"The Secret of Mockingbird"? What, like what she actually thought of Hawkeye's costume?

No, not that one, the Secret Six one--no, I keep telling you, not that Secret Six! Oh, let's just do this: from 1988, Action Comics #629. Cover by Dick Rockwell.

Captain Atom guests in the lead feature, with Green Lantern; as an alien having taken the form of 80's action-movie star "Randy Violent" dug a chunk out from underneath an office building for his ship or recharge-temple or whatever. (I'm pretty sure Randy Violent was referenced in the Question; it may have been a DC go-to like Big Belly Burgers.) While GL struggled to hold the building up until the fire department could get everyone out, Captain Atom tries to make peace with the alien, and fails miserably; deciding it was too dangerous to be left to its own devices and starts trying to kill it. Exhausted and his ring running out of charge, GL still tells Atom, the only way he'd get that alien, was over his dead body...! ("So Long Ago the Garden" Plot and script by James (Priest) Owsley, plot and pencils by M.D. "Doc" Bright, inks by Romeo Tanghal.)

Black Canary's last strip may have ended on a cliffhanger where she faced a flying figure with swords, and another with a hook...this month we find out Dinah just beat up the cast of a local production of Peter Pan. This was like six chapters in so I'm not caught up, but Dinah may have found the killer, if someone doesn't get her first. ("Knock 'em Dead, part 6" Written by Sharon Wright, pencils by Randy DuBurke, inks by Pablo Marcos.) Likewise, "Beginning of the End" was also well into the Secret Six serial, but finally reveals the identity of the original Mockingbird: the premise had been, he had put the espionage team together, but was also secretly a member.

After a Superman two-pager, there's part four of a Nightwing and Speedy serial, that appears to be all Speedy this month, and is set in Ireland. With his daughter Lian, Speedy meets a couple orphans, and their story is dark; involving terrorism, murder, and suicide. Speedy is reaching the kids, so of course the house gets firebombed on the last page. ("Rocks and Hard Places, chapter 4: New Friends, Old Enemies" Written by Cherie Wilkerson, art by Tom Mandrake.)

Finally, another chapter of Blackhawk, where after the death of Marcia, Jan beats the crap out of her CIA agent jerk brother; then sleeps with Nat. She doesn't seem thrilled about that later, but Jan checks his mail, and finds they've both been invited to Washington, by Harry S. Truman! ("Some Guys Can't Take No For an Answer" Written by Martin Pasko, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by John Nyberg.) Read more!

Do I do this bit every time? Find a random "Legends of the Dead Earth" annual. Look up how many there were, compare that to how many I've blogged, and adjust the odds of hitting them all before said earth dies. There were 25 total, today's book should bring us to 14; place your bets! From 1996, Justice League America Annual #10, "The Alliance" Written by Christopher Priest, pencils by Sergio Cariello, inks by Nick Napolitano. Cover by Phil Jimenez.

After another of his "quantum-leaps" through time, Dr. Samuel Beckett--er, Captain Atom; finds himself seemingly fifteen or so years in the past, in the middle of a battle with the Justice League, as he knew them back then, and a ragtag force with advanced weaponry and armored walkers. Nathaniel figures, well, at least he knows what side he's on...famous last words! That's not the Justice League, they're not the good guys, and this wasn't even earth! Booster Gold turns on the Captain, blasting him from behind; although admittedly he does so after he tells Booster "you always were a screwup." Booster, or rather Michael, is far harder, and way bossier, than we ever see him; although there may be a reason. With both sides now shooting at him, Captain Atom is saved by a woman, who introduces herself as Maxima. Not the one we're used to, but an impressive one! Still, as she flies him to safety, the Captain realizes the landscape wasn't earth, and Maxima seems to have never heard of it.

The faux-JL, the Alliance, gets a visit from their boss, Maxwell Lord IV, who was living in the Lord Havok armor or body? (That would've tied into then-current continuity, around Justice League America #100; which you specifically don't need to read: the author is a disgrace, and Max Lord has been retconned six ways from Sunday.) Max kills his Guy Gardner, finally sick of his lip. Meanwhile, Maxima explains to the armored-down Nathaniel, that she brought him through what she calls the Maelstrom, and he called the quantum-field, to save them. Nathaniel is not down with that right away, but Maxima did have an inside man, who explains things: the Blue Beetle! They were on Warworld--or a Warworld--and Max/Lord Havok used "bio-telemic capsules" to recreate his old League, modifying local humans, including that Beetle. Oh, and earth has probably been dead for so long, that it was barely a fairy tale. Everything he had ever known being gone kind of shakes Nathaniel a bit, who later demands if he helps, Maxima help him get back. She has a counter-offer, dropping her robe...

