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The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #1-6
Captain Atom: The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom
Captain Atom is dead...but his story is just beginning.
Nathaniel Adam is one of Earth's most powerful heroes...and one of the most dangerous. As Captain Atom, his body is in a constant state of nuclear flux. He's always one bad day away from a complete nuclear meltdown...until that one bad day arrives.
Now, the world thinks Nathaniel Adam is dead, destroyed in a blast that also claimed innocent lives. But in reality, Adam took a quantum trip through time and ended up powerless, 20 years in the past. But before he can make a new life and a happy ending for himself, his future is about to catch up to him.
Captain Atom lived a hero, and he died a villain. What will he become when he gets a second chance at life...and what will the world make of him?
Written by comics author Cary Bates (SUPERMAN) and Greg Weisman (YOUNG JUSTICE) with art from Will Conrad (CYBORG), THE FALL AND RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM reimagines the classic hero for the Rebirth Era of the DC Universe...and the rebirth of Captain Atom! Collects issues #1-6.
Nathaniel Adam is one of Earth's most powerful heroes...and one of the most dangerous. As Captain Atom, his body is in a constant state of nuclear flux. He's always one bad day away from a complete nuclear meltdown...until that one bad day arrives.
Now, the world thinks Nathaniel Adam is dead, destroyed in a blast that also claimed innocent lives. But in reality, Adam took a quantum trip through time and ended up powerless, 20 years in the past. But before he can make a new life and a happy ending for himself, his future is about to catch up to him.
Captain Atom lived a hero, and he died a villain. What will he become when he gets a second chance at life...and what will the world make of him?
Written by comics author Cary Bates (SUPERMAN) and Greg Weisman (YOUNG JUSTICE) with art from Will Conrad (CYBORG), THE FALL AND RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM reimagines the classic hero for the Rebirth Era of the DC Universe...and the rebirth of Captain Atom! Collects issues #1-6.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 9, 2018
37 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Cary Bates
705 books13 followersCary Bates (born 1948) is an American comic book, animation, television and film writer. He is best known for his work on The Flash and Superman.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 31, 2018
DC still hasn't been able to pull off a Captain Atom comic that makes me care about the character. Honestly, the only place he was remotely interesting was in the old JLI and Justice League Europe books. I think he's a character that only really works as part of a team because there's nothing remotely interesting about his character.
This book sets some precedents in the Rebirth era that I don't care for. Captain Atom gets transported back to 1995 where they go out of their way multiple times to establish there are no super heroes. That means no legacy heroes which I always thought was one of the DC universe's best traits. Who knows, it'll probably all get rewritten again during Doomsday Clock. The latter part of the story sets up a hitman as the big bad with quantum powers. The dude's a hitman but within one issue he's spouting all this quantum mumbo-jumbo like he has a PHD in quantum mechanics. It's kind of ridiculous. That may be part of the problem with Captain Atom as well. You need a PHD to really get a handle on his powers. Writers just give him the ability to do anything because they don't really understand his powers either.
This book sets some precedents in the Rebirth era that I don't care for. Captain Atom gets transported back to 1995 where they go out of their way multiple times to establish there are no super heroes. That means no legacy heroes which I always thought was one of the DC universe's best traits. Who knows, it'll probably all get rewritten again during Doomsday Clock. The latter part of the story sets up a hitman as the big bad with quantum powers. The dude's a hitman but within one issue he's spouting all this quantum mumbo-jumbo like he has a PHD in quantum mechanics. It's kind of ridiculous. That may be part of the problem with Captain Atom as well. You need a PHD to really get a handle on his powers. Writers just give him the ability to do anything because they don't really understand his powers either.
December 2, 2019
This title didn't get a lot of love, but I found myself enjoying it rather a lot. I felt sorry for Nathaniel Adam, first when he was cursed with unstable radiation powers and later when his sojourn to the exotic, metahuman free (?) 1990s ended in abrupt tragedy.
Thrane, or "Ultramax", was a nasty adversary but as is often the case with superheroes who rely of government "handlers" the real villain is THE SYSTEM, MAN!
(Or, most specifically, Gen. Eiling who seems to be a real piece of work.)
Thrane, or "Ultramax", was a nasty adversary but as is often the case with superheroes who rely of government "handlers" the real villain is THE SYSTEM, MAN!
