Print

[Quirky Quokka]

Hi everyone

I have two Australian picks this time. Both of these are in black and white, and were produced in the post-war era when American imports were banned.

[The Australian] Captain Atom #63 (Atlas Publications 1953)

This Captain Atom is not to be confused with the Captain Atom from Nation-Wide Publishing 1950-1951 nor the Silver Age Captain Atom from Charlton who was revamped by DC.

The Australian Captain Atom ran from 1948 to 1953 and was one of the few Australian comic book characters to have his own fan club and merchandising. Indeed, this issue boasts that there are 75 000 members in the Captain Atom Club, which would have been huge considering Australia’s population at the time.

The issue I’ve selected has two Captain Atom stories that take up the whole book.



https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=75725

[I've added this in a comment further down, but if you have a chance, check out the origin story in Issue 1 of Captain Atom. Well worth a read.]

The Crimson Comet #13 (1950)

My second selection is The Crimson Comet, which began production in 1949 and ran for 73 issues until 1958. It was created by John Dixon, though I think Albert De Vine had taken over by the time they got to this issue. I’ll put up more information as the fortnight progresses. The Crimson Comet story takes up most of the book, and there is a short funny animals story at the end.



https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=86584

I’ll look forward to your comments.

Cheers

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

This Captain Atom is not to be confused with the Captain Atom from Nation-Wide Publishing 1950-1951 nor the Silver Age Captain Atom from Charlton who was revamped by DC.

Maybe a future reading group could be comparing stories with characters using the same name? 

[The Australian Panther]

This Captain Atom is not to be confused with the Captain Atom from Nation-Wide Publishing 1950-1951 nor the Silver Age Captain Atom from Charlton who was revamped by DC. 

I think FREW have revived the character but under the name, Planetman, probably to avoid confusion and/or legal issues.   

[Quirky Quokka]

This Captain Atom is not to be confused with the Captain Atom from Nation-Wide Publishing 1950-1951 nor the Silver Age Captain Atom from Charlton who was revamped by DC.

Maybe a future reading group could be comparing stories with characters using the same name? 

Great idea, SuperScrounge. I sort of did that with the comparison of the Australian and American Catman a while ago, though they were essentially the same character with some changes made to the Australian one. As far as I can tell, the Australian and American Captain Atom are completely different characters with the same name. It would be interesting to compare. If you have any suggestions of different characters with the same name, let us know and I'm sure we can work it into a reading group pick.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

This Captain Atom is not to be confused with the Captain Atom from Nation-Wide Publishing 1950-1951 nor the Silver Age Captain Atom from Charlton who was revamped by DC. 

I think FREW have revived the character but under the name, Planetman, probably to avoid confusion and/or legal issues.

Hi Panther

I have a couple of Frew publications with the new stories on Planetman. Now that you mention it, he does bear a resemblance to Captain Atom. I've got the book 'From Sunbeams to Sunset' about the rise and fall of the Australian comic book industry, and it says Planetman started starring in his own comic book about 1953 and ran for 5 issues, though he had appeared in some other comic books before that. He's different to Captain Atom in that he had an alien sidekick called Hex. But maybe Frew has started doing some new Planetman stories because copyright would stop them from using Captain Atom. A shame because it seems the Australian Captain Atom predated the American one.

Cheers

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

Captain Atom #63

Ghost Plane!

Soooooo... the villain has a secret underground airport on the property of a real airport? Bwha? Seems like somebody might have noticed all this going on. Also since the head of the airport seems to be in on the scheme why not schedule an air traffic controller who knows what's going on to work the hours the plane will come and go?

There really didn't seem to be much point to taking Princess Lais along other than to give the Wrecker an instant hostage.


Flying Saucers!

Do they spell Antarctica differently in Australia or was it just the writer of this story? 

Where does the Wrecker get the money and resources to build all the stuff we see him with? Heck, why doesn't he just become a rich businessman and bribe politicians like all real life supervillains?