Nathaniel has alarmingly hairy shoulders in some panels in this one, which probably isn't weird, but you're used to seeing him silver and smooth! Anyway, not unlike the other one, this Maxima wanted a child, a homegrown hero with powers; and Nathaniel wonders if sleeping with her was the right thing to have done, when he gets jumped by the Alliance's Martian Manhunter. He wakes up, in a room that resembles the old League headquarters, with Michael--formerly Booster Gold--speaking to him over intercom. Nathaniel seems to have zero respect for him, even before the reveal that Michael had continued replacing body parts (again, in then-recent continuity, Booster would've lost an arm) and lived past the destruction of earth, eventually being found by Max and setting up on Warworld. Michael likewise doesn't have any respect for Nathaniel, but that was because he wasn't real: Maxima and Beetle had stolen a bio-telemic capsule, and they had used it to create their own Captain Atom! That puts Nathaniel on the back foot for a few pages, as Michael and the Alliance work on him, with Michael pointing out he didn't know any of the personal information the real Captain Atom would...until he does!

Nathaniel was the real thing--the pod had been stolen, but not used, merely for cover. He had been sandbagging it, to give Beetle time to hack the Alliance's systems: Beetle confirms, Max's command pod would self-destruct in six seconds. But, that was an open line, and Max teleports out--all according to plan, as Beetle had sabotaged the teleporter instead, killing Max! Michael manages to briefly get past Maxima, but then is beaten by Nathaniel and Beetle. He tries to escape, and is also killed by the teleporter. In the end, whether or not Maxima was pregnant, Nathaniel says he still needs to get home; it's left open if he ever did. I like to think he totally did, and gave Max and Booster the side-eye from then on. 

Hmm, Legends of Tomorrow last Thursday, Legends of the Law Friday, and Legends of the Dead Earth today! Can't say I planned that, yet here we are.

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This one fixes what seemed like an error earlier, take my word for it.

I think I've mentioned before, I have a box of comics up at my parents' house that I probably re-read every year, which accounts for my annual re-read of Capwolf. But one of the other books in that pile is Captain Atom #20, guest-starring Blue Beetle. The Captain lies to BB's face there, presenting his bogus "covert casebook," a secret file of his adventures with the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett; together against the fictional Dr. Spectro. Although Beetle seemingly warms up to the Captain then, you don't realize at the time that he's playing along and knows it's a ruse: in that issue, Garrett has the Bug...

...but in today's book, it's revealed that wasn't an error on the creators' part, but a mistake on the Captain's government handlers' part in creating his cover story: Garrett could fly, he didn't have the Bug, Ted Kord had to build that himself! Catching the Captain in "a bald-faced lie," Beetle opts to let him keep digging.

While Beetle's pal Booster is in on this because he's Beetle's pal, he doesn't seem to trust Captain Atom either. Yet, it's Mister Miracle that brings evidence to their little investigation: he had scanned him with his Mother Box previously, and realized his silver coating was not from earth, which made his rocket-accident origin story unbelievable. All three have decided Captain Atom has to go; although they decide they can't go to Max Lord, since they figure he probably knew. I don't know why they didn't get Batman, except that would feel like tattling, and this gives them something to do.

Meanwhile, as USAF intelligence Major "Cameron Scott," the Captain has a new boss that he already likes better than General Eiling. He's put on the trail of whoever murdered a former North Vietnamese general, and realizes some of the names on the killer's list are known to him from his own court-martial in the 60's. Later trailing the suspect, the killer turns the tables on him, and recognizes him as his real identity, Nathaniel Adam. Captain Atom had fought the killer, in a suit of armor, in a previous issue; but their scuffle here is interrupted by Mister Miracle, who shuts him down with a massive electric shock, then nearly slaps Adam's fake name out of his mouth. I'm not sure I've ever seen Scott that steamed! Still, Adam can't let Miracle take the killer in, since he needs the clues to prove his innocence. Miracle agrees, if Adam will come clean, and he has to face his three angry teammates...