(Or, most specifically, Gen. Eiling who seems to be a real piece of work.)
January 30, 2018
I loved Captain Atom as a kid. I will say this reach back to bring him forward and repair the New 52 version works for me...but that could be because of nostalgia.
March 17, 2018
This is a reboot of a character that DC has always had a hard time defining, and I don't think they quite nailed it this time, either. It seemed like just another bland superhero with inexplicable powers. The time travel and some of the heartache that ensued had the potential to be emotionally gut wrenching, but I never felt any real consequences. The introduction of Captain Atom's son could have some repercussions down the line, depending on how it's written. The artwork by Will Conrad with colors by Ivan Nunes has an airbrushed feel; it's certainly competent, but a little muddy for my tastes.
Note: I read this as individual comic book issues.
Note: I read this as individual comic book issues.
March 18, 2020
While most of the plot is pretty by-the-numbers, Cary Bates gives us a good and interesting story of this characters rebirth.
Iv'e never really read much of Captain Atom in the past, but decided to give this a shot as it was a 6 issue series, and the cover art looked really good. And from an art perspective, its damn good. Not only is the line work superb but the colors are very well done. Things like lighting, soft glows, shadowing, are all done well in a book where there is a ton of "energy" swirling around. The art team had to be excellent in order for this book to hold up, and they definitely stand up to the challenge. Great work by the entire art team.
The plot has some interesting points to it, especially towards the beginning where we see the "death" and rebirth of Atom. Some time traveling shenanigans coupled with futuristic sci fi tech make for a pretty interesting plot as far as how Atom came to be in his current state. Unfortunately, after the main villain is introduced, I did feel the plot became a bit too predictable and the story begins to lose some of that creativity that the first few issues had to begin with. But with that being said, Carey Bates is able to tell a cohesive story of how Captain Atom has been reinvented for a more modern sensibility.
Overall a pretty good story with great art. Check this out if you are a fan of Captain Atom!
Iv'e never really read much of Captain Atom in the past, but decided to give this a shot as it was a 6 issue series, and the cover art looked really good. And from an art perspective, its damn good. Not only is the line work superb but the colors are very well done. Things like lighting, soft glows, shadowing, are all done well in a book where there is a ton of "energy" swirling around. The art team had to be excellent in order for this book to hold up, and they definitely stand up to the challenge. Great work by the entire art team.
The plot has some interesting points to it, especially towards the beginning where we see the "death" and rebirth of Atom. Some time traveling shenanigans coupled with futuristic sci fi tech make for a pretty interesting plot as far as how Atom came to be in his current state. Unfortunately, after the main villain is introduced, I did feel the plot became a bit too predictable and the story begins to lose some of that creativity that the first few issues had to begin with. But with that being said, Carey Bates is able to tell a cohesive story of how Captain Atom has been reinvented for a more modern sensibility.
Overall a pretty good story with great art. Check this out if you are a fan of Captain Atom!
January 15, 2022
Most of the Captain Atom stories I've read have either just written him as a hot-headed, powerful army dude, or a depressed, over-powerful new god. I'm glad that this collection, while not perfect, seems to have found a balance of the two. It's short, but I feel that it's not a bad introduction to some of the main aspects of the character.
Plot Synopsis:
Review: Like I said earlier, I found this to be a refreshing mix for Captain Atom. At hte beginning, we got the usual "I'm so powerful, can't control it, am I even human anymore?" depressed Captain Atom, but this quickly shifted to a more capable character. While I don't think the story really explored Atom's personality, I liked that it took time to show him as a normal human, and as someone who cares about his family (although they get very little time on panel, and we learn very little about their personalities.) The story itself is pretty short- just six issues- but I feel like it did a nice job setting up Captain Atom for more stories, even his own series. In this way, it has an edge the New 52 Captain Atom didn't have... that series was good, but leaned hard into the overpowered, existential "godlike" powers of Captain Atom, and as interesting as that is, there's really only so far you can go with it.
The art was also pretty enjoyable, and I liked the new look of Captain Atom. His first version in the story was his typical blue, but I liked how later in the book, he had more of a red tinge, countered with the villain Ultramax's design. I also appreciated how the book showed the quantum energy; it looked lively but (thankfully) it was still easy to distinguish what was going on.
A perfect book? No. But not a bad introduction to the character, if you're interested in getting to know him.
