Review: The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom
Quick Summary
Pros: The central storyline is entertaining and has some neat twists to it. Captain Atom is a great main character and his personal story is consistently interesting. The artwork looks goods throughout the volume.
Cons: Unclear powers make it hard to get fully invested in the action.
Overall: This collection works well as an entertaining story and a solid reintroduction to Captain Atom. The narrative here is interesting and places a great spotlight on the possibilities of Captain Atom as a character. There are a few places where the plot stumbles but the majority of the journey is still fun to see play out. In the end, this book will appeal to those who are looking for a good Captain Atom story.
Story
Captain Atom: The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom, by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman, is an interesting story about an interesting character. It involves time travel, secrets, and an attempt to manage a superhero’s public image through deception. All of this centers around an unbelievably powerful being just trying to live a normal life, a situation that lends itself well to some great emotions. The collection’s only problem is that the unclear nature of the hero and villain’s powers make it hard to get excited by some of the fighting that takes place. However, outside of this, the rest of the book is entertaining.
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The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom is very successful in crafting an engaging narrative. The first chapter’s explosion and the time travel element add some uncertainty to the plot. It makes it seem as if Captain Atom’s powers are as unreliable as the general public believes them to be. Later on, a villain is introduced with these same powers, which allows him to be a significant threat to Captain Atom and bring the same level of uncertainty with him. There are also twists that keep this narrative interesting, such as the revelation that the villain has a connection to the government.
This narrative is also packed with emotion when it comes to Captain Atom’s personal story. While in the past, it feels like Captain Atom finally gains some measure of peace and is able to settle into somewhat of a normal life. Then, in an instant, it is all ripped away from him. He even goes on to realize that the people he loved and would have loved thought he was a criminal and hated him for things he didn’t actually do. It is a sad story that ends on a satisfying and optimistic note that indicates there may be hope for Captain Atom in the future.
The Rise and Fall of Captain Atom also makes use of the Captain Atom’s unique place in the superhero spectrum. He has a direct connection to the government, so he is bound by their rules and regulations. This connection also forces him to be cognizant of his public image, which he would not care about otherwise. All of this helps add another dimension for the narrative to explore.
The place The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom fails is in describing Captain Atom’s powers. It is never quite clear what Captain Atom’s powers actually are, especially after his trip through time alters them. Instead, characters and narration throw around the word “quantum” to justify everything that is happening. It left me with almost no clue as to the limitations of Captain Atom or the villain’s powers and, thus, made it hard to get invested in their resulting conflict.
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Art
The artwork in The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom is a solid complement to the collection. Will Conrad approaches the book’s characters and locations with a great level of detail. It makes the events that happen here seem realistic, which, in turn, makes the situations developed seem more serious. Conrad also does a great job in making Captain Atom’s powers look as impressive as possible. Though the exact nature of what is taking place during the battles is a little unclear, all of the battles look good and are exciting from a visual standpoint. All in all, the artwork in this book is an asset for the collection as a whole.
Continuity
Captain Atom: The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom is a miniseries that stands mostly independent from other comics. It makes some brief references to events that took place in Captain Atom Vol. 1: Evolution (Review) and Captain Atom Vol. 2: Genesis (Review) but is mostly unrelated to the events of those comics.
As of now, the story here is not continued in any particular comic.