The past catches up to us.
Creative Staff:
Story: Cary Bates, Greg Weisman
Art: Will Conrad
Colors: Ivan Nunes
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
What They Say:
“Quantum Mechanic” part five! Still shaken by the secret General Eiling and Dr. Megala went to extraordinary lengths to conceal, Captain Atom would like time to adjust. But a serial killer who wields astounding powers that rival his own has other plans!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we hit the penultimate chapter of this new Captain Atom series, one that brings him back into the fold in a good way while providing separate from what was before, we get a good deal of action but also some good character material. Bates and Weisman have worked well together over this series, though I do think it could have been an issue shorter, with Will Conrad delivering great visuals for Ivan Nunes to bring to life with such pop. I’ve long enjoyed this character so seeing him trying to get things back on track in a good way so he can move forward is welcome as there’s definitely a place for Captain Atom in the grand scheme of things, regardless of what kind of personality he ends up getting by whatever other group of writers gets their hands on him next.
While the previous installment saw Nathaniel getting setup as Cameron Scott and the cover for the new Captain Atom put into play, it also saw the creation of another quantum character to be his main foil with the newly named Ultramax. Max Thrane is a fairly standard strongman street villain that has a reputation behind him but seeing him taking to his powers, in a very basic way, means he’s still thinking like a street level criminal. He’s intent on revenge for being put in prison all those years ago and he knows he was ratted out by one of his clients. And that means one by one he’s going through them and killing them. There’s some nice variety to it and you do get the sense that none of them likely ratted him out, but he’s just intent on having his day here and killing them is the icing on the cake. That it leads to Eiling toward the end? Not too much of a surprise as he’s got quite the reputation even before thinking of something like this.
The quieter side of this installment of the series focuses on Cameron as he goes to spend time with his son who doesn’t know who he is. Genji’s interested in JROTC and that gives him an in to take him to a base, spend some time with him, and even get some flight time. Genji’s definitely someone with a very off-putting personality here as he’s dismissive of everything and aloof, though Cameron is just interested in meeting him in general and is pretty much willing to put up with anything. He gets some of the insights into the past here and you can see him making the calculation to just let it all stay as it is, not tell him the truth, and suck it up that this is something that happened and exposing the truth will only make it worse. If it could even be believed. There are some fun points with this at times but there’s just such a sense of sadness about it as well.
In Summary:
I continue to enjoy this series to see how Captain Atom is being brought back into the existing framework of the DC Universe. Though there’s a dark edge to a lot of things just from Genji alone, I like what we get out of Max Thrane as he has some future potential if he survives past this as someone to provide a good balance to what Cameron is capable of. It does get confusing as I keep wanting to say Nathaniel! This installment lets Max really cut loose a bit while he gets familiar with his powers as he seeks revenge and it balances well against Cameron learning more of what happened after he returned to the present, adding a new weight to his shoulders. Will Conrad simply delivers again in spades here, which is no surprise, as we get a lot of different locations and characters that just click and feel lived in and detailed. Good stuff all around that leaves me wanting more.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 3rd, 2017
MSRP: $2.99
