Captain Atom (DC 1987-1991) # 31-40 [COMICS]

Continuing my reading of Captain Atom.  In this post, we get Rocket Red (yay!), the Black Racer (boo!), and the Atomic Skull getting his brains ripped out (cool!).

In Issue # 31, Nathaniel Adam's hippy girlfriend Sally is upset that he's rejoined the Air Force.  After giving Eiling a briefing on the new Justice League Europe that he's leading, Captain Atom gets a call from Rocket Red (Dmitri) involving a plot thread from, of all books, the New Guardians!  But don't worry, they don't appear.  It turns out that Russia's other Rocket Reds have been mind-controlled into acts of terrorism, and have even kidnapped Dmitri's family.  It's a very exciting, well-written issue, and Dmitri's hilarious accent is handled perfectly.  It's rare to see Dmitri get the spotlight (even over in Justice League), so this issue is a highlight of his career and a good issue of Captain Atom to boot.

The cover to Issue # 32 is overwrought:  "There is pain and there is fear . . . and there is the question--'What am I?'"  The issue starts a major plotline for the next several issues that ties into Captain Atom's origin.  The mysterious alien artifact codenamed Silver Shield (metal from which was used in the experiments to create both himself and Major Force) has to be moved from a decommissioned military base to a new, safe location.  But moving the artifacts causes both Captain Atom and Major Force to become sick, and then to lose their powers entirely!  There's then an abrupt shift to Captain Atom joining a mission (despite his lack of powers) to rescue his son Randy from some Bialyan terrorists.  The artwork in this one is really amateurish.

A team-up no one was expecting in Issue # 33: Captain Atom and Batman!  (My guess: sales were flagging, and desperate measures were called for).  The premise is that Captain Atom, sans powers, wants to make a go of it as a non-powered hero like Batman.  To that end, C.A. dresses up in his hoax-costume (i.e., his garish yellow and red original costume from the 1960s) and heads to Gotham City to get lessons from the Dark Knight.  Together, they tackle Scarecrow, and Bats, although skeptical, gives C.A. his seal of approval to keep leading the J.L.E.  Meanwhile, in subplot-land, Peggy breaks up with Jeff--it turns out she's leaving Washington and all it represents.  It's a bit of an odd issue for Captain Atom, but actually works somehow.

Horrible artwork permeates Issue # 34.  In the aftermath of the JLE's first mission, everyone's talking about Captain Atom's lack of powers.  Emery, the crook who pretended to be Dr. Spectro to carry out the government's hoax origin, needs some cash and decides to kidnap the JLE's French liason, Catherine Colbert for ransom!  However, even without his powers, C.A. has no trouble kicking the crap out of Dr. Spectro.  And, it seems his powers may be coming back, with an explanation promised next issue.  One of my favourite parts of re-reading these issues continues to be editor Denny O'Neill's columns on the letters pages.

In Issue # 35, everyone involved in the Captain Atom project is working hard on Silver Shield to try to understand what's going on.  Babylon, Dr. Megala's long-time assistant, has flashbacks to his joining the project years earlier.  Silver Shield ups and flies away, forcing Captain Atom and Major Force to fly to Nevada to try to find it as it sends psychic messages to another project member, scientist Anton Sarrok.  It turns out . . . Silver Shield is alive!

There's a nice cover to Issue # 36, depicting Silver Shield (in humanoid form) tussling with Captain Atom in outer space.  The issue itself features Silver Shield explaining its origin as a being from the quantum world.  Intrigued by humanity, it takes interest and delight in the quotidian activities of human beings (much like the Beyonder did during Secret Wars II).  We get a full origin for the first time of everyone involved in the Captain Atom project, including Megala, Babylon, Sarrok, etc.  The issue ends with Captain Atom and Major Force tricking Eiling into thinking Silver Shield has left Earth forever, when in fact it's holed up in an apartment watching television!  It made me smile.

Issue # 37 is mostly a slugfest between Captain Atom and a super-villain called the Atomic Skull.  C.A. wins in awesome fashion by ripping the Skull's helmet off and yanking out the radium in his head that gives him powers!  Ouch!

The terminally goofy Black Racer appears in Issue # 38.  The Black Racer is essentially a grim reaper figure in the DC mythos, except he flies through the universe on skis (and has ski poles to boot!).  But although the Black Racer lurks around Captain Atom, it turns out it hasn't come for him, but for the wife of a friend (Chester King) of C.A.  Super heroic intervention is enough to dissuade the Black Racer for some reason but (unfortunately) he'll reappear soon in future issues.  Meanwhile,we have three new developing subplots starting in this issue: Red Tornado appears and asks C.A.'s help in stabilizing his new elemental form so that he can regain his (more or less for an android) humanity; in a new romantic direction, C.A. kisses Catherine Colbert; and finally, the Faceless One (the Ghost) starts to rally support for an evil army!

Issue # 39 is sort of a taking stock/review issue, which is actually pretty helpful since there are a *lot* of minor and supporting characters in the title at this point.  This review takes the form of a report by a mole working for the Ghost on everyone involved in Eiling's government project to oversee Captain Atom.  In further developments on the Red Tornado front, Captain Atom asks Dr. Megala to help him make a robot body for his friend, which Megala does in exchange for help in curing his body's radiation sickness.

The Ghost launches phase one of his evil plan in Issue # 40 by getting the Cambodian (the samurai-like warlord of some earlier issues) to kidnap Babylon, while other agents kidnap Eiling's subordinate Martin Allard and Cap's friend Jeff Gosling.  The Ghost himself breaks another super-villain, Kobra,  out of jail so that everyone will think the latter is behind the kidnappings.

As the title moves into its third year, it's clear that more traditional super hero fare has replaced the earlier "government intrigue" focus.  I think it's unfortunate, as the more conventional stories are forgettable and blend into so much similar material published at the same time.  But Bates' writing is still solid.  If there's one real weak link with the book, it's the artwork which is inconsistent and sometimes downright bad (and I say that as someone who doesn't usually care that much about art).