Captain Atom is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books , initially owned by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics . All possess some form of energy-manipulating abilities.
169-550: Captain Atom was created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko , and first appeared in Space Adventures #33 (March 1960). Captain Atom was initially created for Charlton Comics , but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for DC's post- Crisis continuity . In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its superhero comics and rewrote the histories of some characters from scratch, including Captain Atom, giving him
338-559: A Canadian superhero team that had been introduced "merely to survive a fight with the X-Men." The series proved initially very popular, with its first issue selling over half a million copies, and the following issues selling between 400,000 and 500,000 issues each month. However, Byrne has said the title "was never much fun" and that he considered the characters two-dimensional. One of Alpha Flight's characters, Northstar , eventually became Marvel's first openly gay superhero. Though Byrne from
507-586: A co-feature in Action Comics #879 and appears in his normal costume instead of the Monarch armor he was last seen wearing. He is shown to reside in a mystical, medieval-reminiscent realm, attacking a highly fortified castle for unknown reasons other than, as he states, "his mission". After obliterating the castle's defenses, he has a brief flashback to a moment with the Justice League, then falls to
676-634: A continuum removed from the Marvel Universe proper, called the New Universe . In 1987, the New Universe line saw a revamp under new Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco , and Byrne took over writing and art breakdowns on the line's flagship title, Star Brand (renamed The Star Brand during Byrne's term on the book). Byrne's run started with issue #11 and continued until the series' cancellation eight issues later upon Marvel's discontinuation of
845-546: A device undergo a form of mantling taking on properties very similar to the extra-dimensional biometal belonging to the Silver Shield entity. After DC Rebirth , Captain Atom is restored to his Post- Crisis powers. His New 52 powers have seemingly disappeared. His former drastically altered New 52 powers are a being whose atoms are constantly splitting and then reforming just as quickly, releasing massive amounts of energy. This surplus of power can be manipulated in
1014-621: A fan-fiction comic book exploring how he would've continued the story of the X-Men after " The Dark Phoenix Saga ". The series, written and pencilled by Byrne and published on his website, has 32 issues as of December 2022. Over the years, Byrne has gained a reputation as a controversial figure within the community of comic book pros and fans. He has himself noted that "as the people who have figured me out have said, I just don't suffer fools gladly." Gail Simone , who worked with Byrne on The All New Atom in 2006, described Byrne as "very opinionated;
1183-409: A feature some of these have in common is to have characters who actually age during the course of the series, which is uncommon for characters in ongoing comics. In early 2003, Byrne spent ten weeks as a guest penciler on the syndicated newspaper strip Funky Winkerbean . Byrne did this as a favor for Winkerbean' s creator, Tom Batiuk , who was recovering from foot surgery. He would later become
1352-473: A foe using their own powers, such as the Ray and Firestorm . If Atom absorbs too much energy at once, the energy transports him uncontrollably through time. Depending on the type of energy absorbed, he either goes forward or backward in time, though he also possesses the ability to voluntarily move forward in the time-stream. Captain Atom states that through concentration, he can briefly travel ahead in time ("about
1521-684: A friendly rivalry with Firestorm , becomes involved with and eventually marries Plastique, learns basic heroics from Batman after briefly losing access to the Quantum Field, and commands the metahuman forces during the "Invasion" storyline where Earth was under attack by an alliance of alien forces. Captain Atom was canceled as of issue #57 in 1991 because Atom was slated to become the hero-turned-villain Monarch in DC's Armageddon 2001 crossover event; however, when word of this leaked out, DC changed
1690-619: A half-dozen guys in his category. If someone came back and said he was the most prolific ever, no one would be surprised." Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania , Gill began writing for comic books for the New York City-based Timely Comics , the first predecessor of Marvel Comics , during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books . The vast majority of his work went unsigned, both in
1859-443: A lot of artists are opinionated, and I'm okay with that. Actually, I think John Byrne is brilliant and his forceful personality is part of that." In 1981, Jack Kirby began speaking publicly about his belief that he had been deprived of fair credit and money while creating the majority of Marvel's top characters. Byrne wrote an editorial declaring himself "proud" to be a "company man", and arguing that all creators should "live within
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#17327911528832028-467: A love-hate relationship with her artist/writer by criticizing his storylines, drawing style, character development, etc. Byrne left the book after writing and drawing the first eight issues. Byrne was asked for input on writer Dwayne McDuffie 's She-Hulk: Ceremony limited series, and according to Byrne, most of his objections to the story and notations of errors were ignored, and his editor, Bobbie Chase , "was rewriting my stuff to bring it into line with"
2197-577: A member of several different versions of DC's flagship superhero team, the Justice League . In all incarnations, the character initially served for the military . In the Charlton Comics continuity, he was a scientist named Allen Adam and gained his abilities by accident when he was seemingly "atomized" and then reformed himself as an atomic-powered being. In both DC Comics incarnations, he is an Air Force pilot named Nathaniel Adam , who
2366-454: A mere bluff when he is killed in a confrontation with the Ghost a.k.a. Alec Rois, but Captain Atom decides to become the actual whistleblower and discloses the truth on national television. Captain Atom joins the Justice League at the request of the U.S. government, eventually serving as leader of Justice League Europe . During his career, he has a brief romance with Catherine Cobert, develops
2535-470: A military rank he has actually held. He is especially skilled in combat piloting, is trained in military weaponry, strategy, and hand-to-hand combat and speaks multiple languages, including Russian . Adam also has strong survival instincts derived from his experiences during the Vietnam War. Captain Atom's metallic shell, or "skin", is composed of a portion of the alien being known as Silver Shield, and
2704-612: A minor part of Charlton; Gill created one of its first, Zaza the Mystic . He also did colorist work for the company. In 1960, as the industry was returning to superheroes for what would become known as the Silver Age of comic books , Gill and the soon-to-be-legendary co-creator of Marvel Comics ' Spider-Man , Steve Ditko , created the astronaut-turned-atomic-hero Captain Atom in the sci-fi anthology title Space Adventures #33 (March 1960). The character would eventually become
2873-551: A mutual attraction. The superhero the Blue Beetle starred in the initial back-up feature, later replaced by a Nightshade back-up series. Captain Atom was cancelled with issue #89 (December 1967). In 1975, the unfinished Ditko art for issue #90 was inked by John Byrne and published in the first two issues of the official Charlton fanzine, Charlton Bullseye , as the 10-page "Showdown in Sunuria" (writer: Jon G. Michels) and
3042-555: A new nanovirus version of the OMACs and one by one become OMACs themselves. As a dying Power Girl tells him that the catalyst for all this was the death of Wonder Woman by Max's hands, Captain Atom is returned into the present but not before Batman orders him to terminate the OMAC project to stop Max's plan. During the final battle against the new OMAC known as OMAC Prime, Captain Atom allows OMAC Prime to absorb his energy, before reabsorbing
3211-473: A new origin, appearance and slightly altered powers. Captain Atom was the character inspiration for Doctor Manhattan , who was featured in the miniseries (and later live-action film adaptation) Watchmen , which would be connected to the DC Universe in the miniseries Doomsday Clock . Throughout the years, the character has been featured in several moderate-to-short-lived eponymous series, and has been
3380-645: A number of changes during his tenure: The Thing was temporarily replaced as a member of the quartet by the She-Hulk , while the Thing had adventures in his own comic (#1–22 also written by Byrne), and the Thing's longtime girlfriend Alicia Masters left him for his teammate the Human Torch ; the Invisible Girl was developed into the most powerful member with the heightened control of her refined powers and
3549-403: A number of ways such as flight and the ability to transmute physical matter. Captain Atom has been seen to transform lava into snow by willing it and has been able to remove cancer from a human being. He can also absorb massive amounts of energy. Captain Atom's abilities are largely nuclear in nature and involve tapping into the strong nuclear force , the energy that binds protons and neutrons in
