Today, Peter and Drew are discussing Captain Atom 0, originally released September 19, 2012. Captain Atom 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Peter: The New 52 has made Captain Atom into a tragic hero; he cannot have real contact with anyone around him, but his powerset is astronomical. Originally I was worried that it would be too Dr. Manahttan. Now it has evolved into something completely different. It has become something best described as an amalgamation of Dr. Manhattan and Top Gun. Nathaniel is a man who must adjust to severe detachment from the world, and the potential loss of humanity. Unfortunately, this first/last issue has some pitfalls, but helps bring the previous twelve issues full circle.

Air Force Captain Nathaniel ‘Lockjaw’ Adam has recently lost his father. He’s struggling at work, and can’t concentrate. He’s grounded by the brass. Of course there are other ways to fly. He volunteers to be a test ‘monkey’ for Dr. Megala at the Continuum. He is going to be a pilot for a device to pierce the fabric of space, and work on the ‘M Theory’. During the tests, something goes wrong, and Nathaniel is vaporized. In Dr. Manhattan fashion he eventually reappeared, reforming his body atom by atom. After reforming, he has a bit of a mental break, bursting out of the Continuum, and going in search of his old Air Force friend, Pierce. He finds Pierce in the middle of a dog fight. He uses his powers to beat the bad guys, and decides that he wants to help people with his new powers.

Like Resurrection Man, Captain Atom 0 is this title’s last issue, and at the same time, its ‘first’ issue. Krul doesn’t deviate too far from Atom’s original origin, but enough that I still found quite a bit of to enjoy in this story. Unfortunately, this Captain Atom origin has to operate in a world where Watchmen has already been printed, forcing Krul to crib from Dr. Manhattan’s playbook. It feels a bit repetitive, all the way down to slowing reforming his body. It’s not bad, it’s just not as original as it could be.

The earlier 12 issues were much more involved, due to Nathaniel’s inner conflict’s and potential loss of humanity. This 0 issue doesn’t have quite the existentialism that the earlier issues do. Compared to the previous issues, this one doesn’t delve as deep into the psyche of Captain Atom; it just focuses on getting the origin across. When it comes down to it, this issue feels a little light, and overall quite a bit forced.

For the last year, Freddie Wiliams II’s art has been a fresh change of pace. His use of pastels and and big expressive movements have been beautiful to look at. This issue is no exception, but it is a little messy. There are some missed moments, and some of the close ups don’t quite convey all the emotion they could.

The hard lines of expression around Megala’s head take away from the moment. It almost looks like he has hair that is standing on end. They are simply too heavy for the panel. Only being able to see half of his face is bothersome, completely covering his mouth. I usually get a lot of emotion from character’s mouths, and not being able to see Megala’s bothers me. Still, these problems are rather few and far between — this book is still stunning to look at.

The heavy lines and panel shapes adds lots of weight and emotion to this image of Nathaniel reforming. The jaggedness and shape of the panels helps convey just how difficult this is for him. Looks like it hurts too. The colouring is also spot on here, has it add significant texture to a potentially bland image.

One thing that I thought was interesting was the absence of Ranita. She has has had such a major role in the rest of the series — especially her relationship with Nate — it would have been nice to see how she got her start with Captain Atom. This book has been rather relationship heavy, and I am surprised that the zero issue doesn’t spend more time focusing on Nathaniel’s interactions with others. What we do get from Megala is slight, but it is interesting to see how his views of Nathaniel change with the ‘disaster’ that alters him.

Captain Atom has been an interesting read. It is obvious that Nathaniel is one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe but I really love his inner conflict — his constant questioning of himself and his abilities. This book does suffer from the fact that this is the last issue. It’s a whimper compared to the dramatic ending that could have occurred if DC had left it at 12. Unlike Resurrection Man, this feels like a beginning to a story, and not a continuation of anything. The final thoughts are fine enough, but don’t carry the gravtias that Captain Atom deserves. Drew, you have been reading this title the whole time, do you feel it could have ended on a better note?

Drew: “Could” is a really interesting question. Captain Atom’s relationship with time makes the otherwise absurd concept of a first-last issue almost make sense, and could have made for a fascinating return to his origin. The Cap’n is uniquely equipped to physically visit his past, and in light of events in the series proper, it would have been interesting to watch him try to prevent himself from being created (though I suppose that, too, would feel copied from Dr. Manhattan). Instead, we get one of the most straightforward origin retellings of any of the New 52.

The comparison to Resurrection Man is a great one, since that title managed to find an in-universe explanation for returning to Mitch’s origin. Essentially, the issue acts as the boss-showdown-exposition-dump for the whole series, which is a very clever workaround for the first-last conundrum. It’s difficult to pull off, but with a character like Captain Atom, the possibilities are almost endless.

I was a bit disappointed, then, to find this issue so lacking in ambition. Crazy ideas were this titles greatest strength (though failure to implement them well was also its greatest weakness), and it’s disheartening to see that creativity so blithely cast aside. I suspect that DC’s future plans for the character tied Krul’s hands a bit, which is truly unfortunate. Without insane ideas to pursue, we’re left with an origin which — as Peter mentioned — feels awfully familiar.

It’s not Krul or WIlliams’ fault that Dr. Manhattan is so much more well-known than Captain Atom. Heck, I don’t even blame them for sticking close to an origin that Dr. Manhattan also made famous. What does bother me is that they fail to come up with their own imagery to depict that story. Take this panel, where the Cap’n first appears in full after having been vaporized:

If that reminds you of the same moment in Watchmen, you’re not alone. Alluding to such a touchstone is always touchy, but doing so with a story that is so similar is only going to draw unflattering comparisons.

In spite of my grievances, I think it’s too bad this title got canceled when it did. Krul and Williams were forced to abort what had the potential to be really interesting stories. I don’t know if they ever would have gotten a much-needed-handle on the big questions they were tilting at, but now we’ll never know.

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