Just out of curiosity I read the origin story in issue 1, and um... it's a bit crazy, oddly fun, but not exactly logical.

[Quirky Quokka]

Captain Atom #63

Flying Saucers!

Do they spell Antarctica differently in Australia or was it just the writer of this story? 

Just out of curiosity I read the origin story in issue 1, and um... it's a bit crazy, oddly fun, but not exactly logical.

Hey SuperScrounge, no we spell Antarctica the same as you, so that must be a typo. There are a few typos in this book.

And extra Brownie points (or is it Cub Scout points?) for reading the origin story. That's going above and beyond. I must say, I'm glad he ditched the bushy eyebrows from Issue 1 (no offense to our hairy-eyebrowed readers), but he was drawn much better in the later issues.

I'll comment on the stories in my wrap-up 

Cheers

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

The Crimson Comet #13

Crimson Comet story

Not bad.

I did wonder why the author used Neput which is similar to Neptune. What are the names of the nearby planets they conquered? Pulot? Unaro? Naturos? Jetapur? 

It is odd that she had to learn their language before she could teach them English. Given how advanced the planet supposedly was it's odd they would need an earthling to teach them English. Couldn't their scientists have studied radio and TV broadcasts to learn English, and other languages?

The height of the invaders seems off, some panels indicate they are around half the size of a human, but its also stated that they are 7 inches high, as if the artist didn't really work out how big he should draw them in the different panels.

Was that supposed to be President Truman?

So was all of Neput destroyed by one hydrogen bomb, or just the main city?


Fearless Ferdie in Hollywood

Okay, but nothing special.

Great idea, SuperScrounge. I sort of did that with the comparison of the Australian and American Catman a while ago

I had forgotten the Catman comparison, which is odd since I don't think it was that long ago.

And extra Brownie points (or is it Cub Scout points?) for reading the origin story. That's going above and beyond.

Well, having the name Bikini and the Captain Marvel style power made me wonder what his backstory and powers were. So I looked.

I think in the US Brownies were the group for young girls, while Cub Scouts were for young boys. Not sure if they were run by the older skewing Girl Scouts & Boy Scouts groups. I didn't belong to any of them, although I was in 4-H and participated in a few county & state fairs through the years.

[The Australian Panther]

It is odd that she had to learn their language before she could teach them English. Given how advanced the planet supposedly was it's odd they would need an earthling to teach them English. Couldn't their scientists have studied radio and TV broadcasts to learn English, and other languages? 

As a TESOL teacher > no if's not essential to learn the other language, except if you are going into their country to teach, you will need it from the time you step off the plane. It certainly helps you to understand the mindset. Other languages often mean another way of thinking.
Radio ? If there are no visual cues, that would just be noise, so no help there.
TV would help but - if you were picking them up from space, you'd get world broadcasts. Would you really understand you were listening  to many languages? What if they had no concept of comedy, and they certainly would have no viable references.
How would they decipher - and here's just a few - The Addams family, Bugs Bunny, Anime, Monty Python, The Batman TV show or -hell- Friends or Seinfeld? Baseball?  Hell, I'm  Australian and I'm sure that if I talked Baseball with an American, I'd be out of my league.     
The idea of running into an alien race who picked up the language from listening to TV broadcasts is just Science fiction shorthand.   
cheers!     

[SuperScrounge]

Hell, I'm  Australian and I'm sure that if I talked Baseball with an American, I'd be out of my league.

Pun intended or not? 

[The Australian Panther]

Definitely intended. 

[Quirky Quokka]

It is odd that she had to learn their language before she could teach them English. Given how advanced the planet supposedly was it's odd they would need an earthling to teach them English. Couldn't their scientists have studied radio and TV broadcasts to learn English, and other languages? 