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#17327911528833718-477: A pair of gloves invented by the Blue Beetle to do so, but he has since learned to do so without them. He is capable of manipulating matter on an atomic or sub-atomic level at a limited scale. He has used his atomic transmutation powers to turn both Maul and the Engineer back to their human forms. This power can be used instinctively or through concentration, though Atom has conceded he is not very good at it. In
3887-422: A point where he asked Captain Atom for help and attempted to use his atomic energy to neutralize the life-threatening disease he is suffering from, but becomes blinded as a side effect. Fearing that Eiling would eventually turn on him, Megala claims that he intends to set up a contingency plan which would make public all of Project Atom's classified secrets once his heart ceased to function. Megala's plan proved to be
4056-411: A powerful member of the Justice League whose abilities place him roughly on par with the franchise's flagship character Superman . In several animated depictions, he has served the role as a government stooge when the government has brought itself into conflict with the Justice League. The Charlton Comics version of Captain Atom was Allen Adam . The character's origin had Adam working as a technician in
4225-613: A return as a guest inker on Adventures of Superman Annual #2 (cover) and Superman #50 in 1990. He would return doing a Superman Elseworlds story as a writer and artist in Action Comics Annual #6 in 1994. In 2004 Superman: True Brit , an Elseworlds story, was a collaboration with former Monty Python member John Cleese and Kim Johnson, with art by Byrne and inker Mark Farmer. Byrne returned to draw Superman in Action Comics #827–835, working with writer Gail Simone , from 2005 to 2006. Byrne spent about two years on
4394-421: A secret government experiment. Byrne said, "I thought I would see what I could do with superheroes in the 'real world' " and "[e]xplore the impact their existence would have." Byrne's other Dark Horse titles were Babe , and Danger Unlimited , an all-age readers book about a team of heroes in the future fighting an alien occupation of Earth. The Next Men lasted until issue 30 in 1994, when Byrne ended
4563-533: A secret government funded group that used new experimental machines to harness powerful energies had repeated the same process and created the supervillain Major Force , a bloodthirsty madman lacking Captain Atom's morality and classic military/A.F. discipline. Atom/Adam serves under Eiling reluctantly while befriending research scientist Doctor Heinrich Megala of Project Atom, who had previously helped to create an elaborate cover story for Atom/Adam. Doctor Megala
4732-417: A series of trade paperbacks that collected the first series. The original storyline that had a cliffhanger ending in 1995 was continued. In later years, Byrne has worked on titles for Marvel, DC, and other publishers, including the 1992 prestige format graphic novel Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale with science fiction author Larry Niven at DC. In 1989, Byrne wrote Batman #433–435 (May–July 1989) and in
4901-688: A short story called Dark Asylum' ... which languished in a flat file somewhere until it was used as filler in Giant-Size Dracula #5 [(June 1975)], long after the first Rog story." The story was plotted by Tony Isabella and written by David Anthony Kraft . After the Rog-2000 story, Byrne went on to work on the Charlton books Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch , Space: 1999 , and Emergency! , and co-created with writer Joe Gill
5070-533: A silvery-white. Later, in his own title, he replaced his original red and gold costume with a liquid-metal outfit that was under his skin and which transformed when he powered up. Captain Atom's powers were similar to such other nuclear-powered superheroes as Gold Key 's Doctor Solar and Dell Comics ' Nukla . Captain Atom was first published in a series of short stories in the anthology series Space Adventures #33–40 (March 1960 – June 1961) and #42 (October 1961). Charlton began reprinting his short adventures in
5239-410: A special experimental rocket when it accidentally launched with him trapped inside. Adam was atomized when the rocket exploded while entering the upper atmosphere. However, he somehow gained superpowers that included the ability to reform his body safely on the ground. He was outfitted in a red and yellow costume that was designed to shield people from his radiation. When he powered up, his hair changed to
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5408-515: A stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle , an old Fox Comics superhero revived by Gill and artists Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico as a campy, comedic character in Blue Beetle #1 (June 1964). In 1967, Charlton editor Dick Giordano introduced the company's "Action Hero" superhero line, with new characters that included Gill and artist Pat Boyette 's The Peacemaker as well as Gill and company art director Frank McLaughlin 's Judomaster . In other areas, he collaborated with Ditko on
5577-465: A statement onto the internet exonerating Captain Atom of the deaths in Chicago, saying far worse would have happened if he had not intervened. In The New 52 reboot of DC's continuity, Captain Atom is reintroduced with altered powers, appearance and origin. He is still USAF pilot Nathaniel Adam. In the new reality, Adam volunteers to participate in an experiment conducted by a research facility called
5746-582: A story teaming the Charlton "Action Heroes" the Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Nightshade and the Question as the Sentinels of Justice . This last story had originally been done for Charlton before the company folded. The actual Charlton characters made their first reappearance in DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths , which introduced Earth-Four as the native reality of Captain Atom and the world where all
5915-670: A two-page story by writer Al Hewetson in Skywald Publications ' black-and-white horror magazine Nightmare #20 (Aug. 1974). He then began freelancing for Charlton Comics , making his color-comics debut with the E-Man backup feature " Rog-2000 ", starring a robot character he'd created in the mid-1970s that colleagues Roger Stern and Bob Layton named and began using for spot illustrations in their fanzine CPL ( Contemporary Pictorial Literature ). A Rog-2000 story written by Stern, with art by Byrne and Layton, had gotten
6084-472: A way that it became superdense and compact. This, in effect, makes the object nearly indestructible. Also, any edge on an X-Ionized object would attain the sharpness of a monofilament , enabling both it and its user to cut finer and cleaner than the most advanced blade or laser. Once transformed, the object would then be able to cut through virtually any material, including the Dilustel (quantum metal) skin of
6253-452: A wealthy business owner in addition to a scientific genius with a deadly vendetta against the superhero. Byrne did away with the childhood/teenage career as Superboy ; in his revamped history, Clark Kent does not put on a costume and become a super-hero until adulthood. This approach to Kent's path to becoming Superman was later used in the TV series Lois & Clark and Smallville , and in
6422-437: A week or so"). The process is exhausting and the period he can interact in the future appears to be limited to a few minutes before he returns to the present. In the case of involuntary quantum jumping, he is typically shown as being stuck in the time-stream for as long as it takes his body to process any absorbed energy. Captain Atom can also convert energy to matter in the same manner he manipulates energy. Originally, he needed
6591-449: A woman elderly and grotesque, who turned out to be an aged Power Girl , telling him it was Maxwell Lord who was responsible for all of this. Atom is then pulled back into the present, and tells the rest of the team that the world needs them to stop the instigated Max. After discovering that the OMACs had dismembered a droid, Captain Atom was struck by Magog who simply scoffs at the notion and states that he has come to kill Captain Atom at
6760-417: Is a British-born American comic book writer of superhero comics . Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on many major superheroes; with noted work on Marvel Comics 's X-Men and Fantastic Four . Byrne also facilitated the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics 's Superman franchise with the limited series The Man of Steel , the first issue of which featured the comics' first variant cover . Coming into
6929-422: Is about to explode with energy. Captain Atom tries to absorb as much as he can, thrusting him into the time stream again as a crater is left behind. Captain Atom is propelled through time again to 112 years in the future, where a metahuman war against the OMACs had devastated the planet. Captain Atom battled for survival alongside the future versions of the Justice League, but they all are eventually contaminated by
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7098-685: Is anathema to him". The origin and early career of Byrne's version of Superman debuted in the six-issue miniseries The Man of Steel (July–Sept. 1986), the first issue of which was marketed with two different covers illustrated by Byrne, the first use of variant covers by the American comics industry. DC Executive Editor Dick Giordano had been looking for a writer to restart the Superman continuity from scratch, and began talking with Byrne in May 1985 to discuss what Byrne would do with Superman if offered
