captain Atom is first to arrive on the scene (aside from some locals).  He touches down in front of the large silver craft as it begins to open.  Cap tries to welcome the aliens to Earth, but the response he gets is an angry rock-man flying out of the open hatch (this is the fellow we met in Captain Atom #12, Clifford Zmeck – aka Major Force).  He lands and then stands before Cap, towering over him.  Nate tells the “alien” that he is his friend, impressing the locals who are watching (Nate is not in the loop – unaware that this alien is actually an Air Force Sergeant).  The alien smacks Cap, sending him flying.

So Cap gets pissed.  He tried the “diplomatic” approach.  Next he tries the “blasting quantum death into the face of the enemy” approach.  The locals cheer for Captain Atom as Megala and Eiling monitor the Major’s vitals.  When Cap goes to investigate the rock face he embedded the Major into, he is blasted by black matter.  Major Force leaps at Captain Atom, calling him “dork face.”

It is the use of the phrase “dork face” that tips Nate off that maybe this dude isn’t an alien after all.  Eiling is proud of “Mr. Zmeck.”  He poses a threat to Captain Atom that Nate hasn’t had to face yet.  Zmeck manipulates matter the way Nate manipulates energy.  It is a welcome surprise to Eiling.  Megala says the use of matter instead of energy could be from the amount of alien metal used on Zmeck, or the lower mega-tonnage of the nuclear device used; or even a variable they don’t even know.

Local news has picked up the battle, which appears to be at a stalemate.  Megala warns Eiling that Zmeck is about to enter his final molting stage.  Eiling orders his man at the scene to step in.

At the scene of the “crash,” a man dressed as an Air Force Major (but wearing green goggle-like glasses that Pat Broderick seems to love drawing) bursts into the crowd of onlookers, saying “My pal, the Captain, needs help.”  He repels into the quarry before the camera crew can get a good look at him.

Zmeck encases Captain Atom in a ball of matter.  Cap tries to break free, but can only manage to get his head and hand out before passing out (from exhaustion I guess).  The mysterious Major has Zmeck in his sights and fires his rifle at the beast just as the final molting process begins.  He then charges at Zmeck, who picks him up to break his back.  Zmeck passes out and the quarry fills with a thick black smoke that obscures the view from above.

Captain Atom revives and sees the alien ship open once more.  General Eiling and Dr. Megala emerge.  A medical team dressed in haz-mat suits check on Zmeck and the mysterious Major (who is actually Lieutenant Martin Allard).  Cap bursts out of his prison, angry that he was used by his superiors.  He says he’d heard rumors of a second experiment with the alien metal.  Eiling explains Major Force Project to Cap (which we learned about in Captain Atom #12).  He tells Cap that the “alien ship” is going to explode and he expects Nate to absorb the flames.  Megala makes a lame apology to Nate for using him like this.  He says Eiling threatened to simply kill Zmeck upon his arrival if Megala didn’t play along.

Cap asks Megala to “please just get out of my sight.”  The doctor follows Eiling into a tunnel that will protect the team from the blast.  The smoke clears just as Majestic Squadron shows up.  Randall Eiling requests a meeting with Captain Atom.  Nate ignores his son (much to his own disgust), picks up Major Force, and flies away.  He pauses long enough to absorb the explosion of the “space craft,” per General Eiling’s orders, before leaving the scene altogether.

Over the next few days, news programs report what little info they have on the crash.  The Air Force isn’t releasing any details, and the identity of the mysterious Major, Captain Atom’s “friend,” is still unknown.  Back at the base, Major Force has been debriefed and has a symbol etched onto his metal skin.  He doesn’t like the implants that monitor his every move or the Delta-9 gas pellets or the head-blowing-off explosives.  Megala doesn’t trust Zmeck but Eiling feels he has complete control over the Major.

Later, Captain Atom holds a press conference.  He explains that Major Force is his ally, an amalgam of the alien and his mysterious Major friend.

