Fall And Rise Of Captain Atom #3: Back To The Future
By Alex Widen
After a sojourn in the late 1990s, Captain Atom has landed in 2017! What horrors are in store for his future?
Writers: Cary Bates & Greg Weisman
Artist: Will Conrad
Colorist: Ivan Nunes
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The sad time traveling saga of Captain Atom continues! As a result of him performing a time paradox, Captain Atom has found himself in modern day. While this may insert him solidly in the DC Rebirth era, it’s roughly five years in the future for Nathaniel Adam. Things go from bad to worse for him, as he finally learns the fall out from his power burst from 2012. This long form attempt to recreate Captain Atom to fit into the modern DC Universe continues to fascinate.
Image by DC Comics
After his powers manifested at an earlier time period than history would allow, Captain Atom returned to Continuum headquarters. Five years later, however, Nathaniel finds it’s a stadium now. Immediately, a drone from Dr. Heinrich Megala is there to greet him, as if he’s been expected. It turns out that nothing surprises either Dr. Megala or General Wade Eiling. Thanks to a glitch with some nanobots, the pair have been fully aware of Adam’s time travel and were lying in wait.
Image by DC Comics
Nathaniel Adam, This Is Your Life!
Yet this time, things are different. Nathaniel’s powers have become more stable and under his control. In addition, all he cares about is his wife Takara Sato, who he has accidentally abandoned. All too soon he learns the same truth as anyone who saw the cover. With his wife dead and his reputation in shambles due to his final power eruption, Eiling does his best to force Adam’s service once again. He plans to reintroduce him as a new Captain Atom under “Project Resurgence.”
Image by DC Comics
While Dr. Megala mingles his scientific curiosity over Captain Atom’s fate with genuine kindness, Wade Eiling is another story. He pretends to show sympathy for Adam’s plight only to try to trap him into service once again. Eiling slowly reveals that not even the Justice League could save everyone in 2012, and Captain Atom’s meltdown killed three people. Yet not even this is enough to get Nathaniel back aboard until a revelation about one connection to Sato is revealed to him.
Image by DC Comics
Cary Bates and Greg Weisman continue to generate scripts which have more meat than many typical issues. What the series lacks in super villain brawls, it gains with a serious take on a science fiction situation. Nathaniel Adam is caught between a domineering military on one end and a time paradox on the other, neither of which were his fault. He never asked for the accident which empowered him, yet it has caused him little but turmoil. Any joy he gains is lost just as quickly.
Image by DC Comics
Wade Eiling Is Another Cool Greg Weisman Antagonist!
As much as this is a story, it is also an effort to rehabilitate Captain Atom to modern audiences. Bates and Weisman collaborated on his last major revision in the late 1980s after Crisis on Infinite Earths. That origin involved now dated allusions to things like Vietnam, so another track was needed. In addition, Adam has often devolved from subsequent mishandled stories as a jarhead who explodes. Therefore, this series seeks to make Nathaniel a character readers can root for.
Image by DC Comics
Much as with his original series, Captain Atom’s true arch nemesis is Wade Eiling. While not responsible for the accident that empowered him, he’s responsible for much of Nathaniel’s turmoil afterward. He sees Captain Atom as a weapon at worst and a chance to have an official U.S. military superhero at best. Eiling is not above using manipulation or outright blackmail to force Adam to his command. Not even a trip thru time or a new power set can shake Eiling from him.
Image by DC Comics
Will Conrad and Ivan Nunes provide another stellar effort on art. Making Wade Eiling a dead ringer for Keith David—an actor who has frequently worked with Greg Weisman—allows for the reader to instantly give him a voice. Mingling silver and red isn’t the easiest color scheme to work with, but the pair manage Captain Atom’s new look marvelously. The realistic style brings home the fact that this is more of a science fiction story than a superhero story. Each panel looks beautiful.
Image by DC Comics
Hope Robert Zemeckis Doesn’t See The Title!
Image by DC Comics
Next: See Nathanial's time traveling romance in #2
DC Rebirth is all about taking old characters or concepts and putting a spin on them. Rehabilitating Captain Atom with the same stewards who birthed his modern interpretation could seem like more of an editorial exercise than a story. Some people seeking a straightforward superhero yarn may find it slow. Yet those seeking to see a bona fide science fiction comic which seeks to give Nathaniel Adam something which he hasn’t had in the comics in a long time—basic humanity.