Captain Atom was recharged in the mid-sixties during the superhero craze of the time. He was a vintage Charlton Cold War era hero created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko. One thing he did not have back then was some super-villains to battle. So it was necessary to create some for the lighter groovy revival. They are pretty interesting lot overall with such as The Ghost and the Firey-Icer. But Doctor Spectro might well be my favorite. He was a scientist who is irradiated and gains the power to control emotions in others by use of different colors in the spectrum.
His powers always put me in mind of DC's vintage villain the Psycho-Pirate who used masks to achieve a similar effect.
Doctor Spectro battled Captain Atom twice during the Charlton era, the second time he was altered and had split into five deadly little Spectros, each of whom could control some different feelings. Not all of them were in sync, but eventually they recombined and the bad Doctor was returned.
DC has apparently brought the bad doctor back in the Captain Atom series they did in the 80's. But I've read only a few of those. His look is certainly less compelling, at least to my nostalgic eye.
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