Russkie-Smashers CAPTAIN ATOM II "An Ageless Weapon"

When You Need Vitally-Important Defense Plans Safely-Delivered...

...Only One Man Can Do the Job...Guaranteed!

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this is a short-but-sweet tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #39 (1961) about beating the Commies at their own game of deceit and deception by utilizing something...or rather someone...they don't expect!

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Action Hero Archives

Captain Atom

Volume 1

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Russkie-Smashers SPACE ADVENTURES "Captain Atom II '...on Planet X' "

Despite the misleading title, Our Russkie-Smashing Hero never leaves Earth orbit...

...as you'll see in this tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #36 (1960)!

WOW!

Writer Joe Gill and illustrator Steve Ditko jammed a lot into just five pages!

These days, that'd be a whole issue, if not a two-parter!

As you saw, "Planet X" was, in fact, an artificial satellite, not another planet!
But the code-name made for a catchy title for an extremely-action-packed tale, eh?

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Captain Atom

Volume 1

Russkie-Smashers LIBERTY BELLE "Freedom's Star"

The Russkies continued to be a threat into the 1970s and early 1980s...

...as this never-reprinted tale from Charlton's E-Man V1N5 (1974) so aptly demonstrates!

Apparently, the audience interest wasn't there, since the concluding chapter never appeared!.

Note: I, in fact, did write in, but I may have well been the only one!
The script, besides dealing with Commies, also goes into Women's Lib, which was in its' heyday.

The character has reappeared recently, without any mention of what happened on the space station!

And, before you ask, the Golden Age DC character, also named Liberty Belle, hadn't appeared since 1947, except in a 1972 reprint, so the name/trademark was available at the time.

DC's character would reappear in new stories in 1981 and her daughter, also called Liberty Belle, would debut in 2006, sometimes working alongside her mother!
Both still appear in DC books to this day.

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Ditko Shrugged

The Uncompromising Life of the Artist Behind Spider-Man

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Russkie-Smashers HUMAN TORCH COMICS "Atomic Ray Gun Toy Terror!"

The Human Torch's return to his own title in 1953...

...after several appearances in other books featured this tale about the perils of toy ray guns!

(I kid you not!)

Though this story from Atlas' Human Torch #36 (1953) was illustrated by Dick Ayers, Carl Burgos (the character's creator/original writer-artist) redrew both the Torch and Toro's flaming forms!
Trivia: Though a number of the 1950s Torch and Toro tales were reprinted (with minor modifications) in the 1970s (after the Comics Code loosened up), this story was too violent to reprint until the 2000s!

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Marvel MasterWorks

Atlas-Era Heroes

Volume 2

(which features this tale)

Russkie Savers SPACE ADVENTURES "Captain Atom: 2nd Man in Space"

Putin didn't take a holiday over Christmas, continuing to attack Ukrainian targets...

...but we Americans are far more benevolent than the ex-KGB putz and his allies!

So, in the spirit of the season...

This tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V3N34 (1960) was published almost a year before the USSR's Yuri Gargarin became the first man in space on April 12, 1961.
Note: Not to minimize the achievement, but Gargarin made only one orbit before returning to Earth.
But the fact the Soviets had put both the first satellite (Sputnik) and the first man into space made America all the more determined to beat them to the Moon...which we did!
BTW, the "vaccine" in this tale written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko is total hogwash.
No drug would've counteracted the effects of acceleration on a human body!

Next Week:

No More "Mr Nice Guy!"

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Action Hero Archives

Captain Atom

Volume 1

Russkie-Smashers SPACE ADVENTURES "Introducing Captain Atom"

Though an accident gave him his super-powers...

...his first assignment (of many) was to stop a Russkie atomic missile being used in a false-flag operation to blame America!

Captain Atom has enjoyed the longest career of any Charlton character, still going strong today as a guest star in various DC titles as well as a new mini-series every few years!
(Note: The Charlton version of the Fox Blue Beetle didn't come along until 1964, and the new Ditko version first appeared in 1967!)

Despite the blue/silver coloring on the interiors of his premiere in Space Adventures #33 (1960), Captain Atom was shown on the cover in his orange/yellow garb.

Also, his trademark hair-color change from red to white when he "powers up"  isn't shown.

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Action Hero Archives
Captain Atom
Volume 1

Origin PEACEMAKER Part 2 "Hostage"

He's the Man Who Loves Peace So Much, He'll Fight for It!

Though described by actor John Cena (who portrays him in the new movie The Suicide Squad and upcoming HBOMax mini-series The Peacemaker) as a "douchebag Captain America", the original version was actually far less, well, "douchey"!

We Have Already Seen...

Diplomat Christopher Smith engages Nora O'Rourke (a woman who is not what she seems) as his new secretary.

As he familiarizes her with her new duties, Smith also deals with several deadly threats against himself and associates (including O'Rourke) while explaining exactly what his mission entails!

He's surprised to discover she has figured out that he and the hero known as "PeaceMaker" are one and the same!

Of course, it's at that moment that a jet fighter launches a missile directly at his headquarters...

Sadly, the book ended with the next issue.

In the 1980s. after Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC revived and revamped the Charlton "Action Heroes" and integrated them into the DC Universe, giving a couple of them their own ongoing comics and making them Justice League members!

Peacemaker received a mini-series which revamped him into the schmuck John Cena is brilliantly-playing in The Suicide Squad!

Trivia: Though DC has reprinted the Peacemaker's fellow Silver Age heroes' (Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Question) strips  in their Silver Age Archives hardcovers, Christopher Smith's Silver and Bronze Age solo adventures have never been reprinted!

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League of Regrettable SuperHeroes

Half-Baked Heroes from Comics History

....which, ironically, includes PeaceMaker!