7267-627: Is as one of the colorists on the small-press superhero comic Ebony Warrior #2 (June–July 1993), published by Ania . He appeared as a guest, with fellow Charlton alumni Willie Franz and Sam Glanzman , at a New York City comics convention panel, broadcast November 21, 2000, on the WBAI radio show 'Nuff Said! Gill, who suffered from complications from a fall at the Shady Knoll Health Center in Seymour, Connecticut , and who in
7436-529: Is called Dilustel. Pieces of the alien's metal body were used in Project Atom , and on later subjects like Major Force and Bombshell . Nathaniel is able to coat himself with the metal, either partially or totally. Atom's symbiosis with the metal is such that even partially armored he is able to access the Quantum Field. The metal is almost indestructible, resistant to various degrees of damage from energy, heat, lasers, etc. Only X-Ionizer technology can cut
7605-521: Is forced to absorb a massive amount of energy released which splits his molecules apart into the timestream. One of these pieces is found in the 31st Century, where he names himself Nathaniel Adym. Adym had become an agent of Echo, a covert branch of the Science Police assigned to monitor the timestream. As part of his duties, he had interacted with members of the Legion of Super-Heroes stranded in
7774-559: Is his brainwashed accomplice and that he has lured his 51 counterparts to murder them and absorb their power. With his team of Eve of Shadows (Earth-13), Vampire Batman ( Earth-43 ), Ray "the Ray" Palmer (Earth-6), the monstrous Scarab ( Earth-26 ), Hal Jordan Jr. ( Earth-12 ), Starwoman (Earth-7), Johnny Quick (Earth-3), Wonder Woman ( Earth-34 ), Red Son Superman ( Earth-30 ), and himself—the sum power of 52 Captain Atoms—Monarch believes he
7943-520: Is learned that these ruptures were caused as part of a greater plan by Solomon the Monitor, in his plans to "recreate the Monarch" as part of a larger scheme to force the assimilation of the other Monitors. After being fitted with an updated version of the Monarch armor ( Armageddon 2001 ) to contain his radiation, the Captain awakens. Seeming to be mentally unstable, he breaks free, apparently kills
8112-620: Is made clear that Captain Atom survived the collision with the kryptonite meteor, but has absorbed massive amounts of radiation and become a super villain described as a " Kryptonite Man ". However, Hiro Okamura creates a device that siphons Captain Atom's energy and returns him to normal. In 2005/2006, Captain Atom appears in a nine-part limited series entitled Captain Atom: Armageddon under DC's Wildstorm imprint. Captain Atom's sacrifice in Superman/Batman sends him to
8281-507: Is notable for featuring the first gay superhero. While there, he published his first comic book, ACA Comix #1, featuring "The Death's Head Knight". Byrne left the college in 1973 without graduating. Before finding success with comic books, Byrne spent three years designing billboards for an advertisement company. He broke into comics with a "Fan Art Gallery" piece in Marvel's promotional publication FOOM in early 1974 and by illustrating
8450-558: Is now paranoid, and unwilling to share details of his past to his "subordinates", but the Red Son Superman and Liberty Files Batman discern that under the Monarch armor lies another Captain Atom, and so they employ his other counterparts— Breach (Tim Zanetti) and Quantum-Storm (Ronnie Raymond) —to assemble an army of Captain Atoms from the different dimensions to fight back. In Arena' s conclusion, Monarch reveals that Breach
8619-521: Is part of his conditioning. Later, he is attacked by Major Force , an enemy believed to have been destroyed by Captain Atom himself when he first became Monarch. Mon-El appears and helps Captain Atom escape, taking him to the Justice League's satellite, where the League members declare that they are going to bring him to justice for his actions as Monarch. After a struggle with the League, Captain Atom tells them what he can remember. The League reminds him he
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#17327911528838788-695: Is ready to confront the Monitors, and does so, finally launching his war on Earth-51 against the exposed Monitors. In a protracted fight against Superman-Prime , his suit is damaged, releasing a chain reaction that apparently destroys the entire universe of Earth-51 aside from its Monitor. It was later learned that the Monitor Solomon had attacked Captain Atom in Blüdhaven, rupturing his skin and setting into motion his transformation into Monarch. During Jimmy Olsen 's investigation about Project 7734 ,
8957-550: Is reportedly among the writers who scripted Captain America for Timely following the departure of character creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in late 1941. Around this time, Gill met future hardboiled detective novelist Mickey Spillane , a lifelong friend, who also began writing for Funnies, Inc. Following military service in World War II as a U.S. Navy radio operator – in which according to family lore Gill's ship
9126-595: Is responsible for creating the X-Ionizer technology capable of cutting the skin of most invulnerable metahumans . In spite of his disabilities and poor health, he helped Atom/Adam learn about the Quantum Field as well as about his powers. Captain Atom later succeeds in clearing his name of the original treason charge and eventually rebels against Eiling, resigning from the Air Force and becoming an actual superhero. By Captain Atom #39, Megala's health would deteriorate to
9295-505: Is the one-page text story "Following Orders" in Novelty Press ' Target Comics vol. 8, #11 (#89), cover-dated January 1948. As Gill recalled his start in the business, via his brother, Ray Gill, "My brother was an editor at Funnies, Inc. , an editorial service that packaged comics for publishers. They put [publisher] [Martin] Goodman – who [owned] Marvel later – into comics, and did the first [comics] in my brother's office". Gill
9464-544: Is to Claremont and Byrne what the ' Galactus Trilogy ' is to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It is a landmark in Marvel history, showcasing its creators' work at the height of their abilities." Byrne has repeatedly compared his working relationship with Claremont to Gilbert and Sullivan , and has said that they were "almost constantly at war over who the characters were." Byrne created the characters Alpha Flight , Proteus , and Kitty Pryde /Shadowcat during his run on The X-Men . A new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Mystique ,
9633-629: Is to cause a Multiversal war that will leave him the ruler of the unified Earth remaining in its wake. Monarch creates an army of foot soldiers, including the Extremists of Earth-8, the JL-Axis of Earth-10, and the Crime Society of Earth-3, and disposes of Forerunner when he reveals his plans for a multiversal arena tournament. The four-issue miniseries Countdown: Arena features Monarch battling alternate versions of characters throughout
9802-525: Is unmasked, that Superman would vibrate his face via his super speed in order to blur his image to photographers, and having Kent keep a weight training set around to explain how the human and presumably weaker Kent could have a frame as massive as Superman's. Byrne described Superman as becoming a "Super Republican ", seeking to incorporate renewed interest in American patriotism during the presidency of Ronald Reagan . Byrne's Superman felt that his deepest roots were on Earth and that his home planet of "Krypton
9971-593: The Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic. He joins Batman's Insurgency to combat Superman's growing Regime before being mortally wounded by Wonder Woman while retrieving an enhancement pill from the Fortress of Solitude . Captain Atom then drags Superman to the atmosphere in an attempt to kill him, with the resulting explosion leaving the former dead and Wonder Woman comatose. Joe Gill Joseph P. Gill (July 13, 1919 – December 17, 2006)
10140-602: The Silver Shield which was used to empower Captain Atom, Major Force, and Bombshell. A mercenary known as the Cambodian wore a suit of X-Ionized armor, and uses an X-ionized katana to cut through Captain Atom's skin in Captain Atom #7. A famous physicist and former C.I.A operative, turned dangerous cult leader and quantum powered supervillain called 'The Ghost' theorized that properties hardened and honed by such
10309-564: The Vietnam War (while maintaining a Southeast Asia setting), and linking Wong-Chu , the man who captured Tony Stark, to the Mandarin. In the early 1990s, Byrne began creating a series of original, creator-owned works for publisher Dark Horse Comics . This was during a general trend in the industry for established creators working for Marvel and DC to bring their original works to other publishers or create their own companies to publish
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#173279115288310478-571: The post-apocalyptic science-fiction series Doomsday + 1 . Byrne additionally drew a cover for the supernatural anthology The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #54 (Dec. 1975). Byrne said he broke into Marvel comics after writer Chris Claremont ...saw [his Charlton] work and began agitating for [him] to draw something he had written. When [artist] Pat Broderick missed a deadline on the ' Iron Fist ' series in Marvel Premiere , [production manager] John Verpoorten fired him and offered