Over the course of the next ten days, it becomes clear what a menace General Eiling has unleashed upon the world.  In trying to stop up a breach in the Carson Dam (in Nevada, maybe?), Major Force inadvertently causes the crash of a rescue helicopter and the deaths of everyone on board.  Afterwards he is indignant with witnesses and brags about the thousands of lives he’d saved.  Later, when Major Force responds to a hostage crisis at a “downtown tenement building” (the city is still not identified), he guts the building, sending hostage-takers and hostages alike flying to the ground.  They end up in a local hospital’s ICU.

In an effort to distance himself from Major Force, Captain Atom appears on a news program called Newsprobe.  He apologizes to the public for unleashing Force upon them.  He pleads with Force to curtail future use of his powers.  Eiling, watching the broadcast while on the phone with Megala, thinks he can still spin the Major Force story positively.

Outside the studio, Major Force confronts Captain Atom.  He tells Cap that he’s right – Zmeck has no business being a super-hero.  Upon Force’s request, Cap gives him a lift to the base to see Eiling and Megala (Major Force does not have the ability to fly).  As they approach the base, Force grabs Cap around the neck.  Cap flips Major Force, pissed off that he has been drawn into Eiling’s insane plans.  He thinks to himself, “Never again!”

It appears that, due to his size and strength, Force begins to get the upper-hand.  However, just as he is about to blast Cap with matter, Allard uses the implanted explosives to blow off Major Force’s left hand.  Cap realizes Force is fitted with microphones, cameras, and explosives.  Eiling chides Allard, saying he was supposed to release gas, not blow off the Major’s hand.

“Sorry,” says Allard, “wrong button. Gas activated now.”  (Martin Allard has reason to hate Clifford Zmeck – the Air Force Sergeant killed Allard’s mother in 1969.)

The gas knocks the Major out.  Nate thinks to himself that Eiling made two mistakes.  The first was to underestimate how mentally unstable Zmeck was.  The second was to get Captain Atom involved in the first mistake.  Nate uses concentrated quantum blasts to etch something on Major Force’s chest before tossing the unconscious “super-hero” into Eiling’s headquarters.

Force crashes into Megala’s lab in front of General Eiling, Lieutenant Allard, and Dr. Megala.  Etched on Zmeck’s chest are the words, “I QUIT!”

I vividly remember the first time I read this issue, back in 1987.  It blew my poor little fifteen-year-old mind (for reasons I will clarify when I review Captain Atom #15… How’s that for foreshadowing?).  It was an exciting story.  I loved the idea of another quantum powered dude out there, a less-intelligent Moriarty to Captain Atom’s Sherlock Holmes.  I don’t know why Greg Weisman started shouldering the writing responsibility with Cary Bates, but they seemed to be a good team.  And Pat Broderick and Bob Smith did a great job.  An A effort all around.

This was another important milestone in Captain Atom’s history, although I did not realize it at the time I first read it.  From 1960 to 1975, Cap only appeared in 24 comics as a major character.  That’s just 24 issues spread out over 15 years (and two of those appearances were just in fanzines).  He was always on the fringe of the DC Universe from the time he was purchased from Charlton Comics.  He was included in the Crisis on Infinite Earths mini-series but not as a major player.  He really came into his own with this particular series, and was popular enough to warrant two annuals.  I remember (not knowing about the character’s history pre-1987) being anxious about how this was all going to play out when I was a kid.  Rereading this annual transported me back to simpler times in my life, when my $8 a week allowance was blown at Komix Kastle the day I got it.  Ah, youth.

Captain Atom #12 (February 1988)

Tags

Augustin Mas, Bob Smith, Captain Atom, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, General Eiling, Greg Weisman, Major Force, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Nansi Hoolahan, Pat Broderick, Randall Eiling/Randy Adam

“Sweet Dreams Major Force”

• Writers: Cary Bates & Greg Weisman
• Pencils:  Pat Broderick
• Inks:  Bob Smith
• Colors:  Nansi Hoolahan
• Letters:  Agustin Mas

What do you do when you create a super-hero so powerful he could give the God-like Superman a run for his money?  Who can you pit such a character against?  You can’t have him butting heads with other super-heroes all the time, can you?  No.  You create an all-new super-villain with comparable powers as a foil.  But first you try to pass him off as a super-hero.  And hope he never stuffs anyone’s dead girlfriend into a refrigerator.

