[JH_Grimson]

Ah, 1966! That year gets my vote for the peak of the American Golden Age of pop culture. And Ditko was at his craziest, most dizzingly high peak, too. In '66 he reached his zenith at Marvel with Dr. Strange and Spidey, before moving to Charlton. As prolific as Kirby, Ditko, if not The King, was at least a Prime Minister or something like that. Anyway, I have been enjoying these early issues of Capt Atom. I think you see their influence on later comics. Of course we have the Simpson's Radioactive Man, for one--haha! But it's interesting to compare this version of Capt Atom with Moore's Dr. Manhattan. I see that Moore went the opposite direction, making his omnipotent godlike hero (eventually antihero) America's "least-guarded" secret, in order to deter enemies. This early version makes the Capt known only to a lowly Sarge and the President of the US. I also want to say something about the visual appearance of the hero as rendered by Ditko. When he flies, you especially see the resemblance to Marvel Comic's Capt Marvel, with the little popped out stars in the milky white wake of the flight. I regret that the Marvel movies didn't try to pay some sort of visual homage to that effect in their version of this hero. In summary, I think that Capt Atom might be the hero behind many other heroes that came later, for good or for ill.

Link to the book: Captain Atom 80

[The Australian Panther]

Welcome JH Grimson!
Also at the same time there was 'Gold Key's 'Doctor Solar' whose origin was almost identical to 'Captain Atom' and whose powers were also identical. I was attracted to Dr Solar because in the first stories he had no costume and was more interested in his work as a scientist than using his powers.
Captain Atom predated Dr Solar, so possibly influenced that character.
Alan Moore? Dr Manhattan was based on Captain Atom. Moore intended to use the Charlton Characters - then newly acquired by DC - for Watchmen. Captain Atom - Dr Manhattan, Comedian - Peacemaker, Rorschach - The Question, Owlman - Blue Beetle, Ozymandias - Peter Cannon Thunderbolt, Silk Spectre - Nighshade. Fortunately they didn't OK that. 
Moore's mindset on that one, was 'What would those characters be like in the real world, and not two-dimensional characters on the comic book page that came back for a new adventure every month?'   
DC, being part of a soulless mulitnatianal company, has almost gone out of it's way to screw with the property. And Marvel has treated Moore with as much disrespect over Marvelman.

Also, may I draw your attention to this thread from our Reading Group, where we discuss the first appearance of the good Captain Atom.
Reading Group Book#232 2 Charlton Heroes
https://comicbookplus.com/forum/index.php?topic=19256.0

Reading Group threads remain open, if you wish to post a comment. And please feel free to join in and comment on the  current Reading Group selection.
Cheers!