Captain Atom #1

Tonight on Mystery Science Theater 3000.... Now, I'm no DCU expert, but this strikes me as just plain goofy. Not the good kind of goofy like Adam West's Batman or the New 52 Green Lantern New Guardians, unfortunately, just the head scratching, mind perplexing goofiness of things that are allowed to come into existence despite several people (many of whom likely have some formal education) standing in between the Mysterious Creative Processes and Published Work Land. In one sense, we should find the simplicity of this series refreshing. Unlike almost every other New 52 series that seems to exist solely for Giant Crossover/Universe Changing Mega-Events, here we have a mostly self-contained hero and story set in the middle of nowhere (no offense, Kansas) with almost no contact with anything in the DCU at large (except a brief cameo from Flash). Here is the chance for a nice, quiet self-contained series with tremendous freedom to tell unencumbered stories ... and we get a mash-up of 30-some 1950s B-movie horror plots and a Giant Misunderstood Rat of Death. Each issue gives us the same self-doubting monologues from Captain Atom, stereotypical Rival Scientist Grumpy McEnvypants, and, shocking no one, the typical Air Force General of Mass Destruction Who Immediately Wants to Destroy Our Hero character. I guess this series exists for everyone who has never read an issue of the Hulk. Or seen a movie about science. Or ever read Watchmen or any other comic book before. I suppose this series could make us grateful for Alan Moore's characterization of Dr. Manhattan, but that would be far too cynical, even for something this disappointing. This could have been something engagin, but two issues in you can totally apprehend why this series did not make in past year one: it goes absolutely nowhere. Sure, Atom does some good for some people, but the series gives us nothing new, no fresh explorations of Science vs. Military or Faith vs. Reason or, well, anything. It's just there. And he tries to reason with a Giant Mutated Rat of Death. I don't get it.