It was November 3, 1987 that this issue was published (cover dated February 1988).  Captain Atom was no longer a freshman in the DC Universe.  It was the 38th appearance of the character since his reboot a year prior.  He’d made a name for himself in the pages of his own book and had played an essential role in Millennium.  Time for the Captain to face a new and deadly foe…

But not yet.  That’s still to come in Captain Atom Annual #1.  This issue is merely paving the way.

It begins in a lab.  A creature, referred to as “the Major,” is being monitored by General Eiling and Dr. Megala.  His temperature is 214 degrees Celsius and his weight is 505.46 pounds.  He is some distance away, being tracked from afar in a mobile lab.  Dr. Megala indicates that the Major is journeying through the quantum field, just as Nathaniel Adam did.  Nate’s arrival a year before was unexpected.  The Major, it seems, was expected.  The gear tracking him is all underground.  Eiling indicates that they are, indeed, prepared for “Major Force,” thanks to data they collected from Captain Atom’s trip through the quantum field.

Major Force materializes underground in the same molten stage Nate was in when he arrived.  Eiling wastes no time and hits the Major with Delta-9 gas, instantly incapacitating the Major.  Allard operates a winch to pull the Major to the surface.  He awakens just as they are lowering him into a truck, where he is hit with more gas and knocked out again.  Eiling showers Allard with praise, saying he knew he was the right man for the job.  It seems odd at first, but makes sense later on.

Allard’s mind wanders to a time when he was a child.  He was hiding in a closet in his home.  He opens the door slightly, obviously frightened.  All he can hear are “her” screams.

This scene parallels a memory Nate is having at the same time.  A young boy hiding in a closet; hiding from his father.  This young boy, though, is Randy Adam.  He is not hiding in fear.  He is playing hide-and-seek with his father, whom he calls “the greatest.”  This is the memory Nate’s mind is wandering over as he is being transported via helicopter to the Arctic headquarters of “Project Majestic.”

Nate (still using the name “Cameron Scott”) is paying a visit to his son Randy (aka Randall Eiling).  He hasn’t yet seen his son since he emerged from the quantum field with super powers.  He’s reconnected with his daughter Peggy but Randy considers his birth father a traitor and murderer.  As soon as he touches down and gets into the facility, he and his pilot see rushing soldiers and red flashing lights.  There is some kind of trouble in the field, where Randy currently is.

Back at Project Captain Atom, Lieutenant Allard, General Eiling, and Dr. Megala are overseeing the Major’s preparations.  While he is still in his “molten” stage, they are having microphones and cameras implanted within the Major’s (soon-to-be) metal skin.  He also has 63 Delta-9 micro-gas pellets implanted in his brow so he can be easily subdued.  Eiling isn’t taking any chances with this character.  He doesn’t want another Nate, disobeying orders left and right while being insubordinate.  He is also being implanted with an explosive in his neck, so that if becomes too unstable or dangerous they can literally blow his head off. Megala clearly doesn’t like it.  Allard clearly agrees with Eiling that the Major needs to remain under their constant control but still looks angry as he observes the operation.

Back at Project Majestic, the control room is abuzz.  They are tracking an unknown object and see that the Russians are tracking the same object.  Three Soviet tanks are headed for the object and it appears they will reach it before the Majestic team will.  Visibility in the blizzard outside is near zero.  When Nate’s pilot turns to address him, he discovers that Captain Scott has left the room.

Nate is out in the snow.  He “knows” someone who can help Randall Eilings team… the “silver guy.”  Randy, aboard a snow crawler called a “Locus,” determines that the object is broadcasting an energy signal into the sky at regular intervals.  It is clearly sending a signal to someone or something.  They find the object, which appears to be a small red probe of some kind.  It appears to be extra-terrestrial.

