Captain Atom #87 (August 1967)

Tags

A. Machine, Abby Ladd, Bronze Age Captain Atom, David Kaler, Fiery Icer, Gunner, Nightshade, Rocke Mastroserio, Steve Ditko

“The Menace of the Fiery Icer”

• Writer: David Kaler
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letters: A Machine

In my review of Captain Atom #86, I said I wanted a Cap solo adventure, not another team-up with Nightshade.  Well, I got my wish.  But Nightshade is still here, in a back-up story as Blue Beetle now has his own title (the series ran from June 1967 to November 1968 but was only five issues).

This issue begins with Allen Adam and his buddy Gunner stationed at a missile tracking station in the Caribbean.  They are taking a dip in the ocean after work when Adam spots a swimmer in trouble (being approached by sharks to be exact).  Adam leaps to the rescue, transforming into Captain Atom.

Captain Atom punches and kicks the sharks as Gunner swims the man to safety.  Yeah, that’s right.  Captain Atom punched a shark.  Who’s the badass now, Aquaman?

Meanwhile, a masked dude in red leading a group of green-clad masked dudes storms the missile base.  Turning a dial on his belt, the red guy blasts the MPs with heat, forcing them to drop their rifles before knocking them out with a blast of cold.  Then he starts blowing crap up by augmenting the temperatures he is blasting.

Captain Atom, still beating up sharks (quite unnecessarily at this point) hears the explosions.  He leaves the shark victim with Gunner and heads for the base, moaning about what a lousy vacation this has been.

Cap starts punching the guys in green.  An MP calls out a warning about the man in red.  “His powers of heat and cold are deadly!” is met with the retort, “Meet the Fiery Icer, boys!”

Okay, it was the 60s.  Comics were aimed at kids.  The name says his powers.  I must pack away my snide comments for now.  The Fiery Icer it is.  NOT a dumb name at all.  A name of POWER.  A name to be FEARED.  A name to be rubbed on sore muscles…

Captain Atom turns up his own heat to combat the ice from the Fiery Icer.  The men in green dive onto Cap, who dispatches them easily.  The Fiery Icer creates a steam effect allowing him and his men to escape undetected.

Searching for the villain and his goons, Cap sees a freighter off-shore.  He rightly assumes it must be where the Fiery Icer has hidden.  Spotting his approach on the radar, the Fiery Icer switches on his “magneto-beam” to draw Atom in closer.  Then blasting him with an “instafreeze beam,” and wrapping him in “freezing cell-belts,” the crooks manage to completely subdue Captain Atom.

For someone as powerful as he is supposed to be, Captain Atom sure does get subdued a lot.

The crooks drop their frozen bundle overboard to die at sea like “Professor Javits,” the man Cap and Gunner rescued from the sharks.  Sinking fast, Cap manages to melt the ice he was encased in but the belts are quickly freezing the water around him.  Resurfacing, he turns back into Captain Adam to conserve his strength.  

Adam spots the freighter but is quickly captured by the Fiery Icer’s goons.  He is taken to their headquarters on the shore and is thrown into a room with none other than Abby Ladd, the reporter who hates Captain Atom.  The Icer reveals that Ladd was searching for Javits when he captured her.

Adam feigns an escape attempt, taking a heat blast from Fiery and falling into the water nearby.  As Abby cries over the “dead” Allen Adam, Adam changes back into Captain Atom underwater.  Forgetting he has the power to become intangible, Atom searches for a way to get back in undetected.

Finding a generator, Atom tries something new and draws power off of it in an attempt to recharge himself.  It works (new power!) and power surges back through him.

He makes for a radio room, taking out the green-clad thugs as he goes.  Cap radios Gunner for backup, and begins searching the base for the Fiery Icer.  The Icer is about to freeze Abby Ladd to death when he gets news that Captain Atom is alive and busting up the place.

Catching up to Cap, the Icer encases him in ice again, but Atom breaks out easily.  The villain manages to knock Cap over and begins pouring ice and fire onto him.  But Captain Atom keeps bouncing back from the attacks.

As Gunner and a group of MPs storm the building, Captain Atom and the Fiery Icer continue to battle, destroying the building around them.  Just as the Icer is getting the upperhand, Captain Atom comes up swinging again and beats his enemy into unconsciousness.

Changing back into his uniform and into Allen Adam, Cap goes to free Abby Ladd.  He tells her he is alive thanks to Captain Atom, who has done a lot for this country and isn’t the glory hound poser she thinks he is.  Abby begins making dinner plans with Adam but Gunner rescues him by saying Eve and her Senator dad are waiting for him back at the base.

We never learned the Fiery Icer’s motivation.  Why did he attack the base?  What did Javits have to do with it?  What was Abby’s story about?  How did the Fiery Icer get his weapons?  Who was he?  I know I promised I’d start having more fun with these old comics, but this one was a sloppy mess.

However, despite his unfortunately stupid name, the Fiery Icer proved to be the most formidable adversary Captain Atom has faced yet.  He really gave Cap a run for his money.  And the Ditko/Mastroserio team has once again knocked it out of the park.  The images I’ve selected for this entry back that claim up.  The A+ art and the D story combine to give this issue a C.  It really could have been so much better.

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

On the letters page, a reader named Sean Cook in Eldorado, Kansas turns out to be sort of prophetic.  He suggests a team called THE CRIMEBUSTERS, featuring Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, Nightshade, Thunderbolt, and the Question.  In Watchmen #2 (written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, published in October 1986 – nearly twenty years after Captain Atom # 87), the superheroes of that era banded together to form THE CRIMEBUSTERS. The Watchmen Crimebusters were Dr. Manhattan (inspired by Captain Atom), Nite Owl (inspired by Blue Beetle), The Comedian (inspired by Peacemaker), Silk Spectre (inspired by Nightshade), Ozymandias (inspired by Thunderbolt), and Rorschach (inspired by The Question).  Coincidence?  Or did Moore and Gibbons see Sean Cook’s letter?

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Captain Atom #86 (June 1967)

Tags

A. Machine, Abby Ladd, Blue Beetle, Bronze Age Captain Atom, David Kaler, Gary Friedrich, Nightshade, Rocke Mastroserio, Steve Ditko, Sunurians, The Ghost

“The Fury of the Faceless Foe”

• Writer: Steve Ditko & David Kaler
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letters: A. Machine

Time: Noon, Place: Times Square, Occasion: The Return of the Ghost!

The Ghost appears briefly in Times Square, laughing maniacally and teleporting people away left and right and teleporting cars on top of each other.  When the police show up, he vanishes.  On the same day at the same time in New Haven, Nightshade (in her floating Nightshademobile) spots the Ghost running into a library.  She throws “ebony bombs” at him (these appear to be smoke bombs) but he dodges them easily.  He teleports away before she can get a grip on him.  Meanwhile, at the Pentagon (still noon on the same day), the Ghost appears in front of Captain Atom and Gunner.  As Cap lunges, the Ghost dissolves Captain Atom and reforms him further away.  He then teleports out before Cap can get the upper hand.

Back at the suburban home of the Ghost (aka Alec Rois), three men dressed as the Ghost teleport into his lab.  He has sent out hired goons, manipulating them from a distance.  He pays the flunkies and sends them away, saying he will have need of them in two days.  The Ghost then reveals (talking to himself, a staple of comic book villains) that he stole “ghost devices” from Punch and Jewelee when he was kidnapped by them (in Captain Atom #85).  Soon he will have amassed enough gold to destroy Captain Atom and Nightshade.