As a TESOL teacher > no if's not essential to learn the other language, except if you are going into their country to teach, you will need it from the time you step off the plane. It certainly helps you to understand the mindset. Other languages often mean another way of thinking.
Radio ? If there are no visual cues, that would just be noise, so no help there.
TV would help but - if you were picking them up from space, you'd get world broadcasts. Would you really understand you were listening  to many languages? What if they had no concept of comedy, and they certainly would have no viable references.
How would they decipher - and here's just

Panther, your comment about picking up TV programs from outer space made me wonder if you've seen the movie 'Galaxy Quest'? That's the main premise. Some aliens turn up at a ComicCon to get Captain Jason Nesmith and his team to come to their planet and help them defeat the Sarris. The aliens have seen the episodes of the TV Show 'Galaxy Quest' and think they're historical documents. They have no concept of make-believe and think the TV actors are a real crew. Meanwhile, Nesmith thinks the aliens are kids dressed up in their ComicCon cosplay outfits. If you haven't seen it, try to track down a copy. 'Must-see' movie for fans of ComicCons. Sort of like a Star Trek spoof, but with a lot of heart and great story arc.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

QQ, Don't get me started - there is huge fan activity just around this movie.
Have now seen it several times.
I love, love., love the Thermians! Who doesn't.
Galaxy Quest Alien School Creating the Thermian Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2d04uKZiQ8

Honest Trailers | Galaxy Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnjoiqfhDtQ

Galaxy Quest: You've Never Heard it Told Like This Before!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQLQ4XO-WUM

Well, you did get me started.
Never give up, never surrender!

[Quirky Quokka]

QQ, Don't get me started - there is huge fan activity just around this movie.
Have now seen it several times.
I love, love., love the Thermians! Who doesn't.
Galaxy Quest Alien School Creating the Thermian Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2d04uKZiQ8

Honest Trailers | Galaxy Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnjoiqfhDtQ

Galaxy Quest: You've Never Heard it Told Like This Before!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQLQ4XO-WUM

Well, you did get me started.
Never give up, never surrender!

LOL - Thanks for those clips. I'll check them out. We love that movie. Hubby has a 'Never give up, never surrender' T-shirt. We watched a documentary on TV a while back that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the movie. The whole cast is great, but I especially love Sigourney Weaver playing the exact opposite of her part in Alien. By Grabthar's Hammer, what a movie!

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Spurred on by SuperScrounge, I've gone back and read the origin story of Captain Atom from Issue 1. Of course it's far-fetched, but it explains a lot. I wish I'd included that as one of the readings, but you can check it out here.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=79005

If you're wondering why Captain Atom's alter ego is called Bikini, it's because he and his twin brother were born the instant an atomic bomb exploded near Bikini Atoll. (Okay, we already have a plot hole because twins can't be born at the same instant, but stay with me!  ) When only one baby drifts ashore on another island, he has a note attached to him explaining what has happened, so the island chief names him Bikini and his daughter, the beautiful Princess Lais, looks after him. Within months, the baby has almost reached manhood. It turns out that both twins had somehow fused such that when Bikini is visible, Captain Atom is invisible. But when the word Exenor is spoken, Bikini becomes invisible and Captain Atom is visible. Make sense? Of course not, but it's interesting that this book was published in 1948 in the early days of the Cold War. The US started testing nuclear weapons at Bikini Atoll in 1948 and continued through to 1958 (23 tests in all). Right from the get-go, Captain Atom realises that nuclear power can be used for good or evil and he vows to ensure it stays in the hands of 'the good'. Princess Lais goes with him into the world to fight all manner of evil. Sadly, Captain Atom's run finished in 1954, four years before nuclear testing ceased at Bikini Atoll. Anyway, if you have time, it's well-worth having a look at the origin story.

And in a final piece if trivia for the day, the modern bikini was launched in 1946 (though two-piece swimsuits had popped up earlier). Two French designers separately released their versions. One was named the "atome" (French for 'atom') and the other was named the bikini after Bikini Atoll. So now you know - LOL So when Captain Atom's creator decided to call him 'Bikini', it may not have sounded as strange then as it does now.

https://wwd.com/feature/history-of-the-bikini-1235647398/

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Captain Atom 63
The artwork in this 1953 book is quite a bit better than that of Issue #1 from 1948.  Not that it's all that great compared to the best of the US artists of that period.

