Sunday, October 09, 2005

Really Cool Characters - Captain Comet

With his recent appearance in Rann/Thanagar War (and I presume a role in Infinite Crisis, as well), I figured it would be nice to give a bit of a history for the comic character, Captain Comet.

Adam Blake, Captain Comet, made his first appearance in 1951 in Strange Adventures #9, written by John Broome, with art by Carmine Infantino.

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Captain Comet was a mutant. He was basically the next step in human evolution (due to rays from a, you guessed it, comet). He had telepathy, increased intelligence, flight and super strength.

Comet starred in Strange Adventures for the next three years, with Broome handling the story, and eventually Murphy Anderson taking over on art chores.

The last Captain Comet story for decades appeared in Strange Adventures #44...

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Comet did not appear again until the mid-70s, when Gerry Conway brought him back as the main foil in his series, The Secret Society of Super Villains. Comet was able to infiltrate the group because no one recognized him. As it turned out, he had not appeared for the past two decades because he was busy exploring outer space.

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After this title, Comet went back to exploring outer space, and eventually ran into and became involved with the intergalactic protection agency, L.E.G.I.O.N.

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He served with the L.E.G.I.O.N. until he was seemingly killed by a possessed Lady Quark. He recovered, though, and used his powers to speed up evolution on the planet where he was buried (apparently alive) to the point where they could build a spaceship for him to travel back to L.E.G.I.O.N.


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At this point, he became the new leader of L.E.G.I.O.N., but apparently the wanderlust got to him again (and Vril Dox probably got tired of NOT being in charge of L.E.G.I.O.N.), so he went back to exploring outer space.

This brings us up to Rann/Thanagar!

Captain Comet - Really cool character.

8 Comments:

Blogger Ragnell said...

Oh, thank you for posting that. Now I know where to look for those 90s Captain Comet appearances.

I love this guy. We need to start a petition to see him more regularly. Maybe a recurring guest role in Green Lantern Corps?

10/10/2005 12:36 AM  
Blogger Brian Cronin said...

I like the IDEA, Ragnell, but the treatment of Captain Comet in Rann/Thanagar has been a BIT odd, as he seems to have aged a lot suddenly, which seems weird to me....so I don't know HOW he'd be handled.

10/10/2005 4:38 AM  
Blogger Ragnell said...

The treatment of everybody in RTw was a bit odd, actually. But the saem writer on GLC is getting characterization right so I'm thinking there was some sort of editorial problem with RTW.

10/10/2005 4:24 PM  
Blogger Brian Cronin said...

Agreed.

Gibbons did a full 180 with his work on Green Lantern Corps: Recharge.

So yeah, I guess I'd be willing to let him use Captain Comet without ruining him...hehe.

And Patrick Gleason will obviously draw an awesome Captain Comet.

10/10/2005 5:27 PM  
Blogger Matter-Eater Lad said...

I really liked that last Captain Comet costume, with the cape and the comet "C" insignia...

10/13/2005 4:59 PM  
Blogger ElGrande said...

Ahhh, Captain Comet. He was awesome in L.E.G.I.O.N.

"Wait a minute, you took an entire civilization from the Stone Age to interstellar travel in the space of six months?"

"Well, they were a bit slow."

He was the Mountie from Due South (sorry if I don't remember his name) taken to the Nth degree. And it occurs to me that the Discworld character who shares many qualities, Corporal, then Captain Carrot, shares many qualitiies.

10/22/2005 12:50 AM  
Blogger ElGrande said...

And by repeating shares many qualities, I mean of course has an alliterative name.

10/22/2005 12:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I,ve always liked Captain Comet . He was one my favorite characters in the seventies. Later on ,was given status as a honorary JLA member with access to the satellite in DC Special 27 Danger Dinosaurs at large by Hawkman. I was very disappointed they decided not give him more appearances in the normal jla comics .There was room for many characters who could not support enough sales for there own book to shine( lack of courage to try and build up them. )and create a more rounded team. By the way , it looks as if they intend to give him a death/rebirth ala the BBCs Doctor Who rather than just replacing him. Thats an idea I think is great. Hope I,m right.

10/07/2006 7:36 PM  

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