For years I thought Blue Beetle had been hoodwinked, or they had botched the Dan Garrett continuity that predated coming to DC, but it's cool to see they were playing a longer game! From 1989, Captain Atom #26, "Captain Atom: Exposed!" Written by Cary Bates, co-plotted by Greg Weisman, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bob Smith.
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The cover makes it look like this one's going to be a no-holds-barred, 12-round slobber-knocker of a brawl. In actual fact, it gets four pages; one more than an imaginary story and the same as a subplot about his daughter! From 1987, Captain Atom #5, "The Return of Dr. Spectro" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bob Smith.

Several plotlines are running at once here, not necessarily to collide soon, either: a reporter reads her boss a story from Captain Atom's biography, featuring a battle between him and Dr. Spectro. Supposedly, they had fought many times in the years when the Captain had operated in secret, but that was a cover story cooked up by the government, to more quickly sell the public on their hero. No way that could backfire on them...cleverly, the 'flashback' stories featured the classic Ditko look for the Captain. The reporter wants to find Dr. Spectro and get his side of the story for a tell-all book. Following a lead, she finds the former assistant of the Rainbow Raider, who denies everything, but then seems awfully interested in the advance for the book.

Meanwhile, in his civilian identity, Nathaniel Adam takes his daughter to the carnival: they're getting along fine, even if the age difference is weird. Since Adam was launched forward in time when he got his powers, they were only five years apart now! And his daughter's stepdad was his boss, General Eiling, who calls him back to duty early to appear at an air show. The Captain grins and bears it, but some of the audience isn't impressed; among them Ronnie Raymond, half of Firestorm! When an automated jet seems to go haywire, Ronnie interrupts Professor Stein's lunch in order to leap into action as Firestorm! Completely unnecessarily: the jet was just a demonstration, and Captain Atom stops Firestorm from intervening, then suggests he "lighten up!"

Nathaniel's fellow officer Jeff seems to have realized his secret identity; while the reporter finishes her interview with "Dr. Spectro" only to be told by her editor it was a scam! The "disinformation scandal" was breaking, all of Captain Atom's history was going to be revealed as fake, and the reporter is kicking herself for getting snowed by the Doctor. Only, while he had made the whole thing up from her idea, he now had actual super-villain stuff, and kills the reporter, becoming Dr. Spectro for real...

This reminded me a bit of the first X-Factor stories, when they were pretending to be mutant hunters in order to save mutants: a cover story that's such a whopper of a lie it's hard to believe they could be surprised when it falls apart. And it falls apart quick! Meanwhile, Pat Broderick had done more than a few issues on Fury of Firestorm, so this was a seamless fit there. But Firestorm's status quo might've drastically changed the next time he saw the Captain; we may have to see some other time.
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Since a post I'm working on needs a ton more pictures, it's once again time to blog a comic within arm's reach! Let's see, today we have Marvel Team-Up #58, or Suicide Squad #28...ooh, haven't done a Squad one in a while, so from 1989, Suicide Squad #28, "Death Game" Written by Kim Yale and John Ostrander, layouts by John K. Snyder, finishes by Karl Kesel. That title has my hopes up...

...but instead of a pleasant enough little one-and-done guest-starring Ghost Rider, we've chosen to go with the fourth chapter in an eleven-issue crossover, the Janus Directive. Now, I know I was reading Manhunter at the time, but it only crossed over for one issue. (The last issue with that Doug Rice art that I loved; how he wasn't a bigger name I don't know.) The crossover would run for four issues each in Suicide Squad and Checkmate, the latter of which I've never read an issue of. It appeared to feature today's cover boy, Peacemaker. Erg, that's not a good sign.

Chased by ninjas, spies Cherie and John manage to get a call out, I believe to Sarge Steel, warning "The eggs have hatched!...the word you are looking for is anaconda." They are then beaten down and captured. Meanwhile, at Belle Reve prison, Amanda Waller would like a good goddamn answer how a Checkmate operative was able to infiltrate and nearly kill her. The explanation, it's a prison, it's supposed to keep stuff from breaking out, not in; doesn't hold a lot of water with her. Getting the Medusa Mask out of storage, Waller is about to take a squad at Checkmate, to kill Megala. I vaguely remember him from maybe the first issue of Captain Atom, in which he resembled a not-unfriendly Davros.