Ghost Plane!

As SuperScrounge stated: The villain has a secret underground airport on the property of a real airport? Seems like somebody might have noticed all this going on. Also since the head of the airport seems to be in on the scheme why not schedule an air traffic controller who knows what's going on to work the hours the plane will come and go?

If "The Wrecker" has the money to fund research into making a fog that can completely hide airplanes, and has the money and manpower to build an underground facility at a municipal or international airport, without the operating authorities finding out, AND the airport's manager is his right-hand-man, why couldn't his night-shift air traffic controller also be "one of his men" (e.g. in on his clandestine operations)?

"The Wrecker" turns out to be The President's Evil "identical Cousin" (a play on the righteous vs. evil identical twin fables).  Similar to my inventing the incredibly unlucky long-lost identical twin of (super-lucky) Gladstone Gander (who was changed to an "identical cousin" by my Danish Disney editors, because the readers would think it strange that this new character existed but didn't appear in Gladstone stories during the first 50+ years of that character's existence).  The old identical cousin, who used to play together with The President, but the latter hasn't seen him for over 50 years, and so, doesn't recognise him, trick!

There really didn't seem to be much point to taking Princess Lais along other than to give the Wrecker an instant hostage.  Very true.  This story's logic and setup didn't have nearly enough logical thought leading up to submittal and editing before publication.


Flying Saucers!

The opening splash panel of this story with the "flying Saucers" looking much like 78 RPM records, made me wonder if Captain Atom cleaned up The Earth from it's crime and evil villains so well that he became a Disc jockey, in his spare time. 



Quote from SuperScrounge: Do they spell Antarctica differently in Australia or was it just the writer of this story? 
NO!  It's a misspelling! -evident by the fact that the author of this story doesn't even know the difference between the words "to" and "too".  Actually, given some of the phrasing in this story, my first impression was that the author's native language was not ANY form of English.  Interesting that this series' Issue #1 (5 years earlier) included several spelling and grammar errors; and it's author didn't know the difference between the words "lead" (the verb) and "led".  And one would think that the nation with the largest land claim on that continent would know how to spell it in their own language! 

I don't like that the author made no attempt to explain how the flying saucers were able to fly so fast and be propelled at such a large size (defying gravity and aerodynamics).  I can understand it, however, given that he was given only 10 pages to tell a story whose scope requires at least 20 pages to be paced adequately.  On a side note, I also was very disappointed that there was no pseudo-scientific attempted explanation for how Bikini and his identical twin brother had such different effects from their egg's or their mother's exposure to atomic radiation during atomic bomb testing.  However, I, myself, wouldn't have wanted that impossible job.  And how could an Earthling, like The Wrecker, have the power and money to fund such high technology projects, such as advanced propulsion and aerodynamically-designed flying saucers???  - especially without the major nations knowing what he was doing?  I would have guessed that Space Alien villains might have worked better.  I don't understand why "The Wrecker" needs to be Captain Atom's foe in every story of his.

I've read 3 Captain Atom stories, so far, and Lais has been only window dressing, with no real meaningful participation in any of the three.  despite these Superhero books being aimed at pre-adolescent boys, I find it difficult to believe thasuch stories would be published by Superhero genre publishers of today.

[Quirky Quokka]

Captain Atom 63

I've read 3 Captain Atom stories, so far, and Lais has been only window dressing, with no real meaningful participation in any of the three.  despite these Superhero books being aimed at pre-adolescent boys, I find it difficult to believe that such stories would be published by Superhero genre publishers of today.