The next morning, back at the Pentagon, Captain Atom, Nightshade, and their boss seem unable to piece together that the three Ghosts were three different people.  Cap admits it was fate that defeated the Ghost last time, and they can only hope to get lucky again.  Abby Ladd bursts into the office to give Cap a tongue-lashing.  When Nightshade giggles, the “lady news hound” turns her fury onto Eve.  Ladd says if they don’t catch the Ghost soon, she’s going to have her father force Senator Eden to investigate their department (Senator Eden is Nightshade’s father).  Abby leaves them and Cap’s boss says not to worry about her.

That evening, the Ghost teleports aboard a half-sunken tanker off the coast of Cape May, surprising his men their.  He checks on his equipment, which includes a gold-making machine.  He then checks on a special force field he’s created that he plans to lure Cap and Nightshade into, saying it will be “the end of them.”

Thousands of miles away, a strange group of women appear to be watching the Ghost’s progress (referring to him as “the faceless one”).  They say he is their long-lost God.

As the days go by, the Ghost keeps appearing in random places, faces Captain Atom and Nightshade, then teleports out before committing any actual crime.  Their chief calls them into his office (I find it funny they never gave the Chief a name – in the Modern Age stories he would be General Eiling).  He tells them they’ve traced the Ghost’s unique radar signals to Cape May and sends them out to investigate.

Captain Atom and Nightshade split up.  He checks in with the nearby military base.  They are able to pinpoint the source of the signal the Ghost is using – the sunken tanker.  Cap radios Nightshade to meet him there.  He sneaks on board, but once again the Ghost is a step ahead.

Cap flings atomic fireballs at the Ghost to distract him before attempting to tackle his enemy.  The Ghost blasts Cap with some yellow electricity that seems to subdue him.  Nightshade jumps the Ghost from behind, but he slips away and she finds herself similarly subdued.  The force field holding them down is draining their power.

In true 1960s villain fashion, the Ghost then reveals his secret plan to the two prone heroes.  The force field draining their powers will also somehow drain gold out of the world’s oceans.  He leaves to start his evil (and baffling) plan.

Nightshade turns into a shadow and is able to slip free of the force field.  She turns the machine off, switching back to her regular form before Cap sees her as a shadow (why doesn’t she want him to know what her power is?).  Weakened but not defeated, Nightshade and Captain Atom set upon the Ghost and his goons.

When Cap grabs the Ghost’s wrist to prevent him from using his teleporter, the Ghost flings a brick at Captain Atom’s head.

Let me say that again.

The Ghost threw a brick at Captain Atom.

Look, don’t take my word for it.

Nightshade tries to stop the Ghost from teleporting Cap to Nowhereland but finds herself facing the same prospect.  As he raises his hands to banish the two heroes forever, something happens and the Ghost freezes.  But it isn’t just him.  Captain Atom and Nightshade are also frozen in place.  Just then, three women enter the room’; the women from earlier who called the Ghost “the Faceless One.”  One of them is armed with cables like the ones Punch used last issue.

The women return Captain Atom and Nightshade to the shore, and say they are taking the Ghost to “the Hidden Land.”  He seems cool with it, as long as the “hidden land” has gold.  Dude always has his eyes on the prize.  He is loaded into what looks like a submarine that quickly departs.

As soon as the paralysis fades, Captain Atom goes after the ship but all trace of it has vanished.  Once again, the Ghost has escaped.  His henchmen are rounded up, and Cap and Nightshade are left wondering if they’ve seen the last of the Ghost.

This was a nice issue.  It progressed an ongoing story and added a little more to an established villain.  I do have a complaint. I don’t dislike Nightshade; I’d like to learn more about her powers and why she’s keeping them secret.  But does a hero as powerful as Captain Atom even really need a partner?  How about another solo story?  It was nice to see Gunner hasn’t been forgotten, though.  Too bad “the Chief” is so two-dimensional he doesn’t even get a name.  It was an okay story, even if it is all setup for something more to come.  It is a B story with A art.  Let’s call it an A-.

The letter page has the usual applause for Steve Ditko, Captain Atom, and the Blue Beetle backup stories.  Two knuckleheads from Virginia and West Virginia hate Cap’s new costume so much they banned all Charlton comics.  They are most likely the reason why Charlton Comics eventually ended up going the way of the dodo.

There is also a Steve Ditko/Gary Friedrich Blue Beetle backup story.  It promises at the end that Beetle will soon be starring in his own title.

One interesting thing to note about this issue:  the letterer is credited as “A. Machine.”  Rather than having each issue hand-lettered, Charlton went with a typesetter.  Comic book lettering is and often-overlooked and forgotten form of art.  Those guys put in just as much work with what they do.  And they bring us great words like “splort”, “flunkel,” and “kapow!”

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

Captain Atom #85 (March 1967)

Tags

Abby Ladd, Alec Rois, Blue Beetle, Bronze Age Captain Atom, David Kaler, Gary Friedrich, Herb Field, Jewlee, Lewis Coll, Nightshade, Punch, Rocke Mastroserio, Steve Ditko

“Strings of Punch and Jewlee”

• Writer: David Kaler
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letters: Herb Field

This issue marks Captain Atom’s seventh birthday and his twenty-seventh published adventure (including his story in Peter Cannon… Thunderbolt #53 and excluding the reprints in Strange Suspense Stories).

It begins on a golf course.  Two men come upon a pretty blond woman teeing off.  She knocks her ball into the rough, and the older of the two men (identified as “Professor Bolt”) goes in after the ball.  Next to the ball he finds a ruby.  As he picks it up to examine it, a wire shoots out of the trees and ties itself around his wrist.  An electrical charge shoots down the wire and stuns Professor Bolt.

The wire is being manipulated by a flying man dressed as a jester.  The woman calls him “Punch” and uses the ruby to hypnotise Professor Bolt into submission.  As Punch takes the professor to his car, the woman sets off to hypnotize the other man.

Later that day, in Washington, news reaches Captain Allen Adam of the missing scientists.  He is at Alec Rois’ house, enjoying the pool with Eve Eden (Nightshade).  Neither of them is aware that their friend Alec is actually the Ghost (from Captain Atom #82).  Adam is trying to get Eve to reveal more of herself to him when a massive gem appears out of nowhere and encloses Rois within it.  It explodes and appears to vanish, knocking the heroes out cold.

Apropos of nothing, there’s a cool ad for Charlton comics on the next page.

Upon recovering, Captain Atom and Nightshade report to the Pentagon.  Their chief believes they were hypnotized.  Although he wants to send them both looking for Rois, Captain Atom has to report in for some tests.  Nightshade is sent to the Long Island golf course where Bolt was taken.

Meanwhile, in their secret lair (on Coney Island), Punch and Jewlee reveal how they came about their powers in a sloppy bit of exposition.

They were “cheap carny crooks” who came across a mysterious chest on the beach.  In the chest they found pixie boots that gave the wearer the ability to fly (which Punch wears) and special “hypno-gems,” complete with a mind-recording device that explained how they are used.  They use their newfound powers to purchase an old carnival and build a cool lab within it.  They have been kidnapping scientists and recording their “brains” for unknown reasons.  They set out for upstate New York in search of another scientist, Lewis Coll.

Coincidentally, Professor Coll has been running a barrage of tests on Captain Atom all day.  Feeling weak from the workout, Cap drinks a tranquilizing draught that will make it easier for Coll to measure the radiation he emits.  Unfortunately, it is while Atom is in his weakened state that Punch and Jewlee burst into the lab.  Punch gets Cap with the electric cables while his partner puts Coll under her spell.

I would like to point out that in this panel the spelling of Jewlee’s name is different.  I know it is a nitpicky little detail, but it stood out. When the characters appear in later comics the spelling is “Jewelee.”

Cap tries to use his communicator belt but Punch stops him.  Punch and Jewlee steal Coll’s helicopter and fly away with Coll and Captain Atom under their influence.  Cap was able to send a repeating signal from his belt which directs Nightshade to Coney Island.

When Captain Atom regains some strength and takes a swing at Punch, Punch hits him with a burst of electricity.  Cap is thrown in with Rois, who is now only feigning the symptoms of being under Jewlee’s spell.  Alec isn’t happy to see the meddling Captain Atom.  It is because of Cap that the Ghost’s teleportation circuitry on Alec’s arm can no longer be removed.  Captain Atom begins to come around.

Skulking around the old carnival on Coney Island, Nightshade sees Punch and follows him.  Her super power is finally revealed – she can become a shadow.

Punch and Jewlee have Captain Atom hooked up to the brain recording device.  They reveal that their plan is to sell all the scientific secrets they have stolen to the highest bidder.  Nightshade steps out of her shadow and attacks Jewlee.  Cap bursts out of the machine and goes after Punch.  Rois takes advantage of the distraction to teleport some of the duo’s equipment to his own lab.

Steve Ditko at his finest

Captain Atom gets the upperhand and yanks away Punch’s electric lines.  Cap follows Punch into one of the carnival rides (the Tunnel of Love), punches him again, and takes the villain back to his lair.  Nightshade, who has beaten Jewlee, is busying herself restoring the memories of the kidnapped scientists.  But Jewlee regains consciousness and makes a break for it.  Alec Rois realizes he can stop her but does not.  Jewlee escapes.

In the last panel, Punch is plotting revenge on Captain Atom and Nightshade from his prison cell, as are Jewlee (on the lam), the Ghost (Alec Rois), and Abby Ladd, the reporter who wants to expose Captain Atom as a fraud.

The letters page of this issue mostly applauds Steve Ditko, his work on Captain Atom, and especially the backup Blue Beetle stories.  However, John Angell of Winston-Salem, NC (hey I used to live there!) thinks the new Captain Atom is a stinker, unoriginal and stupid.  He challenges Charlton to rise above the sort of storytelling DC Comics resorts to (funny, considering where Captain Atom ended up after Charlton).

This issue also includes another Blue Beetle backup by Gary Friedrich and Steve Ditko.  At this point I think the character deserves his own title, but that’s still a few years down the road for him (there was a brief Blue Beetle series from Charlton but it only ran five issues).

The storytelling of “Strings of Punch and Jewlee” leave much to be desired.  The clumsy exposition only served to make the two major villains more two-dimensional.  I like that Alec is Allen and Eve’s friend while neither the heroes nor the villain are aware of their enemy’s secret identity.  But one thing I hate is sloppy continuity (Alec Rois was Alec Nois when we first met him).  The artwork is superb, Ditko and Mastroserio are a good team.  It is this issue’s saving grace.  I give Captain Atom #85 a C+.

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

Captain Atom #84 (January 1967)

Tags

Abby Ladd, Bronze Age Captain Atom, Captain Atom, David Kaler, Gunner, Herb Field, Iron Arms, Professor Koste, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“After the Fall, a New Beginning”

• Writer:  David Kaler
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks:  Rocke Mastroserio
• Letterer:  Herb Field

Picking up where Captain Atom#83 left off, Professor Koste takes Cap to his secret mountain lair.  Restraining Captain Atom, Koste breaks into worldwide television signals and unmasks the hero on air.  Koste demands a ten million dollar ransom for Cap, whom he does not recognize as Allen Adam because of Cap’s white hair.

The public is split on the issue, with some saying Cap isn’t worth the ten million dollars worth of gold that Koste has demanded.  The government decides to pay, though, saying that “project rebirth” is worth the cost.  The folks running Project Rebirth say the “formula” is ready and they are just waiting for “his return.”  Jesus?  No, most likely Captain Atom, whom Koste has locked in a cell he can’t escape without his powers.

Cap discovers that some of his power has returned.  He is super-strong again, so he throws open the cell door.  He fiddles with the lock so his captors will think he picked it and is still powerless, and takes off down a corridor.  He doesn’t get far before he is set upon by Iron Arms, a bald dude with “power-pack generated arms.”

Cap plays weak and Iron Arms returns him to his captors.  Iron Arms refers to Cap as “the famous Captain A.” This, coupled with the public’s reaction to Cap being unmasked, seems to clear up once and for all the question of Cap’s anonymity.  Clearly he is a public super-hero.

Koste locks Cap in a cage suspended over a pit before leaving with Iron Arms.  Cap escapes down the pit to the water below.  He swims through the underground waterway and surfaces at a nearby lake.  Returning to his base, an airman (Gunner?  hard to tell) informs him the ransom has been paid.

Frustrated, Captain Atom flies off to intercept the payment, but Koste has already collected.  He is planning to destroy the remotely-operated helicopter that delivered the money.  Koste learns that Cap has escaped and figures he’s dead at the bottom of the pit.  They see him approach the helicopter on a monitor and detonate the chopper when he gets close.  Koste and Iron Arms realize that Cap has his powers and knows where they are and will come for the ransom gold.  They plan to use it to buy equipment to make more power packs like the one Iron Arms sports.

Back at the base, Cap is accosted by Abby Ladd, a reporter with a Washington newspaper.  Cap tells Gunner he has no time for reporters and Abby gives the Captain a tongue-lashing.  Basically she calls him out for being a big heap of failure.

Atom and Gunner head into a lab where they’ve been working on a liquid metal formula.  Cap hopes that by using it he can lead a normal life (“I can go to the beach and not be a menace to everyone there,” he thinks).  Gunner says it will be sprayed on to Cap’s body, is invisible, and absolutely radiation-proof.  Captain Allen Adam strips to his undies and gets sprayed.  The metal (which they just said was invisible) comes in different colors, specified by Adam.  They even spray his logo on his chest.

Heaps of time pass and there is no change in his radiation output.  Adam figures it is just another failure, and with his dwindling powers and bad public image, he figures he’s done being Captain Atom.  Abby shows up and reminds him of what a failure he is.  Cap decides that, failure or not, he’s still obligated to bring Koste and Iron Arms to justice.  When he grabs his old uniform and begins to make the change into Captain Atom, he finds that his new uniform emerges on his body.  The power he expended to change is what finally charged up the new suit.
He discovers he emits no radiation, even when he switches back to his “regular” clothes.  He kisses Abby for prompting him to make the change, which angers her even more.  This lady really hates Captain Atom.  Cap then heads back to Koste’s secret base.

The idiots are still there.  Captain Atom starts socking bad guys left and right.  He knocks Iron Arms down with one punch.  Koste uses a special power-draining weapon in Cap, who destroys it but as a result suffers a great loss of power.  Iron Arms takes advantage of this and begins pummeling Cap with his iron arms.  The two fight to a near standstill before Cap, severely weakened, gets in one last good punch that puts Iron Arms down for good.

With all the baddies out cold (Koste was knocked out when Cap took out his power draining machine), Atom radios the base to send an extraction team.  He disarms Iron Arms.

Adam finds that the public has more or less forgiven his failures after he brought in Koste and Iron Arms.  Abby Ladd, seen at some swanky function, is still pissed off at the good Captain for all his failures and stealing a kiss from her.  She says that Captain Adam, at the same function, is “a much better man” than Captain Atom.

This issue also features the “Captain’s Column” letter page (mostly folks gushing over the new Blue Beetle) and a Blue Beetle backup story by Dick Giordano, Steve Ditko, and Gary Friedrich but I won’t be reviewing it for this Captain Atom blog.

Captain Atom #84 is great.  One of my favorites.  Finally Cap is feeling more like a legitimate super-hero rather than a super-powered spy.  The costume is colorful and nice, but I think I preferred the original yellow one with the cowl.  This issue was well-written (if you overlook Abby’s truly puzzling hatred for Cap [she’s like Captain Atom’s own personal J. Jonah Jameson] and the ridiculously-named “Iron Arms”) and beautifully drawn to boot.  It looks like Ditko and Mastroserio poured a lot of love into this one.  I give it an A.

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

Captain Atom #83 (November 1966)

Tags

Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, David Kaler, Gunner, Iron Arms, Professor Koste, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“Finally Falls the Mighty”

• Scripted:  David Kaler
• Plot & Pencils:  Steve Ditko
• Inks:  Rocke Mastroserio

Captain Adam and Gunner are at an exhibit of Air Force technology.  Also in attendance is Professor Koste, a man that Adam had dismissed as a security risk.  Koste uses what looks like a red iPhone to summon a bunch of green-clad thugs, who come crashing into the exhibit.  Before they have a chance to cause any real trouble, Captain Atom appears to put a stop to their shenanigans.

*

The civilians watching the fight recognize Captain Atom.  He rescues a group of them when one of the thugs shoots down a rocket display.

*

The thugs run off and Captain Atom realizes he has a rip in his costume.  He has Gunner move the adoring crowd away.  They notice he is glowing.  One particularly forward-thinking reporter snaps a picture of Cap’s glowing armpit.  Meanwhile, Professor Koste takes advantage of the distraction to steal some equipment.

*

Captain Atom flies back to the base to get a spare uniform (maybe the blue one from Space Adventures #33).  His costume is blue in the story that makes the papers immediately; headlines read, “HERO IS RADIOACTIVE MENACE: Air Force Super-Hero is a Threat to the Public.”  Word spreads fast and soon Captain Atom is taking a call from the president (Lyndon Johnson).  He’s concerned about the Air Force’s public image.  Oh, and the spare uniform is yellow.  Captain Atom flies off to meet with Professor Max Lipat, an old co-worker of Koste’s.

*

Koste meets up with Lipat ahead of Captain Atom.  Leaving Lipat under guard, Koste disguises himself as Lipat to gain access to a nearby Air Force base and top secret project.  Before meeting with “Lipat,” Captain Atom inspects the base’s reactor.  Koste sabotages the reactor, the meltdown of which will “blow the whole state off the Earth.”

*

Just getting to the reactor weakens Cap.  When he arrives, he attempts to absorb the excess radiation and convert it into a harmless state.  Cap pushes his body to the limit trying to convert the radiation.  He passes out just as the reactor shuts down.  Koste calls his men to the base.

*

When Cap awakens and finds Koste and his men on the base, he springs to action.  He finds his powers have diminished.  He can’t pass through a wall.  He barely manages to pull himself out of a wall when he is set upon by a group of Koste’s men.  Even without his super-strength, he manages to hold his own – at first.  The bad guys have numbers on their side and they knock Cap out cold.  Koste orders them to take Cap to his hovercraft.

*

Meanwhile, miles away, a strange man with metal arms is demonstrating his power and vowing to make a trip to visit Koste.

*

So, Captain Atom is finally defeated.  And a new villain (or hero) is on the horizon.  This is the first time a Captain Atom story was “to be continued.”  It didn’t really have to be, though.  Not a lot happened in this issue.  The big changes happen in Captain Atom #84.

*

I give this one a C+.  It is all just setting up the next issue.  The big deal with this issue is the back-up story, Steve Ditko and Gary Friedrich’s re-imagining of the Blue Beetle.  This is the first appearance of the Ted Kord Blue Beetle, later a property of DC Comics (just like Captain Atom and Nightshade).

*

Also this is the first issue of Captain Atom to feature fan letters.  Most of them applauded Captain Atom #82 and Nightshade, but not everyone was happy.  To the right is evidence of the early stages in the evolution of The Internet Troll.

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

Captain Atom #82 (September 1966)

Tags

Captain Atom, David Kaler, Frank McLaughlin, Jon D'Agostino, Judomaster, Nightshade, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko, The Ghost

“Captain Atom Vs. the Ghost”

• Writer: David Kaler
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letterer: Jon D’Agostino

The security of the whole free world was at stake!  Every agent of the United States was put on extra alert!  That’s how Captain Atom came to be allied with Nightshade, one of the most attractive spy smashers that our country has ever had!  Together this powerful pair find themselves confronting an almost impossible task of capturing a man who could disappear at will.  But how do you catch a ghost?

And so begins a new chapter in Captain Atom’s life.  He gains a new nemesis and a new friend in this issue.  Both of which would follow him into his new life at DC Comics twenty-one years down the road.

Captain Atom is called to the Pentagon, where he is briefed on the Ghost, a criminal that has been “causing havoc for private industry.”  They believe he will soon strike the government but don’t know where.  As “ghosts have no use for industrial secrets or classified information,” Cap suspects it is “an outer space being or a very clever man.”

Cap is informed he’ll be working with a female agent named Nightshade (that darling of darkness).  This will be her first mission.  She arrives, her black ponytail bouncing.  She wears a mini-skirt over black tights and a mask – clearly she is a super-hero – but her powers are not yet revealed.  She and Cap are given tickets to a party being held that night by “Alec Nois.”  The military believes a few of the Ghost’s agents will be there.

Meanwhile, “in another part of Washington,” the Ghost arrives in a darkened office and removes his mask.  Through flashbacks we learn his name is Alec and that he suffered hardships when he was growing up (girls didn’t like him because he was poor and boys didn’t like him because he was studious).  He built a teleportation device and used it to rob banks and the like.  His goal is “Operation Golden Ghost,” which he will execute once he has stolen the floor plans for Fort Knox.

Meanwhile, Allen Adam is readying himself for the party, thinking to himself that Nightshade will be more of a burden than on asset.  As Eve Eden (Nightshade) prepares herself for the party, she is thinking how great it will be to be teamed up with that hunky Captain Atom (1960s comic stories at their best here, folks).

Later, at the Alec Nois party, Adam is having trouble figuring out which of the guests could be the Ghost.  He is impressed by Nois’ wealth, though, wondering how Nois made his first million.  Then all heads turn to see Eve Eden arrive (she is a “jet-set” leader and a Senator’s daughter).

Alec flirts with Eve. Adam takes notice of how hot she is.  Cap doesn’t know Eve is Nightshade, Eve doesn’t know Adam is Captain Atom, and nobody suspects Alec is the Ghost.

Adam sees a waiter pass a message to a dude.  He follows the dude to another room, where he is on the phone arranging Ghost stuff.  Eve also saw the exchange and makes an excuse to break away from Alec, who also wanted to break away from Eve to do more Ghost stuff.

Eve follows the dude outside.  She changes into her Nightshade costume instantly (that must be her super power – super clothes changing).  She flips the guy and demands to know what the message said.  Just then, the Ghost materializes before her.  When she takes a swing at him, he vanishes and reappears a few feet away.  This is when Captain Atom joins the fight.  With the wave of his hand, the Ghost teleports Nightshade and Cap to another dimension.

Before long, the two are teleported back where they came from, but the Ghost is long gone.  Cap remembers overhearing the Ghost’s flunky mentioning “section 18.”  Nightshade tells him section 18 is a secret file and map room at the Pentagon.  Cap picks her up and they fly off.

The two heroes burst in on the Ghost in section 18 just as he has located the plans to Fort Knox.  He teleports the blueprints away, makes a stupid Beatles reference, and vanishes before Cap can get him.  He reappears before Nightshade and taunts her.  This goes on for a little bit.  The heroes can’t catch him.  Before he teleports out for good, he says, “I’m going to do what Goldfinger failed to do!  I’m going to steal the gold in Fort Knox!”  Man, this guy loves his pop culture references.

The two heroes return to the Nois house and change into their civvies.  Adam is shocked to learn Eve Eden is Nightshade.  Eve thinks Allen Adam is a hottie.  When Adam asks her why she does the super-hero thing, Eve dodges the question.  They return to the party.

The next morning, they make their report to their C.O.  The next morning?  What if the Ghost’s plan was to go straight from the Pentagon to Fort Knox?  Was it really necessary to return to that party and then report their findings the next day?  It was okay, though, because the Ghost didn’t act that night.

Back home, Alec “Ghost” Nois studies the blueprints.  He talks about getting a crew together for the job.

Adam and Eve (yes, I know) opt to drive to Fort Knox in their civvies, afraid their super-identities would draw too much attention (but Cap can turn invisible and really doesn’t even need Nightshade!).  They pass a suspicious truck on the road and think it might be tied in to the Ghost’s heist.

The Ghost receives word that everything is nearly in place for the heist.  He collects a “machine” that will help him with his heist, makes a Lincoln reference (sheesh), and teleports away.

Fort Knox is on high alert.  For some reason, Cap and Nightshade dropped their plans to approach stealthily.  They are in an Air Force helicopter in full costume when the Ghost arrives.  Cap jumps out and flies down.  Nightshade waits for the helicopter to land and then takes out four armed thugs in hand-to-hand combat.  So she’s a scrapper.

Inside, Cap uses is invisibility power to freak the Ghost out.  He snatches the Ghost’s machine out of his hands.  Still invisible, Cap socks the Ghost in the face and the Ghost goes down.  Figuring his teleportation power comes from his gloves, Cap sets out to remove them.  But the Ghost was only feigning unconsciousness.  He kicks Cap in the face.

As Cap is going down, he rips the glove he has clenched in his hand.  The exposed circuitry goes haywire and the Ghost is enveloped in a mass of orange energy.  Cap believes the Ghost is defeated for good, but Cap doesn’t realize he is in a comic book and nobody stays dead.

This issue also includes an article about Sumo wrestlers and a short two-page “educational” comic featuring Judomaster’s “favorite throws” by Frank McLaughlin.  Also a special announcement from Charlton that soon they will start printing fan letters in the pages of Captain Atom.

This one is pretty good.  I would have liked to have learned more about Nightshade.  When I was introduced to the character years later, she had the power to travel long distances quickly via black portals she generated and could cross dimensions.  Perhaps some of that will come into play here in the Charlton universe later on.  A solid effort by Ditko and Mastroserio; these guys make a great team.  I like the Ghost in spite of his weird references.  David Kaler told spun a fairly good yarn.  A well-done book but nothing too spectacular.  I give Captain Atom #82 a B+.

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

Captain Atom #81 (July 1966)

Tags

Captain Atom, Doctor Spectro, Gunner, Joe Gill, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“The Five Faces of Doctor Spectro”

• Writer:  Joe Gill
• Pencils:  Steve Ditko
• Inks:  Rocke Mastroserio

The story opens “somewhere on the outskirts of a major city.”  Captain Adam and Gunner are sifting through the equipment left behind by Doctor Spectro.  Cap hopes to find something that will benefit man, as Spectro had been working on a new way to fight diseases before he became a side-show performer and later criminal.  After feeling the effects of Spectro’s light beams, Cap is convinced the doctor was on to something.

Meanwhile, the disembodied spirit of Doctor Spectro positions itself just right in the atmosphere and is hit by five simultaneous bolts of lighting.  The result is the birth of five mini-Spectros, each sporting a different colored costume.  They quickly learn that each one of them has a single light power.  The tiny Spectros begin collecting satellites and space junk to form a secret orbital headquarters.

Back on the surface, Captain Atom is beating down some neo-Nazis who want to rule the world.  Afterwards, while on a coffee-and-doughnut break (no kidding), Adam gets a call from his bosses.  There have been reports of “little men” raiding defense stations and stealing valuable equipment.  The little men fit Cap’s description of Doctor Spectro.  Adam puts the coffee and doughnuts down and flies back to the base to check in with Gunner.

I love the way Steve Ditko draws Captain Atom flying.  The movement of his body is very Spider-Man-esque.  Ditko has a talent for drawing people doing these fantastic things but making it look natural.

A nearby radio operator informs Cap and Gunner that the imps were spotted at the science center at Cape May.  I’m guessing this is Cape May, New Jersey.  Wherever it is, Cap wings it there in a hurry.  The mini Spectros are in a lab looking for a safe, which they find hidden within a desk.  Red Spectro heats up the door of the metal safe with his red beam after which Blue Spectro freezes it with his blue beam, making the door brittle, and it crumbles away.  They are carrying off a box marked “SECRET DANGER” when Captain Atom bursts in.

The two Spectros combine their heat and ice powers, which knocks out Cap.  They grab the box and run off.  When Cap comes to, he realizes the two Spectros were aspects of the original man.

The next night, the Green, Yellow, and Purple Spectros leave the space station on a foraging mission.  They hope to encounter Captain Atom to give him a taste of their powers.  While the other two are foraging (on a military base maybe?) the Purple Spectro stands watch at the gate.  He is approached by a little girl on crutches who mistakes him for a magical elf.  Purple Spectro pities the girl and uses his power (an  orange beam?) to heal her.  He echoes what Captain Atom said earlier about his powers being used to heal the sick.  He says he is still an enemy of mankind “because of the rest of me.”

Inside, Captain Atom shows up to take down the Green and Yellow Spectros.  They also shoot orange beams, which incapacitate the “man of molecular mastery.”

Captain Atom isn’t out for long.  He puts up a shield to protect himself from the radiation Spectro is flinging about (but, earlier issues established Cap could withstand this sort of attack… here he says that without the shield he would melt).  Yellow and Green lead Cap outside where they will outnumber him 3 to 1.

Outside, Purple Spectro is worried his cohorts will use the little girl (Kathy) as a hostage.  He leads her away to safety and then takes on Captain Atom.  His inner monologue indicates he wants to merge all the Spectros back into one with Purple in control.  He uses his beam (now blue) on Cap, which takes away the hero’s anger temporarily, making him not want to fight.  Purple Spectro escapes (presumably with Yellow and Green close behind).

Once Cap breaks the “spell” Purple Spectro put on him, he talks to Kathy.  She tells him how the dwarf cured her.  Cap realizes there is some good in Spectro, but he still has to take the evil genius down.

After taking Kathy home, Cap’s commanding officer tells him to put the Spectro case on hold.  Turns out several satellites have stopped operating and he needs Captain Atom to investigate.

Up in the space station, the Spectros have constructed a machine that should merge them back into one.  The other Spectros look forward to fighting Captain Atom once they are whole, but the Purple Spectro is hoping that his “evil side will vanish like Hyde did.”

Back on the surface, Kathy’s parents are having her checked out by a doctor.  The doctor says he has reconstructed Spectro’s machine but doesn’t know how to make it work.

In the upper atmosphere, Captain Atom comes across an unusual cloud formation.  He finds it is concealing Spectro’s space station.  The Spectros spot him before he spots them.  Yellow wants to use his heat beam (so the Spectros do each have multiple beams).  Purple convinces him to use his anger beam while Purple uses his happiness beam to confuse Cap.  When they strike, Captain Atom sees it coming and erects a screen (an emotion screen? New power!).

Cap punches Red and Yellow out.  The remaining Spectros overpower him and knock him to the ground.  Purple hits him with a sickness beam hoping Cap will pass out from the pain.  The Purple Spectro (mis-colored orange in the panel to the right) believes that once they are merged together, he can turn himself over to Cap and begin working on his theories and help people.

Captain Atom breaks free but is overpowered by the imps.  Purple Spectro manages to knock Cap out cold.  While he is out, the Spectros activate their machine and begin to merge together.  Cap awakens and tries to stop the machine by hurling a fireball at it (new power!)  The fireball actually seems to help the process and the one true Doctor Spectro is flung from the resulting explosion.

Cap turns Spectro over to the police, but it seems there is a lingering effect of the whole fiasco.  Doctor Spectro appears to have five separate personalities and doesn’t seem to realize he has been reformed into one person.

This issue also includes a short comic about UFOs and one about jiu jitsu as well as a strange editorial article entitled “The Strong Man.”  It is nice to see Captain Atom doing traditional super-hero stuff and fighting a recurring villain.  Doctor Spectro would be seen only one more time, in Crisis on Infinite Earths #10 before the character was revised in the 1987 Captain Atom series.  The art in this issue is beautiful, Ditko was a master.  The story was pretty good if hoaky in places.  Definitely an A.  I love Captain Adam relaxing over coffee and doughnuts.

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

Note:  Throughout this review, I have used the words “dwarf” and “imp” and the like.  I realize, as a fairly well-educated 21st century man, that these terms can be offensive to little people.  I only used them in the context that this comic book from 1966 used them.  I do not condone the use of the words, which some may find offensive.  They are used to point out how preposterous comic book dialogue could be (and sometimes still is).  I am a firm believer in equal rights and suggest all Splitting Atoms readers check out the Coalition for Dwarf Advocacy, a non-profit charity formed in 2006 to advocate for the full rights and benefits of individuals with short stature (dwarfs), and their families within the public and private sectors of society.

Captain Atom #80 (April 1966)

Tags

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

“Death Knell of the World!”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio

“What happens ‘when worlds collide?’  It looked like all of the people of Earth would soon know, for a mysterious planetoid from the interstellar regions beyond our solar system was bearing down on Earth… on a collision course.  Captain Adam, U.S. Air Force knew that the planetoid must be stopped… or a world would die!  He also knew that one man could possibly hope to save Earth from a horrible fate… Captain Atom, atom-powered super being.  But the task seemed impossible even for Captain Atom’s awesome powers…”

And with that, the bar is set pretty high with Captain Atom #80.
This story opens with a space capsule returning to Earth but something has gone wrong.  The fuel system is jammed and the astronaut is trapped in orbit.  Back in the control room on Earth, the crew is panicking.  One of them is, of course, Captain Adam.  He leaves the control room and transforms into Captain Atom.

Cap quickly flies up to the failing spacecraft.  The control room folks urge the astronaut to “give her one more try.”  Cap grabs the ship and steadies it.  The ground crew cheer and the astronaut is left thinking he saw something out the window.  So Cap is still working in secret?  Didn’t the last issue establish him as a well-known hero?  Why is he still keeping a low profile?

Upon landing back at Cape Kennedy, Gunner tells Adam that General “Eining” is looking for him.  This is a character we’ve not yet seen but it is probably no accident that in the 1980s Captain Atom series for DC, there is a very prominent character named General “Eiling.”

The general tells Adam that the president wants an account of how he became Captain Atom.  So what do we get? Yet another retelling of Cap’s origin.  I guess Gill thought folks forgot it in the four months since the last retelling.  Perhaps he just had space to fill.  He does state that “the existence of Captain Atom is one of the nation’s most closely kept secrets!  Only a few of the key men are aware of the fact that America has a top-secret weapon in a man called Captain Atom.”  This really bugs me.  I realize that continuity wasn’t always a big deal in comic books of the 60s but come on!  Enough with the secret-not-secret super hero thing already.

Gunner barges in on Adam as he is dictating his report and tells him the president needs Captain Atom at the observatory at Mount Palomar. The Palomar Observatory is located in north San Diego County, California. According to their website, it is “a world-class center of astronomical research that is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology.  The observatory is home to five telescopes that are nightly used for a wide variety of astronomical research programs.”

It takes Cap six minutes to fly from Florida to San Diego, where he meets up with a scientist fellow.  The scientist has Adam look through a telescope, where he sees a rogue moon out past Pluto that will crash into Earth in exactly two days.  Seconds later, Captain Atom is in outer space, flying towards the rogue moon.  His plan is to land on the surface and detonate himself like an atomic warhead.  However, he quickly learns that the moon is artificial.  Within it is a “vast alien civilization.”

The first person Cap comes upon – humanoid in appearance – is Celest.  Cap quickly says he means no harm, but Celest’s bodyguard – an elderly fellow named Valdar – runs to her aid brandishing some sort of gun.  Captain Atom becomes cocky and quite rude, calling Valdar “Santa Claus” before disintegrating his gun.  He asks to see their leader, who happens to walk into the room at that moment, and he is Celest’s father.

The leader is Drako, and is well aware that his world is going to collide with Earth, but tells Cap they don’t have the power to stop it.  Atom says he’ll use his own power, but Drako warns that “the pressure of stopping our world, or even shifting its course, would upset the entire gravitational compensation apparatus of our manufactured planet!  In short , all of my people would be crushed to death!”

Drako says he can build a gravitational motivator but he lacks the materials to build it.  Captain Atom offers to gather the materials.  Before he sets off, Valdar warns Cap that Drako is a despot, but a capable scientist.  Valdar says the motivator will most likely work, but warns Cap not to trust the leader.

Cap sets out to gather the things Drako needs.  Meanwhile, word has gotten out on Earth about their predicament.  Gunner looks to the heavens and says Captain Atom is their only hope.

Just before Cap heads out for the final piece for Drako’s motivator, a tearful Celest stops him and warns him not to trust her father.

Once the motivator is complete, Cap steps inside to power it up.  It does stop the rogue world, resulting in parties in the streets back on Earth.  But it turns out the motivator doubles as a holding cell.  Cap can’t leave and he can’t use his full power (as it will kill the people on the rogue world).

Celest jumps into the motivator, which kills her but frees Captain Atom.  Drako is distraught over being the creator of the thing that killed his daughter.  Valdar steps in as the new leader.  Cap heads back to Earth, saying to himself, “Only if men abandon selfish personal desires and work for the common good can there be peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.”

Not bad.  Ditko and Mastroserio’s art is beautiful and we gets lots of space scenes.  The story is pretty good, but I could’ve done without the retelling of Cap’s origin.  Still, I give Captain Atom #80 an A.

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

Captain Atom #79 (February 1966)

Tags

Captain Atom, Doctor Spectro, Gunner, Joe Gill, Jon D'Agostino, Pat Masulli, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“Captain Atom Faces Doctor Spectro: Master of Moods”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letterer: Jon D’Agostino

This issue marks the beginning of some major changes for Captain Atom.  Over the span of issues 79-84, he becomes more of a traditional superhero.  Spectro is Captain Atom’s first “real” supervillain.  The character resurfaces and is even included in the 1980s reboot by DC.  Over the next five issues of the series, Cap will start fighting supervillains, he’ll begin doing so openly instead of being a secret government agent, he’ll begin working with other superheroes, and in issue 84 he gets a major costume change.  But all these changes begin here in issue #79 with Doctor Spectro.

Now it wouldn’t be a 1960s Charlton book without at least one thing thrown in there to confuse me.  In the box on the first page that credits the creative team, the first line is “created by Pat Masulli.”  It only confused me for a second because I quickly realized it was Dr. Spectro that Pat Masulli created and not our dear Captain Atom (a Ditko/Gill joint).  Pat Masulli was the executive editor of Charlton at the time, and was an accomplished artist himself.  He was the creator of Sarge Steel (although sometimes that credit is given to the great Dick Giordano, who did work on the series with none other than Joe Gill – who himself spun quite a few plates at Charlton in the sixties), as well as Son of Vulcan.  Masulli retired from comics (or withdrew from comics depending on who is telling the story) in 1967.  He died in 1998 at the age of 67.

This story begins with some thugs knocking over an Air Force transport truck loaded with “highly classified and expensive equipment.”  Through some heavy-handed exposition, we learn they are working for a fellow called “Rodent.”  At the same time, “many miles away,” Captain Atom bursts into Rodent’s lair.  His thugs recognize Cap, so I’m guessing Gill and Ditko have decided at this point Captain Atom is no longer working in secret.  Rodent has elaborate traps set for Cap, but they prove no challenge for our hero.

Cap declares, “I’m going to smash you and your racket, Rodent.”  Oy, the dialogue… like something from the Adam West Batman TV series (which premiered the month before this issue hit the stands, by the way).  Rodent starts burning his records while his henchmen keep Captain Atom busy.  They don’t keep him busy for long, and Cap manages to grab a document while knocking out Rodent.  It is a list of gangs Rodent works with – only one name on the list is obscured.  Atom uses his belt radio (new – er – gadget?) to pass the info to Washington.

Captain Atom is informed of the truck hijacking, and that two of the names on the list are people who are in Cap’s area.  He is told to go undercover and track them down.

Days later, Captain Adam is at a local circus.  He is supposed to meet Gunner there to exchange information (so Goslin is now in the spy business with Cap).  The meet-up is to take place at Dr. Spectro’s side-show.  While Cap is waiting, the show begins.  Billing himself as “Master of Moods,” Spectro claims to have control over light and color, which can alter moods.  Cap is impressed, but another patron is not – he heckles Spectro.

Now, I have to point out that on page 5, Captain Adam is in his civilian clothes in one panel, then inexplicably in his Air Force uniform in the next one. 

The heckler sends Spectro into a flashback, where he recalls “the authorities” scoffing at his belief that he could cure the sick with color.  He was fired from wherever he worked, but didn’t give up on his work.  Every time he presented his idea to others, he was openly mocked.  So he became a circus performer so he could continue his experiments and test his theories on people.  And Spectro was right.  When he blasted the crowd with a red ray, everyone (including Adam) become depressed.

Spectro uses a blue ray on the heckler, who is overcome with fear and runs off.  Captain Adam is alarmed and decides he needs to talk to Spectro after the show.  What he doesn’t realize is that the gang leader whose name was burned off the list is also in the audience.  He wants to use Dr. Spectro to cause a distraction in town while he knocks over a local bank.

Adam meets up with Gunner, who has no new info.  Meanwhile, the gang leader is trying to get Spectro to go along with his “joke.”  Spectro says he’s fed up with jokes so the gang leader socks him in the jaw.  Dr. Spectro falls backward into his light and color machine and he absorbs all the refracted energy.  The resulting power he now has twists his mind and he vows to teach everyone who ever mocked him a lesson.  He blasts the gang leader and his henchmen with a green ray that makes them feel sick.  They run off.

Gunner catches a smoke while Adam goes to speak with Spectro.  The crooks pass him, blabbing about their upcoming bank robbery.  They realize Gunner has overheard them, so they pull a gun on him.  Meanwhile, Adam is trying to convince Spectro to use his discoveries to benefit mankind.  Spectro says he’s already tried that and was laughed at.  He blasts Adam with the green ray and Adam rabbits out of his tent.

Gunner, who had been knocked out by the crooks, comes to in a storage room behind an iron door.  He uses a secret radio hidden in his dogtags to contact Adam.  As Captain Atom, he homes in on the signal and rips open the iron door.  Cap quickly realizes these are the jokers who hijacked the Air Force truck.  Gunner clues Cap in on the bank job.

Cap catches up with the crooks at the banks, where they are hard at work on the vault.  He uses his heat blast to make one of the hood’s guns sizzling hot.  But the boss criminal (and they really call him the “boss criminal”) refuses to give up.  He flings sand from an ashtray at Cap, which momentarily blinds him.  It doesn’t slow Captain Atom down, who takes out the goons and gives the boss criminal an atomic punch.

Just as the cops arrive to mop things up, Doctor Spectro makes his move.  Out in the street, he’s shooting colors left and right.  People run away in terror, and even Captain Atom and the cops succumb to the fear ray’s power.  Captain Atom generates tremendous body heat which deflects the fear ray’s power.

Doctor Spectro converts all his light and color into pure power rays, knocking Captain Atom back.  He then uses blue light to cause the bystanders to hate Cap.  Realizing the crowd in being manipulated, Cap leaps beyond their reach and creates an atomic fireball in his hand.  He flings the ball at Spectro, who absorbs the power, and stores it so he can use it for himself.

Spectro blasts Atom with Cap’s own power, knocking Captain Atom to the ground.  But Spectro’s second blast misses Captain Atom, and Cap gest a punch in. Spectro punches back (Captain Atom remarks, “He’s got a wallop too!”).  Dr. Spectro’s color ray blasts Captain Atom off his feet, but he suffers no real ill effects.  It basically comes down to Atom and Spectro trading blows.

Spectro blasts a nearby car’s gas tank.  The car explodes, and Spectro absorbs the power of the explosion.  He hits Captain Atom with a a ray “more brilliant that the sun, with more power than an atomic blast.”  With a “last desperate lunge,” Atom smashes Spectro into nearby power lines.  Spectro begins to absorb the energy of the power lines.  Cap tries to cut off the power before Spectro can take in more than he can control.

Supercharged with “more energy than any man had ever held before,” Dr. Spectro hurtles after Captain Atom.  Spectro continues to blast Atom, eventually burning out like a light bulb that has received too much voltage.  Doctor Spectro simply fades away.  When the police ask what became of the evil doctor, Cap says he feels Spectro is still up there somewhere.

Overall, I really liked this issue.  It is obvious they are taking Captain Atom in a new direction.  This is Joe Gill and Steve Ditko at their best (so far).  Captain Atom #79 is definitely an A.  Venturing close to A+ (the ham-handed exposition in the first few panels bring it down).

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

Captain Atom #78 (December 1965)

Tags

Colonel Sandoval, David Morse, Don Bullard, General Brill, Joe Gill, Jon D'Agostino, Leah Jupe, Lt. Colonel Morse, Mike Crandall, Professor Arnold Jupe, Rocke Mastroserio, Silver Age Captain Atom, Steve Ditko

“The Gremlins from Planet Blue”

• Writer: Joe Gill
• Pencils: Steve Ditko
• Inks: Rocke Mastroserio
• Letterer: Jon D’Agostino

Starting with this issue, Strange Suspense Stories was retitled Captain Atom.  Prior to this issue, there had been no new adventures of Captain Atom published since October 1961, four years earlier.  This is also the first time since Space Adventures #33 that he pretty much carried an entire comic himself.  So when he came back, he came back in a big bad way.

So let’s look back at December 1965 and see what our world was like back then.  It was a turbulent time, particularly in the United States.  President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been assassinated two years prior and Lyndon Johnson was the sitting U.S. President.  Sir Winston Churchill died in January of that year.  On March 7, “Bloody Sunday,” some 200 Alabama State Troopers clashed with 525 civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama.  On March 18, Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov became the first person to walk in space.  On August 11, the Watts riots began in Los Angeles, CA.

This issue opens with some aliens watching Captain Atom’s exploits on a video monitor.  Cap is rescuing disabled astronaut Mike Crandall while the aliens are bitching about him constantly ruining their plans.  Professor Arnold Jupe says (to no one in particular) that all the recent problems NASA has been facing have actually been sabotage.  Jupe and his “brilliant and beautiful” daughter Leah are civilians working for NASA’s Gemini program.  Captain Adam has been assigned as their liaison officer.

Leah shares her father’s conspiracy theory with Captain Adam, who thinks Jupe may be correct.  He excuses himself, then transforms into Captain Atom to monitor the latest launch.  We get a quick three-panel retelling of his origin (no changes).

Your guess is as good as mine who it is Captain Atom is battling in the third panel.  He looks like a super-villain but not one we’ve seen.  Mostly Cap has fought spies and aliens.  The closest thing to a super-villain we’ve gotten so far was the Silver Lady from Venus.

Cap discovers there is a malfunction in the rocket and uses his powers to reach inside and correct it.  He changes back to Captain Adam and rejoins Jupe just in time to be chewed out by a General Brill for leaving the Jupes alone.  Brill says to stay with the Jupes every moment, which is okay by Cap because he respects and admires the professor and has a crush on Leah.

Cap and Leah are hanging around outside the Jupe house, about to get freaky, when Professor Jupe sticks his head out and says there is an “ominous presence” in the house.  He has a feeling the saboteurs are nearby (and he’s right because one of the aliens is listening outside the window).  Adam tells the Professor he has nothing to worry about and he should hit the sheets.  As Jupe sleeps, the creepy alien outside watches him.

As the creepy alien uses some sort of mind control device on the Professor, Cap and Leah note a drop in temperature in the house.  When Cap and Leah check on him, Jupe is acting weird.  He’s getting dressed to leave.  Adam phones General Brill, who tells him to stop imagining things and get some sleep.  Meanwhile, Jupe and Leah have left.

The Jupes board a yacht and elude Captain Atom.  He gives up the search and returns to base to report to Brill.  The General says they’ll search for the missing scientists later because Adam is part of the ground control communications team at the next Gemini launch.  Don Bullard and David Morse, friends of Adam, are the two astronauts scheduled to go up.

Shortly after the launch, ground control loses contact with the rocket.  Readings indicate an open hatch.  Adam races out of the control room, angering Brill again.  As Captain Atom, he flies to the disabled capsule only to find the two astronauts missing.  The creepy aliens watch this on a monitor and say they have to get rid of “that creature.”

The Planet Blue aliens (Planet Bluians?) fire a ray at Cap which immobilizes them.  They use it as a tractor beam to draw Atom to their world.  Once there, one of the astronauts complains that the planet is too cold, so Cap increases his radiation to provide heat (new power!) which freaks out the aliens.  Captain Atom starts hurling fireballs at the aliens and leads the astronauts to the Planet Blue Space Port.

Bullard, Morse, and Captain Atom board an alien spaceship and manage to get it going by pushing random buttons.  Cap puts them on a course for Earth and then takes off.  He has to face Brill and a possible reprimand or court martial.  Adam doesn’t get in trouble, though, and is instead sent back out to find the Jupes.

Atom searches the one island off the Florida coast that the other searchers missed because it is uninhabited.  Of course, he finds Leah sitting on the beach… brushing her hair?  (Oh, right, 1965.  That’s the only thing silly girls did back then.)  It turns out she was just there to lure Captain Adam in.  He is blasted by another Bluian Blue Ray.  One blast turns him into a “stumbling hulk.”

Leah leads Adam to a huge complex built by Professor Jupe and the aliens.  Jupe is designing rockets for his alien “friends.”  Adam points out that Professor Jupe is actually a slave to the blue men, under the influence of the blue ray.  The Bluoids fire another ray at Adam, who feigns unconsciousness.  Adam and Leah are led to the complex below, and as soon as Leah has her back to him, Adam slips out and becomes Captain Atom.

Jupe launches a “killer missile.”  Atom shows up and blasts the missile.  He starts wailing on aliens while being careful not to harm the human slaves.  Captain Atom uses heat to un-brainwash Jupe (what the?).  The aliens escape, but Atom says they won’t bother Earth again.

Captain Adam reports back to General Brill, who “talked for an hour straight without repeating himself once or saying anything nice.”  What a weird bit of text.  Adam is dismissed and he thanks General Brill.

Now this is more like it.  The story is 19 pages long.  There is a backup story, but it does not feature Captain Atom.  Ditko and Gill did not let us down after the four year hiatus.  With few exceptions, Ditko’s art is beautiful.  And I like the new characters introduced.  Will Leah Jupe be Captain Atom’s Lois Lane?  Time will tell.  I’m anxious to read the next issue.  I give this one an A.

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