The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #1 (Spoilers)

[RolandGunner]

There is a substantial Captain Atom fan base here so thought I'd open up a thread forhis new mini-series. Just so everyone knows, I didn't read his nu52 book so there may be some details that get overlooked. Here are the key parts to #1:

-- We start in the huge vault that was on promo piece that came out when this was solicited. Captain Atom is dealing with the fallout of a serious instability in his internal matrix.

-- Atom wants to know if he killed any one when this first flared up. General Eiling and a scientist are being very evasive about the answer.

-- After a few pages we jump back 23 minutes to the incident and spend most of the issue seeing what happened and how the Justice League had to intervene to keep a disaster from happening.

-- Turns out while the JL was racing him to this facility in Kansas, the containment field Green Lantern had up exploded and an energy blast destroyed a good portion of a town. So the internal attack almost certainly killed some people.

-- At the end we catch up with the opening scene and a second, much more intense blast hits. It appears that CA is disintegrated in the blast. Final page is of the blasted Kansas town.

My thoughts: There wasn't anything especially wrong with this issue but having Captain Atom displaced in time or space has been the default story for him for like 20 years now. Was hoping for a new direction here. Would have liked to get some hint as to where we was sent as well. The art was quite good. Conrad showed the action well and has very expressive faces.

[Hawkgirl_70]

There is a substantial Captain Atom fan base here so thought I'd open up a thread forhis new mini-series. Just so everyone knows, I didn't read his nu52 book so there may be some details that get overlooked. Here are the key parts to #1:

-- We start in the huge vault that was on promo piece that came out when this was solicited. Captain Atom is dealing with the fallout of a serious instability in his internal matrix.

-- Atom wants to know if he killed any one when this first flared up. General Eiling and a scientist are being very evasive about the answer.

-- After a few pages we jump back 23 minutes to the incident and spend most of the issue seeing what happened and how the Justice League had to intervene to keep a disaster from happening.

-- Turns out while the JL was racing him to this facility in Kansas, the containment field Green Lantern had up exploded and an energy blast destroyed a good portion of a town. So the internal attack almost certainly killed some people.

-- At the end we catch up with the opening scene and a second, much more intense blast hits. It appears that CA is disintegrated in the blast. Final page is of the blasted Kansas town.

My thoughts: There wasn't anything especially wrong with this issue but having Captain Atom displaced in time or space has been the default story for him for like 20 years now. Was hoping for a new direction here. Would have liked to get some hint as to where we was sent as well. The art was quite good. Conrad showed the action well and has very expressive faces.

Thank you for the review. I'm a fan after only reading Captain Atom: Armageddon. Loved it! I haven't read (yet) the 2 Capt Atom New 52 TPB's because I've read a lot of posts that said it was bad.
I hope someone posts that's read this issue as well as the previous 2 TPB's then share a comparison.

[Starman]

There is a substantial Captain Atom fan base here so thought I'd open up a thread forhis new mini-series. Just so everyone knows, I didn't read his nu52 book so there may be some details that get overlooked. Here are the key parts to #1:

-- We start in the huge vault that was on promo piece that came out when this was solicited. Captain Atom is dealing with the fallout of a serious instability in his internal matrix.

-- Atom wants to know if he killed any one when this first flared up. General Eiling and a scientist are being very evasive about the answer.

-- After a few pages we jump back 23 minutes to the incident and spend most of the issue seeing what happened and how the Justice League had to intervene to keep a disaster from happening.

-- Turns out while the JL was racing him to this facility in Kansas, the containment field Green Lantern had up exploded and an energy blast destroyed a good portion of a town. So the internal attack almost certainly killed some people.

-- At the end we catch up with the opening scene and a second, much more intense blast hits. It appears that CA is disintegrated in the blast. Final page is of the blasted Kansas town.

My thoughts: There wasn't anything especially wrong with this issue but having Captain Atom displaced in time or space has been the default story for him for like 20 years now. Was hoping for a new direction here. Would have liked to get some hint as to where we was sent as well. The art was quite good. Conrad showed the action well and has very expressive faces.