Hi Robb

Well done for reading three stories. That's all I've read so far too, so I'm not sure if Princess Lais is used to better advantage in some of the others. Like a lot of western countries, Australia in the early 1950s was pretty traditional regarding women's roles. Though right from the very first issue of Superman in 1938, Lois Lane was in the thick of things and would put herself in all sorts of danger to get a scoop. I hope Princess Lais took a more active role in some of the other stories, rather than just being moral support for Bikini/Captain Atom.

I'll comment on the stories when I do my wrap-up.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

The Crimson Comet 13

The Crimson Comet -
Did Cecily Adams deliberately go to The Crimson Comet's alter ego because everyone in The Metropolis knew that Ralph knew The Crimson Comet, and could bring him into a situation where he is needed, to help alleviate the danger, and solve the problem?  Or was her running away from the Neputians and ending up at Ralph's office just a comic-booky coincidence?  I'd like to think it is the former, as such coincidences occur much too much, and so, are ridiculous.

I can imagine that it was better for the Space Aliens' captive (Adams) to learn their language before she could teach them English, so she could communicate with them if they'd have questions.  It was better for her to be able to communicate with anyone of The Aliens she'd come across during her captivity and while playing an important part in their invasion plans.  It is easier for her as a single person, to learn her host population, than converse with all of them through an interpreter or have many of them learn her language.  On the other hand, it would have been better for several, or many of the The Neputians who would be among the conquering and/or occupying, administering force on Earth, to learn The major Earth languages.

The height of the invaders was drawn very inconsistently, with some panels having them around half the size of a human; but it was stated that they were 7 only inches high.  Another grievous artist and editor error, that should have been caught in the storyboard stage.

I think that it is extremely unlikely that The Neputians would be so illogical and careless to not send two or more extra men along on the preliminary trip to Earth, to guard Ms. Adams while in her hotel room, to make sure she wouldn't escape, to warn Earth officials about their plans to conquer Earth and enslave its peoples.

I think that US President looks like a cross between Franklin Roosevelt and Truman.
I assume that only the main city of the dominant nation on Neput could be destroyed by the single hydrogen bomb.  And how could The Crimson Comet know the exact trajectory needed to send the space vehicle on the exact pathway to destroy that city?

Overall, despite this story's logic errors and minor deficiencies, it was drawn well, and had a few clever attributes, and held my interest to the end.  It made ne interested enough to plan to read "Crimson Comet" Issue #1.

Fearless Ferdie in Hollywood
This feature has an amateurish look, similar to much of the comedy genre artwork in The Canadian WWII era "Canadian Whites".  And I don't think its story is very innovative, clever or, more importantly, very funny.  The old Vaudeville gag of the airhead not realising that a movie is being filmed, when villains are committing criminal acts has been used wayyyyyy too  many times in comedy plays, films, TV shows and comic book stories, to get even a chuckle from readers.  To cap it off, the story's ending was a terrible letdown.

[Quirky Quokka]

The Crimson Comet 13

The Crimson Comet -
...

The height of the invaders was drawn very inconsistently, with some panels having them around half the size of a human; but it was stated that they were 7 only inches high.  Another grievous artist and editor error, that should have been caught in the storyboard stage.

...

Overall, despite this story's logic errors and minor deficiencies, it was drawn well, and had a few clever attributes, and held my interest to the end.  It made me interested enough to plan to read "Crimson Comet" Issue #1.

Thanks Robb. I noticed that inconsistency with the drawings too. I'll comment more generally on the story in my wrap-up.

I'm glad you liked it overall. As you've probably noticed, there are only nine Crimson Comet books on CB+, starting with No. 8, with one of those just uploaded recently by Downunder Dan. It would be great to have 1-7, as it was created by John Dixon, one of Australia's best comic book artists, and he apparently drew the first seven issues. Then Albert Devine took over until John Dixon returned later in the series, though I'm not sure which issue he reappeared on.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Regarding the president in Crimson Comet, SuperScrounge said:

Was that supposed to be President Truman?