Captain Atom appears overhead, but doesn’t take any action at first.  He observes the American soldiers exiting their Locus and approaching the probe.  They are unaware that they are also being watched by a Soviet tank crew.  Eiling’s team does eventually spot the tank, but Eiling continues toward the probe.  Captain Atom admires his son’s “stones.”  Cap knows that the Soviets in general would want to avoid a confrontation, but the tank crew might not be so level-headed.  Also wary of starting an international incident, Cap burrows under the ice so he won’t be seen.  Cap melts the ice under the now two tanks on the scene and they sink.  One of the tank commanders calls for air support.

The probe has stopped broadcasting.  Eiling’s team have collected it and are hurrying toward the Locus when the Soviet plane arrives.  Their orders are simple.  If “Mother Russia” can’t have the probe, then no one can.  They open fire on the Majestic men, but Captain Atom absorbs the blast, hidden by cloud cover and the blizzard.  Randy thinks he sees something in the sky as he closes the hatch on the Locus.  The plane makes another pass, ready to fire its four remaining missiles.  Nate is seriously ticked off.  He does the “eye flare” thing as he retaliates.

Captain Atom blasts the plane, destroying it.  The pilot appears to be killed.  Super-heroes aren’t supposed to kill people, even Soviet soldiers.  What’s that about?  Superman wouldn’t have killed the pilot.

Back at Project Majestic’s base, Randy is clearly not impressed by Nate’s presence.  He refers to his father as “Captain Scott,” and shows him the respect he would to any officer that outranks him (Randy is a lieutenant).  Nate asks his son to not stand on ceremony with him as he is Randy’s father.  “Depends on your point of view, sir,” replies Randy.

Before walking out on Nate, Randy agrees to pass judgement on his father until Nate has a chance to “prove [his] side of things.”  But he also clearly has no interest in maintaining any sort of relationship with his father.  Randy is truly “General Eiling’s Man.”

The story then cuts back to Allard’s childhood memory.  He emerges from the darkened closet, terrified.  His mother has stopped screaming, but the “big man” is making sounds.  He watches in horror as the “big man” chokes his mother to death.  He doesn’t understand what he is seeing, but it will never go away.

The nightmare never ended for Allard.  The man who killed his mother was Clifford Zmeck, a former supply sergeant for the 601st Airborne, U.S. Air Force.  He was convicted of the rape and murder of Elaine Allard in 1969, sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole.  After the apparent death of Nathaniel Adam, a new test subject was needed.  Zmeck was not a volunteer like Nate.  Almost a year to the day, the experiment that gave Nate his powers was recreated with Zmeck. 200% more alien alloy was used on Zmeck but the result was the same.  He appeared to be killed.

Of course, he was transported to the future just like Nate.  And in the lab, as Zmeck’s body lays prone in the next room, General Eiling confronts Lieutenant Allard.  He tells Allard he has read Allard’s file.  He knows Martin’s motivation for being involved in the Captain Atom/Major Force Projects.  He says he understands why Allard’s finger is hovering over the button that will detonate the charge in the Major’s neck, and wouldn’t blame Allard if he did it.

General Eiling refers to Martin Allard as “the true son of my heart.”  He has a proposition for Allard.  Whether Martin accepts or not, Eiling promises him that when the time comes, Allard will be the one who ends Major Force’s life.

To be continued in Captain Atom Annual #1.

This was an important issue.  Nate finally comes face-to-face with his estranged son.  Major Force emerges from the quantum field.  We get Allard’s back story.  It is great except for one thing.  The violent imagery doesn’t seem entirely necessary.  Did we really have to see Zmeck kill Allard’s mom?  I don’t argue that the image was powerful, and it did leave an impression on my fifteen-year-old mind when I saw it.  I just think maybe Broderick could have cut the panel short at Zmeck’s wrists.  And what’s with Cap killing that Russian pilot?  I know he was trying to kill Randy, but there were dozens of ways Nate could have subdued the pilot without killing him.  This issue was just so violent.  I give the story a C but Broderick’s art an A.  I mean, violent or not, unnecessary or not, that was a mighty powerful image.

