Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Captain Atom #2

By Hervé St-Louis
December 4, 2011 - 23:45

Captain Atom discovers that he has become a human antenna and can receive messages from all over the planet. Hearing a desperate cry for help from a child with brain cancer, he decides to invade the kid’s mind and destroy the cancer himself. Is Captain Atom playing God?  

I like the revived Captain Atom where his powers are explored beyond anything before. He’s really into the Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan territory, but not a real clone. This Captain Atom has feelings of his own. I would say that Jim Shooter’s Solar Man of the Atom was probably closer to the Watchmen’s omnipotent nuclear man. One thing that is happening here is that the differences in powers between Firestorm and Captain Atom are again blurred. In the Justice League cartoons, sometimes Captain Atom’s powers were shown to be much like Firestorm’s.

But Krul is going further than that by adding other wavelengths to the Captain. His power set is completely unique and so is his characterization. In the Justice League and other Warner animated series like Batman/Superman, Captain Atom was much more military-like. In the comic books, Captain Atom was a straight shooter. Here, although his military past is alluded to, he is much more melodramatic. I don’t mind. My only criticism is how the quantum part of his power is ignored and the nuclear aspect brought up more often. The quantum aspect of his powers is what allows him to perceive time and go into the boy’s body. It’s much more interesting, science-wise than the nuclear aspects. Still, I’m quite impressed with this series so far.

Sometimes artists you literally hate on some series find their voices on other ones. The number one reason I didn’t read All-Star Justice Society was because of Williams. I just could not stand his work. Here, on Captain Atom, that series is perfect for the fluid forms he likes to depict. He really complements the series. The colouring is fine too, although I wonder why Captain Atom has to glow, if it’s hinted at in some scenes that he was invisible to onlookers. I didn’t like Krul’s work on Green Arrow and Arsenal and I didn’t like Williams’ Justice Society work. But here, both creators just merge their talents and create one of my favourite and one of the most innovative of the 52 reboots. Woah.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12