And Robb said:

I think that US President looks like a cross between Franklin Roosevelt and Truman.

Well, Truman would have been in power when this book was published, and it does look a little like him. Though I'm not sure if that's what the artist was going for or whether it was meant to be more of a generic president. Also, do they specifically mention that it's the US? The city is referred to as 'The Metropolis', but I think they only refer to the Truman/Roosevelt lookalike as the nation's president. Though clearly the setting is more similar to the US than Australia because we have a Prime Minister. I think they were trying to model it after US superhero comics though, so it makes sense that it was an American-like location (complete with the Ritz and the Capital [sic] building.

Cheers

QQ

[Downunder Dan]

Captain Atom #63

This is the second last issue of Captain Atom, which features the unmasking and identification of Cap's regular villain, the Wrecker. I don't know if the Wrecker returns in the final issue, but if this is the Wrecker's last appearance, there's an unexpected symmetry - the Wrecker first appeared in the second issue of Captain Atom. Also, from that issue, we have the Cobra, the Wrecker's chief henchman, back again.

The twist in the first story, that Jose (the Wrecker) is the identical cousin of the President of Karagua, and that he tricks Captain Atom and Lais by playing the part of the President, is a pretty good one. However, the shortness of the story means the story is otherwise pretty linear. Lais is a passive victim lacking any agency and there's no good reason for her to have been carried into danger.

IIf I were to rewrite the stories in this comic, I'd start with flying saucers acting mysteriously in Karagua. There’s a degree of conflict with Atlanticia, and Captain Atom is called in as flying saucers are beyond normal experience. The Airport Supervisor works with him, ‘helping’ determine where is best for Captain Atom to go to investigate (the Airport Supervisor is actually the Wrecker, chief henchman of the Wrecker, so this is misdirection). Leaving Princess Laid in Atlanticia, Captain Atom heads off to Karagua and has a brief confrontation with the flying saucers. The flying saucers escape at speed, and Cap goes to meet with the Karaguan President (actually the Wrecker). In Atlanticia, Lais becomes suspicious of the Airport Superintendent, and discovers secret papers that includes the whereabouts of the real Karaguan President. While the fake Karaguan President wastes Captain Atom’s time to allow his plans to conquer both countries to progress, Lais travels to the prison that holds the Karaguan president. She frees him and brings him to the Karaguan capital, where the Wrecker’s deception (and true identity as the identical cousin of the real president) is revealed through confrontation with the identical cousins. The Wrecker calls in his flying saucers... the climax would be based the combat scenes with the flying saucers from the second story. The Wrecker is defeated and the Cobra is captured, with both punished.

I suspect I've overstepped the normal Reading Group arrangements with this rewrite, but I think it's better to suggest a solution to weaknesses in the stories rather than just pointing the weaknesses out. And the portrayal of Lais is the most obvious one needing to be addressed.

In looking at Captain Atom as a whole (or at least the issues we have online here), the creative growth of Arthur Mather as an artist and later writer is good to observe. Starting out working as a type-setter with some freelance cartooning on the side, Mather worked for Atlas Publications until it went out of business. After this, be went to work in an advertising agency, rising to become the creative director. But he still had creative urges, and began writing thriller novels, which became his chief occupation after his retirement. This final role would certainly have developed what he learned from his work in comics.

[Robb_K]

Regarding the president in Crimson Comet, SuperScrounge said:

Was that supposed to be President Truman?

And Robb said:

I think that US President looks like a cross between Franklin Roosevelt and Truman.

Well, (1) Truman would have been in power when this book was published, and it does look a little like him. Though I'm not sure if that's what the artist was going for or whether it was meant to be more of a generic president.

(2) Also, do they specifically mention that it's the US? The city is referred to as 'The Metropolis', but I think they only refer to the Truman/Roosevelt lookalike as the nation's president. Though clearly the setting is more similar to the US than Australia because we have a Prime Minister.