Two hours later, in the damaged Koning Industries building, Peacemaker is fighting it out with Major Force. The Checkmate organization's upper echelons (including Harvey Bullock!) are scrambling to perform damage control, when today's Suicide Squad shows up: Duchess, Vixen, Count Vertigo, and Shade the Changing Man! (A brief aside: the first time I saw Count Vertigo was in Legends #4, and I thought he was just a one-off created for that series! I had no idea he had appeared before, so I always expected him to get super-killed in Suicide Squad.) While Vertigo and Shade are able to bring down the unstable Peacemaker, I didn't think the lot of them would stand a chance against the Major, but Duchess is more than willing to throw down with him. Vixen countermands Waller's order to kill Megala, though: "If the Wall wants Megala dead, she can pull the trigger!" Which, yeah, I could see Vixen going through all the trouble of wheeling him down there, just for Waller to shoot him in the face right in front of her.

This part's a little unclear, since it's cutting between it and the Duchess/Major fight that Peacemaker is crawling to get into; but Vertigo seemingly has Megala captured, when the wheelchair-bound scientist explodes! Shade manages to save Vertigo, although he's injured. Vixen proclaims "Megala" as a fake; loudly, within earshot of none other than Lois Lane! Vixen gives her a terse "no comment," and while she wasn't going to give up the story, it didn't appear there was enough space here for Lane to get into it: she probably could've asked why a former Justice Leaguer was working with known criminal Count Vertigo, for one thing.

Elsewhere, General Eiling tries to call in the cavalry, Captain Atom. Who, quite refreshingly, tells him to blow: he could see on TV that Major Force was already there, and had no interest in bailing them out. Eiling is then held at gunpoint by hitwoman Black Thorn, who tells him to make a phone call. Captain Atom is somewhat concerned about Megala, when he's visited by Nightshade and King Faraday, who are likely about to drag him back into this thing kicking and screaming. Finally, we return to Cherie and John, as they are brought before Kobra! And his groupies. I can't decide if they're undermining his menace or improving his rep...

OK, one chapter out of a crossover like that is going to leave more questions than answers. I think the titular Janus Directive was supposed to be some form of oversight for meta-powered intelligence agencies, but was somehow co-opted by Kobra...then profit? I'm missing a step of plan there somewhere. That may have been a recurring theme in Suicide Squad, though: the notion of accountability and transparency, vs. Amanda Waller's "bite me and let me do my job."

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"The End" Week: Extreme Justice #18!

Huh, my caps lock was stuck when I started this post. Maybe I should've left it on, it seems appropriate. From 1996, Extreme Justice #18, "Deathmatch Doom" Written by Robert Washington III, pencils by Tom Morgan, inks by Ken Branch.

Sometimes, reading these last issues can be a chore: I had to read this one twice, to see if the main villain was ever referred to by name. He was not; but I think it's a cartoonishly insane and redesigned Brainwave, Jr. In a sick jacket, though. He looks like an evil Grant Morrison. It's his Legion of Doom--wait, really? DC must not have thought the name was worth anything in those "EXTREME" days--versus Captain Atom's breakaway Justice Leaguers: Maxima, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, a new Amazing Man, and the Wonder Twins. Wait, really?

I'm not positive any continuity from this book was carried forward: Captain Atom mentions having a hole in his chest, that I don't think was ever seen again. Maxima is heroic here, but would probably go back to stalking Superman; I don't think Booster's "Midas" armor would be back. Did we see these Wonder Twins again? Beetle uses a "fibrous-polymer grenade," "the recipe from this guy who just drifted through from some alternate universe recently." That's mostly for a joke, but no way they'd let him use that again! And Amazing Man would (allegedly) be killed off by the Mist, in Starman #38, which seems a waste.

This book, along with Justice League America and Justice League Task Force, was being wrapped up to clear the decks for the new "Big 7" JLA. Which still holds up as a good comic, but if you read it coming off of this one? Like going from a burger on the dollar menu to an eighty-dollar steak.
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I almost considered giving DC's Convergence a tag, then I got pissed off at it again, it'll stay under the tag "crossover debris." Was there a point to that whole thing, besides buying time for DC's move to California? I know they maybe tried a spinoff or two, but Telos only ran six issues, less than the crossover itself! And there were no consequences to anything--even less so than usual for comics. I bitched and bitched about Travis Morgan dying in Convergence #5, and the Warlord returned in Trinity #18 this year! (Wait, I'm not complaining about him coming back.) And all the fights between Elseworlds or old continuity versions of characters, seemed utterly pointless. Even if, say, the Gotham by Gaslight or Red Rain Batmen lost, do you seriously think we're never going to see them again? Or a book like today's, with two continuities I'd like to see return, that haven't been seen since! From 2015, Convergence: Blue Beetle #2, "Legion of Doom!" Written by Scott Lobdell, art by Yishan Li.

