Print

[MarkWarner]

Last week's choice was one of our later Silver Age books, Submarine Attack which received a lukewarm thumbs up. In fact to be honest, the advertisement for a live monkey sparked the most interest. Anyway we are doubling up with another Silver Ager as this week's book is a 1966 Charlton. It features Ditko art and is a recommendation from one of the group.

So, for your reading pleasure we have Captain Atom doing battle with Doctor Spectro. 
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=30983. The story we are concentrating on is the main one ... all 20 pages of it!

PS: If you have ANY books you'd like us to read please message or email me!

[narfstar]

One of my all time ultimate favorite covers. Simple but colorful. I look forward to reading it again.

[thrakken]

Was never a fan of Ditko. But, the inks really made Captain Atom look really good. There was lots of story build up, origin, and then a good long fight. I think Atom got lucky in this one. Spectro was ready to light him up, but couldn't control his own power. I enjoyed the coloring in this issue. The choice of color and beams of light helped to sell the emotions that the Mood Maker was using.

[SuperScrounge]

Doctor Spectro Master of Moods - Interesting. Kind of odd that Spectro wasn't actually defeated by Captain Atom, at least, not intentionally. Captain Atom accidentally overpowered him and he... vanished.

The Dreadful Dream of Daniel Drelly - Interesting.

Moon-run - Subtle... like a sledghammer to the face.

[Morgus]

Great stuff. Ditko and his Charlton work never seems to get enough credit. Loved that POV shot from the rat hole in "Doctor Spectro".  Read the whole comc all the way through. Even the printed story. "Moon-run" looked nice, but from the first panel, you might as well have had a neon sign over the pilot reading:"He's a ROBOT folks, bet you never saw THAT ONE coming". Ah, but who cares? It still looked good. Great silver age comic.

[narfstar]

I may get rotten cabbage thrown at me, but I like Mastroserio inks on Ditko better than Ditko on Ditko. I have always thought this comic has some of the best Captain Atom fight scenes/fight scenes in general. This is an all around great superhero beats super villain comic.

[crashryan]

Narf, you're not alone. I've always felt Rocco Mastroserio was one of Ditko's best inkers. He respected Ditko's pencils, keeping Ditko's strengths while adding just a touch of slickness that Ditko's own inks lack. And he did it without overloading the drawings with his personal style like Wallace Wood and Sal Trapani  (though in fact I like both those guys' inking on Ditko).

Captain Atom was a fun character that improved as he went along. This is right at the start of his best period. Having been plotted by Ditko the story is more coherent than an all-Joe Gill story would have been. However having been plotted by Ditko it is also mostly a big fight scene. The whole thing ends rather abruptly. Dr. Spectro is an interesting villain though he suffers (like Captain Atom himself) from vaguely-defined powers that change depending on the situation. I wonder if it's significant that so many Ditko-created villains got that way because people laughed at them.

Gill's text is okay though nothing special. A few times he tries to switch the narration into present tense, like other superhero comics. However his lifetime of writing in the past tense gets the better of him.

The colorist tries some interesting effects. Some work and others are torpedoed by the lousy printing. I've never seen such an opaque dark blue and dark green!

From the art style it's obvious the filler story is a reprint from much earlier in Ditko's career. It has some of the lousiest lettering I've seen in a post-Golden Age comic. I don't understand how anyone could have been surprised by the ending; the writer all but calls the protagonist an android in the first couple of panels.

I didn't read the text story.

All in all a pleasant read with some nice artwork.

[Mazzucchelli]

You can

[bowers]

I have to agree with most of the earlier comments. Ditko's crazy-frenetic style is, indeed, unique. And the faces are priceless!
I've read several Capt. Atoms, but not this issue. Good call, Narf- this one is great! Nonstop action and motion all the way through the main story- everything a buyer could want or expect from a SA comic. The coloring was some of the best I've ever seen in a Charlton and, since the whole story revolved around color, this was a very big plus. Of course Dr. Spectro couldn't be killed off- he was such a good baddie that he had to return! (Don't know if he ever did, though.)
Capt. Atom was a pretty good comic series even though his powers were a bit vague. Lots of bizarre Ditko villains and always plenty of action. It became even better when The Blue Beetle became a backup feature.
Definitely a two thumbs up from me! Cheers, Bowers

[MarkWarner]

This is a "late" book hailing from 1966. BTW the reason we can house this, is that Charlton did a very bad job on their copyright notice and it is invalid! Which is cool for us! Anyway, after reading the book I can report as follows.

The main Captain Atom story was great. Doctor Spectro is one psychedelic villain! I really enjoyed the read and thoroughly recommend it. I'll be honest I didn't quite understand what went on in the 3 page "Moon-Run!"  story. How does the pilot know he will not return and why does he fall off his seat like that?

Now I am going to witter on about advertisements (again). In particular one on the back cover. Just read this!!!

Authentic Working Model "Old West" Scaffold - Really works just like a real execution.
Realistic scaffold with thirteen steps and operative trap door. Executioner pulls the lever and the body falls till the hangman's noose jerks it to a stop. Comes in kit form - easy to assemble with rope noose and model victim. Makes a humorous gift for a sober-sided friend or an admirer of the old West. Fascinate friends.

I believe the "Living monsters" on our page 23 were brine shrimp, recently sold as sea-monkeys. Hardly blood curdling monsters! I was surprised about the 5" portable TV being around quite as early as this. The picture makes it look quite compact as well.

Verdict: A MASSIVE HIT!!!!! A great comic story and a great comic. One of the best we have read so far! I am now going to "Lam outa here".