Captain Atom

The much smaller British comics industry introduced its own version of atomic heroes around the same time. The Atomic Age Comic (1947) featured "Atomic Tommy, the Bullet Proof Spy Smasher." This was soon followed by Atomic Comic and the weekly adventures of Mar-velman, whose alter ego had only to say "Kimota" before a lightning flash of atomic power turned him into mighty Marvelman. The British superhero was no fool. When faced with a villain firing an atomic bazooka, he astutely observed, "Now that s a nasty weapon." Simultaneously, the Adventures of Captain Atom (1950) boasted that its stories were based on "scientific facts and theories." ... 

The appearance of several new atomic-related superheroes rn the 1960s provided welcome relief from the previous decade s tales of nuclear conflagration. During this period a revived Atom (1961), Captain Atom (1960), Doctor Solar (1960), Spider-Man (1962), Hulk (1962), Firestorm, the Nuclear Man (1978), and Nuklon (1987) all breathed new life into the atoms-for-justice ethos. A good many of their foes had nuclear connections as well. 

In October 1960, veteran artist Steve Ditko created a new character for Charlton Comics Space Adventures, Captain Atom. An air force pilot. Captain Adam, drops a screwdriver while working on a nuclear test missile, and the missile takes off while he is searching for it. The subsequent explosion turns Adam into "Captain Atom, the Indestructible Man," who carries "an atomic punch in each fist." Forced to devise a body shield to protect others from his radiation. Captain Atom receives a special commission from the president to defend law and order. He does so immediately by capturing a stray hydrogen-tipped missile, which causes the president to remark, "With your help, perhaps all of us can live in a world of peace. " Later, DC Comics acquired the character and in the 1980s gave him both a new costume and new "quantum" powers. 

As with his "Atom" namesake, creation by committee proved hard on Captain Atom. Soon the DC hero became involved in soap opera... 

Gold Key Comics first original character, "Doctor Solar Man of the Atom," proved far more imaginative. This atomic hero appeared in the same year as Ditko s Captain Atom and had a similar origin. Nuclear... 

Captain Atom 22 (December 1988) (DC Comics). Captain Atom 37 (January 1990) (DC Comics). Will Pfeifer, Giuseppe Camuncoll, and Sandra Hope, Captain Atom Armageddon (La Jolla, CA Wlldstorm Productions, 2007). 

Pfeifer, Will, Giuseppe Camrmcoli, and Sandra Hope. Captain Atom Armageddon. La Jolla, CA Wildstorm Productions, 2007. 

Case Summary, Treatment and Disposition to Glen Line, Limited. Re Captain s Steward Ho Lung Yue, aboard MV Glenarm. Head, neck, chest steel fragment wounds incurred in air attack at sea. 17 July 1950, Nagasaki Harbor. Signed, J. Yamazaki, M.D., Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission. 

In the climax scenes, Mickey foils Pete s efforts to steal the atomic plans, and Dr. Einmug decides to keep his formuia secret. The worid is not ready, he sadiy concludes, and his discoveries "wouid oniy bring sorrow." In the closing panels, he flies off to another planet, whereupon Mickey and Captain Doberman decide to tell no one of their success they had "one of the most amazing adventures in history—an no one ll ever know." ... 

Cover of Captain Marvel Jr. 53 (Fawcett, September 1947). This issue illustrates what emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s as a standard plotline in atomic-themed comics an established super hero thwarts a villain s attempt to steal or use an atomic device. 

The second most popular superhero of the day. Captain Marvel, faced a similar dilemma, but with one exception he had better writers. The Adventures of Captain Marvel and Whiz Comics provided the most imaginative comic book treatment of atomic themes for the entire postwar era. Many of the approximately five hundred Captain Marvel stories were written by former pulp fiction writer Otto Binder and usually drawn by master artist C. C. Beck. They combined their talents to create a kindly, often obtuse, even whimsical superhero whose sales eventually topped those of Superman in the late 1940s. (His enemies called him "the Big Red Cheese.")... 

In 1951, Captain Marvel battled an "atomic fire" that could not be extinguished on earth. He solved the problem by cutting out a one-himdred-mlle flaming circle of soil and flinging it into the sun. In the last panel, the indestructible hero nearly collapses at the realization that if he had failed, it would have meant the end of the world. ... 

In yet another story. Captain Marvel resolves a conflict between quarrelsome ants and wasps, who were on the verge of an atomic war to decide which species would dominate the globe. (Because of their... 

Captain Marvel also confronted the dilemmas of nuclear energy. In "Captain Marvel and the Atomic Shop" (1947) a well-meaning pro-... 

Although comic book artists often drew atomic explosions and devastated cities, because of the code they could never depict actual death scenes. One precode exception came with the Harvey Kiudzman/ Wally Wood story "Atom Bomb" in Two-Fisted Tales (1953). Wood s brief artistic depiction of dying children was the first to seriously treat this theme. Similarly, writers seldom mentioned fallout or radiation sickness. Moreover, artists frequently depicted soldiers and/or dvlUans and atomic explosions in the same panel. In one tale. Captain Amer-... 

For the electronvolt and the dalton (unified atomic mass unit), values are quoted from the 2010 CODATA set of the Fundamental Constants (p. 1-1 of this Handbook). The value given for the astronomical unit is from Resolution B2 of the XXVIII General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (Captaine, R, Klioner, S., and McCarthy, D. [2012]. The re-definition of the astronomical unit of length reasons and consequences. lAU Joint Discussion 7 Space-Time Reference Systems for Future Research. Bibcode 2012IAUJD 7E 40C). Note the definition of the au in terms of the meter is now exact. 

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