(By the way, I rarely like variant covers, but I absolutely hate the "design variants" for this event. They not only seem really pretentious, but also meant like 80 covers to order and sort through!)

This was the pre-Crisis, classic Charlton versions of Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and the Question; defending their Hub City...against the post-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes. That's a tough draw, not just because they're seriously outnumbered, but only Atom actually had any powers. Still, they have one advantage: even fighting to defend their future Metropolis, the Legion wasn't by nature killers. While the Question and Atom scuffle with the team, Beetle--having already hacked the Legions' rings for info--works out a plan: Sensor, Saturn Girl, and Kid Quantum create the illusion that Hub City is destroyed, giving Telos a 'winner.'

I don't know if anyone here showed up for the last issue of Convergence--38 covers for 9 issues, including a #0. Ugh...But I do like that somewhere out there in the Multiverse, these guys are all still out there. Pity Beetle is too old to talk his way onto the Legion, though...
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"The End" week meets 80-Page Thursdays: Justice League Quarterly #17!

Another 80-page last issue! I actually think I bought this before Marvel Super Heroes #15, but just getting around to reading it now: from 1994, Justice League Quarterly #17, featuring stories by Paul Kupperberg, Charlie Bracey, and Andy Mangels; and art by Danny Rodriguez, Carlos Franco, Phil Jimenez, and more.

Even though the book was called Justice League Quarterly, this is at least the fourth Global Guardians story I've read in it, and they get the cover this time too. And none of them have been that memorable. How many of them can you even name? Fire and Ice don't count, and no Wikipedia'ing it! Here, the precog Tuatara (who I don't think is called that all issue, everyone just calls him his first name, Jeremy) has a bad vision of a large, redheaded foe taking out former Guardians, looking for their MIA old boss, Dr. Mist. Several members are killed or crippled, including Tuatara, who is left in a coma; but Owlwoman believes she can rebuild the Guardians with some new members referred by J'onn J'onzz. And I don't think they're ever seen again. Certainly not the new guys, anyway; who are only shown on screen, which thus makes it seem like they chose to never appear rather than join the Global Guardians.

Also this ish: a man awakens from a coma with superpowers, and goes on a rampage over his loss of seven years; but luckily he runs into Captain Atom, who lost twenty years. Do not try to one-up him. (I kid, but it's nice to see CA show a different side.) And lastly, nice Phil Jimenez story for a Maxima story, where she saves a runaway from a life of prostitution. She was usually portrayed as more imperious, haughty; but here shows a compassionate side that I don't think we ever see again. Round out the issue with a few pin-ups (including one of Guy Gardner with a terrible goatee, from Mike Wieringo!) and that's all she wrote.

I'm still missing an issue or two, but aside from JLQ #3 and parts of #5, I don't think this series ever lived up to its potential. It probably could have just done Booster and Beetle hijinks for 80 straight pages and called it a day, with maybe the occasional interlude of Guy Gardner getting punched the hell out...
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"The End" Week: Justice League Task Force #37!

If everything has come out as scheduled, the first two issues of Priest's Justice League run have come out this month; but today we've got the last issue of his earlier series! From 1996, Justice League Task Force #37, "Rejoice" Written by Priest, pencils by Ramon Bernado, inks by Nick Napolitano and Dan Davis.


The Task Force was down to rookie Ray, time-displaced crabapple Triumph, underrated Gypsy, and team leader J'onn J'onzz; with hanger-on bounty hunter Gammeron, who was still hoping to get the cash J'onn owed him. Ray gets an emergency call, to the JLA Christmas party: Gypsy said he had been a bit iffy lately, and they wanted to make sure he showed. (There were really three teams at this point, sometimes at cross purposes: J'onn's Task Force, Captain Atom's Extreme Justice, and Wonder Woman's Justice League.) Santa also makes one of his perennial JLA appearances--ah, damnit, it's just Triumph, who seems seriously bipolar here, alternating between sincere apologies and childish tantrums. J'onn isn't helping, since while he buries the hatchet with Triumph, he's also not letting him back on the team. Captain Atom, who was lost in time longer than Triumph, offers him a spot on his team, but Triumph starts a brawl instead.