10647-533: The post-apocalyptic series Doomsday + 1 (1976–1977), the first series-creator credit for future industry-star Byrne. In 1983, Gill wrote two stories featuring Secret Agent X-9 for King Features Syndicate . These stories were illustrated by Jack Sparling and only saw print in European comic books. When Charlton Comics ceased publication in 1986, Gill retired from comic-book scripting save for an occasional freelance story for DC. His final recorded credit
10816-490: The prestige format graphic novel , Superman: The Earth Stealers and three separate four-issue miniseries: The World of Krypton , The World of Metropolis , and The World of Smallville . He supplied the cover art for the March 14, 1988, issue of Time magazine and an interior spread featuring Superman, where his pencils were inked by Ordway. After his initial run on the Superman titles from 1986 to 1988, Byrne would make
10985-540: The 11-page "Two Against Sunuria" (writer: Roger Stern ). Captain Atom next appeared in issue #7 (May 1982) of the new-talent showcase comic also called Charlton Bullseye , in a story by writer Benjamin Smith and artist/co-writer Dan Reed, which for some reason returned him to his original red and yellow outfit. The character's last pre-DC appearance was in AC Comics ' one-shot issue Americomics Special #1 (August 1983), in
11154-422: The 2005 novel It's Superman by Tom De Haven . In the Superman mythos, Byrne wrote Clark Kent as having a more aggressive and extroverted personality than previously depicted, comparing him to Jimmy Breslin , and even making him a top high-school football player. Byrne came up with explanations for how Superman's disguise works, such as the public simply does not realize that he has a secret identity since he
11323-479: The Authority , Captain Atom reminisces about his short marriage with Plastique, and attributes their divorce to their irreconcilable views about world and politics, since Nathaniel, even in his spousal life, could not stop being a loyal soldier of the U.S., and Plastique could not simply put aside her life as a terrorist. Later in 2003, writer Jeph Loeb returns Captain Atom to his roots as he went back to work for
11492-624: The Captain Atom Brigade his powers and abilities were increased to such a level that he was capable of effortlessly containing several versions of powerful heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman and several Green Lanterns. Atom has shown the capacity to absorb matter, as well as energy – typified by his absorption of the Captain Atom Brigade. As Monarch he possessed all of his inherent abilities – at much higher levels – as well as teleportation, and awareness of and access to different realities. He
11661-549: The Charlton Comics adventures had taken place. By story's end, Earth-Four (and the Charlton characters) had been incorporated into the Post- Crisis DC Universe, its history merging with that of the mainstream reality. The last appearance of this Charlton-era Captain Atom was in DC Comics Presents #90 (February 1986). A new Post- Crisis version of the character was introduced in March 1987 with
11830-549: The Continuum. At this facility, Dr. Megala's research is focused on the quantum field and on "dimensional transfer through M Theory ". Adam is asked to pilot the dimensional-transfer vessel by Dr. Megala, who is now presented as a particle physicist working out of Colorado, but is seemingly atomized during the experiment. Soon afterwards, he reappears, now an energy-based life form. According to Dr. Megala, Captain Atom's abilities are largely nuclear in nature and involve tapping into
11999-792: The DC Heroes Roleplaying Game – defines his level of strength second only to Superman's among the heroes of the DC Universe, though as Monarch he was capable of effortlessly overwhelming three versions of Superman), durability (he has survived exploding nuclear weapons, and even energy sufficient to wipe out all life within the Universe of Earth 51 – although this was his own energy), self-sustenance and life support (allowing him to live and even speak in space), and controlling energy of any form. In addition to high speed flight he has been shown to possess enhanced reflexes. Atom's abilities stem from his link to
12168-603: The Demon , a five-issue arc of JLA Classified . He penciled an issue of Hawkman (vol. 4) #26 in May 2004. Superman: True Brit was a collaboration with former Monty Python member John Cleese and Kim Johnson, with art by Byrne and inker Mark Farmer . Byrne returned to draw Superman in Action Comics #827–835, working with writer Gail Simone , from 2005 to 2006. Afterward, Simone and Byrne reteamed to launch The All-New Atom series in 2006, with Byrne pencilling
12337-677: The Marvel/DC intercompany crossover Darkseid vs. Galactus : The Hunger , which also featured the Jack Kirby creations the Silver Surfer and the New Gods . In 1996, another Marvel/DC intercompany crossover - Batman / Captain America , one shot homage to Golden Age versions of both heroes. He wrote and drew another of DC's signature series, the long-running Wonder Woman , from 1995 to 1998. During that time, he elevated
12506-544: The Multiverse to compile the strike team for his new Multiverse army, specifically one Superman , one Batman , a Wonder Woman , a Green Lantern , a Flash , a Blue Beetle , a Nightshade , a Starman , and a Ray . Monarch's behavior becomes increasingly violent, notably in the form of his killing all residents of the Eve of Shadows' country in retribution for her attempt to violate the Monarch's rule of "no escaping". Monarch
12675-406: The New Universe line. In 1989, after leaving Superman , Byrne returned to work on a number of titles for Marvel Comics. His work on West Coast Avengers (issues #42–57, soon renamed Avengers West Coast ) was contingent on his being allowed to do what he called "my Vision story". The Vision was a long-standing Marvel superhero and member of The Avengers , an android originally created by
12844-641: The Post- Crisis DC Comics Universe, Captain Atom's Dilustel skin is tied into the Quantum Field, which enables him to absorb and manipulate theoretically infinite amounts of energy, limited by only his willpower and imagination. This energy can be used for flight (which is generally faster than the speed of sound in Earth's atmosphere and up to half-light speed in the vacuum of space), super strength (shown at times to be on par with Martian Manhunter , though another source –
13013-408: The Quantum Field, which provides a virtually infinite source of Quantum Energy, which can be used for a vast number of effects. He commonly manipulates his energy into force field bubbles, or explosive "bombs", but the most common form is a simple energy blast. Atom has been shown to be capable of manipulating even exotic energies such as magic, and has a high degree of resistance to such attacks. Over
13182-584: The Rings , and Star Trek: The Original Series as his greatest influences. Despite drawing comics as a youth, Byrne intended to have a career as a commercial artist . In 1970, Byrne enrolled at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary . He created the superhero parody Gay Guy for the college newspaper, which poked fun at the campus stereotype of homosexuality among art students. Gay Guy
13351-590: The Spheres and Angel vs Frankenstein II in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively. In 2011, he worked on Jurassic Park : The Devils in the Desert , and Cold War (The Michael Swann Dossier) . He revived his Next Men series in 2010–2011, with the sequel series Aftermath . Other work for IDW includes the 2012 miniseries Trio and the 2013 miniseries The High Ways and Doomsday.1 . In 2018, Byrne began X-Men Elsewhen ,
13520-473: The Superman titles before leaving. His dissatisfaction stemmed from his perception that there was a lack of "conscious support" for him at DC. Furthering the rift between the company and the artist was the fact that the version of Superman which DC licensed for merchandising was contrary to Byrne's representation in the comic books. In 1986, Marvel began publication of a new line of superhero titles created by then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter , which took place in
13689-547: The WildStorm universe for the duration of the series. In this title, he wears a yellow/red outfit that was first seen in the 1996 Kingdom Come limited series. At the moment of his apparent death, Captain Atom experiences a time-shift coinciding with his 2005 appearance in Superman/Batman , resulting in his arrival in the Wildstorm Universe. He quickly gets into a fight with an overzealous Mister Majestic and
13858-415: The alias Cameron Scott , an Air Force intelligence operative. During this time he meets the superpowered terrorist, Plastique , a recurring part of Nathaniel's life. Early conflicts involve him coming to terms with the lost time he missed with his now grown children, the death of his wife, her marriage to Eiling, and the overall ramifications of his newly acquired powers. Later, he learns that Project Atom ,
14027-432: The amount of energy obtained. Flung into the year 1986, Adam becomes literally a "man out of time". Wade Eiling is now a military general and the second husband of Adam's now-deceased wife Angela. Everyone had assumed that Nathaniel Adam died the day of the experiment, so his presidential pardon was never issued and the current government refused to acknowledge the previous pardon. Seizing the opportunity at hand, Eiling uses
14196-402: The anthology Strange Suspense Stories beginning with issue #75 (June 1965), renaming the title Captain Atom with issue #78 (December 1965) and giving the hero full-length stories and supervillain antagonists such as Dr. Spectro (previous stories involved Cold War anti-Communist missions or dealing with aliens). Captain Atom later teamed with the superhero Nightshade , with whom he shared