(3) I think they were trying to model it after US superhero comics though, so it makes sense that it was an American-like location (complete with the Ritz and the Capital [sic] building.
Cheers
QQ 

(1) It's clear to me that they wanted to make him a generic US president.

(2) Metropolis was a generic US city (implying New York City), just as "Gotham City" was, in pulps, in American noir and other "B" and "C" films, and in US comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s.

(3) They DEFINITELY were trying to model this story on US superhero comics from the early and mid 1940s, so they made it look like a generic US location, with generic US-type characters, and as few Australianisms as possible.

[Robb_K]

Captain Atom #63

This is the second last issue of Captain Atom, which features the unmasking and identification of Cap's regular villain, the Wrecker. I don't know if the Wrecker returns in the final issue, but if this is the Wrecker's last appearance, there's an unexpected symmetry - the Wrecker first appeared in the second issue of Captain Atom. Also, from that issue, we have the Cobra, the Wrecker's chief henchman, back again.

The twist in the first story, that Jose (the Wrecker) is the identical cousin of the President of Karagua, and that he tricks Captain Atom and Lais by playing the part of the President, is a pretty good one. However, the shortness of the story means the story is otherwise pretty linear. Lais is a passive victim lacking any agency and there's no good reason for her to have been carried into danger.

IIf I were to rewrite the stories in this comic, I'd start with flying saucers acting mysteriously in Karagua. There’s a degree of conflict with Atlanticia, and Captain Atom is called in as flying saucers are beyond normal experience. The Airport Supervisor works with him, ‘helping’ determine where is best for Captain Atom to go to investigate (the Airport Supervisor is actually the Wrecker, chief henchman of the Wrecker, so this is misdirection). Leaving Princess Laid in Atlanticia, Captain Atom heads off to Karagua and has a brief confrontation with the flying saucers. The flying saucers escape at speed, and Cap goes to meet with the Karaguan President (actually the Wrecker). In Atlanticia, Lais becomes suspicious of the Airport Superintendent, and discovers secret papers that includes the whereabouts of the real Karaguan President. While the fake Karaguan President wastes Captain Atom’s time to allow his plans to conquer both countries to progress, Lais travels to the prison that holds the Karaguan president. She frees him and brings him to the Karaguan capital, where the Wrecker’s deception (and true identity as the identical cousin of the real president) is revealed through confrontation with the identical cousins. The Wrecker calls in his flying saucers... the climax would be based the combat scenes with the flying saucers from the second story. The Wrecker is defeated and the Cobra is captured, with both punished.

I suspect I've overstepped the normal Reading Group arrangements with this rewrite, but I think it's better to suggest a solution to weaknesses in the stories rather than just pointing the weaknesses out. And the portrayal of Lais is the most obvious one needing to be addressed.

In looking at Captain Atom as a whole (or at least the issues we have online here), the creative growth of Arthur Mather as an artist and later writer is good to observe. Starting out working as a type-setter with some freelance cartooning on the side, Mather worked for Atlas Publications until it went out of business. After this, be went to work in an advertising agency, rising to become the creative director. But he still had creative urges, and began writing thriller novels, which became his chief occupation after his retirement. This final role would certainly have developed what he learned from his work in comics.

First of all, thanks so much, Downunder Dan, for uploading all these great Australian Golden Age books, many of us have never seen nor knew existed. 

Secondly, I don't think any member of this group would think that proposing ways to fix any discussed story's weaknesses is overstepping the scope of our reviews.  I'm sure everyone here feels the same as you, that merely listing a story's weaknesses and errors without giving examples of alternative better ways to handle those situations is less helpful and interesting to discussion participants.  After all, we are ALL fans of the genre, and want to be directed to good quality reading experiences.  And several of us are professional or aspiring writers, story reviewers, fanzine writers, or having other related interests.  So, I'm sure we'd all welcome anyone's suggestions on how to make these stories work better, and become more entertaining for their readers.