Captain Atom #8 (October 1987)

Tags

Babylon, Bob Smith, Captain Atom, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Dr. Megala, Duncan Andrews, General Eiling, Jeffrey "Goz" Goslin, Margaret Eiling/Peggy Adam, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick, Plastique, Randall Eiling/Randy Adam, Ronald Reagan, The Cambodian

“Live or Let Die?”

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

The first thing to strike me about this book is the cover.  It is an homage to Michelangelo’s Pietà sculpture housed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.  The statue depicts Mary holding Jesus after he has been crucified.  In this case it is Plastique holding Captain Atom after he has been cut open by the Cambodian.  This touches on a running theme with this incarnation of Captain Atom; he was raised Catholic.  That really comes in to play heavily about thirty issues down the line.  We’ll get there.

As this is a continuation from Captain Atom #7, we are treated with a quick refresher.  Cap is passed out after releasing a bunch of energy from his cut.  Plastique is standing over him, contemplating killing him.

Plastique refers to Captain Atom as the only man who has bested her in a fight.  Is she forgetting Firestorm?  Or does he not count because Ronnie Raymond is a teenager?  Probably she just has a very selective memory.

As she stands over Cap, savoring this moment when she will kill him, a group of armed Cambodians in red shirts and caps emerge from the jungle and approach the Samurai.  He comes to and orders his men to kill Plastique and Captain Atom.  They open fire, but Plastique quickly picks up Cap’s unconscious body and uses him as a shield.

Plastique kills the soldiers with her pink energy blast but the Cambodian is protected by his X-Ionized shield and armor.  She uses her blasts to topple a tree on top of the Cambodian, the picks up Captain Atom’s inert body and carries him deeper into the jungle.

Meanwhile, in General Eiling’s office, he and his stepson Randall are playing chess.  Randy wins just as his tearful sister Peggy bursts in and throws her jacket at the board.  She is upset that Randy and the General don’t care that Captain Scott (aka her father Nathaniel Adam) hasn’t been heard from.  Eiling tries to calm her, but she knows neither the General nor her brother give a damn about Nate.  Randy catches her in the hallway after she storms out and hands her a transcript of Nate’s trial.  He wants her to read it cover-to-cover to find out “exactly what kind of man Nathaniel Adam really was.”

Now, I may be reading too much into this, but Randy’s use of the word “was” seems to indicate – on some level – that he may think his father isn’t the criminal he always believed he was.  Like a part of him desperately wants to believe Nate has or can redeem himself.  I’m probably stretching here.  I really want to like Randy but Cary Bates isn’t making it easy.

Back in Cambodia, every time Plastique stops to rest she notices that Captain Atom’s condition seems to have worsened.  He’s feverish and his wound appears to be bubbling with what looks like lava.  She has no idea what to do for him.  Why does she care?  Perhaps she sees him as her only way out of the jungle.

She finds shelter in a cave just in time to miss a downpour.  She doesn’t think Captain Atom will live through the night.  She watches him sleep, wondering if there is anything she can do about his wound.  She finally decides to attempt using her own powers and cauterize the cut and burn away any infected tissue.  She does so, causing Captain Atom to sit up and scream in pain and revert to his human appearance.

Plastique recognizes Cameron Scott, but already suspected he was Captain Atom.  As he lays there, curled in the fetal position and naked, Plastique approaches him with her right hand charging with power.  She hates both Cameron Scott and Captain Atom.  Now would be a prime time to kill him, in his weakened human form.  She flashes back to a time after her last encounter with Cap.

She was being transferred from Belle Reve Prison in Louisiana to a maximum security prison in Ontario.  The transport was ambushed and Plastique was freed by her comrades, who then dissolve their relationship with her.  That is why she put her terrorist skills on the open market and how she came to be in Cambodia.