He was sent to Kansas in 1994. There's a newspaper in the rubble.

[RolandGunner]

He was sent to Kansas in 1994. There's a newspaper in the rubble.

Right you are. I should have looked at that page more closely.

[GamerSlyRatchet]

Honestly, I prefer for him to be time displaced instead of constantly blowing up all the time.

I enjoyed this issue. It was a bit too full of exposition, but it also set-up the mini well enough.

I also love how Eiling not-so-subtly resembled Keith David.

[Frontier]

I also love how Eiling not-so-subtly resembled Keith David.

Oh man, now I can't unsee that .

Perfect choice though (unless he gets replaced by Kevin Michael Richardson in the next issue ).

[Jenn]

I also love how Eiling not-so-subtly resembled Keith David.

Glad someone else noticed. I though my mind was playing tricks on me at first. It was a bit distracting to be honest, and I wonder if the other characters are based on real people too.

Anyway, I thought it was a good first issue. Maybe a bit heavy on exposition but since I haven't read anything with New52 Captain Atom it was much appreciated.

Personally, I never really minded the "time displaced" thing with Captain Atom, but I admit I'm a sucker for time travel stories.

[The Odd Man]

I also love how Eiling not-so-subtly resembled Keith David.

And I read all his dialogue in David's voice!

[GreenLanternRanger]

This was an, interesting book to say the least. Not really sure how things will play out, but i'll stick with it.

[CentralPower]

So far, it is a strong start. I do not care what happens as long as there is no Monarch-related stuff. (That was 25 years ago. DC needs to move on from it.)

Thank you for the review. I'm a fan after only reading Captain Atom: Armageddon. Loved it! I haven't read (yet) the 2 Capt Atom New 52 TPB's because I've read a lot of posts that said it was bad.

Bah. Ignore the complainers. The 2012 series was the first good thing done with "Captain Atom" in years.

[K. Jones]

This was really good. I'm super curious to see where they go here, because I think the first thing I thought was "holistic Captain Atom crossover stuff" where he meets or merges or becomes or is linked to his former alt-timeline self, the silver version. And the second thing I thought was DOCTOR MANHATTAN STUFF. And the third thing was "and where's the Captain Adam of Earth-4, anyway?"

Bates and Weisman have a phenomenal voice, and the art was very, very pretty.

[Ascended]

Thank you for the review. I'm a fan after only reading Captain Atom: Armageddon. Loved it! I haven't read (yet) the 2 Capt Atom New 52 TPB's because I've read a lot of posts that said it was bad.
I hope someone posts that's read this issue as well as the previous 2 TPB's then share a comparison.

Can't speak for this new mini, but I did read the New52 series (long after it had been cancelled) and it wasn't as bad as a lot of people here will tell you.

The biggest thing with that series seems to be that they borrowed so heavily from Dr. Manhattan's whole shtick. The hardcore Captain Atom fans seem to take real offense to that, and I'll agree that it does pull Nate in a direction he usually doesn't go in. But the series was decent for what it was.

[Vilynne]

I have a question about the mini series itself. How many issues is it? I thought it was originally 3 issues, but then I saw something about it being 4 issues. Earlier this week it was listed #1/6. Is it just 3 issues, ala Deadman's mansion?

And the N52 is good. Just completely separate Watchmen from your brain.

[JLH]

I loved Bates' CAPTAIN ATOM series so in spite of not being a fan of the New 52 version of the character I had to give this a try. The first issue didn't blow me away but I'm interested enough to give the title another try next month. Hopefully there's a place for the Captain somewhere in the DCU once this story wraps up.

[Ascended]

If I had to guess, I'd say that this miniseries will end up seeing Nate shed that extra "Manhattan" style power and he'll end up considerably weaker and less blue than he's been since the 52.

Someone suggested in another thread that Manhattan has been using Captain Atom as a "window" into the New52, so he can see how it's unfolding without revealing himself too much, and I think the theory might be somewhat close to the truth.

When the story wraps I figure Atom will be back to his normal silver self and a new wrinkle will be added to the Rebirth mystery. Perhaps Manhattan himself will even be revealed.