The Nuclear Option

 

I've been meaning to put together a nuclear-powered team for a while now, and I'm finally getting around to it.  This cover is dedicated to The Irredeemable Shagg Matthews, Master Podcaster and the biggest Firestorm fan in the world. I was definitely thinking back to my appearance on the Fire And Water Network's Firestorm Fan podcast a few years back as I made this.

Sub-Mariner and Captain Atom

 

This is another cover that required a bit of prep work on the main background image before I could add the heroes in.  Here's a look at the behind-the-scenes process:

Machine Man and Captain Atom

 

Time for an all-Ditko cover.  Neither of these guys has received so much as a mention in the Marvel and DC cinematic universes.  I wonder which will be featured in live action first?  I think that both of them could be pretty impressive visually on the big screen.

Red Hulk and Captain Atom

 

Well, the cat is out of the bag and it has been officially announced that Harrison Ford will be taking over the role of Thunderbolt Ross from the late William Hurt in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie.  There is no confirmation yet that Ross will at some point in the film transform into Red Hulk - but Marvel would be crazy if they did not take full advantage of the ability to have Ford Hulk out!  Suddenly, this movie has gotten a lot more interesting to me.

Captain Atom and Dazzler

 

The Disney + She-Hulk series hopefully will include Jennifer Walters taking on superhero-related court cases.  That will provide an opportunity to feature characters that might never get a movie or series of their own.  Dazzler would be a great candidate for this, I'm sure there's something in her performing career that might require legal expertise.

Machine Man and Captain Atom

 

One blank spot in my comics reading career has been Charlton Comics.  I like the characters from Charlton that eventually were purchased by DC and many of my favorite creators (Steve Ditko, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano and more) did work for the company.  So far I have only checked out The Phantom from when he was published by Charlton, and I quite enjoyed those.  I'll have to seek out some other collected editions from their library.

Captain Atom and The Fantastic Four

The Thing is my favorite Marvel character, and I remember being disappointed to see that he was replaced on the FF with She-Hulk, following Secret Wars.  That changed quickly though, because I thought she fit in very well and her tenure marked one of my favorite runs for the team.  Ben Grimm had his own title at the time so I still got to enjoy his adventures.

Spider-Man and Captain Atom

It's nice to get the chance to do an all-Steve Ditko cover.  Looking at the Spidey pose that he did here showcases two of Ditko's talents - He was a master of depicting the Web-Slinger's physicality and the costume design he gave the hero looks great from any angle.

Captain Atom and U.S.Agent

I really liked the redesign that Pat Broderick gave to Captain Atom's costume when DC brought the Charlton heroes into the DCU.  It's simple and effective - you just know the guy is powerful by looking at him.  There have been a few attempts to redesign his look since, but that always looked a little busy to me and didn't really work.  He looked great in animation as well, always a good test of a costumes effectiveness.

The X-Men and Captain Atom

Every few years Captain Atom gets a re-design, but most haven't really worked for me.  My favorite look for him is the one used above.  This was his appearance for his self-titled series once he was integrated into the DC Universe with the rest of the Charlton characters.  It's a nice, simple design - just different enough from The Silver Surfer to give him a unique look.

Captain Atom and X-Factor

With the conclusion of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the chances to see this actual First Class of X-Men have slightly increased, but from what I have read about X-Men: Apocalypse, I don't know if that will be the case.  Then there's the fact that Scott, Bobby and Jean still seem to have been born at their established times, despite the timeline shift - I'm not sure how it would work to have them appearing in a movie that takes place in 1983.

Captain Atom and The Silver Surfer

With Fox making news about expanding its Amazing Spider-Man franchise into films starring Venom and The Sinister Six, I wonder if the Fantastic Four reboot will pave the way for characters like the Silver Surfer to star in movies of their own.  The Surfer's scenes in the second FF film were effective, even if the movie as a whole was a disappointment, so maybe there is some potential there.  Let's not make Galactus a cloud the next time out, though...

Captain Atom and The Human Torch

There are a lot of cool headquarters in comics  Batman has his cave, Superman has his fortress and Doctor Strange has his Sanctum Sanctorum.  Still there was always something I really liked about the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building, mainly because it has been effectively used as a plot point in some of the FF's best stories.  Whether it was launched into outer space, used as a gateway to the negative zone, or being crashed by super villains, it has always been like another character.  I think my favorite tale was during John Byrne's run, where The Trapster is thwarted in his invasion attempt solely by the Building's security system - great stuff!

Captain Atom and Solar: Man of the Atom

These two atomic heroes have been around for decades and have each been published by multiple comic companies, so I thought it was about time they shared an adventure together.  I have liked Captain Atom since his introduction to the DCU in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I didn't have a chance to try out his New 52 series.  I'm not crazy about his recent redesign as I think it makes him look too similar to The Silver Surfer.  I haven't read as much of Solar, but I have always liked the cool artwork associated with the character, from the classic Gold Key covers to Barry Windsor-Smith's beautiful work during his first Valiant run.

The Thing and Captain Atom

I was introduced to Captain Atom when he was brought over with the other Charlton heroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths. I followed him through his solo series and membership in the JLI was bummed when the rumor spread that he was going to be the character who turned evil in the Armageddon 2001 series. When word got out, the mystery villain was changed to Hawk - which bothered me as well, because I liked him as well. Oh well, they are both back and on the right side of the law these day. In comics, if you wait long enough, everything comes around again.

It looks like some interesting things have been happening with Captain Atom lately in the Justice League: Generation Lost series. I had been waiting to hear some reviews before deciding to get this in trade, maybe I'll have to check it out. How about the Ditko version? Is that worth reading and are there collections out?