Nate awakens the next day, surprised to find himself with Plastique.  He is equally shocked when he realizes he is naked and that she knows his secret identity.  She outfits him with a stolen Cambodian uniform and they begin trekking through the jungle.  She explains that she kept him alive because she knows he is an expert on the Cambodian terrain (she learned this when watching his group and reading their lips).  As they hike along, Nate tells her she knows what he must do once he is strong enough to transform again.  While she doesn’t admire his directness, she is glad she kept him alive.  They make good time.

As they climb the Dangrek Mountains, Nate tells her they’ll be in Thailand soon.  Plastique then decides she will kill him.  But she loses her footing and slips, nearly falling over a cliff.  Nate catches her by the wrist and hangs on, halting her fall.  He can’t keep hold of her without transforming and she warns him this might rip open his wound.

Disregarding the consequences, he transforms and lifts her up.  The wound didn’t open.  Captain Atom says, apart from a little numbness, he feels fine.  He seems to be able to heal at a rapid rate (New power!).  Plastique decides it would not be prudent to kill him now, but will wait until they are out of Cambodia.  They continue hiking (But why?  Can’t he just fly them out now?).

Just as Plastique is preparing to attack, Captain Atom sees something behind her and pushes her to safety. It is the Samurai (the Cambodian), who narrowly misses taking Plastique’s head off.  Cap dropkicks him, but he regains his balance using his sword and amazing reflexes.  The Cambodian smacks Cap in the face with his shield.  He blasts back but the shield protects the warlord.  Plastique decides now would be a good time to head for Thailand.

Captain Atom jumps and narrowly misses being cut in half, but the Cambodian grabs his ankle and slams him to the ground, dazing Cap.  As the Cambodian prepares to slice Cap in half from the rear, Cap reaches back and blasts him in the face with two-fisted quantum fury.  The Cambodian goes down, but one of his soldiers emerges from the jungle and opens fire.  Plastique returns and takes the soldier out before he can hit Cap’s wound and reopen it.  The two hightail it to Thailand.

Back stateside, Eiling is receiving his third star from none other than President Reagan.  Babylon and Dr. Megala are in attendance as well, though they don’t seem pleased.

Megala and his assistant feel Eiling’s third star is not deserved.  Babylon notices that Randy and Peggy have ducked out of the ceremony early.

Randy is upset with his sister because she maintains her father’s innocence even after reading the transcript.  She says all it did was strengthen her belief that someone framed Nathaniel Adam.  She throws the report at her brother and storms away.

In a little Thai village, Nate meets up with Goz, who was waiting for his friend’s arrival.  Plastique blends in with the villagers, but not before Goz spots her.  Nate pretends he doesn’t see Plastique.  Goz isn’t buying this and disapproves but lets it go.  The two soldiers board a helicopter and fly away, watched by Plastique.

This was a fun (if wordy) issue.  Not a lot of action but what is there is splendid.  The Cambodian, with his X-Ionized sword and lightning-quick reflexes, is a worthy adversary for Captain Atom.  And I really like the vulnerability Cap showed (not that he had much choice; he was unconscious through most of the book).  And the stage has been set for a few interesting things to be resolved (Randy’s devotion to Eiling, Peggy’s devotion to Nate, and the uneasy alliance between Plastique and Captain Atom).  Cary Bates told a good tale and managed to make Plastique a lot less two-dimensional.  And Pat Broderick knocked it out of the park with the cover alone.  A+

Captain Atom #7 (September 1987)

Tags

Bob Smith, Carl Gafford, Cary Bates, Duncan Andrews, General Eiling, General Hillary, Jeffrey "Goz" Goslin, Margaret Eiling/Peggy Adam, Martin Allard, Modern Age Captain Atom, Pat Broderick, Plastique, Randall Eiling/Randy Adam, Steve Trevor, The Cambodian, X-Ionizer

“The Cutting Edge”

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

This issue opens with Captain Cameron Scott in a flight simulator with Colonel Steve Trevor.  He is training for a mission so secret he knows nothing about it.  He chokes, causing the simulator to “crash.”  Trevor seems to have some confidence in Scott’s abilities, although Scott says he’s “no top gun.”

