Back to some of my favorite superheroes, the Charlton Comics line-up. Especially the ones illustrated by Steve Ditko. Captain Atom's first appearance was in Charlton Comics Space Adventures #33 back in March of 1960. Joe Gill & Steve Ditko created the atomic powered superhero. Atom ran through issue #42. He resurfaced in Strange Suspense Stories #75 through #77, which was then retitled Captain Atom with #78 through #89.
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| Strange Suspense Stories #75 through #77. |
Captain Adam was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Cape Canaveral, when he had an accident causing him to disintegrate. He was able to pull himself back together finding himself with super powers. Thereafter, he served his country both as a military man during the height of the Cold War - and as Captain Atom!
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| Short stint with AC Comics, Americomcs Special #1 pictured with splash page. Nightshade's new costume appeared in this issue only. Enjoyed Jim Aparo's Nightshade coming later in the Captain Atom series. |
Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but later, after a brief licensing lease to AC Comics, acquired by DC Comics. DC Comics relaunched its superhero comics and restarted the histories of the most of the characters from scratch, including Captain Atom, giving him a new origin, appearance and slightly altered powers.
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| Remember these ads? |
Captain Atom image on the cover taken from page one, panel one of interior story.
"In This Issue Introducing Captain Atom"
When Captain Adam is trapped in an atomic rocket, Captain Atom is born. Captain Atom goes on to stop some enemy agents who had sabotaged a Jupiter Rocket.
Written by Joe (Doomsday+1) Gill with art by Steve (Blue Beetle) Ditko.
Captain Atom's uniform is blue in the story.
This story was subsequently reprinted in Charlton Comics Strange Suspense Stories #75, Space Adventures (1978 series) #9 & most recently in DC Comics The Action Hero Archives Volume 1.
Gill and Ditko's Captain Atom started good and went on to bigger and better things during the course of Charlton Comics superhero adventures.
The character of Captain Atom was the inspiration for the character Doctor Manhattan, featured in the mini-series Watchmen, gaining similar powers through a similar scientific mishap.Myself, I was glad he wasn't used in the Watchmen. He was best left in the Silver Age along with the other Charlton Comics action heroes.
Live Large My Friends!
Thank You!
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| From Charlton Bullseye #1, rarely seen, an unpublished Captain Atom story, until Action Heroes Archives Volume 1 came out. John Byrne did a great job inking Steve Ditko. |
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| The other three Captain Atom appearances (reprints) in the 1978 Space Adventures series. |
I liked Captain Atom, but the 1980s DC silver-skin version was not great.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate how DC tacitly admitted they don't have the copyright to the Charlton characters they thought they bought: notice how they changed all their costumes and secret IDs so they could have something copyrightable?