14365-404: The attention of Charlton Comics editor Nicola Cuti , who extended Byrne an invitation. Written by Cuti, "Rog-2000" became one of several alternating backup features in the Charlton Comics superhero series E-Man , starting with the eight-page "That Was No Lady" in issue #6 (Jan. 1975). While that was Byrne's first published color-comics work, "My first professional comic book sale was to Marvel,
14534-425: The beginning intended the character to be gay, Northstar's homosexuality was only hinted at during Byrne's tenure on the series. In 1983 Byrne co-wrote and penciled issues 1 and 2 of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones , a two-part story arc titled "The Ikons of Ikammanen". The story involves archaeologist Edith Dunne, a former student-turned-enemy of Jones. Byrne wrote the first issue and Dennis O'Neil wrote
14703-422: The behest of Max. In their battle, Captain Atom manages to convince Magog he is being manipulated by Max. Magog stops the attacks as he remembers Max's existence and Captain Atom is prepared to help him. However, Max is on hand and forces Magog to kill himself with his spear. Max uses his powers to manipulate everyone into believing that Captain Atom has killed Magog before leaving. Captain Atom realizes Magog's spear
14872-423: The book for 25 issues, Byrne told editor Terry Kavanagh that he was starting to feel constrained on the book and thought having a different artist might inspire him to a fresh approach. Kavanagh suggested newcomer Jae Lee , and Byrne continued strictly as the writer of the book up through issue #32. Byrne later said he has great fondness for the title character and was unhappy that circumstances forced him to leave
15041-497: The book to [Byrne]. ... [Byrne] turned around the first script in time to meet the deadline, and so started getting more work from Marvel, until [he] was able to leave Charlton and focus entirely on the Marvel stuff." Byrne soon went on to draw series including The Champions (#12–15, 17 1977–78) and Marvel Team-Up (#53–55, 59–70, 75, 79, 100). Byrne first drew the X-Men in Marvel Team-Up #53. For many issues, he
15210-446: The book. It was with very few exceptions, difficult, for me, anyway, to tell in the actual gestation of the book where one of us left off and the other began – because it involved one of us coming up with an idea and bouncing it off the other ..." The "Dark Phoenix Saga" in 1980 is one of the most notable stories in the title's history. Comics writers and historians Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson observed that "'The Dark Phoenix Saga'
15379-486: The character mulled running for the office of President of the United States . Byrne's post- X-Men body of work at Marvel includes his five-year run on Fantastic Four (#232–295, July 1981 – October 1986), which is generally considered a "second golden age" for the title. Byrne said his goal was to "turn the clock back ... get back and see fresh what it was that made the book great at its inception". He made
15548-423: The character of " Number One ") started in March 2009; the final chapter of his Romulans story, a four-issue miniseries, Star Trek: Leonard McCoy , Frontier Doctor , set before Star Trek: The Motion Picture , and the second Assignment: Earth series. His work on Angel included Angel: Blood and Trenches (set during World War I); an Angel vs Frankenstein one-shot; and an Andy Hallett tribute, Angel: Music of
15717-489: The comics profession as a penciller , inker , letterer , and writer on his earliest work, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, for story arcs including " Dark Phoenix Saga " and " Days of Future Past ", and co-creating characters such as Kitty Pryde , Emma Frost , Sabretooth , Shadow King , and Rachel Summers . Byrne launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four , also serving as penciler and inker, and included She-Hulk onto
15886-539: The devastated Blüdhaven . A year later , Captain Atom is revealed to be contained inside Blüdhaven and used to administer radiation treatments to metahumans . Apparently Void, able to finally let him go home, is unable to ensure his safety, and multiple damages to his radiation-shielding skin had left him comatose and unable to keep down his body radiation to safe levels; this forces the Atomic Knights to keep him constantly contained. In 2008's Countdown #8, it
16055-555: The end of his time at Marvel, Byrne was hired by DC Comics to revamp its flagship character Superman . This was part of a company-wide restructuring of the history of the DC Universe and all of its characters following the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths . Byrne's reworking of Superman in particular gained widespread media coverage outside the comic book industry, including articles in Time and The New York Times . At
16224-595: The ending at the last minute. Atom and the Monarch character continue battling through time in Armageddon: The Alien Agenda limited series , until he is returned to his own time at the conclusion. Captain Atom then returns to the League, involved in the Zero Hour Crisis in 1994, founding an offshoot team, Extreme Justice in 1995. While leading Extreme Justice, Captain Atom comes across another version of Monarch, this one claiming to be
16393-424: The energy and overloading his powers, resulting in him being thrown into the time stream once again. Just before this occurred, Captain Atom grabbed Max and threatened to pull him into the time stream as well, unless Max undid the global mindwipe of his existence. Max complied and everyone on the planet had their memories of him restored before Captain Atom was pulled away to a time and space unknown. Max later released
16562-550: The energy of certain molecules, such as when he notes the energy signature of the Flash and remarks that his molecules seem to be sparking with fire or lightning. He also does not need air, food or water to survive. Captain Atom has his own enemies: The Allen Adam and Nathaniel Adam incarnations of Captain Atom appear as character summons in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure . Captain Atom appears in
16731-585: The essence of the Void, to reclaim her whole power (partially lodged in his own body, and cause of his altered appearance) and use it to trigger the reboot of the WildStorm universe, in the WorldStorm event. Captain Atom returns to the DC Universe in Infinite Crisis #7 when Superboy-Prime punctured Breach , who wields similar energy-manipulating abilities. The end of Armageddon has him reappear in
16900-432: The fight ends with Majestic soundly defeated. Seeing the frightened reactions of onlookers, and puzzling over his own altered appearance, he realizes that he has somehow become trapped on an alternate Earth , one where superheroes are feared by the general populace. Mistaken by the local superheroes as the force destined to destroy their universe, he is in fact an instrument used ultimately by Nikola Hanssen, new host for half
17069-458: The final person to draw Funky Winkerbean , taking over illustration duties from artist Chuck Ayers for the strip's concluding week, ending on December 31, 2022. Most of his work in the first decade of the new millennium was for DC Comics : JLA (issues #94–99 in 2004, co-writing and illustrating the "Tenth Circle" story arc, reuniting with his Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont and with Jerry Ordway as inker), Doom Patrol , Blood of
17238-561: The first three issues. For publisher IDW, Byrne worked on the superhero series FX #1–6, written by Wayne Osborne, starting with the March 2008 issue. His other projects for the publisher include stories for the Star Trek and Angel franchises. Byrne's Star Trek work included the final issue of the miniseries Star Trek: Alien Spotlight (February 2008); Star Trek: Assignment: Earth #1–5; Star Trek: Romulans #1–2, Star Trek: Crew (a Christopher Pike -era comic book focusing on
17407-480: The following year produced a 3-D graphic novel with 3-D effects by Ray Zone . He returned to the X-Men franchise at Marvel from 1991 to 1992, succeeding longtime writer Chris Claremont, who left after 17 years working on the various X-Men related titles. Byrne's return as the new writer was brief, as he only scripted Uncanny X-Men issues #281–285 and 288 with artist Whilce Portacio , and X-Men issues #4–5 with artist Jim Lee . In 1995, Byrne wrote and drew
17576-499: The giant-ape series Konga and on the movie-spinoff series Gorgo . When Giordano was hired at industry leader DC Comics in 1969, he commissioned scripts from Gill for such titles as The Secret Six and the toy-license property Hot Wheels . Gill continued to work regularly at Charlton throughout this period, notably on the ongoing Vietnam War feature " Shotgun Harker and Chicken " for Charlton's war title Fightin' Marines . In 1975, Gill and artist John Byrne co-created
17745-488: The government, this time for President Lex Luthor in the first story arc of the Superman/Batman series. Atom seemingly sacrifices his life to save Superman and Earth by piloting a starship to destroy a kryptonite meteor, but as it had previously been established that this type of accident could not kill him, he soon returns to life and to the background of the DC Universe. In a 2005 issue of Superman/Batman , it
