Captain Atom: Armageddon

[HotRod_Tim]

I recently found the mini-series Captain Atom: Armageddon at my local comic shop and was wondering your guys' thoughts on the series. Is it worth picking up or is it just another pile o' stink?

[Rattlehead]

The WildStorm fans that haunt this place absolutely hate it. According to them, the characterizations of the WildStorm characters is laughable. It's the direct cause of the whole World Storm soft reboot thing that the WS universe underwent, and while the reboot got me interested in reading WildStorm books for the first time since the image days, it probably wasn't a good thing for the line as a whole. Apparently the WildStorm heroes are all written to be maniacal jerkwads.

[van_line]

as a fan of both CA and most of the wildstorm, I thought it was really terrible.

[HotRod_Tim]

Well, that settles it then. I guess thats a no on that mini-series.

[DWEarhart]

I'd go with that feeling. The Wildstorm universe has been butchered. The direction it is going in is what I have feared since the day I read that DC had purchased it. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but here it is.

Deathblow still rocks, although it's a bit slow. It's like if Wildstorm were at Vertigo instead of DC-core and came out bi-monthly.

[Crouch]

The WildStorm fans that haunt this place absolutely hate it. According to them, the characterizations of the WildStorm characters is laughable.
Aside from Planetary and some of the cross overs I've only read a few Wildstorm books, they were pretty good but I always felt a bit lost trying to get into them. Perhaps that is why I quite enjoyed Armageddon since I didnt really have any preconceived notions about how a character should be or had been portrayed.

I would recommend it, it was entertaining and introduced a bunch of the current WildStorm characters to those who are unfamiliar with them.

Apparently the WildStorm heroes are all written to be maniacal jerkwads.
Strangely enough that is the overall impression I got from what I have read from WildStorm

I'd go with that feeling. The Wildstorm universe has been butchered. The direction it is going in is what I have feared since the day I read that DC had purchased it. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but here it is.
I dont know that I would lay the blame at the feet of the mini, it was a great opportunity to do something with the line and WildStorm/DC just blew it. The delays are just ridiculous. Do they want to lose money? How else can they justify paying for the big names and not getting anything out of them? How can you relaunch titles without the comics? Very baffling and dissapointing

Deathblow still rocks, although it's a bit slow. It's like if Wildstorm were at Vertigo instead of DC-core and came out bi-monthly.
Agree, its a good read. Of course it does have the advantage of a regular release schedule

[UniqueFrequency]

i didn't like the characterisation in this either, but the good thing is a borrowed it from the library. but i think the story itself was pretty readable though.

[Radical]

Apparently the WildStorm heroes are all written to be maniacal jerkwads.

I thought they were jerkwads before the reboot. The cast of Planetary still seem sane, though (except of course for the Four).

[A.J]

It was awesome. The attitude of the characters were a bit different but they weren't completely different characters. They were more aggressive and bigger assholes than usual.

But basically it kicked ass. I hates how Atom schooled Wildstorm but it is to be expected. The Majestic fight was bullshit know.

[Joe Acro]

I've never read much Wildstorm to know if the characters acted correctly or not. I do know that there are some pretty confusing aspects revolving around Captain Atom's adventure to that universe, such as him traveling into the future to see it all still intact and him coming back to the DC universe three different ways.

There are a few borderline great issues, but overall it's not really worth it.

[aukevin]

It helped bring me into the Wildstorm world. All I had read before this series was the Majestic crossover with Superman. As I was reading this series and Wildcats Nemesis, which was coming out at the same time, I was really enjoying it. Since then, I've read tons of previous Wildstorm/Image comics and I see what the longtime fans had problems with. But I enjoyed the series a lot, but I'm not sure I would have if I was an old-timer in this universe.

[Rattlehead]

I thought they were jerkwads before the reboot. The cast of Planetary still seem sane, though (except of course for the Four).

See, I don't think that at all. I've got a bunch of the old Image stuff, and they don't act like jerks. Sure The Authority can be pretty ass-holish, but that team is fascist by design. The original StormWatch weren't really dicks, and the old WildCATS book was just a gritty superhero team. Granted, I haven't read any of the Eye of the Storm era books though. Christos Gage doesn't write the new PHD team as being maniacal eithier, and Jackson King has shown to have clear motivations for everything he's done. I just see the WS Universe ans being a more grown-up version of the standard superhero universe concept, where sometimes people do questionable things to get the job done, just like in real life.

