Captain Atom #4

I don't have a lot to say about Captain Atom #4-2. The pacing for this issue and what they wanted to say was way too slow. The gist of this issue is the U.S. military wants Captain Atom back to use as a weapon of fear against the rest of the world. Captain Atom wants no part in being a weapon, especially since we saw in Issue #3-2 that he's more interested in healing and helping people. But the military refuses to take no for an answer since they're deathly afraid of him themselves and don't want a walking, thinking atomic bomb that isn't under their control.

It took most of the issue to say this. Probably could have been done quicker. My favorite panel of the military confict was this one:



The general in the foreground recruited the guy in the background to help capture Captain Atom. The guy in the background is that Scott Alexander (or Alexander Scott?) guy from the lab who hates Captain Atom. He set up a whole thing that was sure to capture Captain Atom. And now here he is, after failing, telling the general 'You have NO idea.'

Yeah! That's the point of hiring you! You were supposed to know and then capture him! Are you holding back information so that you could fail in front of the general? What a jerko!

But even though the pacing was slow, I'm letting Captain Atom move up the ranks to get ahead of The Flash. Partly it's because of this panel that happens just after you think a little romance is about to happen as Ranita shows Captain Atom that she isn't afraid of him:


Whoops!

But mostly it's because we're learning about who Captain Atom is. The creative team is fleshing him out much better in these last two issues (last one most especially). And The Flash team is not doing a good job of that. I think you may actually learn more about The Flash in Justice League! The Flash has been more about Mob Rule than anything else.

So good job, Captain Atom! Keep it up!