Captain Atom (DC, 1987-1991) # 11-20 & Annual # 1 [COMICS]

A couple of months back, I went through Issues # 1-10 of the late 1980s Captain Atom series.  In this post, I'll cover Issues # 11-20 and the first Annual.  Overall, the second year of the series continues the strong start as we get deeper into Nathaniel Adam's life.  There are a couple of duds, but in a monthly comic that's almost unavoidable.

Issue # 11 is the requisite Millennium crossover.  If you don't know about Millennium, let's just say it was one of the less successful line-wide crossover "events" of the time period.  Anyway, Captain Atom is tasked with stopping Firestorm, who seems to be mind-controlled or somehow manipulated by a malevolent group of alien robots called the Manhunters.  I think this is the classic "blank slate" Firestorm, but I'm not up on my history of the character.  Anyway, to try to reach him, C.A. tells him a story about overcoming his fear of flying and then tries to persuade him that the Manhunters are lying.  But he loses all credibility because Firestorm can tell C.A. is lying about his own past!  When C.A. recounts his real origin, he seems to get through to Firestorm and then the two team up to stop a bomb in the swamp?  The story's not 100% comprehensible.

We have a star-spangled cover for Issue # 12 for the memorable birth of what will become C.A.'s most important super-powered foe.  The issue allows us to witness the experiment to duplicate what happened to Nathaniel Adam but with a more powerful bomb and with a *very* different subject: a convicted rapist!  Eiling and the others overseeing the experiment plan to have better control this time around by installing cameras, bugs, sedatives, and even an explosive collar into the suit.  We don't get to see the result of the experiment because this issue leads directly into the first annual! (C.A. is in this issue, doing something in the Arctic to keep the Russkies from getting a hold of an alien probe or something--it doesn't really matter.)

"Enter: Major Force!" proclaims the cover to Annual # 1.  Called in to investigate a "UFO," C.A. battles what seems like a strange alien menace capable of projecting solid black matter.  A "brave soldier" saves the day but seemingly melds with the alien.  It's all a P.R. hoax (one that C.A. was unaware of) by Eiling and the military to get Major Force introduced to the world as an "alien" merged with a "patriotic soldier".  C.A. is even forced to introduce Major Force at a press conference, but a series of later disasters show that M.F. is still the psychotic thug he was before the experiment that gave him powers.  C.A. and M.F. fight and the knockout gas helps C.A. win, but Eiling is displeased by the turn of events.  It's on!  A solid introduction to Major Force as someone with the powerful to rival Captain Atom but tied nicely into the Eiling and government secrecy subplots.

Issue # 13 has a nice Christmas themed cover.  Adam resigns from the Air Force and decides to go it alone, knowing he finally has some leverage over Eiling due to the whole "Major Force" debacle.  Adam ends up at a local bar on Christmas Eve, and there's a subplot about a serial arsonist.  My notes say "It's really good! Inexplicably so."  At the very end, one Eve Eden shows up--Nightshade!

Nightshade was one of the original Charlton heroes who debuted in Captain Atom's title in the 1960s.  She has some weird shadow-teleportation powers, and in D.C. continuity of the time she's a member of the Suicide Squad and professional secret agent.  In Issue # 14, Nightshade is honest with C.A. that she's under orders to keep an eye on him, and the two are getting along famously (a bit rushed, to be honest) when he heads to the west coast for a job interview (not realizing that he's been black-balled by Eiling and will never find work as a pilot).  Later, C.A. and Nightshade interrupt a gang of thieves' plan to steal a prototype jet desired by "The Faceless One.".  It's a bit mediocre, and ends with Nightshade having to return to the Squad.  More time to establish their relationship would have been great.  There is a good scene where President Reagan asks C.A. to stay in the Justice League International as a sort of government spy.  C.A.'s been a member of the JLI for months now, but readers of his own title hardly see any mention of it!

Major Force makes a big return in Issue  # 15.  Emery, the guy who made the fake "Dr. Spectro" costume several issues back, is hired by Eiling to throw a fight against Major Force to help redeem the latter to the public.  Captain Atom intervenes in the "battle", however, and throws off the script.  He then gets blinded before getting the living shit kicked out of him by Major Force!  Hey, you have to let the villain win once in a while if they're going to perceived as a real threat by the reader!

"Guest Starring the Justice League"--now we're talking!  Issue # 16 has a bruised and battered Nathaniel Adam struggling to pay his rent since he can't find a job anywhere after quitting the Air Force.  Meanwhile, Blue Beetle (!) and Booster Gold (!) and Mister Miracle and Black Canary are trying to take on a talking hurricane that turns out to be Red Tornado who is now self-identifying as an air elemental that needs to scour the earth!  Outmatched, they recruit Captain Atom, and he redirects the vortex to the swamp--Swamp Thing's swamp!  The JLI is pretty well-written and this was a great issue.

So, Swamp Thing is *not* happy about the intrusion into his swamp.  In Issue # 17, his rage dissipates Red Tornado and knocks Captain Atom comatose!  C.A.'s astral form is pulled through the Green in a dreamlike vision, and the trio talk.  But the Black Racer (the goofiest grim reaper ever) chases C.A.'s astral form.  Fortunately, the JLI have rushed C.A.'s body to Infinity Inc. to a dude named Brainwave for some psychic healing, and body and soul are reunited in time.  The issue has the first hint that Captain Atom may be some sort of elemental (as Swamp Thing is the earth elemental and Red Tornado is the air elemental), but this won't be explored for a while if I recall correctly.  The storyline is definitely a different type than the more politics/intrigue ones, and I don't think it was particularly successful.

Issue # 18 is a really good standalone story.  After visiting a very ill Dr. Megala, Eiling and his crony Allard are on a helicopter when they decide that the old man has outlived his usefulness . . . but then the helicopter never makes it back to base!  Captain Atom is called in to look for it, but refuses to help until he realizes how worried Peg is--Eiling was a good father to her.  It turns out that Eiling and Allard have been kidnapped by "Master Militarius", a fake super-villain as part of a plan by Megala to gain control of a military satellite.  The satellite will broadcast the truth about Captain Atom if Megala is murdered, so he's created an insurance policy against Eiling's machinations!  It's a pretty clever issue.

"Worst of run" (so far) my notes read about Issue # 19.  Adam gets a job at a 1960s memorabilia store working for an aged hippie named "Starshine."  He fights off some goons who want protection money, and then somehow the story turns into the most cliched ever 1980s "follow the drugs up the supply chain" storyline.  "Poppies.  Hundreds and hundreds of acres of poppies.  The flowers seem to harmless from up here.  But all I see are seeds of death."  It's so embarrassingly awesomely bad!  Suffice it to say, seeing the quantum-powered Captain Atom take on a bunch of stock-casting drug dealers does not an exciting comic book make.

Things fortunately improve in Issue # 20, as my favourite super hero (Blue Beetle) guest stars.  Blue Beetle and Captain Atom are suddenly super-friendly with each other around JLI headquarters, a development that Mister Miracle and Booster Gold find really odd until they come across a "covert action dossier" from the 1960s that indicate that Captain Atom and the current Blue Beetle's predecessor (Dan Garrett) went on many missions together.  It's really all fake, and C.A. has used the file to get in good with the current Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) because he needs his help.  Kord has the business contacts to infiltrate a company called Zyco, whose CEO is a former military general who was involved in Adam's court-martial for treason!  Adam and Kord work together, but they're not successful, as the general is mysteriously murdered and any evidence that could exonerate Adam is destroyed.  The characterisation of Kord is a bit uneven, but I liked that Adam felt guilty for lying to him.  This storyline continues in a few issues.

The second year of the title definitely does more with integrating Captain Atom into the rest of the DC Universe.  We see links to the other elementals like Swamp Thing and Red Tornado, as well as multiple guest appearances from the JLI.  It also features the debut of recurring villain Major Force.  The long-term subplot of Adam trying to figure out who framed him for murder and treason in the 1960s starts to heat up as well.  All in all, a strong second year with only the laughably-bad anti-drug story as a major dud.