[Aubergine~!]

The Authority are written pretty out of character in the mini, imo. They are jerks, but not to that extent.

[A.J]

Yeah but they could have gotten worse, they were getting more like the Atom Authority every comic.

[Stellar]

'Not quite Superman strong.' Yeah right.

And just because Grifter told the 'Cats to get Atom doesn't mean they'd kill him. The Wildstorm cast was portrayed very badly, IMO.

[anthony devlin]

The Wildstorm cast was portrayed very badly, IMO.


Indeed, the Wildcats were portrayed as Idiots, with the Authority as cold-blooded murderers. Neither of which is true. Then we have Void. Up until this point I’ve never seen her display powers that left me to believe she was anything other than a mere energy manipulator, teleporter with precog powers. Now im to believe she can suddenly reboot a universe because she doesn’t like how it turned out? Not only is that complete bolloxs, but it’s got to be the lamest excuse this side of Marvel for rebooting something. All this series achieved was making Atom look good (as well as providing a plausible means to bring him back to life in the DCU). I had to keep checking I was actually reading WS title, because i could believe they'd commission a title that would crap on their own characters so badly. The only good point to this story was that it rebooted itself at the end.

[A.J]

Indeed, the Wildcats were portrayed as Idiots, with the Authority as cold-blooded murderers. Neither of which i true. The we have Void up until this point I’ve never seen her display powers that left me to believe she was anything than mere energy manipulator, teleporter with precog powers. Now im to believe she can suddenly reboot a universe because she doesn’t like how it turned out? Not only is that complete bolloxs, but it’s got to be the lames excuse this side of Marvel for rebooting something. Al this series achieved was making Atom look good (as well as providing a plausible means to bring him back to life). I had to keep checking it was an actually WS title, because i could believe they'd commission a title that would crap on their own characters so badly. The only good point to this story was that it rebooted itself at the end.

She could restart it all because she absorbed the power, she done the explosion but made sure it restarted itself, or something.

The Wildcats did seem like idiots, but they ahd no real leader there, zealot got ignored and well Voozo the ex-stripper seemed to be in most control.

[anthony devlin]

She could restart it all because she absorbed the power, she done the explosion but made sure it restarted itself, or something.


The powers are hers to begin with. she only took back from Atom what was hers anyway - the Void shard. she has never been shown to have power on this level before. even when Hadrian merged with Void he wasn’t that powerful. she was amped-up to suit the story; which is another reason why this sucked - bad characterisation, added to the fact characters where changed merely to suit the needs of the story by the writer.

The Wildcats did seem like idiots, but they ahd no real leader there, zealot got ignored and well Voozo the ex-stripper seemed to be in most control.

they have never ever acted like idiots before, leaderless or not. this was just bad writing, period. Zealot alone could have taken Atom down - we're talking about a premier Coda fighter, with how many 1000's of years experience behind her? The writer simply didn’t do his homework, and probably relied on a message board to do his research, because I cant see how he could have researched the characters based on what I read.

[Stellar]

The powers are hers to begin with. she only took back from Atom what was hers anyway - the Void shard. she has never been shown to have power on this level before. even when Hadrian merged with Void he wasn’t that powerful. she was amped-up to suit the story; which is another reason why this sucked - bad characterisation, added to the fact characters where changed merely to suit the needs of the story by the writer.



they have never ever acted like idiots before, leaderless or not. this was just bad writing, period. Zealot alone could have taken Atom down - we're talking about a premier Coda fighter, with how many 1000's of years experience behind her? The writer simply didn’t do his homework, and probably relied on a message board to do his research, because I cant see how he could have researched the characters based on what I read.

A lack of research is most definitely apparent. First of all, what happened to Hadrian? Majestic went back in time and prevented the Daemonite occupation, thus he never ended up killing Hadrian. Second, the writer used this opportunity to label Superman stronger than Majestic, which was pointless. You're telling me this guy can travel at speeds of Mach 12, move planets, but gets knocked out by a blow from Atom? Not to mention, he later blocks Atom's punch. With one hand. Inconsistent much? If they were looking for a way to bring Atom back or integrate WSU within DCU, they could've gone about it much better. No wonder people feel WSU is getting the stepchild treatment.