17914-426: The ground disoriented. No explanation is given for his return to his original appearance, his whereabouts since Countdown to Final Crisis , or why he has reverted to his heroic persona rather than that of the conquest-seeking Monarch. In Action Comics #880 it is revealed that Captain Atom has little or no memory of who he is other than his name. It is revealed that this mysterious realm is connected to Project 7734 and
18083-424: The hardcover, black and white 'Annuals' that were being published over there at the time, and soon after found a copy of an Australian reprint called Super Comics that featured a story each of Superboy , Johnny Quick and Batman . The Batman story hooked me for life. A couple of years later my family emigrated to Canada (for the second time, no less!) and I discovered the vast array of American comics available at
18252-468: The humorous fourth wall-breaking series The Sensational She-Hulk . He also co-created the Marvel characters Scott Lang and James Rhodes . During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited , and was one of the founders of the Legend imprint at Dark Horse Comics . Revisiting X-Men as a writer, Byrne co-created Bishop and Omega Red . Byrne
18421-466: The job. With DC agreeing with 99% of the revision, Byrne was given the go-ahead for what became The Man of Steel . Comics historian Timothy Callahan argued that Superman in modern media has more in common with Byrne's portrayal of the character than those of Cary Bates , Elliot S. Maggin , Dennis O'Neil , Jerry Siegel , and Edmond Hamilton . Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources suggested that, although Byrne made several changes, Byrne's Superman
18590-399: The last panel of Countdown #45, Monarch is shown observing Forerunner . The following issue, Countdown #44, bears a cover by Ed Benes with the Monarch armor and features Monarch swaying Forerunner to his side, turning her against the Monitors. Monarch argues that the Monitors are genocidal overlords who must be defeated; however, the Monitors assert that Monarch is a supervillain whose plan
18759-655: The last part of his life spent much time at the Doyle Senior Center, playing pool in the morning and poker in the afternoon, died of undisclosed causes at age 87 in Seymour. There was no funeral, according to his wishes, and his only surviving relative, niece Carol Anderson, took his ashes to a cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut , where his wife and son are buried. John Byrne (comics) John Lindley Byrne ( / b ɜːr n / ; born July 6, 1950)
18928-416: The launch of a monthly comic written by Cary Bates (long-time writer of The Flash and Superman ), co-written by Greg Weisman and drawn by Pat Broderick . This modern captain's name is established as Nathaniel Christopher Adam , a United States Air Force officer and Vietnam War veteran. Adam had been framed for a crime and was, under military justice, condemned to death; this taking place under
19097-512: The low-budget comic-book publisher Charlton Comics , based in Derby, Connecticut . At Charlton, beginning in the early 1950s, Gill became the company's primary staff writer for the next thirty years. He was known for his speed, often finishing a full-length comics script in a day and writing as much as an estimated 100 to 125 pages a week across a number of genres, from crime fiction to science fiction, romance to war stories . Superheroes were
19266-419: The manner of that time and during his staff-writing position at one company from the 1950s to 1980s, making a comprehensive bibliography difficult or impossible to compile. In addition, Gill's Timely stories were actually written, often pseudonymously for Funnies, Inc. , an outsource "packager" that created comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the then-new medium . His earliest confirmed credit
19435-552: The metal, as established when the Captain Atom Project uses it to remove the Silver Shield's skin. The katana wielded by the "Cambodian" that once sliced through Atom's side was also X-Ionized. The magical guns of the Crimson Avenger were able to crack his skin. Breaking through it causes Captain Atom to Quantum Jump as if he has absorbed too much energy. The X-Ionizer is a hardening technology invented by
19604-530: The minds of every single human on the planet, save for those present at the embassy. and the others. Afterwards, Captain Atom discovers that Max has mentally influenced the US army into believing that he had betrayed them. Captain Atom shares with the group that when he absorbed a nuclear bomb Max had set off, he found himself thrown through time to the future of 24th century, an Earth that had fallen into chaos through metahuman wars and backward in technology. Atom found
19773-661: The most prolific and influential comic book artists ever, Byrne and his X-Men collaborator Chris Claremont were entered into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2015. Byrne was born on July 6, 1950 in Walsall , Staffordshire , and raised in West Bromwich , also in Staffordshire, where he lived with his parents, Frank and Nelsie, and his maternal grandmother. He was an only child. His father
19942-447: The nature of his abilities. Some fear that he is leaking radiation and potentially poisoning those he comes into contact with. Several have remarked that the Justice League may have rejected Captain Atom for membership due to suspicion of how dangerous he is. Despite this, Nathaniel chooses to try and use his powers to help others on Earth, clandestinely if need be. During a fight with Megala, who had taken control of Firestorm 's body, Atom
20111-538: The new reality, Nathaniel Adam has been only Captain Atom for a few months and is still exploring his abilities, constantly learning new facets to them such as his ability to perceive wireless transmissions from cell phones and computers. He frequently returns to the Continuum so that Dr. Megala and the staff can help him further understand his abilities and occasionally so they can stabilize his body when he seems to be having problems. The world at large looks on Captain Atom with suspicion due to uncertainty about his agenda and
20280-495: The nucleus. Excessive or intense use of his abilities has resulted in Captain Atom temporarily losing his own molecular stability. It is not yet known if he will be able to conquer this weakness with practice. As an energy-based life form, Captain Atom's senses now operate on different levels than a normal person. He is able to sense and perceive radio signals, cell phone signals and other similar transmissions. He can also see
20449-462: The outstanding murder/treason charges against Adam to blackmail him into acting as a military-controlled, government-sanctioned superhero codenamed Captain Atom. The events of the Charlton stories are used cleverly by Bates as a readymade, fabricated past to convince the world that Adam had secretly been a superhero for years enabling him to quickly gain the trust and reputation as an unsung patriot and hero. For his non-superhero activities, Nathaniel uses
20618-551: The past, in Legion Lost , along with his subordinates Agent Jocelyn Lure and Agent Yera Allon . Adym is last seen escaping the threat of his own singularity bomb, launching himself into the past. Captain Atom (Nathaniel Adam) lost control of his powers and caused a devastating accident in this six-issue series set in 2012. Needing to contain his unstable abilities, he went into Dr. Megala's Subterranean Suppression Dome but seemingly exploded. The world believed Nathaniel Adam
20787-475: The purview of Col. Wade Eiling in the year 1968. As an alternative to execution, Adam was "asked" to participate in 'Project: Captain Atom', a military experiment with a slim chance of survival. He agreed to this in exchange for an unconditional presidential pardon. The experiment involved testing the hull of a crashed alien ship's durability by placing a human being (Adam) within the metal craft and then exploding an atomic weapon under it. The weapon went off and Adam
20956-551: The rampaging Major Force , and then releases a vast amount of energy, obliterating what was left of Blüdhaven. He remains missing until Kyle Rayner , then known as Ion , discovers him in The Bleed, a place between dimensions. The Captain indicates that he is traveling through The Bleed to operate outside the gaze of the Monitors . He discusses his time in the Wildstorm Universe, and his desire to visit other alternate worlds. In
21125-528: The real Nathaniel Adam. Later in 1999, he is a member of the poorly received team known as the Living Assault Weapons or L.A.W. , the members of whom are all previously Charlton Comics characters. In 2003, he again teams up with several former members of the Justice League as the " Super Buddies " in the humorous limited series Formerly Known as the Justice League . Around this time, various stories reintroduce Atom's conflict between his role in
21294-461: The request of editor Mark Gruenwald , Byrne wrote and drew a new series in 1989, The Sensational She-Hulk (maintaining the 1985 graphic novel 's title). Gruenwald directed that it be significantly different from the character's previous series, The Savage She-Hulk . Byrne's take was comedic and the She-Hulk, who was aware she was in a comic book, regularly broke the fourth wall , developing
21463-490: The rules while they're around." Steve Gerber and Kirby lampooned Byrne's position in Destroyer Duck , drawing him as a character called Booster Cogburn, possessing no genitals, a removable spine, and existing only to serve as a cog in the mammoth corporation that owned him. Byrne later made a story in Action Comics #592–593 where Big Barda (who is based on Kirby's wife Roz) is brainwashed and almost forced to make
