Secret Origins Annual 1 (2)

Secret Origins Annual 1

1987

The Secret Origin of Captain Comet

by Roy Thomas, Ron Harris, Bruce Patterson, Gene D’Angelo, Jean Simek, Robert Greenberger

20 pages

Adam Blake, aka Captain Comet, saves the world from mysterious giant spinning tops that are draining the Earth of its atmosphere. Professor Zackro, Adam’s scientific mentor, recalls what he knows about Adam as he watches Captain Comet rush to the desert outside Las Vegas, NV where one of the tops is shrugging off all attempts to destroy it.

Captain Comet learns that the force controlling the tops is on the dark side of the moon. He heads there in a space ship Professor Zackro designed after he makes some modifications to it. He discovers an alien space ship on the dark side of the moon and learns why they are trying to rid the Earth of its atmosphere. He defeats Harun, leader of the aliens, thus saving the world.

Thoughts

This story is based on stories found in Strange Adventures 9 (Jun 1951) and 10 (Jul 1951). Captain Comet was a regular in Strange Adventures for about 3 years. His last Golden Age Appearance was in Strange Adventures 49 (Oct 1954). The only other comic book in which he made several appearances prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths was Secret Society of Super Villains (1976).

This story is loaded with dialogue and narration. It feels very rushed. I’m 18 issues into my read through of this series and I’m starting to wonder if I should just stop here. Many of the stories are like this one in that they are a data dump more than they are an actual story. There is usually an attempt to provide a framing sequence but that’s about it. These stories probably work better as an addendum to other stories featuring the same characters. I rarely find these stories to be satisfying on their own.