Plot Synopsis:
Review: Like I said earlier, I found this to be a refreshing mix for Captain Atom. At hte beginning, we got the usual "I'm so powerful, can't control it, am I even human anymore?" depressed Captain Atom, but this quickly shifted to a more capable character. While I don't think the story really explored Atom's personality, I liked that it took time to show him as a normal human, and as someone who cares about his family (although they get very little time on panel, and we learn very little about their personalities.) The story itself is pretty short- just six issues- but I feel like it did a nice job setting up Captain Atom for more stories, even his own series. In this way, it has an edge the New 52 Captain Atom didn't have... that series was good, but leaned hard into the overpowered, existential "godlike" powers of Captain Atom, and as interesting as that is, there's really only so far you can go with it.
The art was also pretty enjoyable, and I liked the new look of Captain Atom. His first version in the story was his typical blue, but I liked how later in the book, he had more of a red tinge, countered with the villain Ultramax's design. I also appreciated how the book showed the quantum energy; it looked lively but (thankfully) it was still easy to distinguish what was going on.
A perfect book? No. But not a bad introduction to the character, if you're interested in getting to know him.
July 4, 2022
Captain Atom is more often seen as a high powered support character, but takes centre stage here as Bates and Weisman flesh out an involved, time travelling back story for him.
A superhero whose powerset is so volitile that he can become a greater threat than those he has come to stop, and a tool of the state to boot, is surely ripe for exploration. To do this the creators create a convoluted event that transport the Captain from the present day to the early nineties. Able to effectively start over free from his explosive abilities Nathaniel Adams finds love and begins a new life - shortly before he is pulled back to the present, away from his happy ending but with a greater control of his powers - but still under the watchful eye of the military.
The story itself is fairly well written, with the involvement of the malevonent military handler an interesting counterpoint, however as a whole the story isnt especially engaging. Captain Atom is a hard character to particularly root for and is given little time to really deal with the loss of his wife before being thrown into a generic superhero/villain battle in the later part of the story. The whole burden of his unpredictible powers, while touched on, would have been an intriguing concept to explore more, particulalry in comparison to the supervillain introduced that has a similar powerset.
Will Conrad delivers some impressive artwork, though his redesigned Captain looks more like Major Force than the iconic silver suited original design.
A superhero whose powerset is so volitile that he can become a greater threat than those he has come to stop, and a tool of the state to boot, is surely ripe for exploration. To do this the creators create a convoluted event that transport the Captain from the present day to the early nineties. Able to effectively start over free from his explosive abilities Nathaniel Adams finds love and begins a new life - shortly before he is pulled back to the present, away from his happy ending but with a greater control of his powers - but still under the watchful eye of the military.
The story itself is fairly well written, with the involvement of the malevonent military handler an interesting counterpoint, however as a whole the story isnt especially engaging. Captain Atom is a hard character to particularly root for and is given little time to really deal with the loss of his wife before being thrown into a generic superhero/villain battle in the later part of the story. The whole burden of his unpredictible powers, while touched on, would have been an intriguing concept to explore more, particulalry in comparison to the supervillain introduced that has a similar powerset.
Will Conrad delivers some impressive artwork, though his redesigned Captain looks more like Major Force than the iconic silver suited original design.
March 28, 2020
Nathaniel Adam has had an unpleasant couple of decades. I remember Captain Atom somewhat fondly from the old Justice League America days, but the grim and gritty era just completely mangled the character along every axis.
This book does a decent job of resetting a fair bit of the damage, albeit only by dousing him under paragraphs of jargon and scientific term Mad Libs. Atom's abilities cause him to go back in time, for a little while, then into a future where his former handlers re-claim him and try to reinvent him. Yes, there's a fair bit of meta-narrative going on here, and the whole time jumps are dealt with via hand-wavium. But it's all in service to a decent story about a man trying to restart his life, dealing with the mistakes of the past. And also he gets a decent villain in Ultramax.
The story's a bit muddled and much of it is throwaway, but the art is good to very good throughout, especially the color work. I'm not sure we're left with anything that really makes Captain Atom an interesting or unique character, but at least they have managed to shed some of his turbulent past in favor of a cleaner start.