After Triumph flies off in a huff, Vandal Savage makes an appearance, to tell J'onn it's time to make peace, since they might have to band together against Triumph, who might take the offer of the demon Neron: if he lights Neron's candle, he could "erase a decade's worth of mistakes." Gypsy and Ray reach out to their friend, Gypsy with a pass that goes nowhere, and Ray with a bunch of snaps. As Triumph makes another series of apologies to the League, Gypsy and Ray place the candle on the monument of fallen Mystek, and unknowing, light it...

And the issue resets: when "Santa" arrives this time, it's L-Ron in Despero's body, who delivers Gammeron's money; as a sullen Triumph watches from outside, then walks away. He would return as the bad guy in Grant Morrison's JLA "Crisis Times Five!" four-parter; it's somewhat telling that he doesn't get a cover appearance in there.

I had the Justice League Task Force video game for Sega Genesis, long before I ever read any issues of this series! (With the possible exception of #35, a Warlord appearance we'll check out sometime.)
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Today, a different Captain punching Nazis.

And lions, and cowboys, and aliens, oh my! From 1991-92, Armageddon: the Alien Agenda #2-4, written by Jonathan Peterson, pencils by Mike Netzer, Alan Weiss, and Dick Giordano; inks by Joe Rubinstein and Steve Mitchell.

I re-read the first issue of this mini-series last year, but I thought there was another Captain Atom-led mini-series between this one and Armageddon: Inferno. Nope! It's all piled up here. Nathaniel Adam ends up in Nero's Rome, then DC's wild west, then World War II; thrown forward from prehistoric times by the energy released from the detonator aliens intended to use to collapse earth (and the rest of the solar system) into a wormhole. His powers keep kicking on and off as well, just to keep it from being too easy. Meanwhile, stupid lunkhead dope Monarch works with the aliens, who promise to send him to his correct time if he gets the detonator for them; but that's a lie: travelling back in time would kill him, then the aliens would destroy earth in prehistoric times, so he'd never be born, either! Which either makes the aliens' plan hinge on causing a paradox, or Monarch double-stupid.

While the aliens are able to put Monarch and a few others in suspended animation, to chase down Atom in the 'future,' the rest of them live out their lives, hidden behind a force field that both protects and separates them from the outside world. By the mid-twentieth century, their society seems to have gone a bit mad; partially because they hadn't realized if Monarch was going to have ever succeeded, they would never have existed there. After smashing a concentration camp, Captain Atom catches up with Monarch at a secret Pacific atomic bomb test. In the ensuing scuffle the detonator is shattered, the a-bomb causes a massive tidal wave that swamps the observer ships, and the Captain is thrown forward to the present, 1991! Monarch disappears in the timestream, the aliens are still plotting against Captain Atom, and a caption box promises a new title for him...that didn't seem to happen, but he would go on with the Justice League, Extreme Justice, and L.A.W. Kind of a downward spiral there...

Years later, there would be another miniseries, Captain Atom: Armageddon, where he was sent to the Wildstorm universe for a bit. I haven't read it, but it did set up my favorite post from the old blog Random Panels.
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I read this issue a quarter of a century ago, and reading it again today...was like reading a brand-new comic, it wasn't super-memorable. From 1991, Armageddon: the Alien Agenda #1, "Days of Thunder Lizards" Written by Jonathan Peterson, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Steve Leialoha.

After the conclusion of Armageddon 2001, Hawk, Dove, and Captain Atom are all presumed dead. Out of those three, Dove is the only dead one; murdered by her partner Hawk, who become the time-travelling despot Monarch. Monarch and Cap end up thrown back in time to the Paleozoic Era...or some time with dinosaurs: Captain Atom's not a scientist, he doesn't know for sure. Still, his powers aren't at full, Monarch's still trying to kill him, and oh yeah, there's aliens. Maybe more than one group...

Good things about this issue: it does dial back a lot of Captain Atom's recent angst from the end of his series and his almost heel-turn to Monarch. For his part, Hawk-Monarch is a whiny, useless bully; which I think he would remain in any of his later appearances. Losing his mask doesn't help; he has a somewhat thick head and shaggy haircut. Oh, and Jurgens draws dinosaurs pretty well! (He did in his Warlord days too.) Almost makes up for this issue's title.