This bugs me because TOPGUN is the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, and Scott is in the Air Force, not the Navy.  I’m probably just splitting hairs here.  I’m sure Cary Bates figured it was an Air Force term because it is associated with pilots.  The Navy isn’t the first thing to leap to one’s mind when thinking of pilots.

Trevor refuses to give Scott any details about the mission.  He orders Scott to do eight more hours in the simulator.  Scott begins to wonder how his regular boss, General Eiling, will react to his being sent on a secret mission; does he know or will he consider Scott to be AWOL?

Of course, that is exactly what Eiling thought, as he reveals to Allard at the shooting range.  And he is highly ticked off that General Hillary tagged Scott for this mission “behind Eiling’s back.”  He’s afraid that Captain Atom’s secret identity will be compromised, but a quick phone call to the White House should get Scott off the mission.  And speaking of the White House, Allard has a communique from the oval office for Eiling.  Eiling has been promoted to a three star general, with a ceremony to be held the following Friday.  Eiling decides not to make that call to the president after all.  He doesn’t want Cameron Scott showing up to his three-star-general party.

*

Later, in Hillary’s office, Colonel Trevor and Captain Scott are finally being briefed.  He begins by pulling a paper airplane out of his briefcase.  He says it has been “treated” by an apparatus called the X-Ionizer.  The plane has a metallic sheen.  Tossing it toward a nearby metal filing cabinet, Hillary demonstrates that it can easily cut through any surface.

The problem is that the X-Ionizer was lost over Cambodia in 1969 when it was being transported to the West.  It was believed lost forever, destroyed in the plane crash.  However, over the past year, reports of X-Ionized objects have been turning up in Cambodia.  It has come into the possession of Ian Rydley, an ex-mercenary with “strong pro-West sentiments,” and he wants to hand it over to the United States.  To avoid setting off an international incident, Trevor and Scott are to fly stealth planes into Cambodia to pick up the device.  Scott was tagged because his file indicates he is an expert on Cambodian terrain.  From Scott’s perspective, it has not been that long since he has been in Cambodia, as Captain Nathaniel Adam.  Scott seems somewhat taken aback by the revelation that he must return to Cambodia, thinking “after all these years it has come back to haunt me.”

*

Later, strolling through a public park, Nate is telling Peggy and Goz horrible jokes.  This worries Peggy, because her mother told her Nate would always do that before a dangerous mission.  Goz says, “She’s on to us.”  Peggy just asks her father to promise he’ll come home.  Nate says he is coming back and that is a promise he will never break again.

*

45 hours and 7,800 miles later, two stealth planes streak towards the East, piloted by Captain Scott and Colonel Trevor.  With them is Goz and a Lieutenant Barker.  They spot three tails on their radar and lose them in some clouds.  They watch as three Russian MiGs pass them by.  17 hours later, they are in Cambodian air space and 25 hours later they are on the ground.  After all that time in those planes, their asses must have been really sore.

Nearby, a woman is watching the team.  She thinks to herself (in French) that the “younger man with the prematurely white hair” looks like an operative she left to die in Toronto several months back.  Reading Trevor’s lips, she discovers that it is, indeed, Captain Scott.  Careful readers will realize this woman is Plastique, whom Captain Atom tangled with once before.

*

After a six-mile trek through the jungle, Trevor’s team comes up Ian Rydley’s jeep.  It has been cut in half and Rydley is dying in the road.  He says, “s-spare… spare… spare,” before dying, which Barker thinks is his way of asking Trevor to kill him.  But he promptly dies anyway.  There is no sign of the X-Ionizer and Trevor remarks that the jeep was cut clean through, as if with a laser (get with the program, Trevor).  Before they have a chance to work it out, they hear loud explosions in the distance.

