Captain Comment

  In 1951, when he debuted in Strange Adventures 9, Captain Comet was DC Comics’ new Jet Age version of the Depression-era Superman.  But 36 years later, by the time writer Roy Thomas retold his origin story in the first Secret Origins Annual, Comet seemed fairly old hat. However, an obstacle can sometimes be flipped over into an asset.  That very distance in time provided a perspective that Thomas used to advantage, positioning the story in overarching histories both real and fictional. So in addition to references to Reds, Rosenbergs and the Korean War, we’re entertained by this mutant Man of Tomorrow’s reflections on the recent fate of the Justice Society of America. Recalling how they were hounded into hiding by a McCarthy-era congressional committee, he grimly considers what that might mean to his own nascent career as a superhero in the gray flannel 1950s. “I was thrilled to see ‘Captain Comet’ appear so soon after All-Star Comics folded,” Thomas said, recalling ...

Given that Captain Comet was a 1950s makeover of the 1930s Superman concept, emphasizing the mental more than the physical, it’s not surprising that the two might meet. But it was a long time coming — 29 years, in fact ( DC Comics Presents 22, June 1980). The Captain Comet feature’s emphasis on knowledge and science — or rather pseudo-science — was inevitable, given the world-shaking detonation of the atom bomb six years before. “Captain Comet was one of those superheroes created in the almost barren 1950s. J’onn J’onzz, Fighting American, and Captain Flash followed Captain Comet by a few years, and then the Flash led the revival,” observed Vincent Mariani. “All of these characters displayed new wrinkles on the superhero concept. “During the ’50s, there were so many genres being published that the superheroes were just part of a much more diverse business. The idea that superhero comics would ultimately completely dominate mainstream comics publishing was not imaginable to baby boomer...