Featuring: Captain Atom
Release: October 1, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Steve Ditko, Joe Gill, Rocke Mastroserio, and Joe D’Agostino
19 pages
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| Amazing Spider-Man #33 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #72, Story B |
But he was not as before when he emerged from the atomic fireball! No… he was charged with unlimited nuclear power… and this power enabled him to hurtle through space at fantastic speeds! Almost indestructible, with superior vision, hearing, and strength, he became the champion of good men… and the enemy of evil everywhere!
With his time at Marvel coming to an end, Steve Ditko started putting out work for other publishers, beginning with a return to the superhero he created for Charlton Comics, Captain Atom. His very first superhero creation.
This was published concurrently with Amazing Spider-Man #32 and Strange Tales #140, the month before climactic stories in each series, and 6 months before his final issue of each series.
Captain Atom had been on hiatus since Ditko’s departure in 1961, though Charlton had recently been reprinting the old Captain Atom stories.
His return sees him facing off against aliens sabotaging our space program. These aliens seem powerful enough to attack en masse and defeat Earth pretty easily, but subterfuge is their method.
One scientist, Professor Jupe, notices the disasters are too frequent to be random. This scientist has a lovely daughter Leah who will catch our hero’s eye. Both will find themselves captives of the aliens.
We get a recap of Captain Atom’s origin and some details of his powers. Captain Atom is charged with unlimited nuclear power, can hurtle through space at fantastic speeds, and is almost indestructible, with superior vision, hearing, and strength.
Captain Atom saves the day from several disasters, then follows the aliens to their home planet and shows them what’s what.
“They knew they were almost home when their ship entered their own galaxy.” The original story had put effort into its science not reflected in that statement. Entering the Milky Way does not mean you are close to Earth.
Captain Adam must return to Earth before General Brill gets him in trouble for his frequent disappearing acts.
His only chance to redeem himself is to find Professor Jupe. Captain Atom can take care of that.
For my money, this is nowhere near as good as Spider-Man or Dr. Strange. Why?
Maybe Captain Atom’s just not as good a character. He was Ditko’s first attempt at a superhero, after all.
Another possibility is time. Ditko was still working on Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Ditko isn’t Kirby, who can churn out seemingly endless comics each month. Ditko seemed to be at his best when he focused on a couple at a time.
As he readies to leave Marvel, he’s been taking assignments from many publishers. For Warren, he’ll write some horror stories for Eerie and Creepy. For Charlton he’ll do some work on Ghostly Tales in addition to his return to Captain Atom. For Tower, he’ll do some work on THUNDER Agents, and the spin-off series Dynamo. For Dell, he’ll work on TV adaptations like Get Smart and Hogan’s Heroes.
All this will come out with his final 6 months of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange stories, months in which the quality on those two titles had noticeably dropped as well.
These are all good comics. He’s a great artist and storyteller. But with a bit of time and focus, he can be the very best.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
I read this story via Comic Book Plus.
Characters:
- Captain Atom/Captain Adam
- Mike Crandall
- Professor Arnold Jupe
- Leah Jupe
- General Brill
- Major Don Bullard
- Lt. Col. Dave Morse
- Col. Sandoval
Story notes:
- The story is in two parts: “Part I: The Gremlins from Planet Blue”; “Part II: Planet Blue”.
- Fledgling astronaut Mike Crandall piloting routine orbital space flight for NASA, when something went wrong. Several mishaps in space recently.
- Captain Atom saves Crandall.
- Blue aliens observe Captain Atom on televiewer and note he has intervened in many of their attempts at sabotage.
- Professor Arnold Jupe thinks there have been too many seeming accidents, and they must be sabotage.
- Professor Jupe civilian scientist responsible for launching orbital Gemini space probe.
- Blue aliens observe from space, millions of miles away.
- Captain Atom observs malfunction in ignition second stage.
- Captain Atom converts nuclear power to magnetic lines of force.
- General Brill concerned Captain Adam is never around.
- Captain Adam has his own theory about accelerating speed of light in space to discuss with Professor Jupe.
- Leah seems to also understand science, knowing the theory that light reflected from lunar surfaces contains special properties.
- Jupe senses the enemy nearby; he is right. Adam on alert.
- Alien bathes Professor Jupe in blue beam of light, sapping his will and making him obey. Making him leave the government to work for the blue men.
- Jupe and Leah ditch Adam, and head for a mysterious rendevous at Silver Beach.
- Astronauts Major Don Bullard and Lt. Col. Dave More about to launch; Adam thinks they should cancel launch.
- Captain Atom finds capsule damanged and entry hatch open but astronauts nissing.
- Aliens have captured astronauts and resolve to get rid of Captain Atom.
- Captain Atom is impervious to any weapon known on Earth, but helpless before the alien blue ray. They had to employ full power. No creature has ever survived that dosage.
- Aliens bring astronaut prisoners and Captain Atom to their planet, where they intend to execute all three.
- Aliens vulnerable to heat.
- Captain Atom pilots alien vessel.
- Trained celestial navigators find their way back to their own galaxy.
- Once close to home, Captain Atom leaves the astronauts to resume his civilian identity.
- Col. Sandoval the Chief of the Air Police.
- Leah lures Adam into a trap; she has no choice as she is a slave to the aliens.
- Jupe thinks he is free, and doesn’t understand he is a slave building ships for the aliens
- Captain Atom frees Jupe’s mind. The aliens retreat.
| Previous | Next | |
|---|---|---|
| Space Adventures #33, Story B | PRELUDE | |
| Amazing Spider-Man #33 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #72, Story B |