This book does a decent job of resetting a fair bit of the damage, albeit only by dousing him under paragraphs of jargon and scientific term Mad Libs. Atom's abilities cause him to go back in time, for a little while, then into a future where his former handlers re-claim him and try to reinvent him. Yes, there's a fair bit of meta-narrative going on here, and the whole time jumps are dealt with via hand-wavium. But it's all in service to a decent story about a man trying to restart his life, dealing with the mistakes of the past. And also he gets a decent villain in Ultramax.
The story's a bit muddled and much of it is throwaway, but the art is good to very good throughout, especially the color work. I'm not sure we're left with anything that really makes Captain Atom an interesting or unique character, but at least they have managed to shed some of his turbulent past in favor of a cleaner start.
October 24, 2019
Kind of felt luke-warm about this one. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. My knowledge of Captain Atom is pretty limited, so while I was interested in this graphic novel, it wasn't one I was particularly excited about. Still, it was an interesting book, full of government manipulation and one man trying to be a hero even when his powers themselves make him more of a villain. The idea of time "righting" itself was pretty cool (forcing Captain Atom forward in time when his powers showed up before they were supposed to), and the tragedy of him leaving his pregnant wife in such a way was actually kind of an interesting take on time travel. So while definitely worth reading, this also didn't have me yearning for the next Captain Atom story. Instead, it has me mildly interested in him and looking forward to team-ups... which is probably what the ultimate goal with this character is. So, all in all, this seems like a pretty successful take on the character--at least, to this Captain Atom newbie.
February 9, 2019
Cary Bates' 1980s reboot of Captain Atom (a Silver Age Charlton Comics hero) was one of the best efforts at doing a morally grey superhero: convicted killer and ex-military officer Nathaniel Adam uses his superheroic role to carry out government missions and infiltrate the metahuman community. Unfortunately after Bates finished his work on the book nobody's figured out how to handle Captain Atom; the New 52 just made him a Dr. Manhattan knockoff.
In this miniseries Bates gets Captain Atom away from Watchmen and back to his old concept, courtesy of time travel and some power adjustments. I enjoyed it, and there are some great little touches, though certainly part of my fondness is getting CA closer to the 1980s status; I don't know how well this would work for someone without my nostalgia.
In this miniseries Bates gets Captain Atom away from Watchmen and back to his old concept, courtesy of time travel and some power adjustments. I enjoyed it, and there are some great little touches, though certainly part of my fondness is getting CA closer to the 1980s status; I don't know how well this would work for someone without my nostalgia.
September 25, 2023
Poprawna historia, która ma nieco odkurzyć zastałego bohatera z kurzu i po części to robi, w dosyć klasyczny sposób. Umarł król, niech żyje król.
Bates miał przed sobą duży orzech do zgryzienia, bowiem Kapitan Atom to dosyć niszowa postać, dla polskiego czytelnika jeszcze dużo bardziej nieznana niż ostatni Blue Beetle. Autor zdecydował się na pewne klisze i o dziwo wyszło całkiem znośnie.
Mamy więc dostosowanie się do nowej sytuacji, do nowego wroga (Ultramax), który ma bardzo podobny outfit (tylko kolorki inne) oraz pewne więzy rodzinne, które tworzą pewne możliwości na przyszłość. Sporo akcji, w dodatku wizualnie niezłej.
Pewne zaskoczenie, bo oczekiwałem tytułu dużo gorszego, a dostałem rzemieślniczy produkt, potrafiący dostarczyć niezłą rozrywkę.
Bates miał przed sobą duży orzech do zgryzienia, bowiem Kapitan Atom to dosyć niszowa postać, dla polskiego czytelnika jeszcze dużo bardziej nieznana niż ostatni Blue Beetle. Autor zdecydował się na pewne klisze i o dziwo wyszło całkiem znośnie.
Mamy więc dostosowanie się do nowej sytuacji, do nowego wroga (Ultramax), który ma bardzo podobny outfit (tylko kolorki inne) oraz pewne więzy rodzinne, które tworzą pewne możliwości na przyszłość. Sporo akcji, w dodatku wizualnie niezłej.
Pewne zaskoczenie, bo oczekiwałem tytułu dużo gorszego, a dostałem rzemieślniczy produkt, potrafiący dostarczyć niezłą rozrywkę.
March 24, 2019
I really enjoyed the last Captain Atom run, but this one just didn't work at all for me. The writing felt stilted and only sort of made sense. I tried to get into it but couldn't; maybe everything felt too forced.
