Last Issue Special # 15: Captain Atom

SERIES: Captain Atom

DATE: 1991

THOSE REPONSIBLE: John Ostrander (writer), Dennis O'Neil (editor)

CATEGORY: Partial Denial

I feel bad for Captain Atom. After being rescued from Charlton obscurity when DC bought the rights, he became a member of the Justice League, got his own book, and seemed to be establishing a niche for himself as a super-hero with strong ties to the military. Then the big Armageddon: 2001 crossover took place. Captain Atom was slated to be the big surprise villain behind the whole thing, but when word leaked to the fans, DC changed things up at the very last minute and substituted someone else (making the story make even less sense than normal, one assumes). Ever since, Captain Atom has bounced around in a bewildering number of roles, universes, costumes, and powers, with a continuity about as tortured as it gets (read his Wikipedia entry if you don't believe me). It's unfortunately a perfect case study of a potential downside of comics: characters who lack strong direction from a consistent editor can flounder through years of different creative teams, each of whom handles the character for an issue here or a guest appearance there, with no cohesive sense of who the character is or why he exists in the shared universe.

In the last issue of his regular series, which lasted just under five years, Captain Atom gets shafted by both suffering through the end of one company-wide crossover (War of the Gods) and the beginning of another (Armageddon 2001). In other words, in his own book's final issue, Captain Atom has a big brawl with what is apparently an evil version of himself (the most generic villain of them all, "Shadowstorm") but has to give up several pages so we can see what is happening to other, unrelated characters elsewhere.

I'm guessing the book was rushed, because two pages are almost duplicates. Page 6 features one panel featuring Dr. Fate, Geo-Force, Zatanna, and two other magicians casting a spell with the caption: "Elsewhere, creatures of magic and mystery gather together seeking by common action to stabilize a planet made mad by the war of the gods." Then, page 20 features a panel of the exact same characters casting a spell with the caption "Elsewhere, creatures of magic and mystery, seeking by common action to stabilize a planet made mad by the war of the gods, cast their desperate spell." Likewise, page 6 and page 20 each feature duplicate panels of a sorceress (I think its Circe) casting a spell with similar captions.

A brief paragraph on the letters page by Assistant Editor Kelley Puckett is the only mention of the book's cancellation, and it seems ironic given future events:

"There is no next issue! But don't think our story stops here! If you care about the future of Captain Atom (and yes, there is a future for him) you must read Armageddon 2001 # 2! This is the story what will change Captain Atom forever! Don't miss it!"