We glanced at another Armageddon mini about a million years ago, Armageddon: Inferno, which I think brought back the Justice Society. I think the Captain got at least another mini-series out of being lost in time; before probably getting shoved over to Extreme Justice or something.
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80-Page Thursdays: Justice League Quarterly #13!

I may have overpaid for this issue last weekend, but at least I didn't pay internet prices.

From 1993, Justice League Quarterly #13, featuring stories by Kevin Dooley, Paul Kupperberg, and Michael Jan Friedman; with art by Greg LaRocque, Mike Collins, and Mike Mayhew. And a cover by Joseph Michael Linsner that I think is responsible for most of the price.

This issue features the return of old-time JLA stooge, Ultraa, revived here as an alien warlord intent on mating with Maxima. She was also an alien warlord, and had come to earth herself intent on mating with Superman. When that didn't work out, she started after the obvious second pick, Batman Captain Atom. I never really thought of Cap as a romantic lead, but he had been married prior to getting his powers and being launched into the future (from the sixties) and had dated Nightshade and Plastique. (In fact, I thought he married her, but it didn't work out.) At any rate, Cap isn't sure how he feels about Maxima, or being used to continue some alien warlord bloodline; and even Maxima seems to be having doubts when Ultraa shows up to prove himself to her. Ultraa wants to fight Superman, until he hears about Captain Atom, and the ensuing battle goes back and forth several times, as Cap won't kill Ultraa, even though he's rrrrrreally asking for it. Ultraa's even more punchable than usual here...

Also this issue: another chapter of the Praxis serial, and a Power Girl story, set when her origin was retconned so she wasn't from Krypton, she was the granddaughter of Arion the Immortal. That retcon didn't do either character any favors, and I have the feeling DC knew Power Girl had fans, but had no idea what to do with her.
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"The End" Week: Captain Atom #57!

We mentioned this one last month: it's a War of the Gods crossover! An Armageddon 2001 crossover! The conclusion of the four-part "The Quantum Quest" and the title's last issue! And a complete mess! From 1991, Captain Atom #57, "Elsewhere (Quantum Quest, part 4)" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Mike Gustovich, inks by Romeo Tanghal. And it's got "The End?" right on the cover!

Captain Atom has been defeated by Shadowstorm, an evil version of Firestorm. (Who was in no way as cool as the Blackest Night version, Deathstorm.) Meanwhile--or "Elsewhere," which is used like 21 times this issue--the War of the Gods raged on, as Waverider searched the possible future timelines of earth's heroes, trying to find and stop the one that would become the tyrant Monarch. And, for some reason, an entire page of Captain Atom's last issue is devoted to the Captain Marvel vs. Lobo brawl from L.E.G.I.O.N. '91 #31!

Shadowstorm unleashes the darkness in normal people, turning them into his dark army. But Captain Atom isn't quite beat yet: he had withdrawn into the quantum field that gave him his powers, and created an entire universe (!) to live the life he might have had if he hadn't receved his powers. But, playing God to change the outcome weakened the reality, until Atom destroys it and faces a dark version of himself. (All of which seems a lot more like Solar, Man of the Atom or Dr. Manhattan than Captain Atom.)

After defeating his evil self, Atom confronts Shadowstorm and lures him into attacking with his army, which Atom destroys. (Rather casually, rather than trying to save the people transformed?) Atom has Shadowstorm's number, as they wreck up an Eastern European city, and Shadowstorm turns into another evil version of the Captain! Unknown to them, Dr. Fate and earth's mystic heroes are simultaneously trying to "stabilize a planet made mad by the War of the Gods," while the witch Circe tries to tap into their spell: unknown to any of them, it weakens Shadowstorm through his connection to earth, and Captain Atom destroys him. The Captain then flies away, again somewhat coldly, leaving the damaged city and injured citizens behind, heading for Armageddon 2001...

Somewhat famously, Captain Atom was intended to become the evil Monarch...until a leak forced DC to try and change Monarch's secret identity to Hawk, of Hawk and Dove. This was pretty obviously setting up CA as the baddie--and he didn't have an annual contradicting that, like Hawk and Dove had, either. Still, the Captain had almost five years worth of development, that was virtually ignored ever since; since he's almost always portrayed as the soldier, obeying the orders of his superiors. Even though that doesn't make a lot of sense, considering his origin, either.

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