It seems like this character could get some pathos for his strange state or some fun (Silver Agey?) sci-fi with his powers, but this book doesn't pull off either.
It seems like this character could get some pathos for his strange state or some fun (Silver Agey?) sci-fi with his powers, but this book doesn't pull off either.
June 30, 2019
Part of DC's "Rebirth", this miniseries (by 1980s Captain Atom writers Cary Bates and Greg Weisman) tries to bring the character back to something resembling his pre-New 52 status quo. And I think they do a pretty good job with it, combining old and new ideas to create something fresh and interesting. (I admit to being biased, though, since I liked the 1980s series.) I also thought it was funny that they blatantly adjusted New 52 Eiling's design to resemble Keith David... hopefully that'll secure him a role in the movie! (B+)
June 23, 2022
3.75 Rounded up.
I spent this whole time looking forward to this volume thinking Atom and Captain Atom were the same character… Went into this expecting it to cover where Justice League of America had been hinting to only for it to be a completely different and separate story.
That said, I really enjoyed it! Writing was compelling and I empathise with the characters, looking forward to where it’s heading but I have no idea which series this story continues in lmao
I spent this whole time looking forward to this volume thinking Atom and Captain Atom were the same character… Went into this expecting it to cover where Justice League of America had been hinting to only for it to be a completely different and separate story.
That said, I really enjoyed it! Writing was compelling and I empathise with the characters, looking forward to where it’s heading but I have no idea which series this story continues in lmao
June 19, 2023
Strong start. Really interesting exploration and revitalization of a character I knew nothing about. But like a lot of six issue series that want to be this long drawn out slow burn, exploring its characters in meaningful ways; it just wraps way too rapidly. The villain isn't great and it ends pretty abruptly. Pretty great for the first chunk, but rapidly devolves into just kind of a bland final two issues.
February 23, 2019
Mucho mejor que el Capitán Átomo de The New 52. A pesar de que sólo es una mini-serie reboot del personaje, está versión "renacimiento" me parece más ágil y entretenida.
Además Weisman y Bates logran rescatar el "espíritu" del personaje original ese de los 80-90's. La nostalgia vende y este reboot logra actualizar al Capitán Átomo.
Ojalá continúen la serie. Tiene mucho potencial gráfico.
Además Weisman y Bates logran rescatar el "espíritu" del personaje original ese de los 80-90's. La nostalgia vende y este reboot logra actualizar al Capitán Átomo.
Ojalá continúen la serie. Tiene mucho potencial gráfico.
March 2, 2025
6/10
Not too sure how I feel about this book. The pacing seems off but that's because there's stretches of this that I was really interested in and then stretches that I really found boring. I don't love when the villain has the same power as the hero. I find that exceptionally boring and lazy. It's got a cool story but I just don't love some of the characters or arcs.
Not too sure how I feel about this book. The pacing seems off but that's because there's stretches of this that I was really interested in and then stretches that I really found boring. I don't love when the villain has the same power as the hero. I find that exceptionally boring and lazy. It's got a cool story but I just don't love some of the characters or arcs.
December 27, 2021
I really wanted to like this miniseries because the character is cool but honestly it was kinda boring, the plot was very slow and convulsed and it’s a shame because the art was great, I made it to #4 but I couldn’t keep reading.
June 26, 2017
Think of it as an origin story of the new Captain Atom, pretty much the same as the old one (literally speaking), with some new colouring.
June 21, 2019
A nice story for a lesser used character.
January 28, 2021
Captain Atom
Pretty cool book. Don't read much about Captain Atom unless it the Justice League books. But enjoyed this book, the artwork are great.
Pretty cool book. Don't read much about Captain Atom unless it the Justice League books. But enjoyed this book, the artwork are great.
March 24, 2021
Loved this one. I think it's my first Captain Atom book and now want to read more. Don't understand why the rating for this book is so low here. It was great fun and with terrific art.
July 14, 2025
Nothing crazy. Could make a sick movie though
August 8, 2020
Cary Bates and Greg Weisman take the 2010s Captain Atom and turn him into the 1980s Captain Atom and I am ALL FOR IT.
December 4, 2025
I like what they did with this character on this relaunch.
I'm looking forward to reading about him in future adventures!
I'm looking forward to reading about him in future adventures!
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews