CAPTAIN ATOM #2
Written by J.T. Krul
Drawn by Freddie Williams II
Review by Brad Jones
Following the just-okay Captain Atom #1 – not bad, though too reminiscent of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen – I held out hope that this book would be at least entertaining and further explore the struggle for Atom to literally keep himself together. While #2 is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, it feels disposable, meandering, and ultimately forgettable.
One of my least favorite things about some comics is a cliff-hanger set-up from one issue resolved in a few panels in the next, and this book commits that sin. At the end of #1, Captain Atom was in flux after saving New York City from a random volcanic eruption. Two pages into the second installment, he’s in a containment chamber to maintain his structural stability. I thought the idea that Atom was fighting with every molecule to keep himself together was an interesting trait for this book, but if I know he can jump into bacta tank any time he has the sniffles, the drama is alleviated for me.
And then, randomly, Captain Atom is removing a tumor from a cancer-ridden child. It was a little too Magic School Bus for me and doesn’t seem to work into any kind of over-arching story for the whole series. I get that Krul wants to show the heroism of Captain Atom, especially after a few panels of the media blaming him for the eruption in NYC, but this latter half of the book was mushy, heavy-handed and kind of bizarre.
VERDICT
Despite this issues draw-backs, I still hold out a moderate hope that this series can pull itself together, but it only has one more chance to do so before I write off Captain Atom altogether. Based on this issue, I say skip it.
