TEX'S BACK-ISSUE QUEST EPISODE #69 (Captain Atom)

Welcome back, Fellow Questers!!

     Thanks for joining me again today as we continue our journey to pay homage to a fallen icon of the comics industry: Steve Ditko.

     Today, we begin with Mr. Ditko's VERY FIRST superhero creation:

CAPTAIN ATOM!!!

    That's right, Charlton Comics' powerhouse, Captain Atom, was indeed Steve Ditko's first published superhero creation. He, and his frequent collaborator, Joe Gill, created this amazing property together. Captain Atom made his first appearance here:

   Pictured above, is my copy of Charlton Comics' Space Adventures #33, published in 1960, just a few years after the beginning of the Silver Age of comics kicked off with the appearance of The Flash II (Barry Allen) in 1956. One year before Marvel's First Family, The Fantastic Four, and two years before The Amazing Spider-Man, Steve Ditko would publish his very first superhero creation in the pages of this exciting book from Charlton Comics in a story named very plainly, "Introducing Captain Atom." Space Adventures #33, is a great book to have for any Ditko fan - but it's neither easy nor cheap to come by. 

    Captain Atom was Captain Allen Adam of the United States Airforce (although he was sometimes erroneously called Allen Adams), a polymath, and one of the world's greatest authorities in nuclear science. While attempting to make some final adjustments to an experimental rocket armed with a nuclear warhead, Adam was accidentally launched into space and obliterated when the rocket's warhead detonated outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Moments later, Captain Adam reappeared back on Earth, his body now entirely made of Uranium-235. Adam avoids poisoning everyone on Earth by creating a bodysuit out of a radiation-blocking metal. He then discovers that he has been gifted with mind-boggling powers, such as the ability to render himself invisible and intangible, the ability to fly at fantastic speeds, and atomic transmutation and molecular manipulation. If any of this sounds familiar, it should; Ditko's Captain Atom was Alan Moore's inspiration for his own godlike being, Dr. Manhattan in Moore's seminal work, The Watchmen. 

Captain Atom probably inspired the creation of heroes from other publishers as well, like Gold Key's pretty sweet character, Doctor Solar (1962), and Dell's lackluster knock-off, Nukla (1965), also co-created by Joe Gill, the same writer who co-created Captain Atom with Steve Ditko. 

   Alas, Captain Atom's adventures only lasted about a year and a half, before he disappeared from the pages of Space Adventures. Ditko went to work for Marvel for a few years, creating his best-known characters, The Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and others, helping to bring to life Marvel's burgeoning new universe. However, by 1965, Ditko had grown dissatisfied with Marvel, and returned to Charlton and resumed his work on Captain Atom in a Charlton title called Strange Suspense Stories. Charlton was betting hard on the fact that superheroes seemed to be coming back in style (I mean, even Archie and Jughead got in on the act over at Archie Comics...But that's another story); however, the stars didn't quite align for Charlton superheroes, and Captain Atom was back out of print by 1967. As Charlton Comics began its long decline, DC Comics swooped in and purchased most of their superhero properties in 1983. Some sources say that the properties were for Alan Moore's use in his series, The Watchmen, other sources say that the purchase was a gift from then DC Executive Vice-President, Paul Levitz to Dick Giordano, former editor-in-chief of Charlton, who was now at DC. Whatever, the reasons, DC chose to use several of the Charlton action heroes beyond Moore's legendary superhero deconstruction tale. Captain Atom suddenly returned in 1987:

(NOT MY COPY - I  have a copy, but I haven't scanned it)

  In 1987, comics-scribes, Cary Bates, and Greg Weisman, teamed with penciler, Pat Broderick,  to reimagine Captain Atom as Vietnam War Veteran, Nathaniel Christopher Adam, a USAF officer who had been framed for a crime he did not commit and sentenced to death. As an alternative to death, Adam was tapped for an experiment that he wasn't expected to survive, an experiment to test the durability of an alien spacecraft by exploding an atomic bomb under it. Needless to say, the craft and Adam both were obliterated...Or so everyone thought. Adam reappeared eighteen years later, with the alien metal of the ship bonded to his body giving him amazing powers of energy absorption and projection due to its ability to tap into the quantum field. This series ran for over 50 issues before cancellation. Years later, Captain Atom got an ersatz reboot, along with all the other DC heroes in 2011's New 52: 

   Pictured here, is my copy of J.T. Krul's Captain Atom #1, published in 2012. In this continuity, Nathaniel Adam is still a USAF pilot, but no longer a criminal, rather, he volunteers to pilot a dimensional transfer vessel. Adam is seemingly destroyed during the experiment but soon reappears as a powerful form of living energy. Krul did a pretty great job on this series, but it only lasted 12 issues. 

   All in all, Captain Atom has had 3 series over at DC Comics - 2 ongoing series, and one mini. Despite all his AMAZING COOLNESS, he has never enjoyed the popularity, nor the respect that should come from his powerset, and the undeniable creative legacy of his co-creator, Steve Ditko. Captain Atom was, for all intents and purposes, the Superman of Charlton Comics, and given his capabilities, he should be enjoying a similar status in the DCU, given that he could probably ANNIHILATE most of the heroes and villains that populate it - and YES, that includes Superman. Captain Atom has appeared on Justice League Unlimited and in the animated film, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies:

Justice League Unlimited, "Flashpoint"

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

    From 1960 to now, there is no denying that Captain Atom has come a long way, baby. From the creative genius of Steve Ditko and Joe Gill, through the pages of Charlton Comics, imitated, but never quite duplicated in the pages of Gold Key Comics and Dell Comics, re-imagined in Alan Moore's bleak superhero deconstruction masterpiece, The Watchmen, and finally reborn, and re-imagined yet again in the pages of DC Comics. Like Steve Ditko, Captain Atom is covered in obscurity (as far as younger readers go). Everyone who knows Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange automatically know Stan Lee, but how many think of Steve Diko when these characters are mentioned? Ditko did no cameos. He made no promo appearances. It seems that so far, the destinies of Ditko, and his first superhero creation, Captain Atom, have traveled a similar path: one of underappreciation, and under-acknowledgment. I look forward to the day when I hear comics fans really get familiar with Steve Ditko's works, and the day when the right writer and artist get ahold of Captain Atom and turn him into the superhero that he truly deserves to be. 

   Thanks for reading, Fellow Questers!

IN LOVING MEMORY OF STEVE DITKO (1927-2018)

If you like these articles, PLEASE HIT THE +1 BUTTON below. We are on Google+, follow us and we'll follow you back.  We're also on Facebook. Like our page, and share us with your friends! Help me win one million readers over to the awesome world of comics!