21632-447: The same way, he learned to access weak force energy. As a consequence of his energy manipulation abilities, he is able to telepathically interface with computer networks. He has on occasion used this to repel telepathic intrusions by downloading information directly into other telepaths. With focus and effort, Captain Atom can increase any of his abilities to match his current willpower, up to an unknown level. As Monarch prior to absorbing
21801-434: The second, while Byrne penciled both issues with Terry Austin as the inker. In 1985, after issue #28 of Alpha Flight , Byrne swapped the series with Bill Mantlo , writer of The Incredible Hulk . According to Byrne, he discussed his ideas with editor-in-chief Jim Shooter ahead of time, but once Byrne was on the title, Shooter objected to them. Byrne wrote and drew issues #314–319. The final issue of Byrne's run featured
21970-491: The secret black-op commanded by Sam Lane to fight extraterrestrial menaces on Earth (including Kryptonians ), it is discovered that an amnesiac and brainwashed Captain Atom is now one of the prized possessions of Sam Lane. Project Breach refers to his capture and brainwashing into a weapon (with Lane wanting to stress the similarities between Adam and Tim Zanetti ) or Planet Breaker . Captain Atom refers to his name and rank as "Codename: Captain Atom". Captain Atom returns in
22139-571: The self-confident assertiveness to use it epitomized by her name change to the Invisible Woman ; and headquarters the Baxter Building was destroyed and replaced with Four Freedoms Plaza . Byrne has cited multiple reasons for leaving the series, including "internal office politics" and that "it simply started to get old". In 1983, while still at the helm of Fantastic Four , Byrne began to write and draw Alpha Flight , starring
22308-402: The series Spider-Man: Chapter One , Byrne retold some of Spider-Man 's earliest adventures, changing some key aspects. In late 1998, Byrne became writer of the flagship series The Amazing Spider-Man at the end of the series with issue #440, by which time Marvel had decided to relaunch the book. The "last" issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was #441 (November 1998), with Marvel re-initiating
22477-475: The series was rebooted with a new #1 as Jack Kirby's Fourth World . That ran 20 issues from 1997 to 1998. During his tenure on the New Gods , Byrne was writer of the four-issue miniseries crossover Genesis , a storyline published weekly by DC Comics in August 1997. The series was drawn by Ron Wagner and Joe Rubinstein . Byrne wrote a Wonder Woman prose novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses (1997). In
22646-446: The series with a new volume 2, issue #1 (Jan. 1999) with Howard Mackie as writer and Byrne on pencils. Byrne penciled issues #1–18 (from 1999 to 2000) and wrote #13–14. In 1999, Byrne, working with artist Ron Garney , wrote the first seven issues of a new Hulk series, as well as the summer annual . From 1999 to 2001, Byrne returned to the X-Men to write and draw X-Men: The Hidden Years which ran for 22 issues. Byrne explained
22815-681: The series, The X-Men was promoted from a bimonthly to a monthly publication schedule as sales steadily increased—a trend that continued long after Byrne left. In the late 1970s, while serving as the regular penciller of X-Men , Byrne began penciling another superhero team title, The Avengers . Working for the most part with writer David Michelinie , he drew issues #164–166 and 181–191. Byrne and Michelinie co-created Scott Lang in Avengers #181 (March 1979). Byrne's nine-issue run of Captain America , issues #247–255 (July 1980 – March 1981), with writer Roger Stern , included issue #250, in which
22984-456: The series, intending to return "in no more than six months." Byrne says he "did not count on...the virtual collapse of the whole comic book industry, which seemed to occur at just the time I put Next Men on the shelf...In the present, very depressed marketplace, I don't feel Next Men would have much chance, so I leave the book hibernating until such time as the market improves." IDW Publishing revived John Byrne's Next Men in 2010 following
23153-552: The series. Byrne took over writing Iron Man for issues #258–277 (July 1990-Feb. 1992), drawn by John Romita Jr. and later by Paul Ryan . Byrne launched a second " Armor Wars " story arc, restored the Mandarin as a major Iron Man nemesis, and featured the 1950s " pre-superhero Marvel " monster Fin Fang Foom . During the course of his run, Byrne became the first writer to retcon Iron Man's origin, removing explicit ties to
23322-627: The specialists of Project Atom , introduced in the Cary Bates run of the DC Comics published Captain Atom . Because of the nearly invulnerable nature of the alien metal discovered, the scientists needed some way to cut it to perform experiments. Doctor Heinrich Megala, one of the lead researchers of the Project, developed a device that would make the molecular lattices of an object by knitting together positive & negative ion particles in such
23491-646: The story in Ceremony . Upon complaining to DeFalco, Byrne says he was fired from his series. He later returned to write and draw issues #31–50 under new editor Renée Witterstaetter . Byrne started a new series, Namor, the Sub-Mariner in April 1990. Byrne's take on the undersea antihero Namor cast him as the head of a surface company, Oracle, Inc., in order to help keep the ocean unpolluted, and had Namor involved in corporate intrigue. After writing and drawing
23660-566: The strong nuclear force, the energy that binds protons and neutrons in the nucleus. Adam's physical atoms are constantly splitting apart, giving him incredible power. His body maintains integrity by instantly re-merging these atoms, but extreme use of his powers can interfere with this process and cause Captain Atom's form to become unstable. This leads to a fear that at some point Captain Atom's brain might lose its molecular stability and he will not be able to fix it before it impairs his consciousness or causes him to suffer some form of brain death. In
23829-494: The super-heroine to the status of a goddess who then ascended to Mount Olympus as the Goddess of Truth, and created Cassie Sandsmark , the new Wonder Girl . Byrne then spotlighted supporting characters such as Queen Hippolyta in their own adventures but restored the series' status quo in his last issue. He additionally took over New Gods vol. 4 at the end of 1996, as writer-artist of issues #12–15, continuing with it as
23998-539: The superhero community and his responsibilities as a government agent. At some point, Atom's marriage to Plastique ends in divorce. Apart from a brief mention of her at the beginning of L.A.W., the marriage appears to be forgotten. Plastique has reappeared in 2006 as a villainess again, undoing her reformation into a heroine. A later confirmation is brought in by the Captain Atom: Armageddon miniseries in which, after falling in love with Angela Spica of
24167-621: The team while writing a solo series for The Thing . While working on X-Men , he created the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight , and later wrote and drew their own series. Moving to DC, Byrne established the modern origin for Superman in The Man of Steel before writing and drawing two monthly titles and various miniseries for the character. Byrne then returned to Marvel, introducing the Great Lakes Avengers , and wrote and drew
24336-647: The time, Byrne said, "I'm taking Superman back to the basics ... It's basically Siegel and Shuster 's Superman meets the Fleischer Superman in 1986." Byrne significantly reduced Superman's powers (though he was still one of the most powerful beings on Earth), eliminated the Fortress of Solitude and super-dog Krypto , and kept Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood to enjoy their adopted son's triumphs, as well as to provide him with support, grounding, and advice whenever he needed it. Byrne also used Marv Wolfman 's idea of making Lex Luthor
24505-484: The time. His first encounter with Marvel Comics was in 1962 with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby 's Fantastic Four #5. He later commented that "the book had an 'edge' like nothing DC was putting out at the time". Jack Kirby's work, in particular, had a strong influence on Byrne and he has worked with many of the characters Kirby created or co-created. Besides Kirby, Byrne was influenced by the naturalistic style of Neal Adams . Byrne has named comic books, The Lord of
24674-400: The title keep its Canadian character, Wolverine , and contributed a series of story elements to justify Wolverine's presence which eventually made the character among the most popular in Marvel's publishing history. With issue #114, Byrne began co-plotting the series as well as penciling. Claremont recounted that "at that point in time John and I were, in a very real sense, true collaborators on
24843-541: The title's cancellation by saying, "I was officially informed yesterday that, despite the fact that they are still profitable, several 'redundant' X-Titles are being axed." This disagreement factored in his decision to no longer work for Marvel Comics. Like X-Men: The Hidden Years , some other works of this period involved characters and events in time periods other than the present and, in some cases, considered "skipped over" ( Marvel: The Lost Generation ), or alternate timelines (DC's Superman & Batman: Generations );
25012-683: The villain Ultron constructed with the body of the original Human Torch . The Vision went on to join the team, marry his teammate the Scarlet Witch , and father two children by her. Byrne radically changed this, revealing that Immortus – who previously had revealed to the Avengers the synthezoid's origin – lied about the Vision's creation. The android Human Torch was found and joined the WCA. The Vision
