I got “long_road-ed” with Captain Atom. “long_road-ed” was a popular term in the DC Universe Classics (DCUC) collecting days; it refers to Fwoosher long_road who always got bum figures. Broken out of the package, joints fused, or parts switched.
And DCUC seemed to be plagued with switched parts. Take Captain Atom here, one of my all-time favorite DC characters. He came with two right arms. At the time I couldn’t be bothered to buy another one, so I put the left arm of a DC Superman Blue from Series 2. A little sloppy paint and everything was good. Superman Blue was an extra I was going to use for customizing since he had two left arms. A simple parts swap and everything was balanced again. At least this is an honest review and definitely represents the QC at the time.
Right. Captain Atom. Who is he and why do we care? Really, we don’t. He’s one of many atomic-powered super humans from the 1960s comic era. Spinning out of Charlton Comics and eventually snapped up by DC Comics, Captain Atom is one of many popular ’80s comic characters referred to as the Charlton Heroes that includes Blue Beetle and the Question. In the ’80s Post Crisis DC, all the peripheral licenses were brought into one universe and one world, and Captain Atom joined the ranks of Superman and Batman. His comic saw a fantastic relaunch with art by Pat Broderick. I loved the concept, the art, the story. Eventually he joined the Justice League during the brilliant Keith Giffen / J. M. DeMatteis / Kevin Maguire run. In more current times, he’s been a regular in the Animated Universes. But for most he’s not an A-Lister.
And I am not going to go into the whole “Watchmen thing” — google it.
Captain Atom is a pretty standard figure using the Batman base but no sculpted or raised parts. It’s a naked base painted silver with some red gloves and boots. Since Captain Atom is wearing a skin-tight containment suit, there isn’t much need for more. Back then everything was spandex and not all cool, tight-fitting compression, fancy designs like it is now. It’s why he has red gloves and boots, that made it more like a costume.
I love the head sculpt on this figure. I actually love it because it screams Marvel’s Captain Mar-vell and should be a mandatory substitute for all Marvel Legends Captain Marvel action figures. Captain Atom has some serious ’80s swish and feathering going on. The face sculpt is nice and generic but very expressive.
You need this figure, not because of the character. Well, yeah, because of the character. But, more importantly, this figure pops on the shelf. The all-silver design with the red chest symbol, red gloves, and blue boots really makes this figure stand out from the rest of the DCUC figures. Lucky for you he is available here:
