DCU Book Club Week 60: THE FALL AND RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM (2017) Issues 1-6, Nov 4 - Nov 10

It’s so cool that a lot of you are familiar with the past Captain Atom runs and can compare and contrast. This was my first Captain Atom story, I’m learning a lot from all of you!

1 Like

One issue in, I’m liking this so far. The style and characterization is much more reminiscent of the ‘80s series but they’re still working with the 2011 series’ premise. I did like the reintroduction of how Captain Atom uncontrollably time-jumps when he overtaxes his abilities, though.

3 Likes


AAAAH HE’S SILVER AGAIN AND THEY USED THE JOKE FROM THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE OLD SERIES AND I’M EXCITED

OK, deep breaths.

Basically, they’re soft-rebooting him into his old origin and I love it.

2 Likes

Yes! And I had a great time with it. I mean, it was kind of like seeing the '86 series on fast forward, but it’s still great stuff even boiled down into six issues.

OK, so I called that General Eiling was one of Ultramax’s clients because that’s classic Eiling. But honestly? I was kind of expecting a big twist where he’d hired Thrane to kill Takara and make it look like an accident. But just like the original series, he sometimes surprises you by being better than you expect him to be. Bates and Weisman just write Eiling as a wonderfully nuanced character and somehow you never see that from any other writer.

I think he was used to good effect in the Justice League Interantional era, so I wouldn’t object to his being associated with some Justice League or other. And it creates interesting tension about whether they’ll discover the big coverup. If there’s any issue, it is power level imbalance, since Captain Atom’s abilities are so overwhelmingly powerful, but if anything that makes him better suited to Justice League-style cosmic menaces than solo adventures.

What weren’t my favorite moments? I guess to pick one from each issue, there was his getting thrown back in time instead of killed, his getting advice on his situation from the professor by pitching it as a work of fiction, his appearance back in the present, the fake backstory from the TV interview, taking Genji flying, and the final fight with Ultramax.

I also appreciated the detective being named Charlton.

I think when we first see his silver look synced up with the “I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday” punchline. Which is not quite as clever here unless you read the '86 series but was a terrific throwback to it.

Sidenote: If anyone is curious about the '86 series, well, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I might be able to answer some questions about it in the Acquired Taste Book Club in a couple weeks… and some other Questions too…

3 Likes

I really like the way you stated that. I liked the way Eiling was written too. I wanted to see him as a villain - and he was - but then he also wasn’t a typical villain with villainous motives.

I’d love to see him fight cosmic menaces! :heart:

It was really fun to read all your comments and comparisons of Captain Atom. I’m so glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for reading along!

2 Likes

I really enjoyed this series. My experience with Captain Atom has mainly been in JLI and JLE. I read his '80s DC series for just a minute and enjoyed his old crossovers with Firestorm. I tried the New 52 series but you can’t buy ’ em all so I didn’t keep up with it. And it seemed like the goal then was to make him a Dr. Manhattan clone and that was odd to me.

So I’m glad that they found a way here to sort of reset him and make him more himself again. I had no expectations going into this, no idea what the exact premise was, so it took me by surprise when he jetted back in time. That was a cool way to set up the main conflicts.

That part with the wife having to believe that he had abandoned her touched me. I can’t imagine how hard that would be to accept, that someone you truly loved went the rest of their life thinking horrid things about you, and hurting because of it.
I agree that the main characters are nicely nuanced, especially Eiling, but the villian sure wasn’t. I wish there had been more time in the story to make Max more fleshed out.

One thing I didn’t understand: why stick with the name Captain Atom? They spent so much time, energy, and money setting him up with a fresh start in the eyes of the media due to all his baggage. Why? Why not just say, oh, look, a new guy?

I really dug out overall, though. There were a lot of things left unresolved. Did the series get a follow up?

4 Likes

Hi! @ralphsix

:sob: His poor wife! Everything was kinda perfect, then:

Me too.

Good point!

I looked and didn’t find anything more recent for Captain Atom on DCU, but maybe I wasn’t using the right search terms. Does anyone else know?

I’m glad you dug the story. Thank for reading along and discussing with us!

3 Likes

I know he showed up with pretty much the rest of the DCU in Doomsday Clock when they’re facing off against Manhattan on Mars, but I don’t remember if he looked like this.

EDIT: Just checked, and he’s definitely looking like his classic silver self. Sadly I get the feeling this series has been largely abandoned. :pensive:

3 Likes

Is this your first time reading The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom?

Yes it was.

What moment surprised you the most?

I think it was more how personal and…normal, for lack of a better term, this was. Like I said in my first post, when this came out I figured that this would have some sort of link to Rebirth, because of how Captain Atom is the inspiration for Doctor Manhattan, so I figured there would be something with that, more of what the New 52 series explored about how a man with all these powers was trying to keep a grip on his humanity.

Instead, what we got was a story that basically regained Atom’s humanity almost from the start. Instead we get a story about a man who found happiness for the first time in his life, had it violently ripped away, and is now doing his best to deal with the consequences. It was a pretty cool story on that front.

Do you think Captain Atom should be in a league? Or is he in a league of his own?

Power-wise, it would be hard for him to be on a team without basically one-uping everyone. On the other, I think it would be interesting to see him interact with other heroes, especially now that he has this hidden status quo.

I like what someone suggested and putting him on a more cosmic-level team. Maybe if Justice League Odyssey continues on, he could be a good fit for that kind of League.

What were your favorite moments?

The moment where Adam is talking to the professor about his “book” about time travel was pretty fun, especially liked how the professor suggested that a whole group of super-powered people doesn’t make sense and that an audience wouldn’t buy it. Oh, what little does he know! :joy:

I also liked Eiling as a character. He feels cut from the same cloth as Amanda Waller, where you know he’s a borderline evil scumbag, but he’s super-competent and just enough moral that you can find ways to root for him sometimes.

3 Likes

Hi @Jay_Kay

Wow, that’s a great summary of the story!

LOL

:joy: yeah

FINALLY Someone said it! :laughing: I was starting to think it was just me who felt that way! I think they could be cousins.

Thanks so much for reading with us @Jay_Kay As always, it’s a pleasure to hear your thoughts on the book :blue_heart:

2 Likes

They are pretty similar, though Waller is generally better-intentioned than Eiling. They did bump into each other in the Invasion crossover in the late '80s and he just popped up in an arc late in Ostrander’s Suicide Squad that I’m reading right now. I think there might’ve also been some interaction during The Janus Directive too.

2 Likes

Waller is better intentioned? Man, that’s a scary thought!

3 Likes

Just finished this, and I really, really enjoyed it. Onto the DQs!

  1. This was indeed my first time reading TFAROCA in full. I sampled #1 when it came out, but I didn’t pursue the series further.

  2. My Surprise Moment came in seeing that this iteration of General Eiling looks exactly like actor Keith David.
    image

It makes perfect sense too, given Greg Weisman’s involvement, as Keith David voiced Goliath on Gargoyles (a TV show overseen by Weisman), and Mongul in season two of Young Justice (also overseen by Weisman). Plus, Keith David is just cool.

  1. Given CA’s overall history with the Justice League franchise (he was in Justice League Europe, Justice League International, Extreme Justice and Convergence: Justice League International) , I’d love to see him return to a League, if not the League. I think he’d be a perfect fit for the Odyssey team, but well, that’d be a hard shoe to slip on right now, given their continual off-planet status.

  2. Favorite moments: The aforementioned uncanny likeness of Eiling to Keith David, CA’s re-emergence in the modern timeline and his takedown of UltraMax.

  3. It’s not a panel per se, but the top portion of #1, page 15 was pretty sweet. I loved Superman leading the charge with Hal and Vic in tow.

The only complaint I had is that CA’s new look was a bit hard to make out color-wise. Is he purple and gold? Are his colors continually shifting? I felt the coloring could have been improved alot more, so that his colors would definitively stand out.

One of the absolute best things about this mini was Will Conrad’s art. When I see his name on a book, I know that I’m in for a good time.

Overall, a very solid mini-series. I surely hope that Captain Atom will be put back into service at some point soon, as I feel he’s too good of a soldier to keep off the proverbial battlefield.

Great pick @JLWWSM!

2 Likes

Hi @Vroom!

It was driving me crazy to not know who Elling looked like. I knew he looked exactly like someone but couldn’t recall who. Thanks for calling this out. Thanks for all of the background details on Weisman and David. Cool stuff!

That’s another vote for team Odyssey! I have been meaning to read it but haven’t gotten to it yet. It looks great.

Same :superhero: :heart:

The art was beautiful, I’ll be keeping an eye out for his work as well.

:raised_hands: Awesome!

I’m so glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for reading along and chatting with us!

1 Like

@JLWWSM Set aside some time for Justice League: Odyssey and read every issue you can. To me, it’s absolutely the best current Justice League title.

Here’s a listing of Will Conrad’s DC output. A solid majority of it is on DCU too.
https://www.dccomics.com/talent/will-conrad

1 Like

Cool thanks - I just browsed his listing - He did Cyborg Imitation Life! (I loved that series). I will get to Odyssey for sure (I’m kinda waiting to

1 Like

I became a fan of his via the Rebirth volume of Cyborg, which is a criminally underrated series. Easily Vic’s best solo book, by far.

1 Like

I need to read the next volume of rebirth Cyborg. We covered volume 1 here in book club. I haven’t circled back yet for Volume 2, but it looks fantastic. It’s great to hear your praise of the run.

1 Like

Imitation of Life is the best arc of the whole series, but the subsequent issues are still a fine read.

1 Like

Yep, definitely can’t unsee that Keith David likeness. He’d probably do a bang up job with Eiling too.

1 Like