A kilometer or two away, Plastique is blasting someone, demanding the X-Ionizer.  Whomever he is drops the X-Ionizer but appears to been blown some distance away because of his blast-resistant shield.  Plastique indicates that she witnessed this stranger cutting the jeep in half. She goes over in her head her plans to sell the device to the Trike Corporation, unaware that an armored swordsman is approaching her from behind.

*

The team witnesses the swordsman taking a swing at Plastique, slicing her jaunty panama hat in two, narrowly missing taking her head off.  She drops the X-Ionizer.  As she blasts at the Samurai, Trevor and Barker retrieve the case.  It is empty.  Remembering Rydley’s dying words, he and Barker hoof it back to the jeep.

*

Witnessing the battle between Plastique and the mysterious Samurai from a different location, Goz loses track of Nate.  He realizes what his friend is off to do (Goslin knows Adam/Scott is Captain Atom, but Atom doesn’t know he knows).  Sure enough, Captain Atom launches into action.  Meanwhile, Trevor and Barker recover the real X-Ionizer from the “spare” tire on Rydley’s jeep.  Captain Atom stands between Plastique and the swordsman, lecturing her but not watching his back.  Much to his surprise, the Samurai swings his sword and manages to cut Atom’s metal skin.

Captain Atom punches the swordsman in the face before collapsing in a painful explosion.

And it is established right here that when the Modern Age Captain Atom’s shell is punctured, there is a release of energy.  It isn’t the power of a hundred (or even one) nuclear explosions.  It is big and it is bad but it isn’t end-of-the-world-bad.  That little bit of Captain Atom lore is retconned in later.

*

Meanwhile, Trevor and Barker have inexplicably made it back to the jets.  Barker promptly puts a gun to Colonel Trevor’s back.  He takes the X-Ionizer for “his government,” fully believing that between Plastique and “the Warlord,” Scott and Goslin are most likely dead.  He pulls the pin on a grenade and lobs it at Nate and Goz’s jet.  The stealth plane blows apart.

*

Barker explains that “his government” will use the X-Ionizer to create an unstoppable army of soldiers and machines.  He says they also want Steve Trevor, and orders the Colonel to board the remaining jet.  Barker doesn’t realize Trevor has surreptitiously grabbed a jagged piece of metal from the destroyed jet.  While Barker is trying to get Trevor onto the other plane, Trevor lashes out and cuts Barker’s throat.

*

Colonel Trevor comes upon an unconscious Goz in the jungle (most likely knocked out when Captain Atom exploded).  He awakens the Sergeant, who is not clear on what happened.  It is Goz who convinces Trevor to leave Captain Scott behind, knowing that they are all expendable and the retrieval of the X-Ionizer is the mission’s top priority.  He says Scott knows the terrain and is tougher than Trevor might think.

*

Back at the base, Peggy enters General Eiling’s office to find her brother Randy waiting there.  Their happy reunion is cut short when Randy says he is aware of Nathaniel Adam’s return and wants nothing to do with “the traitor.”  He says the only father who should matter to either of them is Eiling.  He says he hopes Cameron Scott/Nathaniel Adam never makes it back from his current mission.  Eiling seems extremely pleased at his stepson’s reaction.

*

Wow.  Very little Captain Atom in this issue of Captain Atom.  I like it.  It reminds me of the early Charlton days when Adam sometimes dabbled in espionage.  I also like the character of the Cambodian (although the Samurai is never referred to as such in this issue, he is later called “the Cambodian’).  Here’s a guy who can actually deal Cap some damage and does so without super powers.  I give this story an A.  And Broderick and Smith’s art is great.  Sometimes the book is a little light on the backgrounds, but I like Pat Broderick’s style when drawing the Captain.  I give the art an A, too.

*

It was upon reading this issue that I realized I have been spelling “Goz” wrong all along.  I have been writing it as “Gos,” clearly ignoring what Cary Bates wrote back in ’87.  I just thought I’d acknowledge that little mistake of mine.

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.