DC KO: Superman vs. Captain Atom #1 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Sean Izaakse, Artist; Trish Mulvihill, Hi-Fi, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: We’re down to sixteen heroes and villains battling to become the King Omega now, and those key fights will play out across a series of one-shots and ongoing titles. First up is Superman vs. Captain Atom, two allies – but not in this tournament. Captain Atom just pulled off a shocking betrayal, targeting Supergirl with friendly fire and leading to her exit and possibly her death during the previous round, and Superman is boiling over with rage. But Captain Atom is undeterred – after all, what’s one life compared to the fate of the whole universe? This plays neatly with his past as a military man, but it also brings back haunting memories of his darkest era – when he nearly became the time-traveling tyrant Monarch. Obviously, DC rewrote that story after a leak, but Captain Atom now has a dark cloud hanging over him – and as his battle with Superman begins, he’s ready to embrace it.
The mechanics of the fights in this tournament are really interesting. They’re transported to locations with meaning to both contestants, and after each round the contestants get to pick a different form from their multiversal history. That means we get to see glimpses of Superman One Million, Doctor Manhattan – and of course, Monarch, as Captain Atom begins to embrace his darkness and finally think of himself as a God, tempting him to violate the rules of the tournament and find his own path. Of all the fights, this is probably the one that’s the most evenly matched, between two heroes who could easily rule humanity if they wanted to – but only one has to constantly fight back against his worst instincts. This is a great start to a new phase of the event, and every single one of these one-shots looks to have a top-tier creative team to make sure these are much more than fight comics.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
