Super Secret Stealth Agent Captain Atom

109. Captain Atom #7 by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick

Captain Atom hasn’t quite found its footing on what it wants to be about, and this issue definitely shows it. The main story threads are all pushed by the wayside as Cameron Scott (that’s Captain Atom’s current secret identity) is sent on a mission to Cambodia alongside Colonel Steve Trevor and two other agents, all to find a device called the X-Ionizer, which can apparently make things like paper razor sharp.

Art by Pat Broderick. Owned by DC Comics and used for review purposes.

This mission isn’t from General Eiling, but instead an intelligence operation. Neither his superiors nor his companions know he’s secretly Captain Atom.

The attempt to get the X-Ionizer is of course one fraught with peril. The person transporting it back to the Americans is murdered. Plastique and a Cambodian soldier in a suit of powered armor (who is alternately called Warlord and Swordsman in the book) end up in a battle over the device. This leads to a three-way battle as Captain Atom gets involved.

Trevor and another agent get away with the X-Ionizer, but the agent reveals himself to be a mole working for an unnamed foreign power. Trevor slices open the other man’s throat with a knife, but not before one of the Stealth fighters they came in on is destroyed.

Captain Atom is more than a match for Plastique, who has gone from being a Quebec freedom fighter to a mercenary-for-hire. (Why she is out of prison after betraying the Suicide Squad isn’t explained.) It’s the swordsman that proves the greatest threat, as his powered sword is able to slice through Captain Atom’s metal skin. This creates a leak which leads to another explosion.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel’s daughter Margaret checks in on her adopted father Wade Eiling, only to find her brother Randy back. Eiling has already taken the time to poison any positive thoughts about their father in Randy’s head.

The story is so wildly outside what’s been going on with the previous six issues that it just feels strange. Bates and Broderick continue to bring quality work, but the departure certainly feels strange. Of course, they have another issue to tie things together next month, but as a standalone, this one just feels a bit odd despite the return of Plastique.

Next time, we’ll find out if Jim Corrigan can solve his own murder.