That's one of the neatest origin stories in all of comics. And yes the outfit was blue in that first tale. Steve Ditko and Joe Gill were at the top of their games when they created this iconic Atom-Age hero in Space Adventures #33 from 1960.
The story was reprinted later in Strange Suspense Stories #75 which after three issues of Captain Atom reprints became Cap's own magazine in the 1960's.
It was reprinted by Charlton again in the late 1970's in a revived run of Space Adventures.
DC Comics reprinted the story in its first Action Hero Archives some years ago in this decade.
Above are a some reprints of the classic cover image.
This story would take at least six months and as many issues of a full comic to tell today and it would still lack the power of this Charlton gem.
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And, of course, the origin of Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen was based on Captain Atom's, after DC told Alan Moore he couldn't use the Charlton heroes for the story.
ReplyDeleteBTW I used to own that British reprint, Secrets Of The Unknown, years ago but long since lost it. The Alan Class line of comics used to reprint totally random selections of old Marvel/DC/Charlton strips - you never knew what you'd get but they were always worth a look.
Do you remember if it reprinted all the stories on the cover? I assume it did. I've seen those Alan Class covers and love the random quality of what you see. It's a real hodgepodge.
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Love the CAPT. ATOM info! I remember buying one of those early issues (Strange Suspense Stories #75) and then discovering Ditko's BLUE BEETLE around the same time at a little grocery store that only got in 'dated' comics for their little rack.
ReplyDeleteGot someone to make me a custom action figure of him, too (Actorjez). Here's a link to it.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/haze54/CaptAtomAJ.jpg
Great job!!
Captain Atom is/was one of my all-time favorites. I LOVED those cold-war stories, told in the third person and with CA operating in secret. I loved the gold-orange costume the best of all he's ever had. And TO THIS VERY DAY I wish DC would take its collective head out of you-know-where and bring that version back!
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