Having worked on comic book story writing from the 1970s till still a few a year, these past few years, and more importantly, read a lot of comic book history, and comments and anecdotes from industry people about the situations and conditions in which they worked (heavy deadlines, undermanned staffs, extremely low pay for long hours) I can understand how, and why so many comic book stories ended up so much weaker than they "could have been".  But, it's always nice to think about how they could have been made better, and to have concrete ideas about how that could have been done.  And in our minds' eyes, we can imagine the improved story, which will enhance our enjoyment of those stories in our memories, as well as ingraining that tactic in our memories as a skill tool that if remembered enough, will almost become second nature to come to mind when needed in writing a new story.  It's sort of like "muscle  memory" in playing a sport. The more of these "solutions" to story problems or choices of which "road to take" that are handy in the writer's experience backlog (toolbag), the faster he or she can come up with an answer to a quandry, writer's block, and in general can be both a more productive writer, and one producing better quality stories, on average.

[The Australian Panther]

Dan said,

I suspect I've overstepped the normal Reading Group arrangements with this rewrite, but I think it's better to suggest a solution to weaknesses in the stories rather than just pointing the weaknesses out. And the portrayal of Lais is the most obvious one needing to be addressed. 

By no means. Great post. Let's hear more from you.
Cheers!

[Quirky Quokka]

Captain Atom #63

This is the second last issue of Captain Atom, which features the unmasking and identification of Cap's regular villain, the Wrecker. I don't know if the Wrecker returns in the final issue, but if this is the Wrecker's last appearance, there's an unexpected symmetry - the Wrecker first appeared in the second issue of Captain Atom. Also, from that issue, we have the Cobra, the Wrecker's chief henchman, back again.

...

Lais is a passive victim lacking any agency and there's no good reason for her to have been carried into danger.

IIf I were to rewrite the stories in this comic, I'd start with flying saucers acting mysteriously in Karagua. There’s a degree of conflict with Atlanticia, and Captain Atom is called in as flying saucers are beyond normal experience. The Airport Supervisor works with him, ‘helping’ determine where is best for Captain Atom to go to investigate (the Airport Supervisor is actually the Wrecker, chief henchman of the Wrecker, so this is misdirection). Leaving Princess Laid in Atlanticia, Captain Atom heads off to Karagua and has a brief confrontation with the flying saucers. The flying saucers escape at speed, and Cap goes to meet with the Karaguan President (actually the Wrecker). In Atlanticia, Lais becomes suspicious of the Airport Superintendent, and discovers secret papers that includes the whereabouts of the real Karaguan President. While the fake Karaguan President wastes Captain Atom’s time to allow his plans to conquer both countries to progress, Lais travels to the prison that holds the Karaguan president. She frees him and brings him to the Karaguan capital, where the Wrecker’s deception (and true identity as the identical cousin of the real president) is revealed through confrontation with the identical cousins. The Wrecker calls in his flying saucers... the climax would be based the combat scenes with the flying saucers from the second story. The Wrecker is defeated and the Cobra is captured, with both punished.

I suspect I've overstepped the normal Reading Group arrangements with this rewrite, but I think it's better to suggest a solution to weaknesses in the stories rather than just pointing the weaknesses out. And the portrayal of Lais is the most obvious one needing to be addressed.

Good to hear from you, Dan. And as others have said, there's no problem at all in suggesting a rewrite. We often critique stories and sometimes offer suggestions. I like the way you've involved Lais more. A few of us thought she was too passive. I've only read a few Captain Atom stories, so I don't know if they use her to better advantage in some of the other tales. As this was the second last issue of Captain Atom's run, I also thought it was interesting that they were still advertising the fan club. I wonder how long it continued once the comic disappeared?

If you have more of these, keep them coming, Dan. I've enjoyed seeing the Aussie comics you've uploaded, especially the sci-fi and superhero ones. I never knew they existed until the last couple of years.

Cheers

QQ