25181-561: The wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. In early 1980, Byrne did his first work for DC Comics, penciling the first issue of The Untold Legend of the Batman miniseries . Byrne had always wanted to draw Batman , and had a three-month window of time during which he was not under contract to Marvel. Hearing about the Untold Legend series, Byrne contacted editor Paul Levitz to express interest. DC took him up on his offer, but it
25350-550: The wider Brightest Day event. At the start of the series, Captain Atom is recruited as part of a massive group of superheroes tasked with hunting down the JLI's founder and Ted Kord 's murderer, Maxwell Lord . During an encounter with Max at the Justice League's former New York headquarters, Captain Atom is rendered unconscious alongside Fire , Ice , and Booster Gold . The former Justice League members awake to discover that Lord has used his mental abilities to erase his existence from
25519-404: The works themselves (one prominent example is Image Comics ). A number of these creators, including Byrne, Frank Miller , Mike Mignola , and Art Adams , banded together to form the Legend imprint at Dark Horse. Byrne's first title for Dark Horse was Next Men , a work he considered darker and more realistic than his previous work. The Next Men were five young people who were the product of
25688-529: The years, Captain Atom has become an expert at energy manipulation and he can fire energy blasts from any point on his body, although he usually uses his hands for better aim. He can fire in multiple directions at once or from every point of his body at once. Several times he has "detonated", releasing a massive amount of energy at once, destroying objects within a certain radius, as demonstrated by his destruction of Bludhaven. On more than one occasion, he has used his ability to manipulate all forms of energy to prevent
25857-409: Was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and Gill's signaling for help amid the sinking led to the rescue of many hands. Spillane and Ray Gill insisted Joe go into freelance writing with them. When superheroes fell out of favor in the post-war years, Gill began scripting teen-humor, Western and other genre comics for Timely. Following an industry downturn around 1948, he eventually found his way to
26026-495: Was a hero who once saved the planet. He feels he has changed from the man he once was, and that he needs to go back to the magic world to make right what he has done. The Shadowpact are called on to join him on his quest and provide a way for him to reach Sorcerers' World. Captain Atom appears as one of the central characters in Justice League: Generation Lost , a maxi-series that takes place during
26195-403: Was a test subject in a scientific experiment who seemingly disintegrated in the process, only to reappear later as the super-powered Captain Atom. Over the years, DC has attempted to reinvent the character several times. For a period, the character assumed the mantle of the supervillain Monarch , and in 2005 DC attempted to retell the Captain Atom story with an entirely new character, Breach , who
26364-511: Was a town planner and his mother was a homemaker. While living in England, prior to his family emigrating to Canada when Byrne was 8, he was first exposed to comics, saying in 2005, [M]y 'journey into comics' began with [star] George Reeves ' [Adventures of] Superman series being shown on the BBC in England when I was about 6 years old. Not long after I started watching that series I saw one of
26533-412: Was an American magazine writer and highly prolific comic book scripter. Most of his work was for Charlton Comics , where he co-created the superheroes Captain Atom , Peacemaker , and Judomaster , among others. Comics historians consider Gill a top contender as the comic-book field's most prolific writer. Per historian and columnist Mark Evanier , Gill "wrote a staggering number of comics. There are
26702-420: Was capable of storing enough energy, that upon its release, was capable of wiping all life from the alternate Earth 51 – except for its Monitor and a single plant. Later writers and editors have introduced a radioactive aspect of Captain Atom's physical makeup. This seems to contradict the quantum nature of Atom's powers as originally introduced, as he previously did not emit radiation when his skin
26871-434: Was cut open. Towards the end of his series' run, it was speculated that Captain Atom is an Elemental (Quantum Elemental) along with Swamp Thing (Earth), Red Tornado (Air), Firestorm (Fire), and Naiad (Water). In addition to his superhuman abilities, Nathaniel Adam is also an experienced United States Air Force pilot. It is notable that he is one of the few superheroes with a " Captain " appellation that corresponds to
27040-606: Was disassembled and stripped of his emotions. The couple's twins were revealed to be pieces of the soul of the demon Mephisto. In addition to these changes, Byrne's run is remembered for the introduction of the Great Lakes Avengers , an eclectic group of new superheroes. During She-Hulk 's tenure with the Fantastic Four, she appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #18 (Nov. 1985) in a story titled The Sensational She-Hulk , which Byrne wrote and illustrated. On
27209-550: Was introduced in the "Days of Future Past" storyline (#141–142, Jan.-Feb. 1981) in which a time-travelling Kitty Pryde tried to avert a dystopian future caused by the Brotherhood assassinating Presidential candidate Senator Robert Kelly . Byrne plotted the story because he wanted to depict the Sentinels as a genuine threat to the existence of the mutant race. Byrne left The X-Men with #143 (March 1981). During his tenure on
27378-409: Was killed in a blast; However, Adam took a subatomic trip through time and ended up without powers, 20 years in the past. It is revealed that the quantum blowback sent him back in time to 1994 as a normal man. Adam's wound distorted after being shot during an attempted car robbery, and his body was encased in liquid metal. As a result of the time stream correcting itself, he was thrown back to 2017. In
27547-492: Was not until the second month of his three-month window that Byrne received the plot for the first issue. Byrne told Levitz that he would not be able to finish the project due to time constraints despite DC then allegedly offering Byrne double his Marvel pay rate, after initially saying they could not match his Marvel rate. Byrne penciled the first issue, which was inked by Jim Aparo after being intended for Terry Austin. This experience soured Byrne on DC for quite some time. Near
27716-644: Was paired with Claremont, with whom he teamed for issue #11 of the black-and-white Marvel magazine Marvel Preview featuring Star-Lord . The Star-Lord story was inked by Terry Austin and lettered by Tom Orzechowski , both of whom soon afterward teamed with Claremont and Byrne on Uncanny X-Men . Byrne joined Claremont beginning with X-Men #108 (Dec. 1977), which was later renamed The Uncanny X-Men with issue #114. Their work together, along with inker Terry Austin, on such classic story arcs as " Proteus ", " Dark Phoenix Saga ", and " Days of Future Past " would make them both fan favorites. Byrne insisted that
27885-414: Was renamed The Adventures of Superman starting with issue #424 and was initially written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Jerry Ordway , but the writing chores were taken over by Byrne after a year from issues #436–442 and 444. As 1988 marked the 50th anniversary year of Superman's creation, Byrne did more Superman-related projects while working on the core Superman monthly titles at the same time: he wrote
28054-476: Was seemingly disintegrated. Eighteen years later, Adam suddenly reappeared. The alien metal, now bonded around his body, afforded him incredible abilities far beyond that of a mere mortal. Bonded with the metal, Nathaniel Adam now had powers that resulted from the metal's ability to tap into the "Quantum Field". It was revealed that the alien metal could absorb energy but only past a certain threshold, any excess absorption would force it to jump forward in time based on
28223-483: Was still more similar to previous depictions of the character than he was not. Byrne penciled the six-issue DC Universe crossover miniseries Legends (Nov. 1986 – May 1987) during this time. He wrote and drew two monthly Superman titles with the hero's present-day adventures: a new Superman title beginning with issue #1 (January 1987) and Action Comics , in which, beginning with issue #584, Superman teamed up with other DC characters. The original Superman book
28392-399: Was subsequently discarded. In the new continuity following DC's 2011 relaunch , Captain Atom has never been a member of the Justice League and the team views him with distrust; his character origin and abilities were also revised. Captain Atom has appeared in several animated television and film adaptations of Justice League and other DC storylines since the mid-2000s, where he is depicted as
28561-470: Was the writer and artist of the Wonder Woman series for three years, during which he created the second Wonder Girl , Cassie Sandsmark . In addition, he co-created the DC character Amanda Waller . He scripted the first issues of Mike Mignola 's Hellboy series and produced several Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing . In 2010, Byrne revived Next Men to conclude the series. Hailed as one of
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